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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/14499-0.txt b/14499-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..96a602e --- /dev/null +++ b/14499-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,25568 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14499 *** + +HANDBOOKS ON THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS + + + + + +EDITED BY MORRIS JASTROW, JR., PH.D. + +_Professor of Semitic Languages +in the University of Pennsylvania_ + + + + + + +VOLUME I + + + + + + +HANDBOOKS ON THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS + + + + + + +THE + +RELIGIONS OF INDIA + + + +BY + + + +EDWARD WASHBURN HOPKINS + +Ph.D. (LEIPSIC) + +PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT AND COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY IN BRYN MAWR COLLEGE + + + + + + + _"This holy mystery I declare unto you: + There is nothing nobler than humanity."_ + + THE MAH[=A]BH[=A]RATA. + + + + + +LONDON + +EDWARD ARNOLD + +37 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND + +PUBLISHER TO THE INDIA OFFICE + +1896 + + +_(All rights reserved)_ + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY + +EDWARD WASHBURN HOPKINS + + + + + + + + +TO THE MEMORY OF + +WILLIAM DWIGHT WHITNEY + +THIS VOLUME + +IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED + +BY THE AUTHOR + + + + + + + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE + +BY THE EDITOR. + + +The growing interest both in this country and abroad in the historical +study of religions is one of the noticeable features in the +intellectual phases of the past decades. The more general indications +of this interest may be seen in such foundations as the Hibbert and +Gifford Lectureships in England, and the recent organization of an +American committee to arrange in various cities for lectures on the +history of religions, in the establishment of a special department for +the subject at the University of Paris, in the organization of the +Musée Guimet at Paris, in the publication of a journal--the _Revue de +l'Histoire des Religions_--under the auspices of this Museum, and in +the creation of chairs at the Collège de France, at the Universities +of Holland, and in this country at Cornell University and the +University of Chicago,[1] with the prospect of others to follow in the +near future. For the more special indications we must turn to the +splendid labors of a large array of scholars toiling in the various +departments of ancient culture--India, Babylonia, Assyria, Egypt, +Palestine, Arabia, Phoenicia, China, Greece, and Rome--with the result +of securing a firm basis for the study of the religions flourishing in +those countries--a result due mainly to the discovery of fresh sources +and to the increase of the latter brought about by exploration and +incessant research. The detailed study of the facts of religion +everywhere, both in primitive society and in advancing civilization, +and the emphasis laid upon gathering and understanding these facts +prior to making one's deductions, has succeeded in setting aside the +speculations and generalizations that until the beginning of this +century paraded under the name of "Philosophy of Religion." + +Such has been the scholarly activity displayed and the fertility +resulting, that it seems both desirable and timely to focus, as it +were, the array of facts connected with the religions of the ancient +world in such a manner that the summary resulting may serve as the +point of departure for further investigations. + +This has been the leading thought which has suggested the series of +Handbooks on the History of Religions. The treatment of the religions +included in the series differs from previous attempts in the aim to +bring together the ascertained results of scholarship rather than to +make an additional contribution, though the character of the scholars +whose coöperation has beep secured justifies the hope that their +productions will also mark an advance in the interpretation of the +subject assigned to each. In accord with this general aim, mere +discussion has been limited to a minimum, while the chief stress has +been laid upon the clear and full presentation of the data connected +with each religion. + +A uniform plan has been drawn up by the editor for the order of +treatment in the various volumes, by following which it is hoped that +the continuous character of the series will be secured. + +In this plan the needs of the general reader, as well as those of the +student, for whom, in the first place, the series is designed, have +been kept in view. After the introduction, which in the case of each +volume is to be devoted to a setting forth of the sources and the +method of study, a chapter follows on the land and the people, +presenting those ethnographical and geographical considerations, +together with a brief historical sketch of the people in question, so +essential to an understanding of intellectual and religious life +everywhere. + +In the third section, which may be denominated the kernel of the book, +the subdivisions and order of presentation necessarily vary, the +division into periods being best adapted to one religion, the +geographical order for another, the grouping of themes in a logical +sequence for a third; but in every case, the range covered will be the +same, namely, the beliefs, including the pantheon, the relation to the +gods, views of life and death, the rites--both the official ones and +the popular customs--the religious literature and architecture. A +fourth section will furnish a general estimate of the religion, its +history, and the relation it bears to others. Each volume will +conclude with a full bibliography, index, and necessary maps, with +illustrations introduced into the text as called for. The Editor has +been fortunate in securing the services of distinguished specialists +whose past labors and thorough understanding of the plan and purpose +of the series furnish a guarantee for the successful execution of +their task. + +It is the hope of the Editor to produce in this way a series of +manuals that may serve as text-books for the historical study of +religions in our universities and seminaries. In addition to supplying +this want, the arrangement of the manuals will, it is expected, meet +the requirements of reliable reference-books for ascertaining the +present status of our knowledge of the religions of antiquity, while +the popular manner of presentation, which it will be the aim of the +writers to carry out, justifies the hope that the general reader will +find the volumes no less attractive and interesting. + + UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: In an article by the writer published in the + _Biblical World_ (University of Chicago Press) for January, + 1893, there will be found an account of the present status + of the Historical Study of Religions in this country.] + + * * * * * + + + + + +CHAPTER I.--INTRODUCTION. + + +SOURCES.--DATES.--METHODS OF INTERPRETATION.--DIVISIONS OF SUBJECT. + + +SOURCES. + + +India always has been a land of religions. In the earliest Vedic +literature are found not only hymns in praise of the accepted gods, +but also doubts in regard to the worth of these gods; the beginnings +of a new religion incorporated into the earliest records of the old. +And later, when, about 300 B.C, Megasthenes was in India, the +descendants of those first theosophists are still discussing, albeit +in more modern fashion, the questions that lie at the root of all +religion. "Of the philosophers, those that are most estimable he terms +Brahmans ([Greek: _brachmanas_]). These discuss with many words +concerning death. For they regard death as being, for the wise, a +birth into real life--into the happy life. And in many things they +hold the same opinions with the Greeks: saying that the universe was +begotten and will be destroyed, and that the world is a sphere, which +the god who made and owns it pervades throughout; that there are +different beginnings of all things, but water is the beginning of +world-making, while, in addition to the four elements, there is, as +fifth, a kind of nature, whence came the sky and the stars.... And +concerning the seed of things and the soul they have much to say also, +whereby they weave in myths, just as does Plato, in regard to the +soul's immortality, judgment in hell, and such things."[1] + +And as India conspicuously is a country of creeds, so is its +literature preëminently priestly and religious. From the first Veda to +the last Pur[=a]na, religion forms either the subject-matter of the +most important works, or, as in the case of the epics,[2] the basis of +didactic excursions and sectarian interpolations, which impart to +worldly themes a tone peculiarly theological. History and oratory are +unknown in Indian literature. The early poetry consists of hymns and +religious poems; the early prose, of liturgies, linguistics, "law," +theology, sacred legends and other works, all of which are intended to +supplement the knowledge of the Veda, to explain ceremonies, or to +inculcate religious principles. At a later date, formal grammar and +systems of philosophy, fables and commentaries are added to the prose; +epics, secular lyric, drama, the Pur[=a]nas and such writings to the +poetry. But in all this great mass, till that time which Müller has +called the Renaissance--that is to say, till after the Hindus were +come into close contact with foreign nations, notably the Greek, from +which has been borrowed, perhaps, the classical Hindu drama,[3]--there +is no real literature that was not religious originally, or, at least, +so apt for priestly use as to become chiefly moral and theosophic; +while the most popular works of modern times are sectarian tracts, +Pur[=]nas, Tantras and remodelled worldly poetry. The sources, then, +from which is to be drawn the knowledge of Hindu religions are the +best possible--the original texts. The information furnished by +foreigners, from the times of Ktesias and Megasthenes to that of +Mandelslo, is considerable; but one is warranted in assuming that what +little in it is novel is inaccurate, since otherwise the information +would have been furnished by the Hindus themselves; and that, +conversely, an outsider's statements, although presumably correct, +often may give an inexact impression through lack of completeness; as +when--to take an example that one can control--Ktesias tells half the +truth in regard to ordeals. His account is true, but he gives no +notion of the number or elaborate character of these interesting +ceremonies. + +The sources to which we shall have occasion to refer will be, then, +the two most important collections of Vedic hymns--the Rig Veda and +the Atharva Veda; the Brahmanic literature, with the supplementary +Upanishads, and the S[=u]tras or mnemonic abridgments of religious and +ceremonial rules; the legal texts, and the religious and theological +portions of the epic; and the later sectarian writings, called +Pur[=a]nas. The great heresies, again, have their own special +writings. Thus far we shall draw on the native literature. Only for +some of the modern sects, and for the religions of the wild tribes +which have no literature, shall we have to depend on the accounts of +European writers. + + +DATES. + +For none of the native religious works has one a certain date. Nor is +there for any one of the earlier compositions the certainty that it +belongs, as a whole, to any one time. The Rig Veda was composed by +successive generations; the Atharvan represents different ages; each +Br[=a]hmana appears to belong in part to one era, in part to another; +the earliest S[=u]tras (manuals of law, etc.) have been interpolated; +the earliest metrical code is a composite; the great epic is the work +of centuries; and not only do the Upanishads and Pur[=a]nas represent +collectively many different periods, but exactly to which period each +individually is to be assigned remains always doubtful. Only in the +case of the Buddhistic writings is there a satisfactorily approximate +terminus a quo, and even here approximate means merely within the +limit of centuries. + +Nevertheless, criteria fortunately are not lacking to enable one to +assign the general bulk of any one work to a certain period in the +literary development; and as these periods are, if not sharply, yet +plainly distinguishable, one is not in so desperate a case as he might +have expected to be, considering that it is impossible to date with +certainty any Hindu book or writer before the Christian era. For, +first, there exists a difference in language, demarcating the most +important periods; and, secondly, the development of the literature +has been upon such lines that it is easy to say, from content and +method of treatment, whether a given class of writings is a product of +the Vedic, early Brahmanic, or late Brahmanic epochs. Usually, indeed, +one is unable to tell whether a later Upanishad was made first in the +early or late Brahmanic period, but it is known that the Upanishads, +as a whole, _i.e._, the literary form and philosophical material which +characterize Upanishads, were earlier than the latest Brahmanic period +and subsequent to the early Brahmanic period; that they arose at the +close of the latter and before the rise of the former. So the +Br[=a]hmanas, as a whole, are subsequent to the Vedic age, although +some of the Vedic hymns appear to have been made up in the same period +with that of the early Br[=a]hmanas. Again, the Pur[=a]nas can be +placed with safety after the late Brahmanic age; and, consequently, +subsequent to the Upanishads, although it is probable that many +Upanishads were written after the first Pur[=a]nas. The general +compass of this enormous literature is from an indefinite antiquity to +about 1500 A.D. A liberal margin of possible error must be allowed in +the assumption of any specific dates. The received opinion is that +the Rig Veda goes back to about 2000 B.C., yet are some scholars +inclined rather to accept 3000 B.C. as the time that represents this +era. Weber, in his _Lectures on Sanskrit Literature_ (p. 7), rightly +says that to seek for an exact date is fruitless labor; while Whitney +compares Hindu dates to ninepins--set up only to be bowled down again. +Schroeder, in his _Indiens Literatur und Cultur_, suggests that the +prior limit may be "a few centuries earlier than 1500," agreeing with +Weber's preferred reckoning; but Whitney, Grassmann, and Benfey +provisionally assume 2000 B.C. as the starting point of Hindu +literature. The lowest possible limit for this event Müller now places +at about 1500, which is recognized as a very cautious view; most +scholars thinking that Müller's estimate gives too little time for the +development of the literary periods, which, in their opinion, require, +linguistically and otherwise, a greater number of years. Brunnhofer +more recently has suggested 2800 B.C. as the terminus; while the last +writers on the subject (Tilak and Jacobi) claim to have discovered +that the period from 3500 to 2500 represents the Vedic age. Their +conclusions, however, are not very convincing, and have been disputed +vigorously.[4] Without the hope of persuading such scholars as are +wedded to a terminus of three or four thousand years ago that we are +right, we add, in all deference to others, our own opinion on this +vexed question. Buddhism gives the first semblance of a date in Hindu +literature. Buddha lived in the sixth century, and died probably about +480, possibly (Westergaard's extreme opinion) as late as 368.[5] +Before this time arise the S[=u]tras, back of which lie the earliest +Upanishads, the bulk of the Br[=a]hmanas, and all the Vedic poems. Now +it is probable that the Brahmanic literature itself extends to the +time of Buddha and perhaps beyond it. For the rest of pre-Buddhistic +literature it seems to us incredible that it is necessary to require, +either from the point of view of linguistic or of social and religious +development, the enormous period of two thousand years. There are no +other grounds on which to base a reckoning except those of Jacobi and +his Hindu rival, who build on Vedic data results that hardly support +the superstructure they have erected. Jacobi's starting-point is from +a mock-serious hymn, which appears to be late and does not establish, +to whatever date it be assigned, the point of departure from which +proceeds his whole argument, as Whitney has shown very well. One is +driven back to the needs of a literature in respect of time sufficient +for it to mature. What changes take place in language, even with a +written literature, in the space of a few centuries, may be seen in +Persian, Greek, Latin, and German. No two thousand years are required +to bridge the linguistic extremes of the Vedic and classical Sanskrit +language.[6] But in content it will be seen that the flower of the +later literature is budding already in the Vedic age. We are unable to +admit that either in language or social development, or in literary or +religious growth, more than a few centuries are necessary to account +for the whole development of Hindu literature (meaning thereby +compositions, whether written or not) up to the time of Buddha. +Moreover, if one compare the period at which arise the earliest forms +of literature among other Aryan peoples, it will seem very strange +that, whereas in the case of the Romans, Greeks, and Persians, one +thousand years B.C. is the extreme limit of such literary activity as +has produced durable works, the Hindus two or three thousand years +B.C. were creating poetry so finished, so refined, and, from a +metaphysical point of view, so advanced as is that of the Rig Veda. +If, as is generally assumed, the (prospective) Hindus and Persians +were last to leave the common Aryan habitat, and came together to the +south-east, the difficulty is increased; especially in the light of +modern opinion in regard to the fictitious antiquity of Persian +(Iranian) literature. For if Darmesteter be correct in holding the +time of the latter to be at most a century before our era, the +incongruity between that oldest date of Persian literature and the +"two or three thousand years before Christ," which are claimed in the +case of the Rig Veda, becomes so great as to make the latter +assumption more dubious than ever. + +We think in a word, without wishing to be dogmatic, that the date of +the Rig Veda is about on a par, historically, with that of 'Homer,' +that is to say, the Collection[7] represents a long period, which was +completed perhaps two hundred years after 1000 B.C, while again its +earliest beginnings precede that date possibly by five centuries; but +we would assign the bulk of the Rig Veda to about 1000 B.C. With +conscious imitation of older speech a good deal of archaic linguistic +effect doubtless was produced by the latest poets, who really belong +to the Brahmanic age. The Brahmanic age in turn ends, as we opine, +about 500 B.C., overlapping the S[=u]tra period as well as that of the +first Upanishads. The former class of writings (after 500 B.C. one may +talk of writings) is represented by dates that reach from circa +600-500 B.C. nearly to our era. Buddhism's _floruit_ is from 500 B.C. +to 500 A.D., and epic Hinduism covers nearly the same centuries. From +500 to 1000 Buddhism is in a state of decadence; and through this time +extend the dramatic and older Puranic writings; while other Pur[=a]nas +are as late as 1500, at which time arises the great modern reforming +sect of the Sikhs. In the matter of the earlier termini a century may +be added or subtracted here and there, but these convenient divisions +of five hundreds will be found on the whole to be sufficiently +accurate.[8] + + +METHODS OF INTERPRETATION. + +At the outset of his undertaking a double problem presents itself to +one that would give, even in compact form, a view of Hindu religions. +This problem consists in explaining, and, in so far as is possible, +reconciling opposed opinions in regard not only to the nature of these +religions but also to the method of interpreting the Vedic hymns. + +That the Vedic religion was naturalistic and mytho-poetic is doubted +by few. The Vedic hymns laud the powers of nature and natural +phenomena as personified gods, or even as impersonal phenomena. They +praise also as distinct powers the departed fathers. In the Rig Veda +I. 168, occur some verses in honor of the storm-gods called Maruts: +"Self-yoked are they come lightly from the sky. The immortals urge +themselves on with the goad. Dustless, born of power, with shining +spears the Maruts overthrow the strongholds. Who is it, O Maruts, ye +that have lightning-spears, that impels you within? ... The streams +roar from the tires, when they send out their cloud-voices," etc. +Nothing would seem more justifiable, in view of this hymn and of many +like it, than to assume with Müller and other Indologians, that the +Marut-gods are personifications of natural phenomena. As clearly do +Indra and the Dawn appear to be natural phenomena. But no less an +authority than Herbert Spencer has attacked this view: "Facts imply +that the conception of the dawn as a person results from the giving of +dawn as a birth-name."[9] And again: "If, then, Dawn [in New Zealand +and elsewhere] is an actual name for a person, if where there prevails +this mode of distinguishing children, it has probably often been given +to those born early in the morning; the traditions concerning one of +such who became noted, would, in the mind of the uncritical savage ... +lead to identification with the dawn."[10] In another passage: "The +primitive god is the superior man ... propitiated during his life and +still more after his death."[11] Summing up, Spencer thus concludes: +"Instead of seeing in the common character of so-called myths, that +they describe combats of beings using weapons, evidence that they +arose out of human transactions; mythologists assume that the order of +Nature presents itself to the undeveloped mind in terms of victories +and defeats."[12] Moreover (_a posteriori_), "It is not true that the +primitive man looks at the powers of Nature with awe. It is not true +that he speculates about their characters and causes."[13] If Spencer +had not included in his criticism the mythologists that have written +on Vedic religion, there would be no occasion to take his opinion into +consideration. But since he claims by the light of his comparative +studies to have shown that in the Rig Veda the "so-called nature +gods,"[14] were not the oldest, and explains Dawn here exactly as he +does in New Zealand, it becomes necessary to point out, that apart +from the question of the origin of religions in general, Spencer has +made a fatal error in assuming that he is dealing in the Rig Veda with +primitive religion, uncritical savages, and undeveloped minds. And +furthermore, as the poet of the Rig Veda is not primitive, or savage, +or undeveloped, so when he worships _Dyaus pitar_ [Greek: Zeùs patáer] +as the 'sky-father,' he not only makes it evident to every reader that +he really is worshipping the visible sky above; but in his +descriptions of gods such as Indra, the Dawn, and some other new gods +he invents from time to time, long after he has passed the savage, +primitive, and undeveloped state, he makes it no less clear that he +worships phenomena as they stand before him (rain, cloud, lightning, +etc.), so that by analogy with what is apparent in the case of later +divinities, one is led inevitably to predicate the same origin as +theirs in the case of the older gods. + +But it is unnecessary to spend time on this point. It is impossible +for any sober scholar to read the Rig Veda and believe that the Vedic +poets are not worshipping natural phenomena; or that the phenomena so +worshipped were not the original forms of these gods. Whether at a +more remote time there was ever a period when the pre-historic Hindu, +or his pre-Indic ancestor, worshipped the Manes exclusively is another +question, and one with which at present we have nothing to do. The +history of Hindu religions begins with the Rig Veda, and in this +period the worship of Manes and that of natural phenomena were +distinct, nor are there any indications that the latter was ever +developed from the former. It is not denied that the Hindus made gods +of departed men. They did this long after the Vedic period. But there +is no proof that all the Vedic gods, as claims Spencer, were the +worshipped souls of the dead. No _argumentum a fero_ can show in a +Vedic dawn-hymn anything other than a hymn to personified Dawn, or +make it probable that this dawn was ever a mortal's name. + +In respect of that which precedes all tradition we, whose task is not +to speculate in regard to primitive religious conceptions, but to give +the history of one people's religious progress, may be pardoned for +expressing no opinion. But without abandoning history (i.e., +tradition) we would revert for a moment to the pre-Indian period and +point out that Zarathustra's rejection of the _daevas_ which must be +the same _devas_ that are worshipped in India, proves that +_deva_-worship is the immediate predecessor of the Hindu religion. As +far back as one can scrutinize the Aryan past he finds, as the +earliest known objects of reverence, 'sun' and 'sky,' besides and +beside the blessed Manes. A word here regarding the priority of +monotheism or of polytheism. The tradition is in favor of the latter, +while on _a priori_ grounds whoever thinks that the more primitive the +race the more apt it is for monotheism will postulate, with some of +the older scholars, an assumed monotheism as the pre-historic religion +of the Hindus; while whosoever opines that man has gradually risen +from a less intellectual stage will see in the early gods of the +Hindus only another illustration of one universal fact, and posit even +Aryan polytheism as an advance on the religion which it is probable +that the remoter ancestors of the Aryans once acknowledged. + +A word perhaps should be said, also, in order to a better +understanding between the ethnologists as represented by Andrew Lang, +and the unfortunate philologists whom it delights him to pommel. +Lang's clever attacks on the myth-makers, whom he persistently +describes as the philologists--and they do indeed form part of that +camp--have had the effect of bringing 'philological theories' into sad +disrepute with sciolists and 'common-sense' people. But the sun-myths +and dawn-myths that the myth-makers discover in Cinderella and Red +Riding Hood, ought not to be fathered upon all philologists. On the +other hand, who will deny that in India certain mythological figures +are eoian or solar in origin? Can any one question that Vivasvant the +'wide gleaming' is sun or bright sky, as he is represented in the +Avesta and Rig Veda? Yet is a very anthropomorphic, nay, earthly +figure, made out of this god. Or is Mr. Lang ignorant that the god +Yima became Jemshid, and that Feridun is only the god Trita? It +undoubtedly is correct to illuminate the past with other light than +that of sun or dawn, yet that these lights have shone and have been +quenched in certain personalities may be granted without doing +violence to scientific principles. All purely etymological mythology +is precarious, but one may recognize sun-myths without building a +system on the basis of a Dawn-Helen, and without referring Ilium to +the Vedic _bila_. Again, myths about gods, heroes, and fairies are to +be segregated. Even in India, which teems with it, there is little, if +any, folklore that can be traced to solar or dawn-born myths. Mr. Lang +represents a healthy reaction against too much sun-myth, but we think +that there are sun-myths still, and that despite his protests all +religion is not grown from one seed. + +There remains the consideration of the second part of the double +problem which was formulated above--the method of interpretation. The +native method is to believe the scholiasts' explanations, which often +are fanciful and, in all important points, totally unreliable; since +the Hindu commentators lived so long after the period of the +literature they expound that the tradition they follow is useful only +in petty details. From a modern point of view the question of +interpretation depends mainly on whether one regard the Rig Veda as +but an Indic growth, the product of the Hindu mind alone, or as a work +that still retains from an older age ideas which, having once been +common to Hindu and Iranian, should be compared with those in the +Persian Avesta and be illustrated by them. Again, if this latter +hypothesis be correct, how is one to interpret an apparent likeness, +here and there, between Indic and foreign notions,--is it possible +that the hymns were composed, in part, before the advent of the +authors into India, and is it for this reason that in the Rig Veda are +contained certain names, ideas, and legends, which do not seem to be +native to India? On the other hand, if one adopt the theory that the +Rig Veda is wholly a native work, in how far is he to suppose that it +is separable from Brahmanic formalism? Were the hymns made +independently of any ritual, as their own excuse for being, or were +they composed expressly for the sacrifice, as part of a formal cult? + +Here are views diverse enough, but each has its advocate or advocates. +According to the earlier European writers the Vedic poets are +fountains of primitive thought, streams unsullied by any tributaries, +and in reading them one quaffs a fresh draught, the gush of +unsophisticated herdsmen, in whose religion there is to be seen a +childlike belief in natural phenomena as divine forces, over which +forces stands the Heaven-god as the highest power. So in 1869 +Pfleiderer speaks of the "primeval childlike naïve prayer" of Rig Veda +vi. 51. 5 ("Father sky, mother earth," etc.);[15] while Pictet, in his +work _Les Origines Indo-Européennes_, maintains that the Aryans had a +primitive monotheism, although it was vague and rudimentary; for he +regards both Iranian dualism and Hindu polytheism as being +developments of one earlier monism (claiming that Iranian dualism is +really monotheistic). Pictet's argument is that the human mind must +have advanced from the simple to the complex! Even Roth believes in an +originally "supreme deity" of the Aryans.[16] Opposed to this, the +'naïve' school of such older scholars as Roth, Müller,[17] and +Grassmann, who see in the Rig Veda an ingenuous expression of +'primitive' ideas, stand the theories of Bergaigne, who interprets +everything allegorically; and of Pischel and Geldner, realists, whose +general opinions may thus be formulated: The poets of the Rig Veda are +not childlike and naïve; they represent a comparatively late period of +culture, a society not only civilized, but even sophisticated; a mode +of thought philosophical and sceptical a religion not only ceremonious +but absolutely stereotyped. In regard to the Aryanhood of the hymns, +the stand taken by these latter critics, who renounce even Bergaigne's +slight hold on mythology, is that the Rig Veda is thoroughly Indic. It +is to be explained by the light of the formal Hindu ritualism, and +even by epic worldliness, its fresh factors being lewd gods, harlots, +and race-horses. Bloomfield, who does not go so far as this, claims +that the 'Vedic' age really is a Brahmanic age; that Vedic religion is +saturated with Brahmanic ideas and Brahmanic formalism, so that the +Rig Veda ought to be looked upon as made for the ritual, not the +ritual regarded as ancillary to the Rig Veda[18]. This scholar +maintains that there is scarcely any chronological distinction between +the hymns of the Rig Veda and the Br[=a]hmana, both forms having +probably existed together "from earliest times"; and that not a single +Vedic hymn "was ever composed without reference to ritual +application"; nay, all the hymns were "liturgical from the very +start"[19]. This is a plain advance even on Bergaigne's opinion, who +finally regarded all the family-books of the Rig Veda as composed to +subserve the _soma_-cult.[20] + +In the Rig Veda occur hymns of an entirely worldly character, the +lament of a gambler, a humorous description of frogs croaking like +priests, a funny picture of contemporary morals [describing how every +one lusts after wealth], and so forth. From these alone it becomes +evident that the ritualistic view must be regarded as one somewhat +exaggerated. But if the liturgical extremist appears to have stepped a +little beyond the boundary of probability, he yet in daring remains +far behind Bergaigne's disciple Regnaud, who has a mystical 'system,' +which is, indeed, the outcome of Bergaigne's great work, though it is +very improbable that the latter would have looked with favor upon his +follower's results. In _Le Rig Veda_ [Paris, 1892] Paul Regnaud, +emphasizing again the connection between the liturgy and the hymns, +refers every word of the Rig Veda to the sacrifice in its simplest +form, the oblation. According to this author the Hindus had forgotten +the meaning of their commonest words, or consistently employed them in +their hymns in a meaning different to that in ordinary use. The very +word for god, _deva_ [deus], no longer means the 'shining one' [the +god], but the 'burning oblation'; the common word for mountain, +_giri_ also means oblation, and so on. This is Bergaigne's allegorical +mysticism run mad. + +At such perversion of reasonable criticism is the exegesis of the Veda +arrived in one direction. But in another it is gone astray no less, as +misdirected by its clever German leader. In three volumes[21] +Brunnhofer has endeavored to prove that far from being a Brahmanic +product, the Rig Veda is not even the work of Hindus; that it was +composed near the Caspian Sea long before the Aryans descended into +India. Brunnhofer's books are a mine of ingenious conjectures, as +suggestive in detail as on the whole they are unconvincing. His +fundamental error is the fancy that names and ideas which might be +Iranian or Turanian would prove, if such they really could be shown to +be, that the work in which they are contained must be Iranian or +Turanian. He relies in great measure on passages that always have been +thought to be late, either whole late hymns or tags added to old +hymns, and on the most daring changes in the text, changes which he +makes in order to prove his hypothesis, although there is no necessity +for making them. The truth that underlies Brunnhofer's extravagance is +that there are foreign names in the Rig Veda, and this is all that he +has proved thus far. + +In regard to the relation between the Veda and the Avesta the +difference of views is too individual to have formed systems of +interpretation on that basis alone. Every competent scholar recognizes +a close affinity between the Iranian Yima and the Hindu Yama, between +the _soma_-cult and the _haoma_-cult, but in how far the thoughts and +forms that have clustered about one development are to be compared +with those of the other there is no general agreement and there can be +none. The usual practice, however, is to call the Iranian _Yima, +haoma_, etc., to one's aid if they subserve one's own view of _Yama, +soma,_ and other Hindu parallels, and to discard analogous features as +an independent growth if they do not. This procedure is based as well +on the conditions of the problem as on the conditions of human +judgment, and must not be criticized too severely; for in fact the two +religions here and there touch each other so nearly that to deny a +relation between them is impossible, while in detail they diverge so +widely that it is always questionable whether a coincidence of ritual +or belief be accidental or imply historical connection. + +It is scarcely advisable in a concise review of several religions to +enter upon detailed criticism of the methods of interpretation that +affect for the most part only the earliest of them. But on one point, +the reciprocal relations between the Vedic and Brahmanic periods, it +is necessary to say a few words. Why is it that well-informed Vedic +scholars differ so widely in regard to the ritualistic share in the +making of the Veda? Because the extremists on either side in +formulating the principles of their system forget a fact that probably +no one of them if questioned would fail to acknowledge. The Rig Veda +is not a homogeneous whole. It is a work which successive generations +have produced, and in which are represented different views, of local +or sectarian origin; while the hymns from a literary point of view are +of varying value. The latter is a fact which has been ignored +frequently, but it is more important than any other. For one has +almost no criteria, with which to discover whether the hymns precede +or follow the ritual, other than the linguistic posteriority of the +ritualistic literature, and the knowledge that there were priests with +a ritual when some of the hymns were composed. The bare fact that +hymns are found rubricated in the later literature is surely no reason +for believing that such hymns were made for the ritual. Now while it +can be shown that a large number of hymns are formal, conventional, +and mechanical in expression, and while it may be argued with +plausibility that these were composed to serve the purpose of an +established cult, this is very far from being the case with many +which, on other grounds, may be supposed to belong severally to the +older and later part of the Rig Veda. Yet does the new school, in +estimating the hymns, never admit this. The poems always are spoken of +as 'sacerdotal', ritualistic, without the slightest attempt to see +whether this be true of all or of some alone. We claim that it is not +historical, it is not judicious from a literary point of view, to +fling indiscriminately together the hymns that are evidently +ritualistic and those of other value; for, finally, it is a sober +literary judgment that is the court of appeals in regard to whether +poetry be poetry or not. Now let one take a hymn containing, to make +it an unexceptionable example, nothing very profound or very +beautiful. It is this well-known + + HYMN TO THE SUN (_Rig Veda_, I. 50). + + Aloft this all-wise[22] shining god + His beams of light are bearing now, + That every one the sun may see. + + Apart, as were they thieves, yon stars, + Together with the night[23], withdraw + Before the sun, who seeth all. + + His beams of light have been beheld + Afar, among [all] creatures; rays + Splendid as were they [blazing] fires, + + Impetuous-swift, beheld of all, + Of light the maker, thou, O Sun, + Thou all the gleaming [sky] illum'st. + + Before the folk of shining gods + Thou risest up, and men before, + 'Fore all--to be as light beheld; + + [To be] thine eye, O pure bright Heaven, + Wherewith amid [all] creatures born + Thou gazest down on busy [man]. + + Thou goest across the sky's broad place, + Meting with rays, O Sun, the days, + And watching generations pass. + + The steeds are seven that at thy car + Bear up the god whose hair is flame + O shining god, O Sun far-seen! + + Yoked hath he now his seven fair steeds, + The daughters of the sun-god's car, + Yoked but by him[24]; with these he comes. + +For some thousands of years these verses have been the daily prayer of +the Hindu. They have been incorporated into the ritual in this form. +They are rubricated, and the nine stanzas form part of a prescribed +service. But, surely, it were a literary hysteron-proteron to conclude +for this reason that they were made only to fill a part in an +established ceremony. + +The praise is neither perfunctory nor lacking in a really religious +tone. It has a directness and a simplicity, without affectation, which +would incline one to believe that it was not made mechanically, but +composed with a devotional spirit that gave voice to genuine feeling. + +We will now translate another poem (carefully preserving all the +tautological phraseology), a hymn + + To DAWN _(Rig Veda_ VI. 64). + + Aloft the lights of Dawn, for beauty gleaming, + Have risen resplendent, like to waves of water; + She makes fair paths, (makes) all accessible; + And good is she, munificent and kindly. + + Thou lovely lookest, through wide spaces shin'st thou, + Up fly thy fiery shining beams to heaven; + Thy bosom thou reveals't, thyself adorning, + Aurora, goddess gleaming bright in greatness. + + The ruddy kine (the clouds) resplendent bear her, + The blessed One, who far and wide extendeth. + As routs his foes a hero armed with arrows, + As driver swift, so she compels the darkness. + + Thy ways are fair; thy paths, upon the mountains; + In calm, self-shining one, thou cross'st the waters. + O thou whose paths are wide, to us, thou lofty + Daughter of Heaven, bring wealth for our subsistence. + + Bring (wealth), thou Dawn, who, with the kine, untroubled + Dost bring us good commensurate with pleasure, + Daughter of Heaven, who, though thou art a goddess, + Didst aye at morning-call come bright and early. + + Aloft the birds fly ever from their dwelling, + And men, who seek for food, at thy clear dawning. + E'en though a mortal stay at home and serve thee, + Much joy to him, Dawn, goddess (bright), thou bringest. + +The "morning call" might, indeed, suggest the ritual, but it proves +only a morning prayer or offering. Is this poem of a "singularly +refined character," or "preëminently sacerdotal" in appearance? One +other example (in still a different metre) may be examined, to see if +it bear on its face evidence of having been made with "reference to +ritual application," or of being "liturgical from the very start." + + To INDRA _(Rig Veda_, I.11). + + 'Tis Indra all (our) songs extol, + Him huge as ocean in extent; + Of warriors chiefest warrior he, + Lord, truest lord for booty's gain. + + In friendship, Indra, strong as thine + Naught will we fear, O lord of strength; + To thee we our laudations sing, + The conqueror unconquered.[25] + + The gifts of Indra many are, + And inexhaustible his help + Whene'er to them that praise he gives + The gift of booty rich in kine. + + A fortress-render, youthful, wise, + Immeasurably strong was born + Indra, the doer of every deed, + The lightning-holder, far renowned. + + 'Twas thou, Bolt-holder, rent'st the cave + Of Val, who held the (heavenly) kine;[26] + Thee helped the (shining) gods, when roused + (To courage) by the fearless one.[27] + + Indra, who lords it by his strength, + Our praises now have loud proclaimed; + His generous gifts a thousand are, + Aye, even more than this are they. + +This is poetry. Not great poetry perhaps, but certainly not ground out +to order, as some of the hymns appear to have been. Yet, it may be +said, why could not a poetic hymn have been written in a ritualistic +environment? But it is on the hymns themselves that one is forced to +depend for the belief in the existence of ritualism, and we claim that +such hymns as these, which we have translated as literally as +possible, show rather that they were composed without reference to +ritual application. It must not be forgotten that the ritual, as it is +known in the Br[=a]hmanas, without the slightest doubt, from the point +of view of language, social conditions, and theology, represents an +age that is very different to that illustrated by the mass of the +hymns. Such hymns, therefore, and only such as can be proved to have a +ritualistic setting can be referred to a ritualistic age. There is no +convincing reason why one should not take the fully justified view +that some of the hymns represent a freer and more natural (less +priest-bound) age, as they represent a spirit freer and less +mechanical than that of other hymns. As to the question which hymns, +early or late, be due to poetic feeling, and which to ritualistic +mechanism or servile imitation, this can indeed be decided by a +judgment based only on the literary quality, never on the accident of +subsequent rubrication. + +We hold, therefore, in this regard, that the new school, valuable and +suggestive as its work has been, is gone already farther than is +judicious. The Rig Veda in part is synchronous with an advanced +ritualism, subjected to it, and in some cases derived from it; but in +part the hymns are "made for their own sake and not for the sake of +any sacrificial performance," as said Muller of the whole; going in +this too far, but not into greater error than are gone they that +confuse the natural with the artificial, the poetical with the +mechanical, gold with dross. It may be true that the books of the Rig +Veda are chiefly family-books for the _soma_-cult, but even were it +true it would in no wise impugn the poetic character of some of the +hymns contained in these books. The drag-net has scooped up old and +new, good and bad, together. The Rig Veda is not of one period or of +one sort. It is a 'Collection,' as says its name. It is essentially +impossible that any sweeping statement in regard to its character +should be true if that character be regarded as uniform. To say that +the Rig Veda represents an age of childlike thought, a period before +the priestly ritual began its spiritual blight, is incorrect. But no +less incorrect is it to assert that the Rig Veda represents a period +when hymns are made only for rubrication by priests that sing only for +baksheesh. Scholars are too prone to-day to speak of the Rig Veda in +the same way as the Greeks spoke of Homer. It is to be hoped that the +time may soon come when critics will no longer talk about the +Collection as if it were all made in the same circumstances and at the +same time; above all is it desirable that the literary quality of the +hymns may receive due attention, and that there may be less of those +universal asseverations which treat the productions of generations of +poets as if they were the work of a single author. + +In respect of the method of reading into the Rig Veda what is found in +parallel passages in the Atharva Veda and Br[=a]hmanas, a practice +much favored by Ludwig and others, the results of its application have +been singularly futile in passages of importance. Often a varied +reading will make clearer a doubtful verse, but it by no means follows +that the better reading is the truer. There always remains the lurking +suspicion that the reason the variant is more intelligible is that its +inventor did not understand the original. As to real elucidation of +other sort by the later texts, in the minutiae of the outer world, in +details of priestcraft, one may trust early tradition tentatively, +just as one does late commentators, but in respect of ideas tradition +is as apt to mislead as to lead well. The cleft between the theology +of the Rig Veda and that of the Br[=a]hmanas, even from the point of +view of the mass of hymns that comprise the former, is too great to +allow us with any content to explain the conceptions of the one by +those of the other. A tradition always is useful when nothing else +offers itself, but traditional beliefs are so apt to take the color of +new eras that they should be employed only in the last emergency, and +then with the understanding that they are of very hypothetical value. + +In conclusion a practical question remains to be answered. In the few +cases where the physical basis of a Rig Vedic deity is matter of +doubt, it is advisable to present such a deity in the form in which he +stands in the text or to endeavor historically to elucidate the figure +by searching for his physical prototype? We have chosen the former +alternative, partly because we think the latter method unsuitable to a +handbook, since it involves many critical discussions of theories of +doubtful value. But this is not the chief reason. Granted that the +object of study is simply to know the Rig Veda, rightly to grasp the +views held by the poets, and so to place oneself upon their plane of +thought, it becomes obvious that the farther the student gets from +their point of view the less he understands them. Nay, more, every bit +of information, real as well as fancied, which in regard to the poets' +own divinities furnishes one with more than the poets themselves knew +or imagined, is prejudicial to a true knowledge of Vedic beliefs. Here +if anywhere is applicable that test of desirable knowledge formulated +as _das Erkennen des Erkannten_. To set oneself in the mental sphere +of the Vedic seers, as far as possible to think their thoughts, to +love, fear, and admire with them--this is the necessary beginning of +intimacy, which precedes the appreciation that gives understanding. + + +DIVISIONS OF THE SUBJECT. + +After the next chapter, which deals with the people and land, we shall +begin the examination of Hindu religions with the study of the beliefs +and religious notions to be found in the Rig Veda. Next to the Rig +Veda in time stands the Atharva Veda, which represents a growing +demonology in contrast with _soma_-worship and theology; sufficiently +so at least to deserve a special chapter. These two Vedic Collections +naturally form the first period of Hindu religion. + +The Vedic period is followed by what is usually termed Brahmanism, the +religion that is inculcated in the rituals called Br[=a]hmana and its +later development in the Upanishads. These two classes of works, +together with the Yajur Veda, will make the next divisions of the +whole subject. The formal religion of Brahmanism, as laid down for +popular use and instruction in the law-books, is a side of Brahmanic +religion that scarcely has been noticed, but it seems to deserve all +the space allotted to it in the chapter on 'The Popular Brahmanic +Faith.' We shall then review Jainism and Buddhism, the two chief +heresies. Brahmanism penetrates the great epic poem which, however, in +its present form is sectarian in tendency, and should be separated as +a growth of Hinduism from the literature of pure Brahmanism. +Nevertheless, so intricate and perplexing would be the task of +unraveling the theologic threads that together make the yarn of the +epic, and in many cases it would be so doubtful whether any one thread +led to Brahmanism or to the wider and more catholic religion called +Hinduism, that we should have preferred to give up the latter name +altogether, as one that was for the most part idle, and in some degree +misleading. Feeling, however, that a mere manual should not take the +initiative in coining titles, we have admitted this unsatisfactory +word 'Hinduism' as the title of a chapter which undertakes to give a +comprehensive view of the religions endorsed by the many-centuried +epic, and to explain their mutual relations. As in the case of the +'Popular Faith,' we have had here no models to go upon, and the mass +of matter which it was necessary to handle--the great epic is about +eight times as long as the Iliad and Odyssey put together--must be our +excuse for many imperfections of treatment in this part of the work. +The reader will gain at least a view of the religious development as +it is exhibited in the literature, and therefore, as, far as possible, +in chronological order. The modern sects and the religions of the hill +tribes of India form almost a necessary supplement to these nobler +religions of the classical literature; the former because they are the +logical as well as historical continuation of the great Hindu +sectarian schisms, the latter because they give the solution of some +problems connected with Çivaism, and, on the other hand, offer useful +un-Aryan parallels to a few traits which have been preserved in the +earliest period of the Aryans.[28] + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Megasthenes, Fr. XLI, ed. Schwanbeck.] + + [Footnote 2: Epic literature springs from lower castes than + that of the priest, but it has been worked over by + sacerdotal revisers till there is more theology than epic + poetry in it.] + + [Footnote 3: See Weber, _Sanskrit Literature_, p. 224; + Windisch, _Greek Influence on Indian Drama_; and Lévi, _Le + théâtre indien_. The date of the Renaissance is given as + "from the first century B.C. to at least the third century + A.D." (_India_, p. 281). Extant Hindu drama dates only from + the fifth century A.D. We exclude, of course, from "real + literature" all technical hand-books and commentaries.] + + [Footnote 4: Jacobi, in Roth's _Festgruss_, pp. 72, 73 + (1893); Whitney, _Proceed. A.O.S._, 1894, p. lxxii; Perry, + _P[=u]shan,_ in the _Drisler Memorial_; Weber, _Vedische + Beiträge._] + + [Footnote 5: Westergaard, _Ueber Buddha's Todesjahr_. The + prevalent opinion is that Buddha died in 477 or 480 B.C.] + + [Footnote 6: It must not be forgotten in estimating the + _broad_ mass of Br[=a]hmanas and S[=u]tras that each as a + school represents almost the whole length of its period, and + hence one school alone should measure the time from end to + end, which reduces to very moderate dimensions the + literature to be accounted for in time.] + + [Footnote 7: _'Rig Veda Collection'_ is the native name for + that which in the Occident is called Rig Veda, the latter + term embracing, to the Hindu, all the works (Br[=a]hmanas, + S[=u]tras, etc.) that go to explain the 'Collection' (of + hymns).] + + [Footnote 8: Schroeder, _Indiens Literatur und Cultur,_ + p.291, gives: Rig-Veda, 2000-1000 B.C.; older Br[=a]hmanas, + 1000-800; later Br[=a]hmanas and Upanishads, 800-600; + S[=u]tras, 600-400 or 300.] + + [Footnote 9: _Principles of Sociology_, I. P.448 (Appleton, + 1882).] + + [Footnote 10: Ib. p. 398.] + + [Footnote 11: Ib. p. 427.] + + [Footnote 12: Ib. p. 824.] + + [Footnote 13: Ib.] + + [Footnote 14: Ib. p. 821.] + + [Footnote 15: Compare Muir, _Original Sanskrit Texts_, V. p. + 412 ff., where are given the opinions of Pfleiderer, Pictet, + Roth, Scherer, and others.] + + [Footnote 16: ZDMG., vi. 77: "Ein alter gemeinsam arischer + [indo-iranic], ja vielleicht gemeinsam indo-germanischer + oberster Gott, Varuna-Ormuzd-Uranos."] + + [Footnote 17: In his _Science of Language_, Müller speaks of + the early poets who "strove in their childish way to pierce + beyond the limits of this finite world." Approvingly cited, + SBE. xxxii. p. 243 (1891).] + + [Footnote 18: The over view may be seen in Müller's _Lecture + on the Vedas_ (Chips, I. p. 9): "A collection made for its + own sake, and not for the sake of any sacrificial + performance." For Pischel's view compare _Vedische Studien_, + I. Preface.] + + [Footnote 19: Bloomfield, JAOS xv. p. 144.] + + [Footnote 20: Compare Barth (Preface): "A literature + preeminently sacerdotal.... The poetry ... of a singularly + refined character, ... full of ... pretensions to + mysticism," etc.] + + [Footnote 21: _Iran und Turan_, 1889; _Vom Pontus bis zum + Indus_, 1890; _Vom Aral bis zur Gang[=a]_ 1892.] + + [Footnote 22: Or "all-possessing" [Whitney]. The metre of + the translation retains the number of feet in the original. + Four [later added] stanzas are here omitted.] + + [Footnote 23: So P.W. possibly "by reason of [the sun's] + rays"; _i.e._, the stars fear the sun as thieves fear light. + For 'Heaven,' here and below, see the third chapter.] + + [Footnote 24: Yoked only by him; literally "self-yoked." + Seven is used in the Rig Veda in the general sense of + "many," as in Shakespeare's "a vile thief this seven + years."] + + [Footnote 25: _jet[=a]ram [=a]par[=a]jitam_.] + + [Footnote 26: The rain, see next note.] + + [Footnote 27: After this stanza two interpolated stanzas are + here omitted. Grassman and Ludwig give the epithet + "fearless" to the gods and to Vala, respectively. But + compare I.6.7, where the same word is used of Indra. For the + oft-mentioned act of cleaving the cave, where the dragon Val + or Vritra (the restrainer or envelopper) had coralled the + kine(i.e. without metaphor, for the act of freeing the + clouds and letting loose the rain), compare I.32.2, where of + Indra it is said: "He slew the snake that lay upon the + mountains ... like bellowing kine the waters, swiftly + flowing, descended to the sea"; and verse 11: "Watched by + the snake the waters stood ... the waters' covered cave he + opened wide, what time he Vritra slew."] + + [Footnote 28: Aryan, Sanskrit _aryà , árya_, Avestan _airya_, + appears to mean the loyal or the good, and may be the + original national designation, just as the Medes were long + called [Greek: _Arioi_]. In late Sanskrit _[=a]rya_ is + simply 'noble.' The word survives, perhaps, in [Greek: + _aristos_], and is found in proper names, Persian + Ariobarzanes, Teutonic Ariovistus; as well as in the names + of people and countries, Vedic [=A]ryas, [=I]ran, Iranian; + (doubtful) Airem, Erin, Ireland. Compare Zimmer, BB. iii. p. + 137; Kaegi, _Der Rig Veda_, p. 144 (Arrowsmith's + translation, p. 109). In the Rig Veda there is a god + Aryaman, 'the true,' who forms with Mitra and Varuna a triad + (see below). Windisch questions the propriety of identifying + [=I]ran with Erin, and Schrader (p. 584^2) doubts whether + the Indo-Europeans as a body ever called themselves Aryans. + We employ the latter name because it is short.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +PEOPLE AND LAND. + + +The Aryan Hindus, whose religions we describe in this volume[1], +formed one of the Aryan or so-called Indo-European peoples. To the +other peoples of this stock, Persians, Armenians, Greeks, Italians, +Kelts, Teutons, Slavs, the Hindus were related closely by language, +but very remotely from the point of view of their primitive religion. +Into India the Aryans brought little that was retained in their +religious systems. A few waning gods, the worship of ancestors, and +some simple rites are common to them and their western relations; but +with the exception of the Iranians (Persians), their religious +connection with cis-Indic peoples is of the slightest. With the +Iranians, the Hindus (that were to be) appear to have lived longest in +common after the other members of the Aryan host were dispersed to +west and south[2]. They stand in closer religious touch with these, +their nearest neighbors, and in the time of the Rig Veda (the Hindus' +earliest literature) there are traces of a connection comparatively +recent between the pantheons of the two nations. + +According to their own, rather uncertain, testimony, the Aryans of the +Rig Veda appear to have consisted of five tribal groups[3]. These +groups, _janas_, Latin gens, are subdivided into _viças_, Latin vicus, +and these, again, into _gr[=a]mas_. The names, however, are not +employed with strictness, and _jana_, etymologically gens but +politically tribus, sometimes is used as a synonym of _gr[=a]ma_.[4] +Of the ten books of the Rig-Veda seven are ascribed to various +priestly families. In the main, these books are rituals of song as +inculcated for the same rites by different family priests and their +descendants. Besides these there are books which are ascribed to no +family, and consist, in part, of more general material. The +distinction of priestly family-books was one, possibly, coextensive +with political demarcation. Each of the family-books represents a +priestly family, but it may represent, also, a political family. In at +least one case it represents a political body.[5] + +These great political groups, which, perhaps, are represented by +family rituals, were essentially alike in language, custom and +religion (although minor ritualistic differences probably obtained, as +well as tribal preference for particular cults); while in all these +respects, as well as in color and other racial peculiarities, the +Aryans were distinguished from the dark-skinned aborigines, with whom, +until the end of the Rig Vedic period, they were perpetually at war. +At the close of this period the immigrant Aryans had reduced to +slavery many of their unbelieving and barbarian enemies, and formally +incorporated them into the state organization, where, as captives, +slaves, or sons of slaves, the latter formed the "fourth caste." But +while admitting these slaves into the body politic, the priestly +Aryans debarred them from the religious congregation. Between the +Aryans themselves there is in this period a loosely defined +distinction of classes, but no system of caste is known before the +close of the first Vedic Collection. Nevertheless, the emphasis in +this statement lies strongly upon system, and it may not be quite idle +to say at the outset that the general caste-distinctions not only are +as old as the Indo-Iranian unity (among the Persians the same division +of priest, warrior and husbandman obtains), but, in all probability, +they are much older. For so long as there is a cult, even if it be of +spirits and devils, there are priests; and if there are chieftains +there is a nobility, such as one finds among the Teutons, nay, even +among the American Indians, where also is known the inevitable +division into priests, chiefs and commons, sometimes hereditary, +sometimes not. There must have been, then, from the beginning of +kingship and religious service, a division among the Aryans into +royalty, priests, and people, i.e., whoever were not acting as priests +or chieftains. When the people becomes agricultural, the difference +tends to become permanent, and a caste system begins. Now, the Vedic +Aryans appear in history at just the period when they are on the move +southwards into India; but they are no irrupting host. The battles led +the warriors on, but the folk, as a folk, moved slowly, not all +abandoning the country which they had gained, but settling there, and +sending onwards only a part of the people. There was no fixed line of +demarcation between the classes. The king or another might act as his +own priest--yet were there priestly families. The cow-boys might +fight--yet were there those of the people that were especially +'kingsmen,' _r[=a]janyas_, and these were, already, practically a +class, if not a caste[6]. These natural and necessary social +divisions, which in early times were anything but rigid, soon formed +inviolable groups, and then the caste system was complete. In the +perfected legal scheme what was usage becomes duty. The warrior may +not be a public priest; the priest may not serve as warrior or +husbandman. The farmer 'people' were the result of eliminating first +the priestly, and then the fighting factors from the whole body +politic. But these castes were all Aryans, and as such distinguished +most sharply, from a religious point of view, from the "fourth caste"; +whereas among themselves they were, in religion, equals. But they were +practically divided by interests that strongly affected the +development of their original litanies. For both priest and warrior +looked down on the 'people,' but priest and warrior feared and +respected each other. To these the third estate was necessary as a +base of supplies, and together they guarded it from foes divine and +mortal. But to each other they were necessary for wealth and glory, +respectively. So it was that even in the earliest period the religious +litany, to a great extent, is the book of worship of a warrior-class +as prepared for it by the priest. Priest and king--these are the main +factors in the making of the hymns of the Rig Veda, and the gods +lauded are chiefly the gods patronized by these classes. The third +estate had its favorite gods, but these were little regarded, and were +in a state of decadence. The slaves, too, may have had their own gods, +but of these nothing is known, and one can only surmise that here and +there in certain traits, which seem to be un-Aryan, may lie an +unacknowledged loan from the aborigines. + +Between the Rig Veda and the formation or completion of the next Veda, +called the Atharvan, the interval appears to have been considerable, +and the inherent value of the religion inculcated in the latter can be +estimated aright only when this is weighed together with the fact, +that, as is learned from the Atharvan's own statements, the Aryans +were now advanced further southwards and eastwards, had discovered a +new land, made new gods, and were now more permanently established, +the last a factor of some moment in the religious development. +Indications of the difference in time may be seen in the geographical +and physical limitations of the older period as compared with those of +the later Atharvan. When first the Aryans are found in India, at the +time of the Rig Veda, they are located, for the most part, near the +Upper Indus (Sindhu). The Ganges, mentioned but twice, is barely +known. On the west the Aryans lingered in East Kabulistan (possibly in +Kashmeer in the north); and even Kandahar appears, at least, to be +known as Aryan. That is to say, the 'Hindus' were still in +Afghanistan, although the greater mass of the people had already +crossed the Indus and were progressed some distance to the east of the +Punj[=a]b. That the race was still migrating may be seen from the +hymns of the Rig Veda itself.[7] Their journey was to the south-east, +and both before and after they reached the Indus they left +settlements, chiefly about the Indus and in the Punj[=a]b (a +post-Vedic group), not in the southern but in the northern part of +this district.[8] + +The Vedic Aryans of this first period were acquainted with the Indus, +Sutlej (Çutudri), Beas (Vip[=a]ç, [Greek: Yphtsis]), Ravi (Parushni or +Ir[=a]vat[=i]); the pair of rivers that unite and flow into the Indus, +viz.: Jhelum (Vitast[=a], Behat), and Chin[=a]b (Asikni,[9] Akesines); +and knew the remoter Kubh[=a] ([Greek: Kôphhên], Kabul) and the +northern Suv[=a]stu (Swat); while they appear to have had a legendary +remembrance of the Ras[=a], Avestan Ra[.n]ha (Rangha), supposed by +some to be identical with the Araxes or Yaxartes, but probably (see +below) only a vague 'stream,' the old name travelling with them on +their wanderings; for one would err if he regarded similarity or even +identity of appellation as a proof of real identity.[10] West of the +Indus the Kurum and Gomal appear to be known also. Many rivers are +mentioned of which the names are given, but their location is not +established. It is from the district west of the Indus that the most +famous Sanskrit grammarian comes, and long after the Vedas an Indic +people are known in the Kandahar district, while Kashmeer was a late +home of culture. The Sarasvati river, the name of which is transferred +at least once in historical times, may have been originally one with +the Arghand[=a]b (on which is Kandahar), for the Persian name of this +river (_s_ becomes _h_) is Harahvati (Arachotos, Arachosia), and it is +possible that it was really this river, and not the Indus which was +first lauded as the Sarasvat[=i]. In that case there would be a +perfect parallel to what has probably happened in the case of the +Ras[=a], the name--in both cases meaning only 'the stream' (like +Rhine, Arno, etc.)--being transferred to a new river. But since the +Iranian Harahvati fixes the first river of this name, there is here a +stronger proof of Indo-Iranian community than is furnished by other +examples.[11] + +These facts or suggestive parallels of names are of exceeding +importance. They indicate between the Vedic Aryans and the Iranians a +connection much closer than usually has been assumed. The bearings of +such a connection on the religious ideas of the two peoples are +self-evident, and will often have to be touched upon in the course of +this history. It is of less importance, from the present point of +view, to say how the Aryans entered India, but since this question is +also connected with that of the religious environment of the first +Hindu poets, it will be well to state that, although, as some scholars +maintain, and as we believe, the Hindus may have come with the +Iranians through the open pass of Herat (Haraiva, Haroyu), it is +possible that they parted from the latter south of the Hindukush[12] +(descending through the Kohistan passes from the north), and that the +two peoples thence diverged south-east and south-west respectively. +Neither assumption would prevent the country lying between the +Harahvati and Vitast[=a][13] from being, for generations, a common +camping-ground for both peoples, who were united still, but gradually +diverging. This seems, at least, to be the most reasonable explanation +of the fact that these two rivers are to each people their farthest +known western and eastern limits respectively. With the exception of +the vague and uncertain Ras[=a], the Vedic Hindu's geographical +knowledge is limited by Kandahar in the west, as is the Iranian's in +the east by the Vitast[=a].[14] North of the Vitast[=a] Mount Tricota +(Trikakud, 'three peaks') is venerated, and this together with a Mount +M[=u]javat, of which the situation is probably in the north, is the +extent of modern knowledge in respect of the natural boundaries of the +Vedic people. One hears, to be sure, at a later time, of 'northern +Kurus,' whose felicity is proverbial; and it is very tempting to find +in this name a connection with the Iranian Kur, but the Kurus, like +the Ras[=a] and Sarasvat[=i], are re-located once (near Delhi), and no +similarity of name can assure one of a true connection. If not +coincidences, such likenesses are too vague to be valuable +historically.[15] + +Another much disputed point must be spoken of in connection with this +subject. In the Veda and in the Avesta there is mentioned the land of +the 'seven rivers.' Now seven rivers are often spoken of in the Rig +Veda, but only once does this term mean the country, while in the +'Hymn to the Rivers' no less than twenty-one streams are enumerated +(RV. X. 75). In order to make out the 'seven rivers' scholars have +made different combinations, that most in favor being Müller's, the +five rivers of the Punj[=a]b together with the Kabul and (Swat or) +Sarasvat[=i]. But in point of fact 'seven' quite as often means many, +as it does an exact number, and this, the older use, may well be +applied here. It is quite impossible to identify the seven, and it is +probable that no Vedic poet ever imagined them to be a group of this +precise number. It would be far easier to select a group of seven +conspicuous rivers, if anywhere, on the west of the Indus. A very +natural group from the Iranian side would be the Her[=i]r[=u]d, +Hilmund, Arghand[=a]b, Kurum, Kabul, Indus, and Vitast[=a]. Against +this, however, can be urged that the term 'seven rivers' may be +Bactrian, older than the Vedic period; and that, in particular, the +Avesta distinguishes Vaikerta, Urva, and other districts from the +'seven rivers.' It is best to remain uncertain in so doubtful a +matter, bearing in mind that even Kurukshetra, the 'holy land,' is +said to-day to be watered by 'seven streams,' although some say nine; +apropos of which fact Cunningham remarks, giving modern examples, that +"the Hindus invariably assign seven branches to all their rivers."[16] + +Within the Punj[=a]b, the Vedic Aryans, now at last really 'Hindus,' +having extended themselves to the Çutudri (Çatadru, Sutlej), a +formidable barrier, and eventually having crossed even this, the last +tributary's of the Indus, descended to the jumna (Yamun[=a]), over the +little stream called 'the Rocky' (Drishadvat[=i]) and the lesser +Sarasvat[=i], southeast from Lahore and near Delhi, in the region +Kurukshetra, afterwards famed as the seat of the great epic war, and +always regarded as holy in the highest degree. + +Not till the time of the Atharva Veda do the Aryans appear as far east +as Benares (V[=a]r[=a]nas[=i], on the 'Varan[=a]vat[=i]'), though the +Sarayu is mentioned in the Rik. But this scarcely is the tributary of +the Ganges, Gogra, for the name seems to refer to a more western +stream, since it is associated with the Gomat[=i] (Gomal). One may +surmise that in the time of the Rig Veda the Aryans knew only by name +the country east of Lucknow. It is in the Punj[=a]b and a little to +the west and east of it (how far it is impossible to state with +accuracy) where lies the real theatre of activity of the Rig Vedic +people. + +Some scholars believe that this people had already heard of the two +oceans. This point again is doubtful in the extreme. No descriptions +imply a knowledge of ocean, and the word for ocean means merely a +'confluence' of waters, or in general a great oceanic body of water +like the air. As the Indus is too wide to be seen across, the name may +apply in most cases to this river. An allusion to 'eastern and western +floods,'[17] which is held by some to be conclusive evidence for a +knowledge of the two seas, is taken by others to apply to the +air-oceans. The expression may apply simply to rivers, for it is said +that the Vip[=a]ç and Çutudr[=i] empty into the 'ocean', i.e., the +Indus or the Çutudr[=i]'s continuation.[18] One late verse alone +speaks of the Sarasvat[=i] pouring into the ocean, and this would +indicate the Arabian Sea.[19] Whether the Bay of Bengal was known, +even by hearsay and in the latest time of this period, remains +uncertain. As a body the Aryans of the Rig Veda were certainly not +acquainted with either ocean. Some straggling adventurers probably +pushed down the Indus, but Zimmer doubtless is correct in asserting +that the popular emigration did not extend further south than the +junction of the Indus and the Pa[=n]canada (the united five +rivers).[20] The extreme south-eastern geographical limit of the Rig +Vedic people may be reckoned (not, however, in Oldenberg's opinion, +with any great certainty) as being in Northern Beh[=a]r (M[=a]gadha). +The great desert, Marusthala, formed an impassable southern obstacle +for the first immigrants.[21] + +On the other hand, the two oceans are well known to the Atharva Veda, +while the geographical (and hence chronological) difference between +the Rik and the Atharvan is furthermore illustrated by the following +facts: in the Rig Veda wolf and lion are the most formidable beasts; +the tiger is unknown and the elephant seldom alluded to; while in the +Atharvan the tiger has taken the lion's place and the elephant is a +more familiar figure. Now the tiger has his domicile in the swampy +land about Benares, to which point is come the Atharvan Aryan, but not +the Rig Vedic people. Here too, in the Atharvan, the panther is first +mentioned, and for the first time silver and iron are certainly +referred to. In the Rig Veda the metals are bronze and gold, silver +and iron being unknown.[22] Not less significant are the trees. The +ficus religiosa, the tree later called the 'tree of the gods' +(_deva-sadana, açvattha_), under which are fabled to sit the +divinities in heaven, is scarcely known in the Rig Veda, but is well +known in the Atharvan; while India's grandest tree, the _nyagrodha_, +ficus indica, is known to the Atharvan and Brahmanic period, but is +utterly foreign to the Rig Veda. Zimmer deems it no less significant +that fishes are spoken of in the Atharvan and are mentioned only once +in the Rig Veda, but this may indicate a geographical difference less +than one of custom. In only one doubtful passage is the north-east +monsoon alluded to. The storm so vividly described in the Rig Veda is +the south-west monsoon which is felt in the northern Punj[=a]b. The +north-east monsoon is felt to the southeast of the Punj[=a]b, possibly +another indication of geographical extension, withal within the limits +of the Rig Veda itself. + +The seat of culture shifts in the Brahmanic period, which follows that +of the Vedic poems, and is found partly in the 'holy land' of the +west, and partly in the east (Beh[=a]r, Tirhut).[23] The literature of +this period comes from Aryans that have passed out of the Punj[=a]b. +Probably, as we have said, settlements were left all along the line of +progress. Even before the wider knowledge of the post-Alexandrine +imperial age (at which time there was a north-western military +retrogression), and, from the Vedic point of view, as late as the end +of the Brahmanic period, in the time of the Upanishads, the northwest +seems still to have been familiarly known.[24] + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: We take this opportunity of stating that by the + religions of the Aryan Hindus we mean the religions of a + people who, undoubtedly, were full-blooded Aryans at first, + however much their blood may have been diluted later by + un-Aryan admixture. Till the time of Buddhism the religious + literature is fairly Aryan. In the period of "Hinduism" + neither people nor religion can claim to be quite Aryan.] + + [Footnote 2: If, as thinks Schrader, the Aryans' original + seat was on the Volga, then one must imagine the + Indo-Iranians to have kept together in a south-eastern + emigration.] + + [Footnote 3: That is to say, frequent reference is made to + 'five tribes.' Some scholars deny that the tribes are Aryan + alone, and claim that 'five,' like seven, means 'many.'] + + [Footnote 4: RV. III. 33. 11; 53. 12. Zimmer, _Altindisches + Leben_, p. 160, incorrectly identifies _viç_ with tribus + (Leist, _Rechtsgeschichte_, p. 105).] + + [Footnote 5: Viçv[=a]mitra. A few of the hymns are not + ascribed to priests at all (some were made by women; some by + 'royal-seers,' _i.e._ kings, or, at least, not priests).] + + [Footnote 6: Caste, at first, means 'pure,' and signifies + that there is a moral barrier between the caste and outcast. + The word now practically means class, even impure class. The + native word means 'color,' and the first formal distinction + was national, (white) Aryan and 'black-man.' The precedent + class-distinctions among the Aryans themselves became fixed + in course of time, and the lines between Aryans, in some + regards, were drawn almost as sharply as between Aryan and + slave.] + + [Footnote 7: Compare RV. iii. 33, and in I. 131. 5, the + words: 'God Indra, thou didst help thy suppliants; one river + after another they gained who pursued glory.'] + + [Footnote 8: Thomas, _Rivers of the Vedas_ (JRAS. xv. 357 + ff.; Zimmer, loc. cit. cap. 1).] + + [Footnote 9: Later called the Candrabh[=a]ga. For the Jumna + and Sarayu see below.] + + [Footnote 10: This is the error into which falls Brunnhofer, + whose theory that the Vedic Aryans were still settled near + the Caspian has been criticised above (p. 15).] + + [Footnote 11: Compare Geiger, _Ostiranische Cultur_, p. 81. + See also Muir, OST. ii. p. 355.] + + [Footnote 12: Lassen, I. p. 616, decided in favor of the + western passes of the Hindukush.] + + [Footnote 13: From Kandahar in Afghanistan to a point a + little west of Lahore. In the former district, according to + the Avesta, the dead are buried (an early Indian custom, not + Iranian).] + + [Footnote 14: Geiger identifies the Vita[=g]uhaiti or + Vitanghvati with the Oxus, but this is improbable. It lies + in the extreme east and forms the boundary between the true + believers and the 'demon-worshippers' (Yasht, 5, 77; Geiger, + _loc. cit._ p. 131, note 5). The Persian name is the same + with Vitast[=a], which is located in the Punj[=a]b.] + + [Footnote 15: On the Kurus compare Zimmer (loc. cit.), who + thinks Kashmeer is meant, and Geiger, loc. cit. p. 39. Other + geographical reminiscences may lie in Vedic and Brahmanic + allusions to Bactria, Balkh (AV.); to the Derbiker (around + Meru? RV.), and to Manu's mountain, whence he descended + after the flood (Naubandhana): _Çatapatha Br[=a]hmana_, I. + 8. 1, 6, 'Manu's descent'.] + + [Footnote 16: _Arch. Survey_, xiv. p. 89; Thomas, loc. cit. + p. 363.] + + [Footnote 17: RV. x. 136. 5.] + + [Footnote 18: RV. iii. 33. 2.] + + [Footnote 19: RV. vii. 95. 2. Here the Sarasvat[=i] can be + only the Indus.] + + [Footnote 20: Pa[=n]ca-nada, Punjnud, Persian 'Punj[=a]b,' + the five streams, Vitas[=a], Asikn[=i], Ir[=a]vat[=i], + Vip[=a]ç, Çutudr[=i]. The Punjnud point is slowly moving up + stream; Vyse, JRAS. x. 323. The Sarayu may be the + Her[=i]r[=u]d, Geiger, loc. cit. p. 72.] + + [Footnote 21: Muir, OST. ii. 351; Zimmer, loc. cit. p. 51 + identifies the _K[=i]katas_ of RV. iii. 53. 14 with the + inhabitants of Northern Beh[=a]r. Marusthala is called + simply 'the desert.'] + + [Footnote 22: The earlier _áyas_, Latin _aes_, means bronze + not iron, as Zimmer has shown, loc. cit. p. 51. Pischel, + _Vedische Studien_, I, shows that elephants are mentioned + more often than was supposed (but rarely in family-books).] + + [Footnote 23: Weber, _Indische Studien,_ I. p. 228; + Oldenberg, _Buddha_, pp. 399 ff., 410.] + + [Footnote 24: Very lately (1893) Franke has sought to show + that the P[=a]li dialect of India is in part referable to + the western districts (Kandahar), and has made out an + interesting case for his novel theory (ZDMG. xlvii. p. + 595).] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE RIG VEDA. THE UPPER GODS. + + +The hymns of the Rig Veda may be divided into three classes, those in +which are especially lauded the older divinities, those in which +appear as most prominent the sacrificial gods, and those in which a +long-weakened polytheism is giving place to the light of a clearer +pantheism. In each category there are hymns of different age and +quality, for neither did the more ancient with the growth of new +divinities cease to be revered, nor did pantheism inhibit the formal +acknowledgment of the primitive pantheon. The cult once established +persisted, and even when, at a later time, all the gods had been +reduced to nominal fractions of the All-god, their ritualistic +individuality still was preserved. The chief reason for this lies in +the nature of these gods and in the attitude of the worshipper. No +matter how much the cult of later gods might prevail, the other gods, +who represented the daily phenomena of nature, were still visible, +awe-inspiring, divine. The firmest pantheist questioned not the +advisability of propitiating the sun-god, however much he might regard +this god as but a part of one that was greater. Belief in India was +never so philosophical that the believer did not dread the lightning, +and seek to avert it by praying to the special god that wielded it. +But active veneration in later times was extended in fact only to the +strong Powers, while the more passive divinities, although they were +kept as a matter of form in the ceremonial, yet had in reality only +tongue-worshippers. + +With some few exceptions, however, it will be found impossible to say +whether any one deity belonged to the first pantheon. + +The best one can do is to separate the mass of gods from those that +become the popular gods, and endeavor to learn what was the character +of each, and what were the conceptions of the poets in regard both to +his nature, and to his relations with man. A different grouping of the +gods (that indicated below) will be followed, therefore, in our +exposition. + +After what has been said in the introductory chapter concerning the +necessity of distinguishing between good and bad poetry, it may be +regarded as incumbent upon us to seek to make such a division of the +hymns as shall illustrate our words. But we shall not attempt to do +this here, because the distinction between late mechanical and poetic +hymns is either very evident, and it would be superfluous to burden +the pages with the trash contained in the former,[1] or the +distinction is one liable to reversion at the hands of those critics +whose judgment differs from ours, for there are of course some hymns +that to one may seem poetical and to another, artificial. Moreover, we +admit that hymns of true feeling may be composed late as well as +early, while as to beauty of style the chances are that the best +literary production will be found among the latest rather than among +the earliest hymns. + +It would, indeed, be admissible, if one had any certainty in regard to +the age of the different parts of the Rig Veda, simply to divide the +hymns into early, middle, and late, as they are sometimes divided in +philological works, but here one rests on the weakest of all supports +for historical judgment, a linguistic and metrical basis, when one is +ignorant alike of what may have been accomplished by imitation, and of +the work of those later priests who remade the poems of their +ancestors. + +Best then, because least hazardous, appears to be the method which we +have followed, namely, to take up group by group the most important +deities arranged in the order of their relative importance, and by +studying each to arrive at a fair understanding of the pantheon as a +whole. The Hindus themselves divided their gods into highest, middle, +and lowest, or those of the upper sky, the atmosphere, and the earth. +This division, from the point of view of one who would enter into the +spirit of the seers and at the same time keep in mind the changes to +which that spirit gradually was subjected, is an excellent one. For, +as will be seen, although the earlier order of regard may have been +from below upwards, this order does not apply to the literary +monuments. These show on the contrary a worship which steadily tends +from above earthwards; and the three periods into which may be divided +all Vedic theology are first that of the special worship of sky-gods, +when less attention is paid to others; then that of the atmospheric +and meteorological divinities; and finally that of terrestrial powers, +each later group absorbing, so to speak, the earlier, and therewith +preparing the developing Hindu intelligence for the reception of the +universal god with whom closes the series. + +Other factors than those of an inward development undoubtedly were at +work in the formation of this growth. Especially prominent is the +amalgamation of the gods of the lower classes with those of the +priest-hood. Climatic environment, too, conditioned theological +evolution, if not spiritual advance. The cult of the mid-sphere god, +Indra, was partly the result of the changing atmospheric surroundings +of the Hindus as they advanced into India. The storms and the sun were +not those of old. The tempests were more terrific, the display of +divine power was more concentrated in the rage of the elements; while +appreciation of the goodness of the sun became tinged with +apprehension of evil, and he became a deadly power as well as one +beneficent. Then the relief of rain after drought gave to Indra the +character of a benign god as well as of a fearful one. Nor were +lacking in the social condition certain alterations which worked +together with climatic changes. The segregated mass of the original +people, the braves that hung about the king, a warrior-class rapidly +becoming a caste, and politically the most important caste, took the +god of thunder and lightning for their god of battle. The fighting +race naturally exalted to the highest the fighting god. Then came into +prominence the priestly caste, which gradually taught the warrior that +mind was stronger than muscle. But this caste was one of thinkers. +Their divinity was the product of reflection. Indra remained, but +yielded to a higher power, and the god thought out by the priests +became God. Yet it must not be supposed that the cogitative energy of +the Brahman descended upon the people's gods and suddenly produced a +religious revolution. In India no intellectual advance is made +suddenly. The older divinities show one by one the transformation that +they suffered at the hands of theosophic thinkers. Before the +establishment of a general Father-god, and long before that of the +pantheistic All-god, the philosophical leaven was actively at work. It +will be seen operative at once in the case of the sun-god, and, +indeed, there were few of the older divinities that were untouched by +it. It worked silently and at first esoterically. One reads of the +gods' 'secret names,' of secrets in theology, which 'are not to be +revealed,' till at last the disguise is withdrawn, and it is +discovered that all the mystery of former generations has been leading +up to the declaration now made public: 'all these gods are but names +of the One.' + + +THE SUN-GOD. + +The hymn which was translated in the first chapter gives an epitome of +the simpler conceptions voiced in the few whole hymns to the sun. But +there is a lower and a higher view of this god. He is the shining god +_par excellence_, the _deva, s[=u]rya_,[2] the red ball in the sky. +But he is also an active force, the power that wakens, rouses, +enlivens, and as such it is he that gives all good things to mortals +and to gods. As the god that gives life he (with others)[3] is the +author of birth, and is prayed to for children. From above he looks +down upon earth, and as with his one or many steeds he drives over the +firmament he observes all that is passing below. He has these, the +physical side and the spiritual side, under two names, the glowing +one, S[=u]rya, and the enlivener, Savitar;[4] but he is also the good +god who bestows benefits, and as such he was known, probably locally, +by the name of Bhaga. Again, as a herdsman's god, possibly at first +also a local deity, he is P[=u]shan (the meaning is almost the same +with that of Savitar). As the 'mighty one' he is Vishnu, who measures +heaven in three strides. In general, the conception of the sun as a +physical phenomenon will be found voiced chiefly in the family-books: +"The sightly form rises on the slope of the sky as the swift-going +steed carries him ... seven sister steeds carry him."[5] This is the +prevailing utterance. Sometimes the sun is depicted under a medley of +metaphors: "A bull, a flood, a red bird, he has entered his father's +place; a variegated stone he is set in the midst of the sky; he has +advanced and guards the two ends of space."[6] One after the other the +god appears to the poets as a bull, a bird,[7] a steed, a stone, a +jewel, a flood, a torch-holder,[8] or as a gleaming car set in heaven. +Nor is the sun independent. As in the last image of a chariot,[9] so, +without symbolism, the poet speaks of the sun as made to rise by +Varuna and Mitra: "On their wonted path go Varuna and Mitra when in +the sky they cause to rise Surya, whom they made to avert darkness"; +where, also, the sun, under another image, is the "support of the +sky."[10] Nay, in this simpler view, the sun is no more than the "eye +of Mitra Varuna,"[11] a conception formally retained even when the sun +in the same breath is spoken of as pursuing Dawn like a lover, and as +being the 'soul of the universe' (I. 115. 1-2). In the older passages +the later moral element is almost lacking, nor is there maintained the +same physical relation between Sun and Dawn. In the earlier hymns the +Dawn is the Sun's mother, from whom he proceeds.[12] It is the "Dawns +produced the Sun," in still more natural language;[13] whereas, the +idea of the lover-Sun following the Dawn scarcely occurs in the +family-books.[14] Distinctly late, also, is the identification of the +sun with the all-spirit _([=a]tm[=a],_ I. 115. 1), and the following +prayer: "Remove, O sun, all weakness, illness, and bad dreams." In +this hymn, X. 37. 14, S[=u]rya is the son of the sky, but he is +evidently one with Savitar, who in V. 82. 4, removes bad dreams, as in +X. 100. 8, he removes sickness. Men are rendered 'sinless' by the sun +(IV. 54. 3; X. 37. 9) exactly as they are by the other gods, Indra, +Varuna, etc. In a passage that refers to the important triad of sun, +wind and fire, X. 158. I ff., the sun is invoked to 'save from the +sky,' _i.e._ from all evils that may come from the upper regions; +while in the same book the sun, like Indra, is represented as the +slayer of demons _(asuras)_ and dragons; as the slayer, also, of the +poet's rivals; as giving long life to the worshipper, and as himself +drinking sweet _soma_. This is one of the poems that seem to be at +once late and of a forced and artificial character (X. 170). + +Although S[=u]rya is differentiated explicitly from Savitar (V. 81. 4, +"Savitar, thou joyest in S[=u]a's rays"), yet do many of the hymns +make no distinction between them. The Enlivener is naturally extolled +in fitting phrase, to tally with his title: "The shining-god, the +Enlivener, is ascended to enliven the world"; "He gives protection, +wealth and children" (II. 38.1; IV. 53. 6-7). The later hymns seem, as +one might expect, to show greater confusion between the attributes of +the physical and spiritual sun. But what higher power under either +name is ascribed to the sun in the later hymns is not due to a higher +or more developed homage of the sun as such. On the contrary, as with +many other deities, the more the praise the less the individual +worship. It is as something more than the sun that the god later +receives more fulsome devotion. And, in fact, paradoxical as it seems, +it is a decline in sun-worship proper that is here registered. The +altar-fire becomes more important, and is revered in the sun, whose +hymns, at most, are few, and in part mechanical. + +Bergaigne in his great work, _La Religion Védique_, has laid much +stress on sexual antithesis as an element in Vedic worship. It seems +to us that this has been much exaggerated. The sun is masculine; the +dawn, feminine. But there is no indication of a primitive antithesis +of male and female in their relations. What occurs appears to be of +adventitious character. For though sun and dawn are often connected, +the latter is represented first as his mother and afterwards as his +'wife' or mistress. Even in the later hymns, where the marital +relation is recognized, it is not insisted upon. But Bergaigne[15] is +right in saying that in the Rig Veda the sun does not play the part of +an evil power, and it is a good illustration of the difference between +Rik and Atharvan, when Ehni cites, to prove that the sun is like +death, only passages from the Atharvan and the later Brahmanic +literature.[16] + +When, later, the Hindus got into a region where the sun was deadly, +they said, "Yon burning sun-god is death," but in the Rig Veda' they +said, "Yon sun is the source of life,"[17] and no other conception of +the sun is to be found in the Rig Veda. + +There are about a dozen hymns to S[=u]rya, and as many to Savitar, in +the Rig Veda.[18] It is noteworthy that in the family-books the hymns +to Savitar largely prevail, while those to S[=u]rya are chiefly late +in position or content. Thus, in the family-books, where are found +eight or nine of the dozen hymns to Savitar, there are to S[=u]rya but +three or four, and of these the first is really to Savitar and the +Açvins; the second is an imitation of the first; the third appears to +be late; and the fourth is a fragment of somewhat doubtful antiquity. +The first runs as follows: "The altar-fire has seen well-pleased the +dawns' beginning and the offering to the gleaming ones; come, O ye +horsemen (Açvins), to the house of the pious man; the sun (S[=u]rya), +the shining-god, rises with light. The shining-god Savitar has +elevated his beams, swinging his banner like a good (hero) raiding for +cattle. According to rule go Varuna and Mitra when they make rise in +the sky the sun (S[=u]rya) whom they have created to dissipate +darkness, being (gods) sure of their habitation and unswerving in +intent. Seven yellow swift-steeds bear this S[=u]rya, the seer of all +that moves. Thou comest with swiftest steeds unspinning the web, +separating, O shining-god, the black robe. The rays of S[=u]rya +swinging (his banner) have laid darkness like a skin in the waters. +Unconnected, unsupported, downward extending, why does not this (god) +fall down? With what nature goes he, who knows (literally, 'who has +seen')? As a support he touches and guards the vault of the sky" (IV. +13). + +There is here, no more than in the early hymn from the first book, +translated in the first chapter, any worship of material phenomena. +S[=u]rya is worshipped as Savitar, either expressly so called, or with +all the attributes of the spiritual. The hymn that follows this[19] is +a bald imitation. In V. 47 there are more or less certain signs of +lateness, _e.g.,_ in the fourth stanza ("four carry him, ... and ten +give the child to drink that he may go," etc.) there is the juggling +with unexplained numbers, which is the delight of the later +priesthood. Moreover, this hymn is addressed formally to Mitra-Varuna +and Agni, and not to the sun-god, who is mentioned only in metaphor; +while the final words _námo divé_, 'obeisance to heaven,' show that +the sun is only indirectly addressed. One cannot regard hymns +addressed to Mitra-Varuna and S[=u]rya (with other gods) as primarily +intended for S[=u]rya, who in these hymns is looked upon as the +subject of Mitra and Varuna, as in VII. 62; or as the "eye" of the two +other gods, and 'like Savitar' in VII. 63. So in VII. 66. 14-16, a +mere fragment of a hymn is devoted exclusively to S[=u]rya as "lord of +all that stands and goes." But in these hymns there are some very +interesting touches. Thus in VII. 60. 1, the sun does not make +sinless, but he announces to Mitra and Varuna that the mortal is +sinless. There are no other hymns than these addressed to S[=u]rya, +save those in the first and tenth books, of which nine stanzas of I. +50 (see above) may be reckoned early, while I. 115, where the sun is +the soul of the universe, and at the same time the eye of +Mitra-Varuna, is probably late; and I. 163 is certainly so, wherein +the sun is identified with Yama, Trita, etc.; is 'like Varuna'; and is +himself a steed, described as having three connections in the sky, +three in the waters, three in the sea. In one of the hymns in the +tenth book, also a mystical song, the sun is the 'bird' of the sky, a +metaphor which soon gives another figure to the pantheon in the form +of Garutman, the sun-bird, of whose exploits are told strange tales in +the epic, where he survives as Garuda. In other hymns S[=u]rya averts +carelessness at the sacrifice, guards the worshipper, and slays +demons. A mechanical little hymn describes him as measuring the +'thirty stations.' Not one of these hymns has literary freshness or +beauty of any kind. They all belong to the class of stereotyped +productions, which differ in origin and content from the hymns first +mentioned.[20] + + +SAVITAR. + +Turning to Savitar one finds, of course, many of the same descriptive +traits as in the praise of S[=u]rya, his more material self. But with +the increased spirituality come new features. Savitar is not alone the +sun that rises; he is also the sun that sets; and is extolled as such. +There are other indications that most of the hymns composed for him +are to accompany the sacrifice, either of the morning or of the +evening. In II. 38, an evening song to Savitar, there are inner signs +that the hymn was made for rubrication, but here some fine verses +occur: "The god extends his vast hand, his arms above there--and all +here obeys him; to his command the waters move, and even the winds' +blowing ceases on all sides." Again: "Neither Indra, Varuna, Mitra, +Aryaman, Rudra, nor the demons, impair his law" We call attention here +to the fact that the Rig Veda contains a strong(stong in the original) +current of demonology, much stronger than has been pointed out by +scholars intent on proving the primitive loftiness of the Vedic +religion. + +In III. 62. 7-9 there are some verses to P[=u]shan, following which is +the most holy couplet of the Rig Veda, to repeat which is essentially +to repeat the Veda. It is the famous G[=a]yatr[=i] or S[=a]vitr[=i] +hymnlet (10-12): + + Of Savitar, the heavenly, that longed-for glory may we win, + And may himself inspire our prayers.[21] + +Whitney (loc. cit.) says of this hymn that it is not remarkable in any +way and that no good reason has ever been given for its fame. The good +reason for this fame, in our opinion, is that the longed-for glory was +interpreted later as a revealed indication of primitive pantheism, and +the verses were understood to express the desire of absorption into +the sun, which, as will be seen, was one of the first divine bodies to +be accepted as the type of the All-god. This is also the intent of the +stanzas added to I. 50 (above, p. 17), where S[=u]rya is "the highest +light, the god among gods," mystic words, taken by later philosophers, +and quite rightly, to be an expression of pantheism. The esoteric +meaning of the G[=a]yatr[=i] presumably made it popular among the +enlightened. Exoterically the sun was only the goal of the soul, or, +in pure pantheism, of the sight. In the following[22] the +sin-forgiving side of Savitar is developed, whereby he comes into +connection with Varuna: + + God Savitar deserveth now a song from us; + To-day, with guiding word, let men direct him here. + He who distributes gifts unto the sons of men, + Shall here on us bestow whatever thing is best; + For thou, O Savitar, dost first upon the gods + Who sacrifice deserve, lay immortality, + The highest gift, and then to mortals dost extend + As their apportionment a long enduring life. + Whatever thoughtless thing against the + race of gods We do in foolishness and human insolence, + Do thou from that, O Savitar, mid gods and men + Make us here sinless, etc. + +But if this song smacks of the sacrifice, still more so does V. 81, +where Savitar is the 'priest's priest,' the 'arranger of sacrifice,' +and is one with P[=u]shan. He is here the swift horse (see above) and +more famous as the divider of time than anything else. In fact this +was the first ritualistic glory of Savitar, that he divides the time +for sacrifice. But he receives more in the light of being the type of +other luminous divinities. In the next hymn, another late effort (V. +82; see the dream in vs. 4), there may be an imitation of the +G[=a]yatr[=i]. Savitar is here the All-god and true lord, and frees +from sin. There is nothing new or striking in the hymns VI. 71; VII. +38 and 45. The same golden hands, and references to the sacrifice +occur here. Allusions to the Dragon of the Deep, who is called upon +with Savitar (VII. 38. 5), and the identification of Savitar with +Bhaga (ib. 6) are the most important items to be gleaned from these +rather stupid hymns. In other hymns not in the family-books +(II.-VIII.), there is a fragment, X. 139. 1-3, and another, I. 22. +5-8. In the latter, Agni's (Fire's) title, 'son of waters,' is given +to Savitar, who is virtually identified with Agni in the last part of +the Rig Veda; and in the former hymn there is an interesting +discrimination made between Savitar and P[=u]shan, who obeys him. The +last hymn in the collection to Savitar, X. 149, although late and +plainly intended for the sacrifice (vs. 5), is interesting as showing +how the philosophical speculation worked about Savitar as a centre. +'He alone, he the son of the waters, knows the origin of water, whence +arose the world.' This is one of the early speculations which recur so +frequently in the Brahmanic period, wherein the origin of 'all this' +(the universe) is referred to water. A hymn to Savitar in the first +book contains as excellent a song as is given to the sun under this +name. It is neither a morning nor an evening song in its original +state, but mentions all the god's functions, without the later moral +traits so prominent elsewhere, and with the old threefold division +instead of thrice-three heavens. + + TO SAVITAR (I. 35). + + I call on Agni first (the god of fire) for weal; + I call on Mitra-Varuna to aid me here; + I call upon the Night, who quiets all that moves; + On Savitar, the shining god, I call for help. + +After this introductory invocation begins the real song in a different +metre. + + Through space of darkness wending comes he hither, + Who puts to rest th' immortal and the mortal, + On golden car existent things beholding, + The god that rouses, Savitar, the shining; + Comes he, the shining one, comes forward, upward, + Comes with two yellow steeds, the god revered, + Comes shining Savitar from out the distance, + All difficulties far away compelling. + His pearl-adorned, high, variegated chariot, + Of which the pole is golden, he, revered, + Hath mounted, Savitar, whose beams are brilliant, + Against the darksome spaces strength assuming. + Among the people gaze the brown white-footed + (Steeds) that the chariot drag whose pole is golden. + All peoples stand, and all things made, forever, + Within the lap of Savitar, the heavenly. + + [There are three heavens of Savitar, two low ones,[23] + One, men-restraining, in the realm of Yama. + As on (his) chariot-pole[24] stand all immortals, + Let him declare it who has understood it!] + + Across air-spaces gazes he, the eagle, + Who moves in secret, th' Asura,[25] well-guiding, + Where is (bright) S[=u]rya now? who understands it? + And through which sky is now his ray extending? + + He looks across the earth's eight elevations,[26] + The desert stations three, and the seven rivers, + The gold-eyed shining god is come, th' Arouser, + To him that worships giving wealth and blessings. + + The golden-handed Savitar, the active one, + Goes earth and heaven between, compels demoniac powers, + To S[=u]rya gives assistance, and through darksome space + Extends to heaven, etc.[27] + + +P[=U]SHAN AND BHAGA AS SUN-GODS. + +With P[=u]shan, the 'bestower of prosperity,' appears an ancient side +of sun-worship. While under his other names the sun has lost, to a +great extent, the attributes of a bucolic solar deity, in the case of +P[=u]shan he appears still as a god whose characteristics are bucolic, +war-like, and priestly, that is to say, even as he is venerated by the +three masses of the folk. It will not do, of course, to distinguish +too sharply between the first two divisions, but one can very well +compare P[=u]shan in these rôles with Helios guiding his herds, and +Apollo swaying armed hosts. It is customary to regard P[=u]shan as too +bucolic a deity, but this is only one side of him. He apparently is +the sun, as herdsmen look upon him, and in this figure is the object +of ridicule with the warrior-class who, especially in one family or +tribe, take a more exalted view of him. Consequently, as in the case +of Varuna, one need not read into the hymns more than they offer to +see that, not to speak of the priestly view, there are at least two +P[=u]shans, in the Rig Veda itself.[28] + +As the god 'with braided hair,' and as the 'guardian of cattle,' +P[=u]shan offers, perhaps, in these particulars, the original of +Rudra's characteristics, who, in the Vedic period, and later as +Rudra-Çiva, is also a 'guardian of cattle' and has the 'braided hair.' + +Bergaigne identifies P[=u]shan with Soma, with whom the poets were apt +to identify many other deities, but there seems to be little +similarity originally.[29] It is only in the wider circles of each +god's activity that the two approach each other. Both gods, it is +true, wed S[=u]rya (the female sun-power), and Soma, like P[=u]shan, +finds lost cattle. But it must be recognized once for all that +identical attributes are not enough to identify Vedic gods. Who gives +wealth? Indra, Soma, Agni, Heaven and Earth, Wind, Sun, the Maruts, +etc. Who forgives sins? Agni, Varuna, Indra, the Sun, etc. Who helps +in war? Agni, P[=u]shan, Indra, Soma, etc. Who sends rain? Indra, +Parjanya, Soma, the Maruts, P[=u]shan, etc. Who weds Dawn? The Açvins, +the Sun, etc. The attributes must be functional or the identification +is left incomplete. + +The great disparity in descriptions of P[=u]shan may be illustrated by +setting VI. 48. 19 beside X. 92. 13. The former passage merely +declares that P[=u]shan is a war-leader "over mortals, and like the +gods in glory"; the latter, that he is "distinguished by all divine +attributes"; that is to say, what has happened in the case of Savitar +has happened here also. The individuality of P[=u]shan dies out, but +the vaguer he becomes the more grandiloquently is he praised and +associated with other powers; while for lack of definite laudation +general glory is ascribed to him. The true position of P[=u]shan in +the eyes of the warrior is given unintentionally by one who says,[30] +"I do not scorn thee, O P[=u]shan," _i.e.,_ as do most people, on +account of thy ridiculous attributes. For P[=u]shan does not drink +_soma_ like Indra, but eats mush. So another devout believer says: +"P[=u]shan is not described by them that call him an eater of +mush."[31] The fact that he was so called speaks louder than the pious +protest. Again, P[=u]shan is simply bucolic. He uses the goad, which, +however, according to Bergaigne, is the thunderbolt! So, too, the cows +that P[=u]shan is described as guiding have been interpreted as clouds +or 'dawns.' But they may be taken without 'interpretation' as +real cows.[32] P[=u]shan drives the cows, he is armed with a goad, and +eats mush; bucolic throughout, yet a sun-god. It is on these lines +that his finding-qualities are to be interpreted. He finds lost +cattle,[33] a proper business for such a god; but Bergaigne will see +in this a transfer from P[=u]shan's finding of rain and of _soma_.[34] +P[=u]shan, too, directs the furrow[35] + +Together with Vishnu and Bhaga this god is invoked at sacrifices, (a +fact that says little against or for his original sun-ship),[36] and +he is intimately connected with Indra. His sister is his mistress, and +his mother is his wife (Dawn and Night?) according to the meagre +accounts given in VI. 55. 4-5.[37] As a god of increase he is invoked +in the marriage-rite, X. 85. 37. + +As Savitar and all sun-gods are at once luminous and dark, so +P[=u]shan has a clear and again a revered (terrible) appearance; he is +like day and night, like Dyaus (the sky); at one time bright, at +another, plunged in darkness, VI. 58. 1. Quite like Savitar he is the +shining god who "looks upon all beings and sees them all together"; he +is the "lord of the path," the god of travellers; he is invoked to +drive away evil spirits, thieves, footpads, and all workers of evil; +he makes paths for the winning of wealth; he herds the stars and +directs all with _soma_. He carries a golden axe or sword, and is +borne through air and water on golden ships; and it is he that lets +down the sun's golden wheel. These simpler attributes appear for the +most part in the early hymns. In what seem to be later hymns, he is +the mighty one who "carries the thoughts of all"; he is +like _soma_ (the drink), and attends to the filter; he is "lord of the +pure"; the "one born of old," and is especially called upon to help +the poets' hymns.[38] It is here, in the last part of the Rig Veda, +that he appears as [Greek: psuchopompós], who "goes and returns," +escorting the souls of the dead to heaven. He is the sun's messenger, +and is differentiated from Savitar in X. 139. 1.[39] Apparently he was +a god affected most by the Bharadv[=a]ja family (to which is ascribed +the sixth book of the Rig Veda) where his worship was extended more +broadly. He seems to have become the special war-god of this family, +and is consequently invoked with Indra and the Maruts (though this may +have been merely in his rôte as sun). The goats, his steeds, are also +an attribute of the Scandinavian war-god Thor (Kaegi, _Rig Veda_, note +210), so that his bucolic character rests more in his goad, food, and +plough. + +Bhaga is recognized as an [=A]ditya (luminous deity) and was perhaps a +sun-god of some class, possibly of all, as the name in Slavic is still +kept in the meaning 'god,' literally 'giver.' In the Rig Veda the word +means, also, simply god, as in _bhágabhakta_, 'given by gods'; but as +a name it is well known, and when thus called Bhaga is still the +giver, 'the bestower' _(vidhart[=á])_. As _bhaga_ is also an epithet +of Savitar, the name may not stand for an originally distinct +personality. Bhaga has but one hymn.[40] There is in fact no reason +why Bhaga should be regarded as a sun-god, except for the formal +identification of him as an [=A]dityà , that is as the son of Aditi +(Boundlessness, see below); but neither S[=u]rya nor Savitar is +originally an [=A]dityà , and in Iranic _bagha_ is only an epithet of +Ormuzd. + + + HYMNS TO P[=U]SHAN AND BHAGA. + + To P[=U]SHAN (vi. 56). + + The man who P[=u]shan designates + With words like these, 'mush-eater he,' + By him the god is not described. + + With P[=u]shan joined in unison + That best of warriors, truest lord, + Indra, the evil demons slays. + + 'T is he, the best of warriors, drives + The golden chariot of the sun + Among the speckled kine (the clouds). + + Whate'er we ask of thee to-day, + O wonder-worker, praised and wise, + Accomplish thou for us that prayer. + + And this our band, which hunts for kine,[41] + Successful make for booty's gain; + Afar, O P[=u]shan, art thou praised. + + We seek of thee success, which far + From ill, and near to wealth shall be; + For full prosperity to-day; + And full prosperity the morn.[42] + + + To BHAGA (vii. 41). + + Early on Agni call we, early Indra call; + Early call Mitra, Varuna, the Horsemen twain; + Early, too, Bhaga, P[=u]shan, and the Lord of Strength; + And early Soma will we call, and Rudra too. + +This stanza has been prefixed to the hymn by virtue of the catch-word +'early' (in the morning), with which really begins this prosaic poem +(in different metre): + + The early-conquering mighty Bhaga call we, + The son of Boundlessness, the gift-bestower,[43] + Whom weak and strong, and e'en the king, regarding, + Cry _bhágam bhakshi_, 'give to me the giver.'[44] + + O Bhaga, leader Bhaga, true bestower, + O Bhaga, help this prayer, to us give (riches), + O Bhaga, make us grow in kine and horses, + O Bhaga, eke in men, men-wealthy be we! + + And now may we be rich, be _bhaga_-holders,[45] + Both at the (day's) approach, and eke at midday, + And at the sun's departure, generous giver. + The favor of the gods may we abide in. + + O gods, (to us) be Bhaga really _bhaga_,[46] + By means of him may we be _bhaga_-holders. + As such an one do all, O Bhaga, call thee, + As such, O Bhaga, be to-day our leader. + + May dawns approach the sacrifice, the holy + Place, like to Dadhikr[=a],[47] like horses active, + Which bring a chariot near; so, leading Bhaga, + Who finds good things, may they approach, and bring him. + +As this is the only hymn addressed to Bhaga, and as it proves itself +to have been made for altar service (in style as well as in special +mention of the ceremony), it is evident that Bhaga, although called +Aditi's son, is but a god of wealth and (like Ança, the Apportioner) +very remotely connected with physical functions. But the hymn appears +to be so late that it cannot throw much light on the original +conception of the deity. We rather incline to doubt whether Bhaga was +ever, strictly speaking, a sun-god, and think that he was made so +merely because the sun (Savitar) was called _bhaga_. A (Greek: Zehys) +Bagaios was worshipped by the Phrygians, while in the Avesta and as a +Slavic god Bhaga has no especial connection with the sun. It must be +acknowledged, however, that every form of the sun-god is especially +lauded for generosity. + + +VISHNU. + +In the person of Vishnu the sun is extolled under another name, which +in the period of the Rig Veda was still in the dawn of its glory. The +hymns to Vishnu are few; his fame rests chiefly on the three strides +with which he crosses heaven, on his making fast the earth, and on his +munificence.[48] He, too, leads in battle and is revered under the +title Çipivishta,[49] of unknown significance, but meaning literally +'bald.' Like Savitar he has three spaces, two called earthly, and one, +the highest, known only to himself. His greatness is inconceivable, +and he is especially praised with Indra, the two being looked upon as +masters of the world.[50] His highest place is the realm of the +departed spirits.[51] The hymns to him appear to be late (thus I. 155. +6, where, as the year, he has four seasons of ninety days each). Like +P[=u]shan (his neighbor in many lauds) he is associated in a late hymn +with the Maruts (V. 87). His later popularity lies in the importance +of his 'highest place' (or step) being the home of the departed +spirits, where he himself dwells, inscrutable. This led to the +spirit's union with the sun, which, as we have said, is one of the +first phases of the pantheistic doctrine. In the family-books Vishnu +gets but two hymns, both in the same collection, and shares one more +with Indra (VII. 99-100; VI. 69). In some of the family-collections, +notably in that of the Visvamitras, he is, if not unknown, almost +ignored. As Indra's friend he is most popular with the Kanva family, +but even here he has no special hymn. + + None born, God Vishnu, and none born hereafter + E'er reaches to the limit of thy greatness; + Twas thou establish'st yon high vault of heaven, + Thou madest fast the earth's extremest mountain. (VII. 99. 2.) + + Three steps he made, the herdsman sure, + Vishnu, and stepped across (the world). (I. 22. i8.) + + The mighty deeds will I proclaim of Vishnu, + Who measured out the earth's extremest spaces, + And fastened firm the highest habitation, + Thrice stepping out with step all-powerful. + + O would that I might reach his path beloved, + Where joy the men who hold the gods in honor. (I. 154. 1, 5.) + +Under all these names and images the sun is worshipped. And it is +necessary to review them all to see how deeply the worship is +ingrained. The sun is one of the most venerable as he is the most +enduring of India's nature-gods.[52] In no early passage is the sun a +malignant god. He comes "as kine to the village, as a hero to his +steed, as a calf to the cow, as a husband to his wife."[53] He is the +'giver,' the 'generous one,' and as such he is Mitra, 'the friend,' +who with Varuna, the encompassing heaven, is, indeed, in the Rig Veda, +a personality subordinated to his greater comrade; yet is this, +perhaps, the sun's oldest name of those that are not descriptive of +purely physical characteristics. For Mithra in Persian keeps the +proof that this title was given to the Indo-Iranic god before the +separation of the two peoples. It is therefore (perhaps with Bhaga?) +one of the most ancient personal designations of the sun,--one, +perhaps, developed from a mere name into a separate deity. + + +HEAVEN AND EARTH. + +Not only as identical with the chief god of the Greeks, but also from +a native Indic point of view, it might have been expected that Dyaus +(Zeus), the 'shining sky,' would play an important rôle in the Hindu +pantheon. But such is not the case. There is not a single hymn +addressed independently to Dyaus, nor is there any hint of especial +preeminence of Dyaus in the half-dozen hymns that are sung to Heaven +and Earth together. The word _dyaus_ is used hundreds of times, but +generally in the meaning sky (without personification). There is, to +be sure, a formal acknowledgment of the fatherhood of Dyaus (among +gods he is father particularly of Dawn, the Açvins, and Indra), as +there is of the motherhood of Earth, but there is no further +exaltation. No exaggeration--the sign of Hindu enthusiasm--is +displayed in the laudation, and the epithet 'father' is given to half +a dozen Vedic gods, as in Rome Ma(r)spiter stands beside Jup(p)iter. +Certain functions are ascribed to Heaven and Earth, but they are of +secondary origin. Thus they bring to the god he sacrifice,[54] as does +Agni, and one whole hymn may thus be epitomized: 'By the ordinance of +Varuna made firm, O Heaven and Earth, give us blessings. Blest with +children and wealth is he that adores you twain. Give us sweet food, +glory and strength of heroes, ye who are our father and mother.'[55] + +The praise is vague and the benevolence is the usual 'bestowal of +blessings' expected of all the gods in return for praise. Other hymns +add to this something, from which one sees that these deities are not +regarded as self-created; for the seers of old, or, according to one +poet some wonderful divine artisan, "most wondrous worker of the +wonder-working gods," created them. Their chief office is to exercise +benign protection and bestow wealth. Once they are invited to come to +the sacrifice "with the gods," but this, of course, is not meant to +exclude them from the list of gods[56]. + +The antithesis of male and female, to Bergaigne's insistence on which +reference was made above (p. 43), even here in this most obvious of +forms, common to so many religions, shows itself so faintly that it +fails utterly to support that basis of sexual dualism on which the +French scholar lays so much stress. Dyaus does, indeed, occasionally +take the place of Indra, and as a bellowing bull impregnate earth, but +this is wholly incidental and not found at all in the hymns directly +lauding Heaven and Earth. Moreover, instead of "father and mother" +Heaven and Earth often are spoken of as "the two mothers," the +significance of which cannot be nullified by the explanation that to +the Hindu 'two mothers' meant two parents, and of two parents one must +be male,--Bergaigne's explanation. For not only is Dyaus one of the +'two mothers,' but when independently used the word Dyaus is male or +female indifferently. Thus in X. 93. I: "O Heaven and Earth be wide +outstretched for us, (be) like two young women." The position of +Heaven and Earth in relation to other divinities varies with the fancy +of the poet that extols them. They are either created, or they create +gods, as well as create men. In accordance with the physical reach of +these deities they are exhorted to give strength whereby the +worshipper shall "over-reach all peoples"; and, as parents, to be the +"nearest of the gods," to be "like father and mother in kindness." (I. +159; 160. 2, 5.) + +One more attribute remains to be noticed, which connects Dyaus morally +as well as physically with Savitar and Varuna. The verse in which this +attribute is spoken of is also not without interest from a +sociological point of view: "Whatsoever sin we have committed against +the gods, or against a friend, or against the chief of the clan +(family)[57] may this hymn to Heaven and Earth avert it." It was shown +above that Savitar removes sin. Here, as in later times, it is the +hymn that does this. The mystery of these gods' origin puzzles the +seer: "Which was first and which came later, how were they begotten, +who knows, O ye wise seers? Whatever exists, that they carry."[58] But +all that they do they do under the command of Mitra.[59] + +The most significant fact in connection with the hymns to Heaven and +Earth is that most of them are expressly for sacrificial intent. "With +sacrifices I praise Heaven and Earth" (I. 159. 1); "For the sake of +the sacrifice are ye come down (to us)" (IV. 56. 7). In VI. 70 they +are addressed in sacrificial metaphors; in VII. 53. 1 the poet says: +"I invoke Heaven and Earth with sacrifices," etc. The passivity of the +two gods makes them yield in importance to their son, the active +Savitar, who goes between the two parents. None of these hymns bears +the impress of active religious feeling or has poetic value. They all +seem to be reflective, studied, more or less mechanical, and to belong +to a period of theological philosophy. To Earth alone without Heaven +are addressed one uninspired hymn and a fragment of the same +character: "O Earth be kindly to us, full of dwellings and painless, +and give us protection."[60] In the burial service the dead are +exhorted to "go into kindly mother earth" who will be "wool-soft, like +a maiden."[61] The one hymn to Earth should perhaps be placed +parallel with similar meditative and perfunctory laudations in the +Homeric hymns: + + To EARTH (V. 84). + + In truth, O broad extended earth, + Thou bear'st the render of the hills,[62] + Thou who, O mighty mountainous one, + Quickenest created things with might. + Thee praise, O thou that wander'st far, + The hymns which light accompany, + Thee who, O shining one, dost send + Like eager steeds the gushing rain. + Thou mighty art, who holdest up + With strength on earth the forest trees, + When rain the rains that from thy clouds + And Dyaus' far-gleaming lightning come.[62] + +On the bearing of these facts, especially in regard to the secondary +greatness of Dyaus, we shall touch below. He is a god exalted more by +modern writers than by the Hindus! + + +VARUNA. + +Varuna has been referred already in connection with the sun-god and +with Heaven and Earth. It is by Varuna's power that they stand firm. +He has established the sun 'like a tree,' i.e., like a support, and +'made a path for it.'[63] He has a thousand remedies for ills; to his +realm not even the birds can ascend, nor wind or swift waters attain. +It is in accordance with the changeless order[64] of Varuna that the +stars and the moon go their regular course; he gives long life and +releases from harm, from wrong, and from sin.[65] + +Varuna is the most exalted of those gods whose origin is physical. His +realm is all above us; the sun and stars are his eyes; he sits above +upon his golden throne and sees all that passes below, even the +thoughts of men. He is, above all, the moral controller of the +universe. + + To VARUNA (i. 25). + + Howe'er we, who thy people are, + O Varuna, thou shining god, + Thy order injure, day by day, + Yet give us over nor to death, + Nor to the blow of angry (foe), + Nor to the wrath of (foe) incensed.[66] + Thy mind for mercy we release-- + As charioteer, a fast-bound steed-- + By means of song, O Varuna. + + * * * * * + + ('Tis Varuna) who knows the track + Of birds that fly within the air, + And knows the ships upon the flood;[67] + Knows, too, the (god) of order firm, + The twelve months with their progeny, + And e'en which month is later born;[68] + Knows, too, the pathway of the wind, + The wide, the high, the mighty (wind), + And knows who sit above (the wind). + + (God) of firm order, Varuna + His place hath ta'en within (his) home + For lordship, he, the very strong.[69] + Thence all the things that are concealed + He looks upon, considering + Whate'er is done and to be done. + May he, the Son of Boundlessness, + The very strong, through every day + Make good our paths, prolong our life. + + Bearing a garment all of gold, + In jewels clothed, is Varuna, + And round about him sit his spies; + A god whom injurers injure not, + Nor cheaters cheat among the folk, + Nor any plotters plot against; + Who for himself 'mid (other) men + Glory unequalled gained, and gains + (Such glory) also 'mid ourselves. + + Far go my thoughts (to him), as go + The eager cows that meadows seek, + Desiring (him), the wide-eyed (god). + Together let us talk again, + Since now the offering sweet I bring, + By thee beloved, and like a priest + Thou eat'st. + + I see the wide-eyed (god): + I see his chariot on the earth, + My song with joy hath he received. + + Hear this my call, O Varuna, + Be merciful to me today, + For thee, desiring help, I yearn. + + Thou, wise one, art of everything, + The sky and earth alike, the king; + As such upon thy way give ear, + And loose from us the (threefold) bond; + The upper bond, the middle, break, + The lower, too, that we may live. + +In the portrait of such a god as this one comes very near to +monotheism. The conception of an almost solitary deity, recognized as +watcher of wrong, guardian of right, and primitive creator, approaches +more closely to unitarianism than does the idea of any physical power +in the Rig Veda. + +To the poet of the Rig Veda Varuna is the enveloping heaven;[70] that +is, in distinction from Dyaus, from whom he +differs _toto caelo_, so to speak, the invisible world, which embraces +the visible sky. His home is there where lives the Unborn, whose place +is unique, above the highest heaven.[71] + +But it is exactly this loftiness of character that should make one shy +of interpreting Varuna as being originally the god that is presented +here. Can this god, 'most august of Vedic deities,' as Bergaigne and +others have called him, have belonged as such to the earliest stratum +of Aryan belief? + +There are some twelve hymns in the Rig Veda in Varuna's honor. Of +these, one in the tenth book celebrates Indra as opposed to Varuna, +and generally it is considered late, in virtue of its content. Of the +hymns in the eighth book the second appears to be a later imitation of +the first, and the first appears, from several indications, to be of +comparatively recent origin.[72] In the seventh book (vii. 86-89) the +short final hymn contains a distinctly late trait in invoking Varuna +to cure dropsy; the one preceding this is _in majorem gloriam_ of the +poet Vasistha, fitly following the one that appears to be as new, +where not only the mysticism but the juggling with "thrice-seven," +shows the character of the hymn to be recent.[73] In the first hymn of +this book the late doctrine of inherited sin stands prominently forth +(vii. 86. 5) as an indication of the time in which it was composed. +The fourth and sixth books have no separate hymns to Varuna. In the +fifth book the position of the one hymn to Varuna is one favorable to +spurious additions, but the hymn is not otherwise obnoxious to the +criticism of lateness. Of the two hymns in the second book, the first +is addressed only indirectly to Varuna, nor is he here very prominent; +the second (ii. 28) is the only song which stands on a par with the +hymn already translated. There remain the hymns cited above from the +first, not a family-book. It is, moreover, noteworthy that in ii. 28, +apart from the ascription of general greatness, almost all that is +said of Varuna is that he is a priest, that he causes rivers to flow, +and loosens the bond of sin.[74] The finest hymn to Varuna, from a +literary point of view, is the one translated above, and it is mainly +on the basis of this hymn that the lofty character of Varuna has been +interpreted by occidental writers. To our mind this hymn belongs to +the close of the first epoch of the three which the hymns represent. +That it cannot be very early is evident from the mention of the +intercalated month, not to speak of the image of Varuna eating the +sweet oblation 'like a priest.' Its elevated language is in sharp +contrast to that of almost all the other Varuna hymns. As these are +all the hymns where Varuna is praised alone by himself, it becomes of +chief importance to study him here, and not where, as in iii. 62, iv. +41, vi. 51, 67, 68, and elsewhere, he is lauded as part of a +combination of gods (Mitra or Indra united with Varuna). In the last +book of the Rig Veda there is no hymn to Varuna,[75] a time when +pantheistic monotheism was changing into pantheism, so that, in the +last stage of the Rig Veda, Varuna is descended from the height. +Thereafter he is god and husband of waters, and punisher of secret sin +(as in ii. 28). Important in contrast to the hymn translated above is +v. 85. + + +TO VARUNA. + +"I will sing forth unto the universal king a high deep prayer, dear to +renowned Varuna, who, as a butcher a hide, has struck earth apart +(from the sky) for the sun. Varuna has extended air in trees, strength +in horses, milk in cows, and has laid wisdom in hearts; fire in water; +the sun in the sky; _soma_ in the stone. Varuna has inverted his +water-barrel and let the two worlds with the space between flow (with +rain). With this (heavenly water-barrel) he, the king of every created +thing, wets the whole world, as a rain does a meadow. He wets the +world, both earth and heaven, when he, Varuna, chooses to milk out +(rain)--and then do the mountains clothe themselves with cloud, and +even the strongest men grow weak. Yet another great and marvellous +power of the renowned spirit (Asura) will I proclaim, this, that +standing in mid-air he has measured earth with the sun, as if with a +measuring rod. (It is due to) the marvellous power of the wisest god, +which none ever resisted, that into the one confluence run the rivers, +and pour into it, and fill it not. O Varuna, loosen whatever sin we +have committed to bosom-friend, comrade, or brother; to our own house, +or to the stranger; what (we) have sinned like gamblers at play, real +(sin), or what we have not known. Make loose, as it were, all these +things, O god Varuna, and may we be dear to thee hereafter." + +In this hymn Varuna is a water-god, who stands in mid-air and directs +the rain; who, after the rain, reinstates the sun; who releases from +sin (as water does from dirt?). According to this conception it would +seem that Varuna were the 'coverer' rather than the 'encompasser.' It +might seem probable even that Varuna first stood to Dyaus as cloud and +rain and night to shining day, and that his counterpart, (Greek: +Hohyranhos), stood in the same relation to (Greek: Zehys); that were +connecte(Greek: Hohyranhos)d with (Greek: hyrheô) and Varuna with +_vari_, river, _v[=a]ri_, water.[76] + +It is possible, but it is not provable. But no interpretation of +Varuna that ignores his rainy side can be correct. And this is fully +recognized by Hillebrandt. On account of his "thousand spies," _i.e.,_ +eyes, he has been looked upon by some as exclusively a night-god. But +this is too one-sided an interpretation, and passes over the +all-important, fact that it is only in conjunction with the sun +(Mitra), where there is a strong antithesis, that the night-side of +the god is exclusively displayed. Wholly a day-god he cannot be, +because he rules night and rain. He is _par excellence_ the Asura, +and, like Ahura Mazdao, has the sun for an eye, _i.e.,_ he is heaven. +But there is no Varuna in Iranian worship and Ahura is a sectarian +specialization. Without this name may one ascribe to India what is +found in Iran?[77] It has been suggested by Bergaigne that Varuna and +Vritra, the rain-holding demon, were developments from the same idea, +one revered as a god, the other, a demon; and that the word means +'restrainer,' rather than 'encompasser.' + +From all this it will be evident that to claim an original monotheism +as still surviving in the person of Varuna, is impossible; and this is +the one point we would make. Every one must admire the fine hymn in +which he is praised, but what there is in it does not make it seem +very old, and the intercalated month is decisive evidence, for here +alone in the Rig Veda is mentioned this month, which implies the +five-year cyclus, but this belongs to the Brahmanic period (Weber, +_Vedische Beiträge_, p. 38). Every explanation of the original nature +of Varuna must take into consideration that he is a rain-god, a +day-god, and a night-god in turn, and that where he is praised in the +most elevated language the rain-side disappears, although it was +fundamental, as may be seen by comparing many passages, where Varuna +is exhorted to give rain, where his title is 'lord of streams,' his +position that of 'lord of waters.' The decrease of Varuna worship in +favor of Indra results partly from the more peaceful god of rain +appearing less admirable than the monsoon-god, who overpowers with +storm and lightning, as well as 'wets the earth.' + +The most valuable contribution to the study of Varuna is Hillebrandt's +'Varuna and Mitra.' This author has succeeded in completely +overthrowing the old error that Varuna is exclusively a night-god.[78] +Quite as definitively he proves that Varuna is not exclusively a +day-god. + +Bergaigne, on the other hand, claims an especially tenebrous character +for Varuna.[79] Much has been written on luminous deities by scholars +that fail to recognize the fact that the Hindus regard the night both +as light and as dark. But to the Vedic poet the night, star-illumined, +was bright. Even Hillebrandt speaks of "the bright heaven" of day as +"opposed to the dark night-heaven in which Varuna also shows +himself."[80] + +In the Rig Veda, as it stands, with all the different views of Varuna +side by side, Varuna is a universal encompasser, moral as well as +physical. As such his physical side is almost gone. But the conception +of him as a moral watcher and sole lord of the universe is in so sharp +contrast to the figure of the rain-god, who, like Parjanya, stands in +mid-air and upsets a water-barrel, that one must discriminate even +between the Vedic views in regard to him.[81] + +It is Varuna who lets rivers flow; with Indra he is besought not to +let his weapons fall on the sinner; wind is his breath.[82] + +On the other hand he is practically identified with the sun.[83] How +ill this last agrees with the image of a god who 'lives by the spring +of rivers,' 'covers earth as with a garment,' and 'rises like a secret +sea (in fog) to heaven'![84] Even when invoked with the sun, Mitra, +Varuna still gives rain: "To whomsoever ye two are kindly disposed +comes sweet rain from heaven; we beseech you for rain ... you, the +thunderers who go through earth and heaven" (v. 63),--a strange prayer +to be addressed to a monotheistic god of light: "Ye make the lightning +flash, ye send the rain; ye hide the sky in cloud and rain" (_ib_.). +In the hymn preceding we read: "Ye make firm heaven and earth, ye give +growth to plants, milk to cows; O ye that give rain, pour down rain!" +In the same group another short hymn declares: "They are universal +kings, who have _ghee_ (rain) in their laps; they are lords of the +rain" (v. 68). In the next hymn: "Your clouds (cows) give nourishment, +your streams are sweet." Thus the twain keep the order of the seasons +(i. 2. 7-8) and protect men by the regular return of the rainy season. +Their weapons are always lightning (above, i. 152. 2, and elsewhere). +A short invocation in a family-book gives this prayer: "O +Mitra-Varuna, wet our meadows with _ghee_; wet all places with the +sweet drink" (iii. 62. 16). + +The interpretation given above of the office of Varuna as regards the +sun's path, is supported by a verse where is made an allusion to the +time "when they release the sun's horses," _i.e_., when after two or +three months of rain the sun shines again (v. 62. 1). In another verse +one reads: "Ye direct the waters, sustenance of earth and heaven, +richly let come your rains" (viii. 25. 6). + +Now there is nothing startling in this view. In opposition to the +unsatisfactory attempts of modern scholars, it is the traditional +interpretation of Mitra and Varuna that Mitra was god of day (_i.e.,_ +the sun), and Varuna the god of night (_i.e.,_ covering),[85] while +native belief regularly attributes to him the lordship of water[86]. +The 'thousand eyes' of Varuna are the result of this view. The other +light-side of Varuna as special lord of day (excluding the all-heaven +idea with the sun as his 'eye') is elsewhere scarcely referred to, +save in late hymns and VIII. 41.[87] In conjunction with the +storm-god, Indra, the wrath-side of Varuna is further developed. The +prayer for release is from 'long darkness,' _i.e._, from death; in +other words, may the light of life be restored (II. 27. 14-15; II. 28. +7). Grassmann, who believes that in Varuna there is an early +monotheistic deity, enumerates all his offices and omits the giving of +rain from the list;[88] while Ludwig derives his name from _var_ (= +velle) and defines him as the lofty god who wills! + +Varuna's highest development ushers in the middle period of the Rig +Veda; before the rise of the later All-father, and even before the +great elevation of Indra. But when S[=u]rya and Dawn were chief, then +Varuna was chiefest. There is no monotheism in the worship of a god +who is regularly associated as one of a pair with another god. Nor is +there in Varuna any religious grandeur which, so far as it exceeds +that of other divinities, is not evolved from his old physical side. +One cannot personify heaven and write a descriptive poem about him +without becoming elevated in style, as compared with the tone of one +that praises a rain-cloud or even the more confined personality of the +sun. There is a stylistic but not a metaphysical descent from this +earlier period in the 'lords of the atmosphere,' for, as we shall +show, the elevation of Indra and Agni denotes a philosophical +conception yet more advanced than the almost monotheistic greatness +attained by Varuna. But one must find the background to this earlier +period; and in it Varuna is not monotheistic. He is the covering sky +united with the sun, or he whose covering is rain and dew. Indra +treats Varuna as Savitar treats Mitra, supplants him; and for the same +reason, because each represents the same priestly philosophy. + +In the one extant hymn to Mitra (who is Indo-Iranian) it is Mitra that +'watches men,' and 'bears earth and heaven.' He is here (iii. 59) the +kindly sun, his name (Mitra, 'friend') being frequently punned upon. + +The point of view taken by Barth deserves comment. He says:[89] "It +has sometimes been maintained that the Varuna of the hymns is a god in +a state of decadence. In this view we can by no means concur; ... an +appeal to these few hymns is enough to prove that in the consciousness +of their authors the divinity of Varuna stood still intact." If, +instead of 'still intact,' the author had said, 'on the increase, till +undermined by still later philosophical speculation,' the true +position, in our opinion, would have been given. But a distinction +must be made between decadence of greatness and decadence of +popularity. It has happened in the case of some of the Vedic inherited +gods that exactly in proportion as their popularity decreased their +greatness increased; that is to say, as they became more vague and +less individual to the folk they were expanded into wider circles of +relationship by the theosophist, and absorbed other gods' majesty.[89] +Varuna is no longer a popular god in the Rig Veda. He is already a god +of speculation, only the speculation did not go far enough to suit the +later seers of Indra-Savitar-hood. Most certainly his worship, when +compared in popularity with that of Agni and Indra, is unequal. But +this is because he is too remote to be popular. + +What made the popular gods was a union of near physical force to +please the vulgar, with philosophical mysticism to please the priest, +and Indra and Agni fulfilled the conditions, while awful, but distant, +Varuna did not. + +In stating that the great hymn to Varuna is not typical of the +earliest stage of religious belief among the Vedic Aryans, we should +add one word in explanation. Varuna's traits, as shown in other parts +of the Rig Veda, are so persistent that they must be characteristic of +his original function. It does not follow, however, that any one hymn +in which he is lauded is necessarily older than the hymn cited from +the first book. The earliest stage of religious development precedes +the entrance into the Punj[=a]b. It may even be admitted that at the +time when the Vedic Aryans became Hindus, that is, when they settled +about the Indus, Varuna was the great god we see him in the great hymn +to his honor. But while the relation of the [=A]dityas to the spirits +of Ahura in Zoroaster's system points to this, yet it is absurd to +assume this epoch as the starting point of Vedic belief. Back of this +period lies one in which Varuna was by no means a monotheistic deity, +nor even the greatest divinity among the gods. The fact, noticed by +Hillebrandt, that the Vasishtha family are the chief praisers of +Varuna, may also indicate that his special elevation was due to the +theological conceptions of one clan, rather than of the whole people, +since in the other family books he is worshipped more as one of a +pair, Varuna and Mitra, heaven and sun. + + +ADITI. + +The mother of Varuna and the luminous gods is the 'mother of kings,' +Boundlessness (_aditi_)[90] a product of priestly theosophy. Aditi +makes, perhaps, the first approach to formal pantheism in India, for +all gods, men, and things are identified with her (i. 89. 10). Seven +children of Aditi are mentioned, to whom is added an eighth (in one +hymn).[91] The chief of these, who is, _par excellence_ the [=A]ditya +(son of Aditi), is Varuna. Most of the others are divinities of the +sun (x. 72). With Varuna stands Mitra, and besides this pair are found +'the true friend' Aryaman, Savitar, Bhaga, and, later, Indra, as sun +(?). Daksha and Ança are also reckoned as [=A]dityas, and S[=u]rya is +enumerated among them as a divinity distinct from Savitar. But the +word _aditi,_ 'unbound,' is often a mere epithet, of Fire, Sky, etc. +Moreover, in one passage, at least, _aditi_ simply means 'freedom' (i. +24. 1), less boundlessness than 'un-bondage'; so, probably, in i. 185. +3, 'the gift of freedom.' Ança seems to have much the same meaning +with Bhaga, _viz.,_ the sharer, giver. Daksha may, perhaps, be the +'clever,' 'strong' one ([Greek: dexios]), abstract Strength; as +another name of the sun (?). Aditi herself (according to Müller, +Infinity; according to Hillebrandt, Eternity) is an abstraction that +is born later than her chief sons, Sun and Varuna.[92] Zarathustra +(Zoroaster, not earlier than the close of the first Vedic period) took +the seven [=A]dityas and reformed them into one monotheistic +(dualistic) Spirit (Ahura), with a circle of six moral attendants, +thereby dynamically destroying every physical conception of them. + + +DAWN. + +We have devoted considerable space to Varuna because of the +theological importance with which is invested his personality. If one +admit that a monotheistic Varuna is the _ur_-Varuna, if one see in him +a sign that the Hindus originally worshipped one universally great +superior god, whose image effaced that of all the others,[93] then the +attempt to trace any orderly development in Hindu theology may as well +be renounced; and one must imagine that this peculiar people, starting +with monotheism descended to polytheism, and then leapt again into the +conception of that Father-god whose form, in the end of the Rig Vedic +period, out-varunas Varuna as encompasser and lord of all. If, on the +other hand, one see in Varuna a god who, from the 'covering,' heaven +and cloud and rain, from earliest time has been associated with the +sun as a pair, and recognize in Varuna's loftier form the product of +that gradual elevation to which were liable all the gods at the hands +of the Hindu priests; if one see in him at this stage the highest god +which a theology, based on the worship of natural phenomena, was able +to evolve; then, for the reception of those gods who overthrew him +from his supremacy, because of their greater freedom from physical +restraints, there is opened a logical and historical path--until that +god comes who in turn follows these half-embodied ones, and stands as +the first immaterial author of the universe--and so one may walk +straight from the physical beginning of the Rig Vedic religion to its +spiritual Brahmanic end. + +We turn now to one or two phenomena-deities that were never much +tampered with by priestly speculation; their forms being still as +bright and clear as when the first Vedic worshipper, waiting to salute +the rising sun, beheld in all her beauty, and thus praised + +THE DAWN.[94] + + As comes a bride hath she approached us, gleaming; + All things that live she rouses now to action. + A fire is born that shines for human beings; + Light hath she made, and driven away the darkness. + + Wide-reaching hath she risen, to all approaching, + And shone forth clothed in garments white and glistening, + Of gold her color, fair to see her look is, + Mother of kine,[95] leader of days she gleameth. + + Bearing the gods' eye, she, the gracious maiden, + --Leading along the white and sightly charger[96] + --Aurora, now is seen, revealed in glory, + With shining guerdons unto all appearing. + + O near and dear one, light far off our foes, and + Make safe to us our kines' wide pasture-places. + Keep from us hatred; what is good, that bring us, + And send the singer wealth, O generous maiden. + + With thy best beams for us do thou beam widely, + Aurora, goddess bright, our life extending; + And food bestow, O thou all goods possessing, + Wealth, too, bestowing, kine and steeds and war-cars + + Thou whom Vasistha's[97] sons extol with praises, + Fair-born Aurora, daughter of Dyaus, the bright one, + On us bestow thou riches high and mighty, + --O all ye gods with weal forever guard us. + +In the laudation of Varuna the fancy of the poet exhausts itself in +lofty imagery, and reaches the topmost height of Vedic religious +lyric. In the praise of Dawn it descends not lower than to interweave +beauty with dignity of utterance. Nothing in religious poetry more +graceful or delicate than the Vedic Dawn-hymns has ever been written. +In the daily vision of Dawn following her sister Night the poet sees +his fairest goddess, and in his worship of her there is love and +admiration, such as is evoked by the sight of no other deity. "She +comes like a fair young maiden, awakening all to labor, with an +hundred chariots comes she, and brings the shining light; gleam forth, +O Dawn, and give us thy blessing this day; for in thee is the life of +every living creature. Even as thou hast rewarded the singers of old, +so now reward our song" (I. 48). + +The kine of Dawn are the bright clouds that, like red cattle, wander +in droves upon the horizon. Sometimes the rays of light, which stretch +across the heaven, are intended by this image, for the cattle-herding +poets employed their flocks as figures for various ends. + +The inevitable selfish pessimism of unripe reflection is also woven +into the later Dawn-hymns: "How long will it be ere this Dawn, too, +shall join the Dawns departed? Vanished are now the men that saw the +Dawns of old; we here see her now; there will follow others who will +see her hereafter; but, O Dawn, beam here thy fairest; rich in +blessings, true art thou to friend and right. Bring hither (to the +morning sacrifice) the gods" (I. 113). + +Since the metre (here ignored) of the following hymn is not all of one +model, it is probable that after the fourth verse a new hymn began, +which was distinct from the first; but the argument from metre is +unconvincing, and in any event both songs are worth citing, since they +show how varied were the images and fancies of the poets: "The Dawns +are like heroes with golden weapons; like red kine of the morning on +the field of heaven; shining they weave their webs of light, like +women active at work; food they bring to the pious worshipper. Like a +dancing girl is the Dawn adorned, and opens freely her bosom; as a cow +gives milk, as a cow comes forth from its stall, so opens she her +breast, so comes she out of the darkness (verses 1-4) ...She is the +ever new, born again and again, adorned always with the same color. As +a player conceals the dice, so keeps she concealed the days of a man; +daughter of Heaven she wakes and drives away her sister (Night). Like +kine, like the waves of a flood, with sunbeams she appears. O rich +Dawn, bring us wealth; harness thy red horses, and bring to us +success" (I. 92). The homage to Dawn is naturally divided at times +with that to the sun: "Fair shines the light of morning; the sun +awakens us to toil; along the path of order goes Dawn arrayed in +light. She extendeth herself in the east, and gleameth till she fills +the sky and earth"; and again: "Dawn is the great work of Varuna and +Mitra; through the sun is she awakened" (I. 124; III. 61. 6-7). In the +ritualistic period Dawn is still mechanically lauded, and her beams +"rise in the east like pillars of sacrifice" (IV. 51. 2); but +otherwise the imagery of the selections given above is that which is +usually employed. The 'three dawns' occasionally referred to are, as +we have shown elsewhere,[98] the three dawn-lights, white, red, and +yellow, as they are seen by both the Vedic poet and the Florentine. + +Dawn becomes common and trite after awhile, as do all the gods, and is +invoked more to give than to please. 'Wake us,' cries a later poet, +'Wake us to wealth, O Dawn; give to us, give to us; wake up, lest the +sun burn thee with his light'--a passage (V. 79) which has caused much +learned nonsense to be written on the inimical relations of Sun and +Dawn as portrayed here. The dull idea is that Dawn is lazy, and had +better get up before S[=u]rya catches her asleep. The poet is not in +the least worried because his image does not express a suitable +relationship between the dawn and the sun, nor need others be +disturbed at it. The hymn is late, and only important in showing the +new carelessness as regards the old gods.[99] Some other traits appear +in VII. 75. 1 ff., where Dawn is 'queen of the world,' and banishes +the _druhs_, or evil spirit. She here is daughter of Heaven, and wife +of the sun (4, 5); _ib_. 76. 1, she is the eye of the world; and _ib_ +81. 4, she is invoked as 'mother.' + +There is, at times, so close a resemblance between Dawn-hymns and +Sun-hymns that the imagery employed in one is used in the other. Thus +the hymn VI. 64 begins: "The beams of Dawn have arisen, shining as +shine the waters' gleaming waves. She makes good paths, ... she +banishes darkness as a warrior drives away a foe (so of the sun, IV. +13. 2; X. 37. 4; 170. 2). Beautiful are thy paths upon the mountains, +and across the waters thou shinest, self-gleaming" (also of the sun). +With the last expression may be compared that in VI. 65. 5: "Dawn, +whose seat is upon the hills." + +Dawn is intimately connected not only with Agni but with the Twin +Horsemen, the Açvins (equites)--if not so intimately connected as is +Helen with the Dioskouroi, who, _pace_ Pischel, are the Açvins of +Hellas. This relationship is more emphasized in the hymns to the +latter gods, but occasionally occurs in Dawn-hymns, of which another +is here translated in full. + + TO DAWN (IV. 52). + + The Daughter of Heaven, this beauteous maid, + Resplendent leaves her sister (Night), + And now before (our sight) appears. + + Red glows she like a shining mare, + Mother of kine, who timely comes-- + The Horsemen's friend Aurora is. + + Both friend art thou of the Horsemen twain, + And mother art thou of the kine, + And thou, Aurora, rulest wealth. + + We wake thee with our praise as one + Who foes removes; such thought is ours, + O thou that art possesst of joy. + + Thy radiant beams beneficent + Like herds of cattle now appear; + Aurora fills the wide expanse. + + With light hast thou the dark removed, + Filling (the world), O brilliant one. + Aurora, help us as thou us'st. + + With rays thou stretchest through the heaven + And through the fair wide space between, + O Dawn, with thy refulgent light. + +It was seen that Savitar (P[=u]shan) is the rising and setting sun. +So, antithetic to Dawn, stands the Abendroth with her sister, Night. +This last, generally, as in the hymn just translated, is lauded only +in connection with Dawn, and for herself alone gets but one hymn, and +that is not in a family-book. She is to be regarded, therefore, less +as a goddess of the pantheon than as a quasi-goddess, the result of a +poet's meditative imagination, rather than one of the folk's primitive +objects of adoration; somewhat as the English poets personify "Ye +clouds, that far above me float and pause, ye ocean-waves ... ye +woods, that listen to the night-bird's singing, O ye loud waves, and O +ye forests high, and O ye clouds that far above me soared; thou rising +sun, thou blue rejoicing sky!"--and as in Greek poetry, that which +before has been conceived of vaguely as divine suddenly is invested +with a divine personality. The later poet exalts these aspects of +nature, and endows those that were before only half recognized with a +little special praise. So, whereas Night was divine at first merely as +the sister of divine Dawn, in the tenth book one poet thus gives her +praise: + + + HYMN TO NIGHT (X. 127). + + Night, shining goddess, comes, who now + Looks out afar with many eyes, + And putteth all her beauties on. + + Immortal shining goddess, she + The depths and heights alike hath filled, + And drives with light the dark away. + + To me she comes, adorned well, + A darkness black now sightly made; + Pay then thy debt, O Dawn, and go.[100] + + The bright one coming put aside + Her sister Dawn (the sunset light), + And lo! the darkness hastes away. + + So (kind art thou) to us; at whose + Appearing we retire to rest, + As birds fly homeward to the tree. + + To rest are come the throngs of men; + To rest, the beasts; to rest, the birds; + And e'en the greedy eagles rest. + + Keep off the she-wolf and the wolf, + Keep off the thief, O billowy Night, + Be thou to us a saviour now. + + To thee, O Night, as 'twere an herd, + To a conqueror (brought), bring I an hymn + Daughter of Heaven, accept (the gift).[101] + + +THE AÇVINS. + +The Açvins who are, as was said above, the 'Horsemen,' parallel to the +Greek Dioskouroi, are twins, sons of Dyaus, husbands, perhaps brothers +of the Dawn. They have been variously 'interpreted,' yet in point of +fact one knows no more now what was the original conception of the +twain than was known before Occidental scholars began to study +them.[102] Even the ancients made mere guesses: the Açvins came before +the Dawn, and are so-called because they ride on horses _(açva, +equos)_ they represent either Heaven and Earth, or Day and Night, or +Sun and Moon, or two earthly kings--such is the unsatisfactory +information given by the Hindus themselves.[103] + +Much the same language with that in the Dawn-hymns is naturally +employed in praising the Twin Brothers. They, like the Dioskouroi, are +said to have been incorporated gradually into the pantheon, on an +equality with the other gods,[104] not because they were at first +human beings, but because they, like Night, were adjuncts of Dawn, and +got their divinity through her as leader.[105] In the last book of the +Rig Veda they are the sons of Sarany[=u] and Vivasvant, but it is not +certain whether Sarany[=u] means dawn or not; in the first book they +are born of the flood (in the sky).[106] They are sons of Dyaus, but +this, too, only in the last and first books, while in the latter they +are separated once, so that only one is called the Son of the +Sky.[107] They follow Dawn 'like men' (VIII. 5. 2) and are in +Brahmanic literature the 'youngest of the gods.'[108] + +The twin gods are the physicians of heaven, while to men they bring +all medicines and help in times of danger. They were apparently at +first only 'wonder-workers,' for the original legends seem to have +been few. Yet the striking similarity in these aspects with the +brothers of Helen must offset the fact that so much in connection with +them seems to have been added in books one and ten. They restore the +blind and decrepit, impart strength and speed, and give the power and +seed of life; even causing waters to flow, fire to burn, and trees to +grow. As such they assist lovers and aid in producing offspring. + +The Açvins are brilliantly described, Their bird-drawn chariot and all +its appurtenances are of gold; they are swift as thought, agile, +young, and beautiful. Thrice they come to the sacrifice, morning, +noon, and eve; at the yoking of their car, the dawn is born. When the +'banner before dawn' appears, the invocation to the Açvins begins; +they 'accompany dawn.' Some variation of fancy is naturally to be +looked for. Thus, though, as said above, Dawn is born at the Açvins +yoking, yet Dawn is herself invoked to wake the Açvins; while again +the sun starts their chariot before Dawn; and as sons of Zeus they are +invoked "when darkness still stands among the shining clouds +(cows)."[109] + +Husbands or brothers or children of Dawn, the Horsemen are also +S[=u]ry[=a]'s husbands, and she is the sun's daughter (Dawn?) or the +sun as female. But this myth is not without contradictions, for +S[=u]ry[=a] elsewhere weds Soma, and the Açvins are the bridegroom's +friends; whom P[=u]shan chose on this occasion as his parents; he who +(unless one with Soma) was the prior bridegroom of the same +much-married damsel.[110] + +The current explanation of the Açvins is that they represent two +periods between darkness and dawn, the darker period being nearer +night, the other nearer day. But they probably, as inseparable twins, +are the twinlights or twilight, before dawn, half dark and half +bright. In this light it may well be said of them that one alone is +the son of bright Dyaus, that both wed Dawn, or are her brothers. They +always come together. Their duality represents, then, not successive +stages but one stage in day's approach, when light is dark and dark is +light. In comparing the Açvins to other pairs[111] this dual nature is +frequently referred to; but no less is there a triality in connection +with them which often in describing them has been ignored. This is +that threefold light which opens day; and, as in many cases they join +with Dawn, so their color is inseparable. Strictly speaking, the break +of red is the dawn and the white and yellow lights precede this[112]. +Thus in V. 73. 5: "Red birds flew round you as S[=u]ry[=a] stepped +upon your chariot"; so that it is quite impossible, in accordance with +the poets themselves, to limit the Açvins to the twilight. They are a +variegated growth from a black and white seed. The chief function of +the Açvins, as originally conceived, was the finding and restoring of +vanished light. Hence they are invoked as finders and aid-gods in +general (the myths are given in Myriantheus). + +Some very amusing and some silly legends have been collected and told +by the Vedic poets in regard to the preservation and resuscitating +power of the Açvins--how an old man was rejuvenated by them (this is +also done by the three Ribhus, master-workmen of the gods); how brides +are provided by them; how they rescued Bhujyu and others from the +dangers of the deep (as in the classical legends); how they replaced a +woman's leg with an iron one; restored a saint's eye-sight; drew a +seer out of a well, etc, etc. Many scholars follow Bergaigne in +imagining all these miracles to be anthropomorphized forms of solar +phenomena, the healing of the blind representing the bringing out of +the sun from darkness, etc. To us such interpretation often seems +fatuous. No less unconvincing is the claim that one of the Açvins +represents the fire of heaven and the other the fire of the altar. The +Twins are called _n[=a]saty[=a],_ the 'savers' (or 'not untrue +ones[113]'); explained by some as meaning 'gods with good noses[114].' + + +HYMN TO THE HORSEMEN. + +Whether ye rest on far-extended earth, or on the sea in house upon it +made, 'come hither thence, O ye that ride the steeds. If ever for man +ye mix the sacrifice, then notice now the Kanva [poet who sings]. I +call upon the gods [Indra, Vishnu[115]] and the swift-going +Horsemen[116]. These Horsemen I call now that they work wonders, to +seize the works (of sacrifice), whose friendship is preëminently ours, +and relationship among all the gods; in reference to whom arise +sacrifices ... If, to-day, O Horsemen, West or East ye stand, ye of +good steeds, whether at Druhyu's, Anu's, Turvaça's, or Yadu's, I call +ye; come to me. If ye fly in the air, O givers of great joy; or if +through the two worlds; or if, according to your pleasure, ye mount +the car,--thence come hither, O Horsemen. + +From the hymn preceding this, the following verses[117]: + + Whatever manliness is in the aether, in the sky, and among + the five peoples, grant us that, O Horsemen ... this hot + _soma_-drink of yours with laudation is poured out; this + _soma_ sweet through which ye discovered Vritra ... Ascend + the swift-rolling chariot, O Horsemen; hither let these my + praises bring ye, like a cloud ... Come as guardians of + homes; guardians of our bodies. Come to the house for (to + give) children and offspring. Whether ye ride on the same + car with Indra, or be in the same house with the Wind; + whether united with the Sons of Boundlessness or the Ribhus, + or stand on Vishnu's wide steps (come to us). This is the + best help of the horsemen, if to-day I should entice them to + get booty, or call them as my strength to conquer in + battle.... Whatever medicine (ye have) far or near, with + this now, O wise ones, grant protection.... Awake, O Dawn, + the Horsemen, goddess, kind and great.... When, O Dawn, thou + goest in light and shinest with the Sun, then hither comes + the Horsemen's chariot, to the house men have to protect. + When the swollen _soma_-stalks are milked like cows with + udders, and when the choric songs are sung, then they that + adore the Horsemen are preëminent.... + +Here the Açvins are associated with Indra, and even find the evil +demon; but, probably, at this stage Indra is more than god of storms. + +Some of the expanded myths and legends of the Açvins may be found in +i. 118, 119, 158; x. 40. Here follows one with legends in moderate +number (vii. 71): + + Before the Dawn her sister, Night, withdraweth; + The black one leaves the ruddy one a pathway. + Ye that have kine and horses, you invoke we; + By day, at night, keep far from us your arrow. + + Come hither, now, and meet the pious mortal, + And on your car, O Horsemen, bring him good things; + Keep off from us the dry destroying sickness, + By day, at night, O sweetest pair, protect us. + + Your chariot may the joy-desiring chargers, + The virile stallions, bring at Dawn's first coming; + That car whose reins are rays, and wealth upon it; + Come with the steeds that keep the season's order. + + Upon the car, three-seated, full of riches, + The helping car, that has a path all golden, + On this approach, O lords of heroes, true ones, + Let this food-bringing car of yours approach us. + + Ye freed from his old age the man Cyav[=a]na; + Ye brought and gave the charger swift to Pedu; + Ye two from darkness' anguish rescued Atri; + Ye set J[a=]husha down, released from fetters.[118] + + This prayer, O Horsemen, and this song is uttered; + Accept the skilful[sic] poem, manly heroes. + These prayers, to you belonging, have ascended, + O all ye gods protect us aye with blessings![119] + +The sweets which the Açvins bring are either on their chariot, or, as +is often related, in a bag; or they burst forth from the hoof of their +steed. Pegasus' spring in Helicon has been compared with this. Their +vehicles are variously pictured as birds, horses, ships, etc. It is to +be noticed that in no one of their attributes are the Açvins unique. +Other gods bring sweets, help, protect, give offspring, give healing +medicines, and, in short, do all that the Açvins do. But, as Bergaigne +points out, they do all this pacifically, while Indra, who performs +some of their wonders, does so by storm. He protects by not injuring, +and helps by destroying foes. Yet is this again true only in general, +and the lines between warlike, peaceful, and 'sovereign' gods are +often crossed. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Such for instance as the hymn to the Açvins, + RV. ii. 39. Compare verses 3-4: 'Come (ye pair of Açvins) + like two horns; like two hoofs; like two geese; like two + wheels; like two ships; like two spans'; etc. This is the + content of the whole hymn.] + + [Footnote 2: _Deva_ is 'shining' (deus), and _S[=u]rya_ + (sol, [Greek: áelios]) means the same.] + + [Footnote 3: Let the reader note at the outset that there is + scarcely an activity considered as divine which does not + belong to several gods (see below).] + + [Footnote 4: From _su, sav_, enliven, beget, etc. In RV. iv. + 53.6 and vii, 63.2, _pra-savitar_.] + + [Footnote 5: RV. VII. 66. 14-15; compare X. 178. 1. In the + notes immediately following the numbers all refer to the Rig + Veda.] + + [Footnote 6: V. 47, 3; compare vs. 7, and X. 189. 1-2.] + + [Footnote 7: Compare X. 177. 1.] + + [Footnote 8: X. 37. 9.] + + [Footnote 9: V. 63. 7. Varuna and Mitra set the sun's car in + heaven.] + + [Footnote 10: 1 IV. 13. 2-5; X. 37, 4; 85, 1. But _ib_. 149. + 1. Savitar holds the sky 'without support.'] + + [Footnote 11: VII 63.1; I. 115.11; X. 37. 1.] + + [Footnote 12: III. 61.4; VII. 63. 3.] + + [Footnote 13: VII 78.3.] + + [Footnote 14: I. 56,4; IX. 84. 2; Compare I. 92. 11; 115, 2; + 123. 10-12. V. 44. 7, and perhaps 47.6, are late. VII. 75. + 5, is an exception (or late).] + + [Footnote 15: _La Religion Védique_, I.6; II. 2.] + + [Footnote 16: Ehni, _Yama,_ p. 134.] + + [Footnote 17: RV., IV. 54. 2. Here the sun gives life even + to the gods.] + + [Footnote 18: Ten hundred and twenty-eight hymns are + contained in the 'Rig Veda Collection.'] + + [Footnote 19: IV. 14.] + + [Footnote 20: X. 37; 158; 170; 177; 189. Each has its own + mark of lateness. In 37, the dream; in 158, the triad; in + 170, the sun as _asurah[=a]_; in 177, the mystic tone and + the bird-sun (compare Garutman, I. 164; X. 149); in 189, the + thirty stations.] + + [Footnote 21: See Whitney in _Colebrooke's Essays_, revised + edition, ii. p. 111.] + + [Footnote 22: iv. 54] + + [Footnote 23: Two 'laps' below, besides that above, the word + meaning 'middle' but also 'under-place.' The explanation of + this much-disputed passage will be found by comparing I. + 154. 5 and VII. 99. 1. The sun's three places are where he + appears on both horizons and in the zenith. The last is the + abode of the dead where Yama reigns. Compare IV. 53. The + bracketed verses are probably a late puzzle attached to the + word 'lap' of the preceding verse.] + + [Footnote 24: Doubtful.] + + [Footnote 25: The Spirit, later of evil spirits, demons (as + above, the _asurah[=á]_). Compare Ahura.] + + [Footnote 26: A numerical conception not paralleled in the + Rig Veda, though mountains are called protuberances + ('elevations') in other places.] + + [Footnote 27: The last stanza is in the metre of the first; + two more follow without significant additions.] + + [Footnote 28: The texts are translated by Muir, OST, V. p. + 171 ff.] + + [Footnote 29: _La Religion Védique_, II. p. 428. Compare + Hillebrandt, _Soma_ p. 456.] + + [Footnote 30: I. 138. 4.] + + [Footnote 31: VI. 56. 1.] + + [Footnote 32: In I. 23. 13-15 P[=u]shan is said to bring + king _(soma),_ "whom he found like a lost herd of cattle." + The fragment is late if, as is probable, the 'six' of vs. 15 + are the six seasons. Compare VI. 54. 5, "may P[=u]shan go + after our kine."] + + [Footnote 33: Compare VI. 54.] + + [Footnote 34: He is the 'son of freeing,' from darkness? VI. + 55. 1.] + + [Footnote 35: IV. 57. 7.] + + [Footnote 36: VI. 17. 11; 48. 11 ff.; IV. 30. 24 ff. He is + called like a war-god with the Maruts in VI. 48.] + + [Footnote 37: So, too, Bhaga is Dawn's brother, I. 123. 5. + P[=u]shan is Indra's brother in VI. 55. 5. Gubernatis + interprets P[=u]shan as 'the setting sun.'] + + [Footnote 38: Contrast I. 42, and X. 26 (with 1. 138. 1). In + the first hymn P[=u]shan leads the way and drives away + danger, wolves, thieves, and helps to booty and pasturage. + In the last he is a war-god, who helps in battle, a + 'far-ruler,' embracing the thoughts of all (as in III. 62. + 9).] + + [Footnote 39: For the traits just cited compare IV. 57. 7; + VI. 17. 11; 48. 15; 53; 55; 56. I-3; 57. 3-4; 58. 2-4; II. + 40; X. 17. 3 ff.; 26. 3-8; I. 23. 14; all of I. 42, and 138; + VIII. 4. 15-18; III. 57. 2. In X. 17. 4, Savitar, too, + guides the souls of the dead.] + + [Footnote 40: That is to say, one hymn is addressed to Bhaga + with various other gods, VII. 41. Here he seems to be + personified good-luck ("of whom even the king says,' I would + have thee,'" vs. 2). In Ihe Br[=a]hmanas 'Bhaga is blind,' + which applies better to Fortune than to the Sun.] + + [Footnote 41: The hymn is sung before setting out on a + forray for cattle. Let one observe how unsupported is + the assumption of the ritualists as applied to this hymn, + that it must have been "composed for rubrication."] + + [Footnote 42: After Muir, V. p. 178. The clouds and cattle + are both called _gà s_ 'wanderers,' which helped in the + poetic identification of the two.] + + [Footnote 43: Compare IX. 97. 55, "Thou art Bhaga, giver of + gifts."] + + [Footnote 44: _Bhágam bhakshi_! Compare baksheesh. The word + as 'god' is both Avestan, _bagha_, and Slavic, _bogu_ (also + meaning 'rich'). It may be an epithet of other gods also, + and here it means only luck.] + + [Footnote 45: Literally 'possessed of _bhaga,' i.e_., + wealth.] + + [Footnote 46: May Bhaga be _bhágav[=a]n, i.e_., a true + _bhaga_-holder. Here and below a pun on the name (as + above).] + + [Footnote 47: Mythical being, possibly the sun-horse. + According to Pischel a real earthly racer.] + + [Footnote 48: I.22.17, etc; 154 ff.; VII. too.] + + [Footnote 49: VII. 100. 5-6. Vishnu (may be the epithet of + Indra in I.61.7) means winner (?),] + + [Footnote 50: VI. 69; VII. 99. But Vishnu is ordered about + by Indra (IV. 18. 11; VIII. 89. 12).] + + [Footnote 51: I.154. 5. In II. 1. 3, Vishnu is one with Fire + (Agni).] + + [Footnote 52: Thus, for example, Vishnu in the Hindu + trinity, the separate worship of the sun in modern sects, + and in the cult of the hill-men.] + + [Footnote 53: X. 149.] + + [Footnote 54: II.41.20.] + + [Footnote 55: vi.70.] + + [Footnote 56: I.160.4; IV. 56.1-3; VII. 53. 2.] + + [Footnote 57: I. 185. 8. _(J[=a]spati)._ The expiatory power + of the hymn occurs again in I. 159.] + + [Footnote 58: I. 185. 1.] + + [Footnote 59: IV. 56. 7.] + + [Footnote 60: I. 22. 15.] + + [Footnote 61: X. 18. 10 (or: "like a wool-soft maiden").] + + [Footnote 62: The lightning. In I. 31. 4, 10 "(Father) Fire + makes Dyaus bellow" like "a bull" (v. 36. 5). Dyaus "roars" + in vi. 72. 3. Nowhere else is he a thunderer.] + + [Footnote 63: 1. 24. 7-8. The change in metaphor is not + unusual.] + + [Footnote 64: This word means either order or orders (law); + literally the 'way' or 'course.'] + + [Footnote 65: 1. 24 (epitomized).] + + [Footnote 66: Perhaps better with Ludwig "of (thee) in + anger, of (thee) incensed."] + + [Footnote 67: Or: "Being (himself) in the (heavenly) flood + he knows the ships." (Ludwig.)] + + [Footnote 68: An intercalated month is meant (not the + primitive 'twelve days').] + + [Footnote 69: Or 'very wise,' of mental strength.] + + [Footnote 70: VIII. 41. 7; VII. 82. 6 (Bergaigne); X. 132. + 4.] + + [Footnote 71: Compare Bergaigne, _La Religion Védique_, iii. + pp. 116-118.] + + [Footnote 72: The insistence on the holy seven, the 'secret + names' of dawn, the confusion of Varuna with Trita. Compare, + also, the refrain, viii. 39-42. For X. 124, see below.] + + [Footnote 73: Compare Hillebrandt's Varuna and Mitra, p. 5; + and see our essay on the Holy Numbers of the Rig Veda (in + the _Oriental Studies_).] + + [Footnote 74: Varuna's forgiving of sins may be explained as + a washing out of sin, just as fire burns it out, and so + loosens therewith the imagined bond, V. 2. 7. Thus, quite + apart from Varuna in a hymn addressed to the 'Waters,' is + found the prayer, "O waters, carry off whatever sin is in me + ... and untruth," I. 23. 22.] + + [Footnote 75: But as in iv. 42, so in x. 124 he shares glory + with Indra.] + + [Footnote 76: Later, Varuna's water-office is his only + physical side. Compare [=A]it. [=A]r. II. I. 7. 7, 'water + and Varuna, children of mind.' Compare with _v[=a]ri, oùrá_ + = _v[=a]ra_, and _var[=i]_, an old word for rivers, + _var[s.]_ (= _var_ + _s_), 'rain.' The etymology is very + doubtful on account of the number of _var_-roots. Perhaps + dew _(ersa)_ and rain first as 'coverer.' Even _var = vas_ + 'shine,' has been suggested (ZDMG. XXII. 603).] + + [Footnote 77: The old comparison of _Varena cathrugaosha_ + turns out to be "the town of Varna with four gates"!] + + [Footnote 78: In _India: What Can it Teach us_, pp. 197, + 200, Müller tacitly recognizes in the physical Varuna only + the 'starry' night-side.] + + [Footnote 79: _Loc. cit._, III. 119. Bergaigne admits Varuna + as god of waters, but sees in him identity with Vritra a + 'restrainer of waters.' He thinks the 'luminous side' of + Varuna to be antique also (III. 117-119). Varuna's cord, + according to Bergaigne, comes from 'tying up' the waters; + 'night's fetters,' according to Hillebrandt.] + + [Footnote 80: _Loc. cit._, p. 13.] + + [Footnote 81: One of the chief objections to Bergaigne's + conception of Varuna as restrainer is that it does not + explain the antique union with Mitra.] + + [Footnote 82: II. 28. 4, 7; VII. 82. 1, 2; 87.2] + + [Footnote 83: vii. 87. 6; 88. 2.] + + [Footnote 84: viii. 41. 2, 7, 8. So Varuna gives _soma_, + rain. As a rain-god he surpasses Dyaus, who, ultimately, is + also a rain-god (above), as in Greece.] + + [Footnote 85: Compare Çat. Br. V. 2.5.17, "whatever is dark + is Varuna's."] + + [Footnote 86: In II. 38. 8 _varuna_ means 'fish,' and 'water + in I.184. 3.] + + [Footnote 87: V. 62. I, 8; 64.7; 61. 5; 65. 2; 67. 2; 69.1; + VI. 51.1; 67. 5. In VIII. 47.11 the [=A]dityas are + themselves spies.] + + [Footnote 88: Introduction to Grassmann, II. 27; VI. 42. + Lex. s. v.] + + [Footnote 89: _Religions of India,_ p. 17.] + + [Footnote 90: The Rik knows, also, a Diti, but merely as + antithesls to Aditi--the 'confined and unconfined.' Aditi is + prayed to (for protection and to remove sin) in sporadic + verses of several hymns addressed to other gods, but she has + no hymn.] + + [Footnote 91: Müller (_loc. cit._, below) thinks that the + 'sons of Aditi' were first eight and were then reduced to + seven, in which opinion as in his whole interpretation of + Aditi as a primitive dawn-infinity we regret that we cannot + agree with him.] + + [Footnote 92: See Hillebrandt, _Die Göttin Aditi_; and + Müller, SBE, xxxii., p. 241, 252.] + + [Footnote 93: That is to say, if one believe that the + 'primitive Aryans' were inoculated with Zoroaster's + teaching. This is the sort of Varuna that Koth believes to + have existed among the aboriginal Aryan tribes (above, p. + 13, note 2).] + + [Footnote 94: VII. 77.] + + [Footnote 95: Clouds.] + + [Footnote 96: The sun.] + + [Footnote 97: The priest to whom, and to whose family, is + ascribed the seventh book.] + + [Footnote 98: JAOS., XV. 270.] + + [Footnote 99: Much theosophy, and even history (!), has been + read into II. 15, and IV. 30, where poets speak of Indra + slaying Dawn; but there is nothing remarkable in these + passages. Poetry is not creed. The monsoon (here Indra) does + away with dawns for a time, and that is what the poet says + in his own way.] + + [Footnote 100: Transferred by Roth from the penultimate + position where it stands in the original. Dawn here pays + Night for the latter's malutinal withdrawing by withdrawing + herself. Strictly speaking, the Dawn is, of course, the + sunset light conceived of as identical with that preceding + the sunrise ([Greek: usas, hêôs], 'east' as 'glow').] + + [Footnote 101: Late as seems this hymn to be, it is + interesting in revealing the fact that wolves (not tigers or + panthers) are the poet's most dreaded foes of night. It + must, therefore have been composed in the northlands, where + wolves are the herdsman's worst enemies.] + + [Footnote 102: Myriantheus, _Die Açvins_; Muir, OST. v. + p.234; Bergaigne, _Religion Védique,_ II. p. 431; Müller, + _Lectures_, 2d series, p. 508; Weber, _Ind. St_. v. p. 234. + S[=a]yana on I. 180. 2, interprets the 'sister of the + Açvins' as Dawn.] + + [Footnote 103: Muir, _loc. cit_. Weber regards them as the + (stars) Gemini.] + + [Footnote 104: Weber, however, thinks that Dawn and Açvins + are equally old divinities, the oldest Hindu divinities in + his estimation.] + + [Footnote 105: In the Epic (see below) they are called the + lowest caste of gods (Ç[=u]dras).] + + [Footnote 106: X. 17. 2; I. 46. 2.] + + [Footnote 107: I. 181. 4 (Roth, ZDMG. IV. 425).] + + [Footnote 108: T[=a]itt. S. VII. 2. 7. 2; Muir, _loc. cit_. + p. 235.] + + [Footnote 109: vii. 67. 2; viii. 5. 2; x. 39. 12; viii. 9. + 17; i. 34. 10; x. 61. 4. Muir, _loc. cit._ 238-9. Compare + _ib_. 234, 256.] + + [Footnote 110: Muir, _loc. cit_. p. 237. RV. vi. 58. 4; x. + 85. 9ff.] + + [Footnote 111: They are compared to two ships, two birds, + etc.] + + [Footnote 112: In _Çat. Br_. V. 5. 4. it to the Açvins a + red-white goat is sacrificed, because 'Açvins are + red-white.'] + + [Footnote 113: Perhaps best with Brannhofer, 'the savers' + from _nas_ as in _nasjan_ (AG. p. 99).] + + [Footnote 114: _La Religion Védique_, II. p. 434. That + _n[=a]snya_ means 'with good noses' is an epic notion, + _n[=a]satyadasr[=a]u sunas[=a]u,_ Mbh[=a]. I. 3. 58, and for + this reason, if for no other (though idea is older), the + etymology is probably false! The epithet is also Iranian. + Twinned and especially paired gods are characteristic of the + Rig Veda. Thus Yama and Yam[=i] are twins; and of pairs + Indra-Agni, Indra-V[=a]yu, besides the older Mitra-Varuna, + Heaven-Earth, are common.] + + [Footnote 115: Perhaps to be omitted.] + + [Footnote 116: _Pischel_, Ved. St. I. p. 48. As swift-going + gods they are called 'Indra-like.'] + + [Footnote 117: VIII. 9 and 10.] + + [Footnote 118: Doubtful] + + [Footnote 119: The last verse is not peculiar to this hymn, + but is the sign of the book (family) in which it was + composed.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE RIG VEDA (CONTINUED).--THE MIDDLE GODS. + + +Only one of the great atmospheric deities, the gods that preëminently +govern the middle sphere between sky and earth, can claim an Aryan +lineage. One of the minor gods of the same sphere, the ancient +rain-god, also has this antique dignity, but in his case the dignity +already is impaired by the strength of a new and greater rival. In the +case of the wind-god, on the other hand, there is preserved a deity +who was one of the primitive pantheon, belonging, perhaps, not only to +the Iranians, but to the Teutons, for V[=a]ta, Wind, may be the +Scandinavian Woden. The later mythologists on Indian soil make a +distinction between V[=a]ta, wind, and V[=a]yu (from the same root; as +in German _wehen_) and in this distinction one discovers that the old +V[=a]ta, who must have been once _the_ wind-god, is now reduced to +physical (though sentient) wind, while the newer name represents the +higher side of wind as a power lying back of phenomena; and it is this +latter conception alone that is utilized in the formation of the Vedic +triad of wind, fire, and sun. In short, in the use and application of +the two names, there is an exact parallel to the double terminology +employed to designate the sun as S[=u]rya and Savitar. Just as +S[=u]rya is the older [Greek: hêlios] and sol (acknowledged as a god, +yet palpably the physical red body in the sky) contrasted with the +interpretation which, by a newer name (Savitar), seeks to +differentiate the (sentient) physical from the spiritual, so is +V[=a]ta, Woden, replaced and lowered by the loftier conception of +V[=a]yu. But, again, just as, when the conception of Savitar is +formed, the spiritualizing tendency reverts to S[=u]rya, and makes of +him, too, a figure reclothed in the more modern garb of speech, which +is invented for Savitar alone; so the retroactive theosophic fancy, +after creating V[=a]yu as a divine power underlying phenomenal +V[=a]ta, reinvests V[=a]ta also with the garments of V[=a]yu. Thus, +finally, the two, who are the result of intellectual differentiation, +are again united from a new point of view, and S[=u]rya or Savitar, +V[=a]yu or V[=a]ta, are indifferently used to express respectively the +whole completed interpretation of the divinity, which is now visible +and invisible, sun and sun-god, wind and wind-god. In these pairs +there is, as it were, a perspective of Hindu theosophy, and one can +trace the god, as a spiritual entity including the physical, back to +the physical prototype that once was worshipped as such alone. + +In the Rig Veda there are three complete hymns to Wind, none of these +being in the family books. In x. 186, the poet calls on Wind to bring +health to the worshipper, and to prolong his life. He addresses Wind +as 'father and brother and friend,' asking the power that blows to +bring him ambrosia, of which Wind has a store. These are rather pretty +verses without special theological intent, addressed more to Wind as +such than to a spiritual power. The other hymn from the same book is +directed to V[=a]ta also, not to V[=a]yu, and though it is loftier in +tone and even speaks of V[=a]ta as the soul of the gods, yet is it +evident that no consistent mythology has worked upon the purely poetic +phraseology, which is occupied merely with describing the rushing of a +mighty wind (x. 168). Nevertheless, V[=a]ta is worshipped, as is +V[=a]yu, with oblations. + + + HYMN TO WIND (V[=a]ta). + + Now V[=a]ta's chariot's greatness! Breaking goes it, + And thundering is its noise; to heaven it touches, + Goes o'er the earth, cloud[1] making, dust up-rearing; + Then rush together all the forms of V[=a]ta; + To him they come as women to a meeting. + With them conjoint, on the same chariot going, + Is born the god, the king of all creation. + Ne'er sleepeth he when, on his pathway wandering, + He goes through air. The friend is he of waters; + First-born and holy,--where was he created, + And whence arose he? Spirit of gods is V[=a]ta, + Source of creation, goeth where he listeth; + Whose sound is heard, but not his form. This V[=a]ta + Let us with our oblations duly honor. + +In times later than the Rig Veda, V[=a]yu interchanges with Indra as +representative of the middle sphere; and in the Rig Veda all the hymns +of the family books associate him with Indra (vii. 90-92; iv. 47-48). +In the first book he is associated thus in the second hymn; while, ib. +134, he has the only remaining complete hymn, though fragments of +songs occasionally are found. All of these hymns except the first two +simply invite V[=a]yu to come with Indra to the sacrifice, It is +V[=a]yu who with Indra obtains the first drink of soma (i. 134. 6). He +is spoken of as the artificer's, Tvashtar's, son-in-law, but the +allusion is unexplained (viii. 26. 22); he in turn begets the +storm-gods (i. 134. 4). + +With V[=a]yu is joined Indra, one of the popular gods. These +divinities, which are partly of the middle and partly of the lower +sphere, may be called the popular gods, yet were the title 'new gods' +neither wholly amiss nor quite correct. For, though the popular +deities in general, when compared with many for whom a greater +antiquity may be claimed, such as the Sun, Varuna, Dyaus, etc., are of +more recent growth in dignity, yet there remains a considerable number +of divinities, the hymns in whose honor, dating from the latest +period, seem to show that the power they celebrate had been but lately +admitted into the category of those gods that deserved special +worship. Consequently new gods would be a misleading term, +as it should be applied to the plainer products of theological +speculation and abstraction rather than to Indra and his peers, not to +speak of those newest pantheistic gods, as yet unknown. The +designation popular must be understood, then, to apply to the gods +most frequently, most enthusiastically revered (for in a stricter +sense the sun was also a popular god); and reference is had in using +this word to the greater power and influence of these gods, which is +indicated by the fact that the hymns to Agni and Indra precede all +others in the family books, while the Soma-hymns are collected for the +most part into one whole book by themselves. + +But there is another factor that necessitates a division between the +divinities of sun and heaven and the atmospheric and earthly gods +which are honored so greatly; and this factor is explanatory of the +popularity of these gods. In the case of the older divinities it is +the spiritualization of a sole material appearance that is revered; in +the case of the popular gods, the material phenomenon is reduced to a +minimum, the spirituality behind the phenomenon is exalted, and that +spirituality stands not in and for itself, but as a part of a union of +spiritualities. Applying this test to the earlier gods the union will +be found to be lacking. The sun's spiritual power is united with +Indra's, but the sun is as much a physical phenomenon as a +spirituality, and always remains so. On the other hand, the equation +of Varunic power with Indraic never amalgamated the two; and these are +the best instances that can be chosen of the older gods. For in the +case of others it is self-evident. Dyaus and Dawn are but material +phenomena, slightly spiritualized, but not joined with the +spirit-power of others. + +Many have been the vain attempts to go behind the returns of Vedic +hymnology and reduce Indra, Agni, and Soma to terms of a purely +naturalistic religion. It cannot be done. Indra is neither sun, +lightning, nor storm; Agni is neither hearth-fire nor celestial fire; +Soma is neither planet nor moon. + +Each is the transient manifestation of a spirituality lying behind and +extending beyond this manifestation. Here alone is the latch-key of +the newer, more popular religion. Not merely because Indra was a +'warrior god,' but because Indra and Fire were one; because of the +mystery, not because of the appearance, was he made great at the hands +of the priests. It is true, as has been said above, that the idol of +the warriors was magnified because he was such; but the true cause of +the greatness ascribed to him in the hymns lay in the secret of his +nature, as it was lauded by the priest, not in his form, as it was +seen by the multitude. Neither came first, both worked together; but +had it not been for the esoteric wisdom held by the priests in +connection with his nature, Indra would have gone the way of other +meteorological gods; whereas he became chiefest of the gods, and, as +lord of strength, for a time came nearest to the supreme power. + + +INDRA. + +Indra has been identified with 'storm,' with the 'sky,' with the +'year'; also with 'sun' and with 'fire' in general.[2] But if he be +taken as he is found in the hymns, it will be noticed at once that he +is too stormy to be the sun; too luminous to be the storm; too near to +the phenomena of the monsoon to be the year or the sky; too rainy to +be fire; too alien from every one thing to be any one thing. He is too +celestial to be wholly atmospheric; too atmospheric to be celestial; +too earthly to be either. A most tempting solution is that offered by +Bergaigne, who sees in Indra sun or lightning. Yet does this +explanation not explain all, and it is more satisfactory than others +only because it is broader; while it is not yet broad enough. Indra, +in Bergaigne's opinion, stands, however, nearer to fire than to +sun.[3] But the savant does not rest content with his own explanation: +"Indra est peut-être, de tous les dieux védiques, celui qui résiste le +plus longtemps à un genre d'analyse qui, appliqué à la plupart des +autres, les résout plus ou moins vite en des personnifications des +éléments, soit des phénomènes naturels, soit du culte" (ibid. p. 167). + +Dyaus' son, Indra, who rides upon the storm and hurls the lightnings +with his hands; who 'crashes down from heaven' and 'destroys the +strongholds' of heaven and earth; whose greatness 'fills heaven and +earth'; whose 'steeds are of red and gold'; who 'speaks in thunder,' +and 'is born of waters and cloud'; behind whom ride the storm-gods; +with whom Agni (fire) is inseparably connected; who 'frees the waters +of heaven from the demon,' and 'gives rain-blessings and wealth' to +man--such a god, granted the necessity of a naturalistic +interpretation, may well be thought to have been lightning itself +originally, which the hymns now represent the god as carrying. But in +identifying Indra with the sun there is more difficulty. In none of +the early hymns is this suggested, and the texts on which Bergaigne +relies besides being late are not always conclusive. "Indra clothes +himself with the glory of the sun"; he "sees with the eye of the +sun"--such texts prove little when one remembers that the sun is the +eye of all the gods, and that to clothe ones' self with solar glory is +far from being one with the sun. In one other, albeit a late verse, +the expression 'Indra, a sun,' is used; and, relying on such texts, +Bergaigne claims that Indra is the sun. But it is evident that this is +but one of many passages where Indra by implication is compared to the +sun; and comparisons do not indicate allotropy. So, in ii. II. 20, +which Bergaigne gives as a parallel, the words say expressly "Indra +[did so and so] _like a sun_."[4] To rest a building so important on a +basis so frail is fortunately rare with Bergaigne. It happens here +because he is arguing from the assumption that Indra primitively was a +general luminary. Hence, instead of building up Indra from early +texts, he claims a few late phrases as precious confirmation of his +theory.[5] What was Indra may be seen by comparing a few citations +such as might easily be amplified from every book in the Rig Veda. + +According to the varying fancies of the poets, Indra is armed with +stones, clubs, arrows, or the thunderbolt (made for him by the +artificer, Tvashtar), of brass or of gold, with many edges and points. +Upon a golden chariot he rides to battle, driving two or many red or +yellow steeds; he is like the sun in brilliancy, and like the dawn in +beauty; he is multiform, and cannot really be described; his divine +name is secret; in appearance he is vigorous, huge; he is wise and +true and kind; all treasures are his, and he is a wealth-holder, vast +as four seas; neither his greatness nor his generosity can be +comprehended; mightiest of gods is he, filling the universe; the +heavens rest upon his head; earth cannot hold him; earth and heaven +tremble at his breath; he is king of all; the mountains are to him as +valleys; he goes forth a bull, raging, and rushes through the air, +whirling up the dust; he breaks open the rain-containing clouds, and +lets the rain pour down; as the Açvins restore the light, so he +restores the rain; he is (like) fire born in three places; as the +giver of rain which feeds, he creates the plants; he restores or +begets Sun and Dawn (after the storm has passed);[6] he creates (in +the same way) all things, even heaven and earth; he is associated with +Vishnu and P[=u]shan (the sun-gods), with the Açvins, with the Maruts +(storm-gods) as his especial followers, and with the artisan Ribhus. +With Varuna he is an Adityá, but he is also associated with another +group of gods, the Vasus (x. 66. 3), as Vasupati, or 'lord of the +Vasus.' He goes with many forms (vi. 47. 18).[7] + +The luminous character[8] of Indra, which has caused him to be +identified with light-gods, can be understood only when one remembers +that in India the rainy season is ushered in by such displays of +lightning that the heavens are often illuminated in every direction at +once; and not with a succession of flashes, but with contemporaneous +ubiquitous sheets of light, so that it appears as if on all sides of +the sky there was one lining of united dazzling flame. When it is said +that Indra 'placed light in light,' one is not to understand, with +Bergaigne, that Indra is identical with the sun, but that in day +(light) Indra puts lightning (x. 54. 6; Bergaigne ii. p. 187). + +Since Indra's lightning[9] is a form of fire, there is found in this +union the first mystic dualism of two distinct gods as one. This comes +out more in Agni-worship than in Indra-worship, and will be treated +below. The snake or dragon killed by Indra is Vritra, the restrainer, +who catches and keeps in the clouds the rain that is falling to earth. +He often is called simply the snake, and as the Budhnya Snake, or +snake of the cloud-depths, is possibly the Python (=Budh-nya).[10] +There is here a touch of primitive belief in an old enemy of man--the +serpent! But the Budhnya Snake has been developed in opposite ways, +and has contradictory functions.[11] + +Indra, however, is no more the lightning than he is the sun. One poet +says that he is like the sun;[12] another, that he is like the +lightning (viii. 93. 9), which he carries in his arms (viii. 12. 7); +another, that he is like the light of dawn (x. 89. 12). So various are +the activities, so many the phenomena, that with him first the seer is +obliged to look back of all these phenomena and find in them one +person; and thus he is the most anthropomorphized of the Vedic gods. +He is born of heaven or born of clouds (iv. 18), but that his mother +is Aditi is not certain. As the most powerful god Indra is again +regarded as the All-god (viii. 98. 1-2). With this final supremacy, +that distinction between battle-gods and gods sovereign, which +Bergaigne insists upon--the sovereign gods belonging to _une +conception unitaire de l'ordre du monde_ (iii. p. 3; ii. p. +167)--fades away. As Varuna became gradually greatest, so did Indra in +turn. But Varuna was a philosopher's god, not a warrior's; and Varuna +was not double and mystical. So even the priest (Agni) leaves Varuna, +and with the warrior takes more pleasure in his twin Indra; of him +making an All-god, a greatest god. Varuna is passive; Indra is +energetic; but Indra does not struggle for his lordship. Inspired by +_soma_, he smites, triumphs, punishes. Victor already, he descends +upon his enemies and with a blow destroys them. It is rarely that he +feels the effect of battle; he never doubts its issue. + +There is evidence that this supremacy was not gained without +contradiction, and the novelty of the last extravagant Indra-worship +may be deduced, perhaps, from such passages as viii. 96. 15; and 100. +3, where are expressed doubts in regard to the existence of a real +Indra. How late is the worship of the popular Indra, and that it is +not originality that causes his hymns to be placed early in each +collection, may be judged from the fact that only of Indra (and Agni?) +are there idols: viii. 1. 5; iv. 24. 10: "Who gives ten cows for my +Indra? When he has slain his foe let (the purchaser) give him to me +again."[13] Thus it happens that one rarely finds such poems to Indra +as to Dawn and to other earlier deities, but almost always stereotyped +descriptions of prowess, and mechanical invitations to come to the +altar and reward the hymn-maker. There are few of Indra's many hymns +that do not smack of _soma_ and sacrifice. He is a warrior's god +exploited by priests; as popularly conceived, a sensual giant, friend, +brother, helper of man. One example of poetry, instead of ritualistic +verse-making to Indra, has been translated in the introductory +chapter. Another, which, if not very inspiring, is at least free from +obvious _soma_-worship--which results in Indra being invoked chiefly +to come and drink--is as follows (vi. 30): + + Great hath he grown, Indra, for deeds heroic; + Ageless is he alone, alone gives riches; + Beyond the heaven and earth hath Indra stretched him, + The half of him against both worlds together! + So high and great I deem his godly nature; + What he hath stablished there is none impairs it. + Day after day a sun is he conspicuous, + And, wisely strong, divides the wide dominions. + To-day and now (thou makest) the work of rivers, + In that, O Indra, thou hast hewn them pathway. + The hills have bowed them down as were they comrades; + By thee, O wisely strong, are spaces fastened. + 'Tis true, like thee, O Indra, is no other, + Nor god nor mortal is more venerable. + Thou slew'st the dragon that the flood encompassed, + Thou didst let out the waters to the ocean. + Thou didst the waters free, the doors wide opening, + Thou, Indra, brak'st the stronghold of the mountains, + Becamest king of all that goes and moveth, + Begetting sun and heaven and dawn together. + + +THE MARUTS. + +These gods, the constant followers of Indra, from the present point of +view are not of great importance, except as showing an unadulterated +type of nature-gods, worshipped without much esoteric wisdom (although +there is a certain amount of mystery in connection with their birth). +There is something of the same pleasure in singing to them as is +discernible in the hymns to Dawn. They are the real storm-gods, +following Rudra, their father, and accompanying the great +storm-bringer, Indra. Their mother is the variegated cow Priçni, the +mother cloud. Their name means the shining, gleaming ones. + + HYMN TO THE MARUTS (vii. 56. 1-10). + + Who, sooth, are the gleaming related heroes, + the glory of Rudra, on beauteous chargers? + For of them the birthplace no man hath witnessed; + they only know it, their mutual birthplace. + With wings expanded they sweep each other,[14] + and strive together, the wind-loud falcons. + Wise he that knoweth this secret knowledge, + that Priçni the great one to them was mother.[15] + This folk the Maruts shall make heroic, + victorious ever, increased in manhood; + In speed the swiftest, in light the lightest, + with grace united and fierce in power-- + Your power fierce is; your strength, enduring; + and hence with the Maruts this folk is mighty. + Your fury fair is, your hearts are wrothful, + like maniacs wild is your band courageous. + From us keep wholly the gleaming lightning; + let not your anger come here to meet us. + Your names of strong ones endeared invoke I, + that these delighted may joy, O Maruts. + +What little reflection or moral significance is in the Marut hymns is +illustrated by i. 38. 1-9, thus translated by Müller: + + What then now? When will ye take us as a dear father takes + his son by both hands, O ye gods, for whom the sacred grass + has been trimmed? + + Where now? On what errand of yours are you going, in heaven, + not on earth? Where are your cows sporting? Where are your + newest favors, O Maruts? Where are blessings? Where all + delights? If you, sons of Priçni, were mortals and your + praiser an immortal, then never should your praiser be + unwelcome, like a deer in pasture grass, nor should he go on + the path of Yama.[16] Let not one sin after another, + difficult to be conquered, overcome us; may it depart, + together with greed. Truly they are terrible and powerful; + even to the desert the Rudriyas bring rain that is never + dried up. The lightning lows like a cow, it follows as a + mother follows after her young, when the shower has been let + loose. Even by day the Maruts create darkness with the + water-bearing cloud, when they drench the earth, etc. + +The number of the Maruts was originally seven, afterwards raised to +thrice seven, and then given variously,[17] sometimes as high as +thrice sixty. They are the servants, the bulls of Dyaus, the glory of +Rudra (or perhaps the 'boys of Rudra'), divine, bright as suns, +blameless and pure. They cover themselves with shining adornment, +chains of gold, gems, and turbans. On their heads are helmets of gold, +and in their hands gleam arrows and daggers. Like heroes rushing to +battle, they stream onward. They are fair as deer; their roar is like +that of lions. The mountains bow before them, thinking themselves to +be valleys, and the hills bow down. Good warriors and good steeds are +their gifts. They smite, they kill, they rend the rocks, they strip +the trees like caterpillars; they rise together, and, like spokes in a +wheel, are united in strength. Their female companion is Rodas[=i] +(lightning, from the same root as _rudra_, the 'red'). They are like +wild boars, and (like the sun) they have metallic jaws. On their +chariots are speckled hides; like birds they spread their wings; they +strive in flight with each other. Before them the earth sways like a +ship. They dance upon their path. Upon their chests for beauty's sake +they bind gold armor. From the heavenly udder they milk down rain. +"Through whose wisdom, through whose design do they come?" cries the +poet. They have no real adversary. The kings of the forest they tear +asunder, and make tremble even the rocks. Their music is heard on +every side.[18] + + +RUDRA. + +The father of the Maruts, Rudra, is 'the ruddy one,' _par excellence_ +and so to him is ascribed paternity of the 'ruddy ones.' But while +Indra has a plurality of hymns, Rudra has but few, and these it is not +of special importance to cite. The features in each case are the same. +The Maruts remain as gods whose function causes them to be invoked +chiefly that they may spare from the fury of the tempest. This idea is +in Rudra's case carried out further, and he is specially called on to +avert (not only 'cow-slaying' and 'man-slaying' by lightning,[19] but +also) disease, pestilence, etc. Hence is he preeminently, on the one +hand, the kindly god who averts disease, and, on the other, of +destruction in every form. From him Father Manu got wealth and health, +and he is the fairest of beings, but, more, he is the strongest god +(ii. 33. 3, 10). From such a prototype comes the later god of healing +and woe--Rudra, who becomes Çiva.[20] + + +RAIN-GODS. + +There is one rather mechanical hymn directed to the Waters themselves +as goddesses, where Indra is the god who gives them passage. But in +the unique hymn to the Rivers it is Varuna who, as general god of +water, is represented as their patron. In the first hymn the +rain-water is meant.[21] A description in somewhat jovial vein of the +joy produced by the rain after long drought forms the subject matter +of another lyric (less an hymn than a poem), which serves to +illustrate the position of the priests at the end of this Vedic +collection. The frogs are jocosely compared to priests that have +fulfilled their vow of silence; and their quacking is likened to the +noise of students learning the Veda. Parjanya is the god that, in +distinction from Indra as the first cause, actually pours down the +rain-drops. + + + THE FROGS.[22] + + As priests that have their vows fulfilled, + Reposing for a year complete, + The frogs have now begun to talk,-- + Parjanya has their voice aroused. + + When down the heavenly waters come upon him, + Who like a dry bag lay within the river, + Then, like the cows' loud lowing (cows that calves have), + The vocal sound of frogs comes all together. + + When on the longing, thirsty ones it raineth, + (The rainy season having come upon them), + Then _akkala_![23] they cry; and one the other + Greets with his speech, as sons address a father. + + The one the other welcomes, and together + They both rejoice at falling of the waters; + The spotted frog hops when the rain has wet him, + And with his yellow comrade joins his utterance. + + When one of these the other's voice repeateth, + Just as a student imitates his teacher, + Then like united members with fair voices, + They all together sing among the waters. + + One like an ox doth bellow, goat-like one bleats; + Spotted is one, and one of them is yellow; + Alike in name, but in appearance different, + In many ways the voice they, speaking, vary. + + As priests about th' intoxicating[24] _soma_ + Talk as they stand before the well-filled vessel, + So stand ye round about this day once yearly, + On which, O frogs, the time of rain approaches. + + (Like) priests who _soma_ have, they raise their voices, + And pray the prayer that once a year is uttered; + (Like) heated priests who sweat at sacrifices, + They all come out, concealed of them is no one. + + The sacred order of the (year) twelve-membered, + These heroes guard, and never do neglect it; + When every year, the rainy season coming, + The burning heat receiveth its dismission.[25] + +In one hymn no less than four gods are especially invoked for +rain--Agni, Brihaspati, Indra, and Parjanya. The two first are +sacrificially potent; Brihaspati, especially, gives to the priest the +song that has power to bring rain; he comes either 'as Mitra-Varuna or +P[=u]shan,' and 'lets Parjanya rain'; while in the same breath Indra +is exhorted to send a flood of rain,--rains which are here kept back +by the gods,[26]--and Agni is immediately afterwards asked to perform +the same favor, apparently as an analogue to the streams of oblation +which the priest pours on the fire. Of these gods, the pluvius is +Parjanya: + + Parjanya loud extol in song, + The fructifying son of heaven; + May he provide us pasturage! + He who the fruitful seed of plants, + Of cows and mares and women forms, + He is the god Parjanya. + For him the melted butter pour + In (Agni's) mouth,--a honeyed sweet,-- + And may he constant food bestow![27] + +This god is the rain-cloud personified,[28] but he is scarcely to be +distinguished, in other places, from Indra; although the latter, as +the greater, newer god, is represented rather as causing the rain to +flow, while Parjanya pours it down. Like Varuna, Parjanya also upsets +a water-barrel, and wets the earth. He is identical with the Slavic +Perkuna. + +For natural expression, vividness, energy, and beauty, the following +hymn is unsurpassed. As a god unjustly driven out of the pantheon, it +is, perhaps, only just that he should be exhibited, in contrast to +the tone of the sacrificial hymnlet above, in his true light. +Occasionally he is paired with Wind; and in the curious tendency of +the poets to dualize their divinities, the two become a compound, +_Parjanyav[=a]t[=a]_ ("Parjanya and V[=a]ta"). There is, also, vii. +101, one mystic hymn to Parjanya. The following, v. 83, breathes quite +a different spirit:[29] + + Greet him, the mighty one, with these laudations, + Parjanya praise, and call him humbly hither; + With roar and rattle pours the bull his waters, + And lays his seed in all the plants, a foetus. + + He smites the trees, and smites the evil demons, too; + While every creature fears before his mighty blow, + E'en he that hath not sinned, from this strong god retreats, + When smites Parjanya, thundering, those that evil do. + As when a charioteer with whip his horses strikes, + So drives he to the fore his messengers of rain; + Afar a lion's roar is raised abroad, whene'er + Parjanya doth create the rain-containing cloud. + Now forward rush the winds, now gleaming lightnings fall; + Up spring the plants, and thick becomes the shining sky. + For every living thing refreshment is begot, + Whene'er Parjanya's seed makes quick the womb of earth. + + Beneath whose course the earth hath bent and bowed her, + Beneath whose course the (kine) behoofed bestir them, + Beneath whose course the plants stand multifarious, + He--thou, Parjanya--grant us great protection! + Bestow Dyaus' rain upon us, O ye Maruts! + Make thick the stream that comes from that strong stallion! + With this thy thunder come thou onward, hither, + Thy waters pouring, a spirit and our father.[30] + Roar forth and thunder! Give the seed of increase! + Drive with thy chariot full of water round us; + The water-bag drag forward, loosed, turned downward; + Let hills and valleys equal be before thee! + Up with the mighty keg! then pour it under! + Let all the loosened streams flow swiftly forward; + Wet heaven and earth with this thy holy fluid;[31] + And fair drink may it be for all our cattle! + + When thou with rattle and with roar, + Parjanya, thundering, sinners slayest, + Then all before thee do rejoice, + Whatever creatures live on earth. + + Rain hast thou rained, and now do thou restrain it; + The desert, too, hast thou made fit for travel; + The plants hast thou begotten for enjoyment; + And wisdom hast thou found for thy descendants. + +The different meters may point to a collection of small hymns. It is +to be observed that Parjanya is here the fathergod (of men); he is the +Asura, the Spirit; and rain comes from the Shining Sky (Dyaus). How +like Varuna! + +The rain, to the poet, descends from the sky, and is liable to be +caught by the demon, Vritra, whose rain-swollen belly Indra opens with +a stroke, and lets fall the rain; or, in the older view just +presented, Parjanya makes the cloud that gives the rain--a view united +with the descent of rain from the sky (Dyaus). With Parjanya as an +Aryan rain-god may be mentioned Trita, who, apparently, was a +water-god, [=A]ptya, in general; and some of whose functions Indra has +taken. He appears to be the same with the Persian Thraetaona +[=A]thwya; but in the Rig Veda he is interesting mainly as a dim +survival of the past.[32] The washing out of sins, which appears to be +the original conception of Varuna's sin-forgiving,[33] finds an +analogue in the fact that sins are cast off upon the innocent waters +and upon Trita--also a water-god, and once identified with Varuna +(viii. 41. 6). But this notion is so unique and late (only in viii. +47) that Bloomfield is perhaps right in imputing it to the [later] +moralizing age of the Br[=a]hmanas, with which the third period of the +Rig Veda is quite in touch. + + * * * * * + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Compare I. 134. 3.] + + [Footnote 2: For the different views, see Perry, JAOS. xi. + p. 119; Muir, OST. v. p. 77.] + + [Footnote 3: _La Religion Védique_, ii. pp. 159, 161, 166, + 187.] + + [Footnote 4: The chief texts are ii. 30. 1; iv. 26. 1; vii. + 98. 6; viii. 93. 1, 4; x. 89. 2; x. 112. 3.] + + [Footnote 5: Other citations given by Bergaigne in + connection with this point are all of the simile class. Only + as All-god is Indra the sun.] + + [Footnote 6: i. 51. 4: "After slaying Vritra, thou did'st + make the sun climb in the sky."] + + [Footnote 7: [=A]dityá, only vii. 85. 4; V[=a]l. 4. 7. For + other references, see Perry (loc. cit.).] + + [Footnote 8: Bergaigne, ii. 160. 187.] + + [Footnote 9: Indra finds and begets Agni, iii. 31. 25.] + + [Footnote 10: Unless the Python be, rather, the Demon of + Putrefaction, as in Iranian belief.] + + [Footnote 11: Demons of every sort oppose Indra; Vala, + Vritra, the 'holding' snake (_áhi_=[Greek: echis]), Çushna + ('drought'), etc.] + + [Footnote 12: So he finds and directs the sun and causes it + to shine, as explained above (viii. 3. 6; iii. 44. 4; i. 56. + 4; iii. 30. 12). He is praised with Vishnu (vi.69) in one + hymn, as distinct from him.] + + [Footnote 13: Bollensen would see an allusion to idols in i. + 145. 4-5 (to Agni), but this is very doubtful (ZDMG. xlvii. + p. 586). Agni, however, is on a par with Indra, so that the + exception would have no significance. See Kaegi, Rig Veda, + note 79a.] + + [Footnote 14: Or 'pluck with beaks,' as Müller translates, + SBE. xxxii. p. 373.] + + [Footnote 15: "Bore them" (gave an udder). In v. 52. 16 + Rudra is father and Priçni, mother. Compare viii. 94. 1: + "The cow ... the mother of the Maruts, sends milk (rain)." + In x. 78. 6 the Maruts are sons of Sindhu (Indus).] + + [Footnote 16: I.e., die.] + + [Footnote 17: The number is not twenty-seven, as Muir + accidentally states, OST. v. p. 147.] + + [Footnote 18: v. 58. 4, 5; I. 88. 1; 88. 5; v. 54. 11; viii. + 7. 25; i. 166. 10; i. 39. 1; 64. 2-8; v. 54. 6; i. 85. 8; + viii. 7. 34; v. 59. 2.] + + [Footnote 19: He carries lightnings and medicines together + in vii. 46. 3.] + + [Footnote 20: Çiva is later identified with Rudra. For the + latter in RV. compare i. 43; 114, 1-5, 10; ii. 33. 2-13.] + + [Footnote 21: vii. 47, and x. 75.] + + [Footnote 22: vii. 103.] + + [Footnote 23: _Akhkhala_ is like Latin _eccere_ shout of joy + and wonder(_Am.J. Phil._ XIV. p. 11).] + + [Footnote 24: Literally, 'that has stood over-night,' i.e., + fermented.] + + [Footnote 25: To this hymn is added, in imitation of the + laudations of generous benefactors, which are sometimes + suffixed to an older hymn, words ascribing gifts to the + frogs. Bergaigne regards the frogs as meteorological + phenomena! It is from this hymn as a starting-point proceed + the latter-day arguments of Jacobi, who would prove the + 'period of the Rig Veda' to have begun about 3500 B.C. One + might as well date Homer by an appeal to the + Batrachomyomachia.] + + [Footnote 26: x. 98. 6.] + + [Footnote 27: vii. 102.] + + [Footnote 28: Compare Bühler, _Orient and Occident_, I. p. + 222.] + + [Footnote 29: This hymn is another of those that contradict + the first assumption of the ritualists. From internal + evidence it is not likely that it was made for baksheesh.] + + [Footnote 30: _[A]suras, pit[=a] nas_.] + + [Footnote 31: Literally, 'with _ghee_'; the rain is like the + _ghee_, or sacrificial oil (melted butter).] + + [Footnote 32: Some suppose even Indra to be one with the + Avestan _A[.n]dra_, a demon, which is possible.] + + [Footnote 33: Otherwise it is the 'bonds of sin' which are + broken or loosed, as in the last verse of the first Varuna + hymn, translated above. But the two views may be of equal + antiquity (above, p. 69, note). On Trita compare JRAS. 1893, + p. 419; PAOS. 1894 (Bloomfield).] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE RIG VEDA (CONTINUED).--THE LOWER GODS. + +AGNI. + + +Great are the heavenly gods, but greater is Indra, god of the +atmosphere. Greatest are Agni and Soma, the gods of earth. + +Agni is the altar-fire. Originally fire, Agni, in distinction from sun +and lightning, is the fire of sacrifice; and as such is he great. One +reads in v. 3. 1-2, that this Agni is Varuna, Indra; that in him are +all the gods. This is, indeed, formally a late view, and can be +paralleled only by a few passages of a comparatively recent period. +Thus, in the late hymn i. 164. 46: "Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, they +say; he is the sun (the bird in the sky); that which is but one they +call variously," etc. So x. 114. 5 and the late passage iii. 38. 7, +have reference to various forms of Agni. + +Indra had a twofold nature in producing the union of lightning and +Agni; and this made him mysteriously great. But in Agni is found the +first triality, which, philosophically, is interpreted as a trinity. +The fire of the altar is one with the lightning, and, again, one with +the sun. This is Agni's threefold birth; and all the holy character of +three is exhausted in application where he is concerned. It is the +highest mystery until the very end of the Vedic age. This Agni it is +that is the real Agni of the Rig Veda--the new Agni; for there was +probably an Agni cult (as simple fire) long before the _soma_ cult. +Indra and Agni are one, and both are called the slayers of the +demons[1]. They are both united as an indissoluble pair (iii. 12, +etc.). Agni, with, perhaps, the exception of Soma, is the most +important god in the Rig Veda; and it is no chance that gives him the +first place in each family hymn-book; for in him are found, only in +more fortunate circumstances, exactly the same conditions as obtain in +the case of Indra. He appealed to man as the best friend among divine +beings; he was not far off, to be wondered at; if terrible, to be +propitiated. He was near and kind to friends. And as he seemed to the +vulgar so he appealed to the theosophy which permeates the spirit of +the poets; for he is mysterious; a mediator between god and man (in +carrying to heaven the offerings); a threefold unity, typical of +earth, atmosphere, and heaven. From this point of view, as in the case +of Indra, so in the case of Agni, only to a greater extent, it becomes +impossible to interpret Agni as one element, one phenomenon. There is, +when a distinction is made, an _agni_ which is single, the altar-fire, +separate from other fires; but it is seldom that Agni is not felt as +the threefold one. + +And now for the interpretation of the modern ritualists. The Hindu +ritual had 'the three fires,' which every orthodox believer was taught +to keep up. The later literature of the Hindus themselves very +correctly took these three fires as types of the three forms of Agni +known in the Rig Veda. But to the ritualists the historical precedence +is inverted, and they would show that the whole Vedic mythological +view of an Agni triad is the result of identifying Agni with the three +fires of the ritual. From this crass method of interpretation it would +result that all Vedic mythology was the child of the liturgy[2]. + +As earthly fire Agni is first ignis:[3] "Driven by the wind, he +hastens through the forest with roaring tongues.... black is thy path, +O bright immortal!" "He mows down, as no herd can do, the green +fields; bright his tooth, and golden his beard." "He devours like a +steer that one has tied up." This is common fire, divine, but not of +the altar. The latter Agni is of every hymn. For instance, the first +stanza of the Rig Veda: "Agni, the family priest, I worship; the +divine priest of sacrifice; the oblation priest, who bestows riches," +where he is invoked under the names of different priests. But Agni is +even more than this; he is the fire (heat) that causes production and +reproduction, visibly manifest in the sun. This dual Agni, it is to be +noticed, is at times the only Agni recognized. The third form is then +added, lightning, and therewith Agni is begotten of Indra, and is, +therefore, one with Indra: "There is only one fire lighted in many +places" (V[=a]l. 10. 2). As a poetical expression, Agni in the last +form is the 'Son of Waters,' an epithet not without significance in +philosophical speculation; for water, through all periods, was +regarded as the material origin of the universe. + +Agni is one with the sun, with lightning (and thunder), and descends +into the plants.[4] To man he is house-priest and friend. It is he +that has "grouped men in dwelling-places" (iii. 1. 17) like +Prometheus, in whose dialectic name, Promantheus, lingers still the +fire-creator, the twirling (_math_) sticks which make fire in the +wood. He is man's guest and best friend (Mitra, iv. 1. 9; above). + +An hymn or two entire will show what was Agni to the Vedic poet. In +the following, the Rig Veda's first hymn, he is addressed, in the +opening stanza, under the names of house-priest, the chief sacrificial +priest, and the priest that pours oblations. In the second stanza he +is extolled as the messenger who brings the gods to the sacrifice, +himself rising up in sacrificial flames, and forming a link between +earth and heaven. In a later stanza he is called the Messenger +(Angiras =[Greek: aggelos]),--one of his ordinary titles: + + To AGNI (i. 1). + + I worship Agni; house-priest, he, + And priest divine of sacrifice, + Th' oblation priest, who giveth wealth. + + Agni, by seers of old adored, + To be adored by those to-day-- + May he the gods bring here to us. + + Through Agni can one wealth acquire, + Prosperity from day to day, + And fame of heroes excellent. + + O, Agni! whatsoe'er the rite + That thou surround'st on every side, + That sacrifice attains the gods. + + May Agni, who oblation gives-- + The wisest, true, most famous priest-- + This god with (all) the gods approach I + + Thou doest good to every man + That serves thee, Agni; even this + Is thy true virtue, Angiras. + + To thee, O Agni, day by day, + Do we with prayer at eve and dawn, + Come, bringing lowly reverence; + + To thee, the lord of sacrifice, + And shining guardian of the rite,[5] + In thine own dwelling magnified. + + As if a father to his son, + Be easy of access to us, + And lead us onward to our weal. + +This is mechanical enough to have been made for an established ritual, +as doubtless it was. But it is significant that the ritualistic gods +are such that to give their true character hymns of this sort must be +cited. Such is not the case with the older gods of the pantheon. +Ritualistic as it is, however, it is simple. Over against it may be +set the following (vi. 8): "Now will I praise the strength of the +variegated red bull (Agni), the feasts of the Knower-of-beings[6] +(Agni); to Agni, the friend of all men, is poured out a new song, +sweet to him as clear _soma_. As soon as he was born in highest +heaven, Agni began to protect laws, for he is a guardian of law (or +order). Great in strength, he, the friend of all men, measured out the +space between heaven and earth, and in greatness touched the zenith; +he, the marvellous friend, placed apart heaven and earth; with light +removed darkness; separated the two worlds like skins. Friend of all +men, he took all might to himself.... In the waters' lap the mighty +ones (gods) took him, and people established him king. M[=a]tariçvan, +messenger of the all-shining one, bore him from afar, friend of all +men. Age by age, O Agni, give to poets new glorious wealth for feasts. +O ever-youthful king, as if with a ploughshare, rend the sinner; +destroy him with thy flame, like a tree! But among our lords bring, O +Agni, power unbent, endless strength of heroes; and may we, through +thy assistance, conquer wealth an hundredfold, a thousandfold, O Agni, +thou friend of all; with thy sure protection protect our royal lords, +O helper, thou who hast three habitations; guard for us the host of +them that have been generous, and let them live on, friend of all, now +that thou art lauded." + +Aryan, as Kuhn[7] has shown, is at least the conception if not the +particular form of the legend alluded to in this hymn, of fire brought +from the sky to earth, which Promethean act is attributed elsewhere to +the fire-priest.[8] Agni is here Mitra, the friend, as sun-god, and as +such takes all the celestials' activities on himself. Like Indra he +also gives personal strength: "Fair is thy face, O Agni, to the mortal +that desires strength;--they whom thou dost assist overcome their +enemies all their lives" (vi. 16. 25, 27). Agni is drawn down to earth +by means of the twirling-sticks, one the father, one the mother[9]. +"The bountiful wood bore the fair variegated son of waters and +plants;[10] the gods united in mind, and payed homage to the glorious +mighty child when he was born" (iii. 1. 13). As the son of waters, +Agni loves wood but retreats to water, and he is so identified with +Indra that he 'thunders' and 'gives rain' (as lightning; ii. 6. 5; +iii. 9. 2). + +The deeper significance of Agni-worship is found not alone in the fact +that he is the god in whom are the other gods, nor in that he is the +sun alone, but that "I am Agni, immortality is in my mouth; threefold +my light, eternal fire, my name the oblation (fire)," iii. 26. 7. He +is felt as a mysterious trinity. As a sun he lights earth; and gives +life, sustenance, children, and wealth (iii. 3. 7); as lightning he +destroys, as fire he befriends; like Indra he gives victory (iii. 16. +1); like Varuna he releases the bonds of sin; he is Varuna's brother +(v. 2. 7; vi. 3. 1; iv. 1. 2); his 'many names' are often alluded to +(iii. 20. 3, and above). The ritualistic interpretation of the priest +is that the sun is only a sacrificial fire above lighted by the gods +as soon as the corresponding fire is lighted on earth by men (vi. 2. +3). He is all threefold; three his tongues, his births, his places; +thrice led about the sacrifice given thrice a day (iii. 2. 9; 17. 1; +20. 2; iv, 15. 2; 1. 7; 12. 1). He is the upholder of the religious +order, the guest of mortals, found by the gods in the heavenly waters; +he is near and dear; but he also becomes dreadful to the foe (iii. 1. +3-6; 6. 5; vi. 7. 1; 8. 2; iii. 1. 23; 22. 5; vi. 3. 7; iii. 18. 1; +iv. 4. 4; 1. 6). + +It is easy to see that in such a conception of a triune god, who is +fearful yet kind, whose real name is unknown, while his visible +manifestations are in earth, air, and heaven, whose being contains all +the gods, there is an idea destined to overthrow, as it surpasses, the +simpler conceptions of the naturalism that precedes it. Agni as the +one divine power of creation is in fact the origin of the human race: +"From thee come singers and heroes" (vi. 7. 3). The less weight is, +therefore, to be laid on Bergaigne's 'fire origin of man'; it is not +as simple fire, but as universal creator that Agni creates man; it is +not the 'fire-principle'[11] philosophically elicited from connection +of fire and water, but as god-principle, all-creative, that Agni gets +this praise. + +Several hymns are dedicated to _Indr[=a]gni_, Indra united with Agni; +and the latter even is identified with Dyaus (iv. 1. 10), this +obsolescent god reviving merely to be absorbed into Agni. As water +purifies from dirt and sin (Varuna), so fire purifies (iv. 12. 4). It +has been suggested on account of v. 12. 5: 'Those that were yours have +spoken lies and left thee,' that there is a decrease in Agni worship. +As this never really happened, and as the words are merely those of a +penitent who has lied and seeks forgiveness at the hands of the god of +truth, the suggestion is not very acceptable. Agni comprehends not +only all naturalistic gods, but such later femininities as Reverence, +Mercy, and other abstractions, including Boundlessness. + +Of how great importance was the triune god Agni may be seen by +comparing his three lights with the later sectarian trinity, where +Vishnu, originally the sun, and (Rudra) Çiva, the lightning, are the +preserver and destroyer. + +We fear the reader may have thought that we were developing rather a +system of mythology than a history of religion. With the close of the +Vedic period we shall have less to say from a mythological point of +view, but we think that it will have become patent now for what +purpose was intended the mythological basis of our study. Without this +it would have been impossible to trace the gradual growth in the +higher metaphysical interpretation of nature which goes hand in hand +with the deeper religious sense. With this object we have proceeded +from the simpler to the more complex divinities. We have now to take +up a side of religion which lies more apart from speculation, but it +is concerned very closely with man's religious instincts--the worship +of Bacchic character, the reverence for and fear of the death-god, and +the eschatological fancies of the poets, together with those first +attempts at creating a new theosophy which close the period of the Rig +Veda. + + +SOMA. + +Inseparably connected with the worship of Indra and Agni is that of +the 'moon-plant,' _soma_, the intoxicating personified drink to whose +deification must be assigned a date earlier than that of the Vedas +themselves. For the _soma_ of the Hindus is etymologically identified +with the _haoma_ of the Persians (the [Greek: omomi] of Plutarch[12]), +and the cultus at least was begun before the separation of the two +nations, since in each the plant is regarded as a god. The inspiring +effect of intoxication seemed to be due to the inherent divinity of +the plant that produced it; the plant was, therefore, regarded as +divine, and the preparation of the draught was looked upon as a sacred +ceremony[13]. + +This offering of the juice of the _soma_-plant in India was performed +thrice daily. It is said in the Rig Veda that _soma_ grows upon the +mountain M[=u]javat, that its or his father is Parjanya, the rain-god, +and that the waters are his sisters[14]. From this mountain, or from +the sky, accounts differ, _soma_ was brought by a hawk[15]. He is +himself represented in other places as a bird; and as a divinity he +shares in the praise given to Indra, "who helped Indra to slay +Vritra," the demon that keeps back the rain. Indra, intoxicated by +_soma_, does his great deeds, and indeed all the gods depend on _soma_ +for immortality. Divine, a weapon-bearing god, he often simply takes +the place of Indra and other gods in Vedic eulogy. It is the god Soma +himself who slays Vritra, Soma who overthrows cities, Soma who begets +the gods, creates the sun, upholds the sky, prolongs life, sees all +things, and is the one best friend of god and man, the divine drop +(_Ãndu_), the friend of Indra[16]. + +As a god he is associated not only with Indra, but also with Agni, +Rudra, and P[=u]shan. A few passages in the later portion of the Rig +Veda show that _soma_ already was identified with the moon before the +end of this period. After this the lunar yellow god regularly was +regarded as the visible and divine Soma of heaven, represented on +earth by the plant[17]. + +From the fact that Soma is the moon in later literature, and +undoubtedly is recognized as such in a small number of the latest +passages of the Rig Veda, the not unnatural inference has been drawn +by some Vedic scholars that Soma, in hymns still earlier, means the +moon; wherever, in fact, epithets hitherto supposed to refer to the +plant may be looked upon as not incompatible with a description of the +moon, there these epithets are to be referred directly to Soma as the +moon-god, not to _soma_, the mere plant. Thus, with Rig Veda, X. 85 (a +late hymn, which speaks of Soma as the moon "in the lap of the stars," +and as "the days' banner") is to be compared VI. 39. 3, where it is +said that the drop (_soma_) lights up the dark nights, and is the +day's banner. Although this expression, at first view, would seem to +refer to the moon alone, yet it may possibly be regarded as on a par +with the extravagant praise given elsewhere to the _soma_-plant, and +not be so significant of the moon as it appears to be. Thus, in +another passage of the same book, the _soma_, in similar language, is +said to "lay light in the sun," a phrase scarcely compatible with the +moon's sphere of activity[18]. + + +The decision in regard to this question of interpretation is not to be +reached so easily as one might suppose, considering that a whole book, +the ninth, of the Rig Veda is dedicated to Soma, and that in addition +to this there are many hymns addressed to him in the other books. For +in the greater number of passages which may be cited for and against +this theory the objector may argue that the generally extravagant +praise bestowed upon Soma through the Veda is in any one case +merely particularized, and that it is not incongruous to say of the +divine _soma_-plant, "he lights the dark nights," when one reads in +general that he creates all things, including the gods. On the other +hand, the advocate of the theory may reply that everything which does +not apply to the moon-god Soma may be used metaphorically of him. +Thus, where it is said, "Soma goes through the purifying sieve," by +analogy with the drink of the plant _soma_ passing through the sieve +the poet may be supposed to imagine the moon passing through the +sieve-like clouds; and even when this sieve is expressly called the +'sheep's-tail sieve' and 'wool-sieve,' this may still be, +metaphorically, the cloud-sieve (as, without the analogy, one speaks +to-day of woolly clouds and the 'mare's tail'). + +So it happens that, with an hundred hymns addressed to Soma, it +remains still a matter of discussion whether the _soma_ addressed be +the plant or the moon. Alfred Hillebrandt, to whom is due the problem +in its present form, declares that everywhere[19] in the Rig Veda Soma +means the moon. No better hymn can be found to illustrate the +difficulty under which labors the _soma_-exegete than IX. 15, from +which Hillebrandt takes the fourth verse as conclusive evidence that +by _soma_ only the moon is meant. In that case, as will be seen from +the 'pails,' it must be supposed that the poet leaps from Soma to +_soma_ without warning. Hillebrandt does not include the mention of +the pails in his citation; but in this, as in other doubtful cases, it +seems to us better to give a whole passage than to argue on one or two +verses torn from their proper position: + + HYMN TO SOMA (IX. 15). + + QUERY: Is the hymn addressed to the plant as it is pressed + out into the pails, or to the moon? + + 1. This one, by means of prayer (or intelligence), comes + through the fine (sieve), the hero, with swift car, going to + the meeting with Indra. + + 2. This one thinks much for the sublime assembly of gods, + where sit immortals. + + 3. This one is despatched and led upon a shining path, when + the active ones urge (him).[20] + + 4. This one, shaking his horns, sharpens (them), the bull of + the herd, doing heroic deeds forcibly. + + 5. This one hastens, the strong steed, with bright golden + beams, becoming of streams the lord. + + 6. This one, pressing surely through the knotty (sieve?) to + good things, comes down into the vessels. + + 7. This one, fit to be prepared, the active ones prepare in + the pails, as he creates great food. + + 8. Him, this one, who has good weapons, who is most + intoxicating, ten fingers and seven (or many) prayers + prepare. + +Here, as in IX. 70, Hillebrandt assumes that the poet turns suddenly +from the moon to the plant. Against this might be urged the use of the +same pronoun throughout the hymn. It must be confessed that at first +sight it is almost as difficult to have the plant, undoubtedly meant +in verses 7 and 8, represented by the moon in the preceding verses, as +it is not to see the moon in the expression 'shaking his horns.' This +phrase occurs in another hymn, where Hillebrandt, with the same +certainty as he does here, claims it for the moon, though the first +part of this hymn as plainly refers to the plant, IX. 70. 1, 4. Here +the plant is a steer roaring like the noise of the Maruts (5-6), and +then (as above, after the term steer is applied to the plant), it is +said that he 'sharpens his horns,' and is 'sightly,' and further, 'he +sits down in the fair place ... on the wooly back,' etc., which bring +one to still another hymn where are to be found like expressions, +used, evidently, not of the moon, but of the plant, _viz._ to IX. 37, +a hymn not cited by Hillebrandt: + + This strong (virile) _soma_, pressed for drink, flows into + the purifying vessel; this sightly (as above, where + Hillebrandt says it is epithet of the moon), yellow, fiery + one, is flowing into the purifying vessel; roaring into its + own place (as above). This strong one, clear, shining (or + purifying itself), runs through the shining places of the + sky, slaying evil demons, through the sheep-hair-sieve. On + the back of Trita this one shining (or purifying itself) + made bright the sun with (his) sisters.[21] This one, + slaying Vritra, strong, pressed out, finding good things (as + above), uninjured, _soma_, went as if for booty. This god, + sent forth by seers, runs into the vessels, the drop + (_indu_) for Indra, quickly (or willingly). + +So far as we can judge, after comparing these and the other passages +that are cited by Hillebrandt as decisive for a lunar interpretation +of _soma_, it seems quite as probable that the epithets and +expressions used are employed of the plant metaphorically as that the +poet leaps thus lightly from plant to moon. And there is a number of +cases which plainly enough are indicative of the plant alone to make +it improbable that Hillebrandt is correct in taking Soma as the moon +'everywhere in the Rig Veda.' It may be that the moon-cult is somewhat +older than has been supposed, and that the language is consciously +veiled in the ninth book to cover the worship of a deity as yet only +partly acknowledged as such. But it is almost inconceivable that an +hundred hymns should praise the moon; and all the native commentators, +bred as they were in the belief of their day that _soma_ and the moon +were one, should not know that _soma_ in the Rig Veda (as well as +later) means the lunar deity. It seems, therefore, safer to abide by +the belief that _soma_ usually means what it was understood to mean, +and what the general descriptions in the _soma_-hymns more or less +clearly indicate, _viz._, the intoxicating plant, conceived of as +itself divine, stimulating Indra, and, therefore, the _causa movens_ +of the demon's death, Indra being the _causa efficiens_. Even the +allusions to _soma_ being in the sky is not incompatible with this. +For he is carried thence from the place of sacrifice. Thus too in 83. +1-2: "O lord of prayer[22], thy purifier (the sieve) is extended. +Prevailing thou enterest its limbs on all sides. Raw (_soma_), that +has not been cooked (with milk) does not enter into it. Only the +cooked (_soma_), going through, enters it. The sieve of the hot drink +is extended in the place of the sky. Its gleaming threads extend on +all sides. This (_soma_'s) swift (streams) preserve the man that +purifies them, and wisely ascend to the back of the sky." In this, as +in many hymns, the drink _soma_ is clearly addressed; yet expressions +are used which, if detached, easily might be thought to imply the moon +(or the sun, as with Bergaigne)--a fact that should make one employ +other expressions of the same sort with great circumspection. + +Or, let one compare, with the preparation by the ten fingers, 85. 7: +"Ten fingers rub clean (prepare) the steed in the vessels; uprise the +songs of the priests. The intoxicating drops, as they purify +themselves, meet the song of praise and enter Indra." Exactly the same +images as are found above may be noted in IX. 87, where not the moon, +but the plant, is conspicuously the subject of the hymn: "Run into the +pail, purified by men go unto booty. They lead thee like a swift horse +with reins to the sacrificial straw, preparing (or rubbing) thee. With +good weapons shines the divine (shining) drop (_Indu_), slaying +evil-doers, guarding the assembly; the father of the gods, the clever +begetter, the support of the sky, the holder of earth.... This one, +the _soma_ (plant) on being pressed out, ran swiftly into the purifier +like a stream let out, sharpening his two sharp horns like a buffalo; +like a true hero hunting for cows; he is come from the highest +press-stone," etc. It is the noise of _soma_ dropping that is compared +with 'roaring.' The strength given by (him) the drink, makes +him appear as the 'virile one,' of which force is the activity, and +the bull the type. Given, therefore, the image of the bull, the rest +follows easily to elaborate the metaphor. If one add that _soma_ is +luminous (yellow), and that all luminous divinities are 'horned +bulls[23],' then it will be unnecessary to see the crescent moon in +_soma_. Moreover, if _soma_ be the same with Brihaspati, as thinks +Hillebrandt, why are there three horns in V. 43. 13? Again, that the +expression 'sharpening his horns' does not refer necessarily to the +moon may be concluded from x. 86. 15, where it is stated expressly +that the _drink_ is a sharp-horned steer: "Like a sharp-horned steer +is thy brewed drink, O Indra," probably referring to the taste. The +sun, Agni, and Indra are all, to the Vedic poet, 'sharp-horned +steers[24],' and the _soma_ plant, being luminous and strong +(bull-like), gets the same epithet. + +The identity is rather with Indra than with the moon, if one be +content to give up brilliant theorizing, and simply follow the poets: +"The one that purifies himself yoked the sun's swift steed over man +that he might go through the atmosphere, and these ten steeds of the +sun he yoked to go, saying Indra is the drop (_Indu_)." When had ever +the moon the power to start the sun? What part in the pantheon is +played by the moon when it is called by its natural name (not by the +priestly name, _soma_)? Is _m[=a]s_ or _candramas_ (moon) a power of +strength, a great god? The words scarcely occur, except in late hymns, +and the moon, by his own folk-name, is hardly praised except in +mechanical conjunction with the sun. The floods of which _soma_ is +lord are explained in IX. 86. 24-25: "The hawk (or eagle) brought thee +from the sky, O drop (_Indu_[25]), ... seven milk-streams sing to the +yellow one as he purifies himself with the wave in the sieve of +sheep's wool. The active strong ones have sent forth the wise seer in +the lap of the waters." If one wishes to clear his mind in respect of +what the Hindu attributes to the divine drink (expressly drink, and +not moon), let him read IX. 104, where he will find that "the twice +powerful god-rejoicing intoxicating drink" finds goods, finds a path +for his friends, puts away every harmful spirit and every devouring +spirit, averts the false godless one and all oppression; and read also +ix. 21. I-4: "These _soma_-drops for Indra flow rejoicing, maddening, +light-(or heaven-) finding, averting attackers, finding desirable +things for the presser, making life for the singer. Like waves the +drops flow into one vessel, playing as they will. These _soma_-drops, +let out like steeds (attached) to a car, as they purify themselves, +attain all desirable things." According to IX. 97. 41^2 and _ib._ 37. +4 (and other like passages, too lightly explained, p. 387, by +Hillebrandt), it is _soma_ that "produced the light in the sun" and +"makes the sun rise," statements incompatible with the (lunar) Soma's +functions, but quite in accordance with the magic power which the +poets attribute to the divine drink. Soma is 'king over treasure.' +Soma is brought by the eagle that all may "see light" (IX. 48. 3-4). +He traverses the sky, and guards order--but not necessarily is he here +the moon, for _soma_, the drink, as a "galloping steed," "a brilliant +steer," a "stream of pressed _soma_," "a dear sweet," "a helper of +gods," is here poured forth; after him "flow great water-floods"; and +he "purifies himself in the sieve, he the supporter, holder of the +sky"; he "shines with the sun," "roars," and "looks like Mitra"; being +here both "the intoxicating draught," and at the same time "the giver +of kine, giver of men, giver of horses, giver of strength, the soul of +sacrifice" (IX. 2). + +Soma is even older than the Vedic Indra as slayer of Vritra and +snakes. Several Indo-Iranian epithets survive (of _soma_ and _haoma_, +respectively), and among those of Iran is the title 'Vritra-slayer,' +applied to _haoma_, the others being 'strong' and 'heaven-winning,' +just as in the Veda[26]. All three of them are contained in one of the +most lunar-like of the hymns to Soma, which, for this reason, and +because it is one of the few to this deity that seem to be not +entirely mechanical, is given here nearly in full, with the original +shift of metre in the middle of the hymn (which may possibly indicate +that two hymns have been united). + + To SOMA (I. 91). + + Thou, Soma, wisest art in understanding; + Thou guidest (us) along the straightest pathway; + 'Tis through thy guidance that our pious[27] fathers + Among the gods got happiness, O Indu. + + Thou, Soma, didst become in wisdom wisest; + In skill[28] most skilful, thou, obtaining all things. + A bull in virile strength, thou, and in greatness; + In splendor wast thou splendid, man-beholder. + + Thine, now, the laws of kingly Varuna[29]; + Both high and deep the place of thee, O Soma. + Thou brilliant art as Mitra, the belovèd[30], + Like Aryaman, deserving service, art thou. + + Whate'er thy places be in earth or heaven, + Whate'er in mountains, or in plants and waters, + In all of these, well-minded, not injurious, + King Soma, our oblations meeting, take thou. + + Thou, Soma, art the real lord, + Thou king and Vritra-slayer, too; + Thou art the strength that gives success. + + And, Soma, let it be thy will + For us to live, nor let us die[31]; + Thou lord of plants[32], who lovest praise. + + Thou, Soma, bliss upon the old, + And on the young and pious man + Ability to live, bestowest. + + Do thou, O Soma, on all sides + Protect us, king, from him that sins, + No harm touch friend of such as thou. + + Whatever the enjoyments be + Thou hast, to help thy worshipper, + With these our benefactor be. + + This sacrifice, this song, do thou, + Well-pleased, accept; come unto us; + Make for our weal, O Soma, thou. + + In songs we, conversant with words, + O Soma, thee do magnify; + Be merciful and come to us. + + * * *[33] + + All saps unite in thee and all strong powers, + All virile force that overcomes detraction; + Filled full, for immortality, O Soma, + Take to thyself the highest praise in heaven. + The sacrifice shall all embrace--whatever + Places thou hast, revered with poured oblations. + Home-aider, Soma, furtherer with good heroes, + Not hurting heroes, to our houses come thou. + Soma the cow gives; Soma, the swift charger; + Soma, the hero that can much accomplish + (Useful at home, in feast, and in assembly + His father's glory)--gives, to him that worships. + + In war unharmed; in battle still a saviour; + Winner of heaven and waters, town-defender, + Born mid loud joy, and fair of home and glory, + A conqueror, thou; in thee may we be happy. + Thou hast, O Soma, every plant begotten; + The waters, thou; and thou, the cows; and thou hast + Woven the wide space 'twixt the earth and heaven; + Thou hast with light put far away the darkness. + With mind divine, O Soma, thou divine[34] one, + A share of riches win for us, O hero; + Let none restrain thee, thou art lord of valor; + Show thyself foremost to both sides in battle[35]. + +Of more popular songs, Hillebrandt cites as sung to Soma (!) VIII. 69. +8-10: + + Sing loud to him, sing loud to him; + Priyamedhas, oh, sing to him, + And sing to him the children, too; + Extol him as a sure defence.... + To _Indra_ is the prayer up-raised. + +The three daily _soma_-oblations are made chiefly to Indra and +V[=a]yu; to Indra at mid-day; to the Ribhus, artisans of the gods, at +evening; and to Agni in the morning. + +Unmistakable references to Soma as the moon, as, for instance, in X. +85. 3: "No one eats of that _soma_ which the priests know," seem +rather to indicate that the identification of moon and Soma was +something esoteric and new rather than the received belief of +pre-Vedic times, as will Hillebrandt. This moon-_soma_ is +distinguished from the "_soma_-plant which they crush." + +The floods of _soma_ are likened to, or, rather, identified with, the +rain-floods which the lightning frees, and, as it were, brings to +earth with him. A whole series of myths depending on this natural +phenomenon has been evolved, wherein the lightning-fire +as an eagle brings down _soma_ to man, that is, the heavenly drink. +Since Agni is threefold and the G[=a]yatri metre is threefold, they +interchange, and in the legends it is again the metre which brings the +_soma_, or an archer, as is stated in one doubtful passage[36]. + +What stands out most clearly in _soma_-laudations is that the +_soma_-hymns are not only quite mechanical, but that they presuppose a +very complete and elaborate ritual, with the employment of a number of +priests, of whom the _hotars_ (one of the various sets of priests) +alone number five in the early and seven in the late books; with a +complicated service; with certain divinities honored at certain hours; +and other paraphernalia of sacerdotal ceremony; while Indra, most +honored with Soma, and Agni, most closely connected with the execution +of sacrifice, not only receive the most hymns, but these hymns are, +for the most part, palpably made for ritualistic purposes. It is this +truth that the ritualists have seized upon and too sweepingly applied. +For in every family book, besides this baksheesh verse, occur the +older, purer hymns that have been retained after the worship for which +they were composed had become changed into a trite making of phrases. + +Hillebrandt has failed to show that the Iranian _haoma_ is the moon, +so that as a starting-point there still is plant and drink-worship, +not moon-worship. At what precise time, therefore, the _soma_ was +referred to the moon is not so important. Since drink-worship stands +at one end of the series, and moon-worship at the other, it is +antecedently probable that here and there there may be a doubt as to +which of the two was intended. Some of the examples cited by +Hillebrandt may indeed be referable to the latter end of the series +rather than to the former; but that the author, despite the learning +and ingenuity of his work, has proved his point definitively, we are +far from believing. It is just like the later Hindu speculation to +think out a subtle connection between moon and _soma_-plant because +each was yellow, and swelled, and went through a sieve (cloud), etc. +But there is a further connecting link in that the divinity ascribed +to the intoxicant led to a supposition that it was brought from the +sky, the home of the gods; above all, of the luminous gods, which the +yellow _soma_ resembled. Such was the Hindu belief, and from this as a +starting-point appears to have come the gradual identification of +_soma_ with the moon, now called Soma. For the moon, even under the +name of Gandharva, is not the object of especial worship. + +The question so ably discussed by Hillebrandt is, however, one of +considerable importance from the point of view of the religious +development. If _soma_ from the beginning was the moon, then there is +only one more god of nature to add to the pantheon. But if, as we +believe in the light of the Avesta and Veda itself, _soma_ like +_haoma_, was originally the drink-plant (the root _su_ press, from +which comes _soma_, implies the plant), then two important facts +follow. First, in the identification of yellow _soma_-plant with +yellow moon in the latter stage of the Rig Veda (which coincides with +the beginning of the Brahmanic period) there is a striking +illustration of the gradual mystical elevation of religion at the +hands of the priests, to whom it appeared indecent that mere drink +should be exalted thus; and secondly, there is the significant fact +that in the Indic and Iranian cult there was a direct worship of +deified liquor, analogous to Dionysiac rites, a worship which is not +unparalleled in other communities. Again, the surprising identity of +worship in Avesta and Veda, and the fact that hymns to the earlier +deities, Dawn, Parjanya, etc, are frequently devoid of any relation to +the _soma_-cult not only show that Bergaigne's opinion that the whole +Rig Veda is but a collection of hymns for _soma_-worship as handed +down in different families must be modified; but also that, as we have +explained _apropos_ of Varuna, the Iranian cult must have branched off +from the Vedic cult (whether, as Haug thought, on account of a +religious schism or not); that the hymns to the less popular deities +(as we have defined the word) make the first period of Vedic cult; and +that the special liquor-cult, common to Iran and India, arose after +the first period of Vedic worship, when, for example, Wind, Parjanya, +and Varuna were at their height, and before the priests had exalted +mystically Agni or Soma, and even Indra was as yet undeveloped. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: viii. 38. 4; i. 108. 3; Bergaigne, ii. 293.] + + [Footnote 2: On this point Bergaigne deprecates the + application of the ritualistic method, and says in words + that cannot be too emphasized: "Mais qui ne voit que de + telles exptications n'expliquent rien, ou plutôt que le + détail du rituel ne peut trouver son explication que dans le + mythe, bien loin de pouvoir servir lui-mêmes à expliquer le + mythe?... Ni le ciel seul ni la terre seule, mais la terre + et le ciel étroitement unis et presque confondus, voilà le + vrai domaine de la mythologie védique, mythologie dont le + rituel n'est que la reproduction" (i. p. 24).] + + [Footnote 3: i. 58. 4; v. 7. 7; vi. 3. 4.] + + [Footnote 4: iii. 14. 4; i. 71. 9; vi. 3. 7; 6. 2; iv. 1. + 9.] + + [Footnote 5: Or of time or order.] + + [Footnote 6: Or 'Finder-of-beings.'] + + [Footnote 7: _Herabkunft des Feuers und des Göttertrankes_.] + + [Footnote 8: RV. vi. 16. 13: "Thee, Agni, from out the sky + Atharvan twirled," _nir amanthata_ (cf. Promantheus). In x. + 462 the Bhrigus, [Greek: phleghyai], discover fire.] + + [Footnote 9: Compare v. 2. 1. Sometimes Agni is "born with + the fingers," which twirl the sticks (iii. 26. 3; iv. 6. + 8).] + + [Footnote 10: Compare ii. 1: "born in flame from water, + cloud, and plants ... thou art the creator."] + + [Footnote 11: Bergaigne, i. p. 32 ff. The question of + priestly names (loc. cit. pp. 47-50), should start with + Bharata as [Greek: purphoros], a common title of Agni (ii. + 7; vi. 16. 19-21). So Bhrigu is the 'shining' one; and + Vasishtha is the 'most shining' (compare Vasus, not good but + shining gods). The priests got their names from their god, + like Jesuits. Compare Gritsamada in the Bhrigu family (book + ii.); Viçv[=a]-mitra, 'friend of all,' in the Bharata family + (book iii.); Gautama V[=a]madeva belonging to Angirasas + (book iv.); Atri 'Eater,' epithet of Agni in RV. (book v.); + Bharadv[=a]ja 'bearing food' (book vi.); Vasishtha (book + vii.); and besides these Jamadagni and Kaçyapa, + black-toothed (Agni).'] + + [Footnote 12: De Isid. et Osir. 46. Compare Windischmann, + _Ueber den Somacultus der Arier_ (1846), and Muir, _Original + Sanskrit Texts_, vol. ii. p. 471. Hillebrandt, _Vedische + Mythologie_, i. p. 450, believes _haoma_ to mean the moon, + as does _soma_ in some hymns of the Rig Veda (see below).] + + [Footnote 13: Compare Kuhn, _Herabkunft des Feuers und des + Göttertrankes_ (1859); Bergaigne, _La Religion Védique_, i. + 148 ff.; Haug's _[=A]itareya Br[=a]hmana_, Introduction, p. + 62; Whitney in _Jour. Am. Or. Soc_. III. 299; Muir, + _Original Sanskrit Texts_, vol. V. p. 258 ff., where other + literature is cited.] + + [Footnote 14: RV. X. 34. 1; IX. 98. 9; 82.3. The Vedic plant + is unknown (not the _sarcostemma viminale_).] + + [Footnote 15: RV. III. 43. 7; IV. 26.6 (other references in + Muir, _loc. cit._ p. 262.) Perhaps rain as _soma_ released by + lightning as a hawk (Bloomfield).] + + [Footnote 16: See the passages cited in Muir, _loc. cit_.] + + [Footnote 17: A complete account of _soma_ was given by the + Vedic texts will be found in Hillebrandt's _Vedische + Mythologie_, vol. I., where are described the different ways + of fermenting the juice of the plant.] + + [Footnote 18: Although so interpreted by Hillebrandt, _loc. + cit._ p. 312. The passage is found in RV. VI. 44. 23.] + + [Footnote 19: _Loc. cit._ pp. 340, 450.] + + [Footnote 20: Compare IX. 79. 5, where the same verb is used + of striking, urging out the _soma_-juice, _r[=a]sa_.] + + [Footnote 21: Compare IX. 32. 2, where "Trita's maidens urge + on the golden steed with the press-stones, _Ãndu_ as a drink + for Indra."] + + [Footnote 22: On account of the position and content of this + hymn, Hillebrandt regards it as addressed to + Soma-Brihaspati.] + + [Footnote 23: So the sun in I. 163. 9, II. 'Sharpening his + horns' is used of fire in i. 140. 6; v. 2. 9.] + + [Footnote 24: VI. 16. 39; vii. 19. I; VIII. 60. 13.] + + [Footnote 25 3: IX. 63. 8-9; 5. 9. Soma is identified with + lightning in ix. 47. 3.] + + [Footnote 26: _Hukhratus, verethrajao, hvaresa_.] + + [Footnote 27: Or: wise.] + + [Footnote 28 3: Or: strength. Above, 'shared riches,' + perhaps, for 'got happiness.'] + + [Footnote 29: Or: thine, indeed, are the laws of King + Varuna.] + + [Footnote 30: Or: brilliant and beloved as Mitra (Mitra + means friend); Aryaman is translated 'bosom-friend'--both + are [=A]dityas.] + + [Footnote 31: Or: an thou willest for us to live we shall + not die.] + + [Footnote 32: Or: lordly plant, but not the moon.] + + [Footnote 33: Some unessential verses in the above metre are + here omitted.] + + [Footnote 34: Or: shining.] + + [Footnote 35: The same ideas are prominent in viii. 48, + where Soma is invoked as '_soma_ that has been drunk,' + _i.e.,_ the juice of the ('three days fermented') plant.] + + [Footnote 36: In the fourth book, iv. 27. 3. On this myth, + with its reasonable explanation as deduced from the ritual, + see Bloomfield, JAOS. xvi. I ff. Compare also Muir and + Hillebrandt, loc. cit.] + + * * * * * + + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE RIG VEDA (CONCLUDED).--YAMA AND OTHER GODS, VEDIC PANTHEISM, +ESCHATOLOGY. + + +In the last chapter we have traced the character of two great gods of +earth, the altar-fire and the personified kind of beer which was the +Vedic poets' chief drink till the end of this period. With the +discovery of _sur[=a], humor ex hordeo_ (oryzaque; Weber, +_V[=a]japeya_, p. 19), and the difficulty of obtaining the original +_soma_-plant (for the plant used later for _soma_, the _asclepias +acida_, or _sarcostemma viminale_, does not grow in the Punj[=a]b +region, and cannot have been the original _soma_), the status of +_soma_ became changed. While _sur[=a]_ became the drink of the people, +_soma_, despite the fact that it was not now so agreeable a liquor, +became reserved, from its old associations, as the priests' (gods') +drink, a sacrosanct beverage, not for the vulgar, and not esteemed by +the priest, except as it kept up the rite. + +It has been shown that these gods, earthly in habitation, absorbed the +powers of the older and physically higher divinities. The ideas that +clustered about the latter were transferred to the former. The +altar-fire, Agni, is at once earth-fire, lightning, and sun. The drink +_soma_ is identified with the heavenly drink that refreshes the earth, +and from its color is taken at last to be the terrestrial form of its +aqueous prototype, the moon, which is not only yellow, but even goes +through cloud-meshes just as _soma_ goes through the sieve, with all +the other points of comparison that priestly ingenuity can devise. + +Of different sort altogether from these gods is the ancient +Indo-Iranian figure that now claims attention. The older religion had +at least one object of devotion very difficult to reduce to terms of a +nature-religion. + + +YAMA + +Exactly as the Hindu had a half-divine ancestor, Manu, who by the +later priests is regarded as of solar origin, while more probably he +is only the abstract Adam (man), the progenitor of the race; so in +Yama the Hindu saw the primitive "first of mortals." While, however, +Mitra, Dyaus, and other older nature-gods, pass into a state of +negative or almost forgotten activity, Yama, even in the later epic +period, still remains a potent sovereign--the king of the dead. + +In the Avesta Yima is the son of the 'wide-gleaming' Vivanghvant, the +sun, and here it is the sun that first prepares the _soma (haoma)_ for +man. And so, too, in the Rig Veda it is Yama the son of Vivasvant (X. +58. 1; 60. 10) who first "extends the web" of (_soma_) sacrifice (VII. +33. 9, 12). The Vedic poet, not influenced by later methods of +interpretation, saw in Yama neither sun nor moon, nor any other +natural phenomenon, for thus he sings, differentiating Yama from them +all: "I praise with a song Agni, P[=u]shan, Sun and Moon, Yama in +heaven, Trita, Wind, Dawn, the Ray of Light, the Twin Horsemen" (X. +64. 3); and again: "Deserving of laudation are Heaven and Earth, the +four-limbed Agni, Yama, Aditi," etc. (X. 92. 11). + +Yama is regarded as a god, although in the Rig Veda he is called only +'king' (X. 14. 1, 11); but later he is expressly a god, and this is +implied, as Ehni shows, even in the Rig Veda: 'a god found Agni' and +'Yama found Agni' (X. 51. 1 ff.). His primitive nature was that of the +'first mortal that died,' in the words of the Atharva Veda. It is +true, indeed, that at a later period even gods are spoken of as +originally 'mortal,'[1] but this is a conception alien from the early +notions of the Veda, where 'mortal' signifies no more than 'man.' Yama +was the first mortal, and he lives in the sky, in the home that "holds +heroes," _i.e._, his abode is where dead heroes congregate (I. 35. 6; +X. 64. 3)[2]. The fathers that died of old are cared for by him as he +sits drinking with the gods beneath a fair tree (X. 135. 1-7). The +fire that devours the corpse is invoked to depart thither (X. 16. 9). +This place is not very definitely located, but since, according to one +prevalent view, the saints guard the sun, and since Yama's abode in +the sky is comparable with the sun in one or two passages, it is +probable that the general idea was that the departed entered the sun +and there Yama received him (I. 105. 9, 'my home is there where are +the sun's rays'; X. 154. 4-5, 'the dead shall go, O Yama, to the +fathers, the seers that guard the sun'). 'Yama's abode' is the same +with 'sky' (X. 123. 6); and when it is said, 'may the fathers hold up +the pillar (in the grave), and may Yama build a seat for thee there' +(X. 18. 13), this refers, not to the grave, but to heaven. And it is +said that 'Yama's seat is what is called the gods' home' (X. 135. +7)[3]. But Yama does not remain in the sky. He comes, as do other +Powers, to the sacrifice, and is invited to seat himself 'with +Angirasas and the fathers' at the feast, where he rejoices with them +(X. 14. 3-4; 15. 8). And either because Agni devours corpses for Yama, +or because of Agni's part in the sacrifice which Yama so joyfully +attends, therefore Agni is especially mentioned as Yama's friend (X. +21. 5), or even his priest (_ib_. 52. 3). Yama stands in his relation +to the dead so near to death that 'to go on Yama's path' is to go on +the path of death; and battle is called 'Yama's strife.' It is even +possible that in one passage Yama is directly identified with death +(X. 165. 4, 'to Yama be reverence, to death'; I. 38. 5; _ib_. 116. +2)[4]. There is always a close connection between Varuna and Yama, and +perhaps it is owing to this that parallel to 'Varuna's fetters' is +found also 'Yama's fetter,' i.e., death (x. 97. 16). + +As Yama was the first to die, so was he the first to teach man the +road to immortality, which lies through sacrifice, whereby man attains +to heaven and to immortality. Hence the poet says, 'we revere the +immortality born of Yama' (i. 83. 5). This, too, is the meaning of the +mystic verse which speaks of the sun as the heavenly courser 'given by +Yama,' for, in giving the way to immortality, Yama gives also the +sun-abode to them that become immortal. In the same hymn the sun is +identified with Yama as he is with Trita (i. 163. 3). This particular +identification is due, however, rather to the developed pantheistic +idea which obtains in the later hymns. A parallel is found in the next +hymn: "They speak of Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni ... that which is one, +the priests speak of in many ways, and call him Agni, Yama, Fire" (or +Wind, i. 164. 46). + +Despite the fact that one Vedic poet speaks of Yama's name as 'easy to +understand' (x. 12. 6), no little ingenuity has been spent on it, as +well as on the primitive conception underlying his personality. +Etymologically, his name means Twin, and this is probably the real +meaning, for his twin sister Yami is also a Vedic personage. The later +age, regarding Yama as a restrainer and punisher of the wicked, +derived the name from _yam_ the restrainer or punisher, but such an +idea is quite out of place in the province of Vedic thought. The +Iranian Yima also has a sister of like name, although she does not +appear till late in the literature. + +That Yama's father is the sun, Vivasvant (Savitar, 'the artificer,' +Tvashtar, x. 10. 4-5),[5] is clearly enough stated in the +Rik; and that he was the first mortal, in the Atharvan. Men come from +Yama, and Yama comes from the sun as 'creator,' just as men elsewhere +come from Adam and Adam comes from the Creator. But instead of an +Hebraic Adam and Eve there are in India a Yama and Yam[=i], brother +and sister (wife), who, in the one hymn in which the latter is +introduced _(loc. cit.),_ indulge in a moral conversation on the +propriety of wedlock between brother and sister. This hymn is +evidently a protest against a union that was unobjectionable to an +older generation. In the Yajur Veda Yami is wife and sister both. But +sometimes, in the varying fancies of the Vedic poets, the artificer +Tvashtar is differentiated from Vivasvant, the sun; as he is in +another passage, where Tvashtar gives to Vivasvant his daughter, and +she is the mother of Yama[6]. + +That men are the children of Yama is seen in X. 13. 4, where it is +said, 'Yama averted death for the gods; he did not avert death for +(his) posterity.' In the Brahmanic tradition men derive from the sun +(T[=a]itt. S. VI. 5. 6. 2[7]) So, in the Iranian belief, Yima is +looked upon, according to some scholars, as the first man. The funeral +hymn to Yama is as follows: + + Him who once went over the great mountains[8] and spied out + a path for many, the son of Vivasvant, who collects men, + King Yama, revere ye with oblations. Yama the first found us + a way ... There where our old fathers are departed.... Yama + is magnified with the Angirasas.... Sit here, O Yama, with + the Angirasas and with the fathers.... Rejoice, O king, in + this oblation. Come, O Yama, with the venerable Angirasas. I + call thy father, Vivasvant, sit down at this sacrifice. + +And then, turning to the departed soul: + + Go forth, go forth on the old paths where are gone our old + fathers; thou shalt see both joyous kings, Yama and God + Varuna. Unite with the fathers, with Yama, with the + satisfaction of desires, in highest heaven.... Yama will + give a resting place to this spirit. Run past, on a good + path, the two dogs of Saram[=a], the four-eyed, spotted + ones; go unto the fathers who rejoice with Yama. + +Several things are here noteworthy. In the first place, the Atharva +Veda reads, "who first of mortals died[9]," and this is the meaning of +the Rig Veda version, although, as was said above, the mere fact that +Varuna is called a god and Yama a king proves nothing[10]. But it is +clearly implied here that he who crossed the mountains and 'collected +men,' as does Yima in the Iranian legend, is an ancient king, as it is +also implied that he led the way to heaven. The dogs of Yama are +described in such a way as to remind one of the dogs that guard the +path the dead have to pass in the Iranian legend, and of Kerberus, +with whose very name the adjective 'spotted' has been compared[11]. +The dogs are elsewhere described as white and brown and as barking +(VII. 55. 2), and in further verses of the hymn just quoted (X. 14) +they are called "thy guardian dogs, O Yama, the four-eyed ones who +guard the path, who look on men ... broad-nosed, dark messengers of +Yama, who run among the people." + +These dogs are due to the same fantasy that creates a Kerberus, the +Iranian dogs[12], or other guardians of the road that leads to heaven. +The description is too minute to make it probable that the Vedic poet +understood them to be 'sun and moon,' as the later Brahmanical +ingenuity explains them, and as they have been explained by modern +scholarship. It is not possible that the poet, had he had in mind any +connection between the dogs and the sun and moon (or 'night and day'), +would have described them as 'barking' or as 'broad-nosed and dark'; +and all interpretation of Yama's dogs must rest on the interpretation +of Yama himself[13]. + +Yama is not mentioned elsewhere[14] in the Rig Veda, except in the +statement that 'metres rest on Yama,' and in the closing verses of the +burial hymn: "For Yama press the _soma_, for Yama pour oblation; the +sacrifice goes to Yama; he shall extend for us a long life among the +gods," where the pun on Yama (_yamad á_), in the sense of 'stretch +out,' shows that as yet no thought of 'restrainer' was in the poet's +mind, although the sense of 'twin' is lost from the name. + +In recent years Hillebrandt argues that because the Manes are +connected with Soma (as the moon), and because Yama was the first to +die, therefore Yama was the moon. Ehni, on the other hand, together +with Bergaigne and some other scholars, takes Yama to be the sun. +Müller calls him the 'setting-sun[15].' The argument from the Manes +applies better to the sun than to the moon, but it is not conclusive. +The Hindus in the Vedic age, as later, thought of the Manes living in +stars, moon, sun, and air; and, if they were not good Manes but dead +sinners, in the outer edge of the universe or under ground. In short, +they are located in every conceivable place[17]. + +The Yama, 'who collects people,' has been rightly compared with the +Yima, who 'made a gathering of the people,' but it is doubtful whether +one should see in this an Aryan trait; for [Greek: Aidaes Agaesilaos] +is not early and popular, but late (Aeschylean), and the expression +may easily have arisen independently in the mind of the Greek poet. +From a comparative point of view, in the reconstruction of Yama there +is no conclusive evidence which will permit one to identify his +original character either with sun or moon. Much rather he appears to +be as he is in the Rig Veda, a primitive king, not historically so, +but poetically, the first man, fathered of the sun, to whom he +returns, and in whose abode he collects his offspring after their +inevitable death on earth. In fact, in Yama there is the ideal side of +ancestor-worship. He is a poetic image, the first of all fathers, and +hence their type and king. Yama's name is unknown outside of the +Indo-Iranian circle, and though Ehni seeks to find traces of him in +Greece and elsewhere,[18] this scholar's identifications fail, because +he fails to note that similar ideas in myths are no proof of their +common origin. + +It has been suggested that in the paradise of Yama over the mountains +there is a companion-piece to the hyperboreans, whose felicity is +described by Pindar. The nations that came from the north still kept +in legend a recollection of the land from whence they came. This +suggestion cannot, of course, be proved, but it is the most probable +explanation yet given of the first paradise to which the dead revert. +In the late Vedic period, when the souls of the dead were not supposed +to linger on earth with such pleasure as in the sky, Yama's abode is +raised to heaven. Later still, when to the Hindu the south was the +land of death, Yama's hall of judgment is again brought down to earth +and transferred to the 'southern district.' + +The careful investigation of Scherman[19] leads essentially to the +same conception of Yama as that we have advocated. Scherman believes +that Yama was first a human figure, and was then elevated to, if not +identified with, the sun. Scherman's only error is in disputing the +generally-received opinion, one that is on the whole correct, that +Yama in the early period is a kindly sovereign, and in later times +becomes the dread king of horrible hells. Despite some testimony to +the contrary, part of which is late interpolation in the epic, this is +the antithesis which exists in the works of the respective periods. + +The most important gods of the era of the Rig Veda we now have +reviewed. But before passing on to the next period it should be +noticed that no small number of beings remains who are of the air, +devilish, or of the earth, earthy. Like the demons that injure man by +restraining the rain in the clouds, so there are _bh[=u]ts_, ghosts, +spooks, and other lower powers, some malevolent, some good-natured, +who inhabit earth; whence demonology. There is, furthermore, a certain +chrematheism, as we have elsewhere[20] ventured to call it, which +pervades the Rig Veda, the worship of more or less personified things, +differing from pantheism in this,[21] that whereas pantheism assumes a +like divinity in all things, this kind of theism assumes that +everything (or anything) has a separate divinity, usually that which +is useful to the worshipper, as, the plough, the furrow, etc. In later +hymns these objects are generally of sacrificial nature, and the +stones with which _soma_ is pressed are divine like the plant. Yet +often there is no sacrificial observance to cause this veneration. +Hymns are addressed to weapons, to the war-car, as to divine beings. +Sorcery and incantation is not looked upon favorably, but nevertheless +it is found. + +Another class of divinities includes abstractions, generally female, +such as Infinity, Piety, Abundance, with the barely-mentioned +Gung[=u], R[=a]k[=a], etc. (which may be moon-phases). The +most important of these abstractions[22] is 'the lord of strength,' a +priestly interpretation of Indra, interpreted as religious strength or +prayer, to whom are accredited all of Indra's special acts. +Hillebrandt interprets this god, Brahmanaspati or Brihaspati, as the +moon; Müller, somewhat doubtfully, as fire; while Roth will not allow +that Brihaspati has anything to do with natural phenomena, but +considers him to have been from the beginning 'lord of prayer.' With +this view we partly concur, but we would make the important +modification that the god was lord of prayer only as priestly +abstraction Indra in his higher development. It is from this god is +come probably the head of the later trinity, Brahm[=a], through +personified _brahma_, power; prayer, with its philosophical +development into the Absolute. Noteworthy is the fact that some of the +Vedic Aryans, despite his high pretensions, do not quite like +Brihaspati, and look on him as a suspicious novelty. If one study +Brihaspati in the hymns, it will be difficult not to see in him simply +a sacerdotal Indra. He breaks the demon's power; crushes the foes of +man; consumes the demons with a sharp bolt; disperses darkness; drives +forth the 'cows'; gives offspring and riches; helps in battle; +discovers Dawn and Agni; has a band (like Maruts) singing about him; +he is red and golden, and is identified with fire. Although 'father of +gods,' he is begotten of Tvashtar, the artificer.[23] + +Weber has suggested (V[=a]japeya Sacrifice, p. 15), that Brihaspati +takes Indra's place, and this seems to be the true solution, Indra as +interpreted mystically by priests. In RV. i. 190, Brihaspati is looked +upon by 'sinners' as a new god of little value. Other minor deities +can be mentioned only briefly, chiefly that the extent of the pantheon +may be seen. For the history of religion they are of only collective +importance. The All-gods play an important part in the sacrifice, a +group of 'all the gods,' a priestly manufacture to the end that no god +may be omitted in laudations that would embrace all the gods. The +later priests attempt to identify these gods with the clans, 'the +All-gods are the clans' (_Çat. Br._ v. 5. 1.10), on the basis of a +theological _pun_, the clans, _viças_, being equated with the word for +all, _viçve_. Some modern scholars follow these later priests, but +without reason. Had these been special clan-gods, they would have had +special names, and would not have appeared in a group alone. + +The later epic has a good deal to say about some lovely nymphs called +the Apsarasas, of whom it mentions six as chief (Urvaç[=i], Menak[=a], +etc.).[24] They fall somewhat in the epic from their Vedic estate, but +they are never more than secondary figures, love-goddesses, beloved of +the Gandharvas who later are the singing guardians of the moon, and, +like the lunar stations, twenty-seven in number. The Rik knows at +first but one Gandharva (an inferior genius, mentioned in but one +family-book), who guards Soma's path, and, when Soma becomes the moon, +is identified with him, ix. 86. 36. As in the Avesta, Gandharva is +(the moon as) an evil spirit also; but always as a second-rate power, +to whom are ascribed magic (and madness, later). He has virtually no +cult except in _soma_-hymns, and shows clearly the first Aryan +conception of the moon as a demoniac power, potent over women, and +associated with waters. + +Mountains, and especially rivers, are holy, and of course are deified. +Primitive belief generally deifies rivers. But in the great river-hymn +in the Rig Veda there is probably as much pure poetry as prayer. The +Vedic poet half believed in the rivers' divinity, and sings how they +'rush forth like armies,' but it will not do to inquire too strictly +in regard to his belief. + +He was a poet, and did not expect to be catechized. Of female +divinities there are several of which the nature is doubtful. As Dawn +or Storm have been interpreted Saram[=a] and Sarany[=u], both meaning +'runner.' The former is Indra's dog, and her litter is the dogs of +Yama. One little poem, rather than hymn, celebrates the 'wood-goddess' +in pretty verses of playful and descriptive character. + +Long before there was any formal recognition of the dogma that all +gods are one, various gods had been identified by the Vedic poets. +Especially, as most naturally, was this the case when diverse gods +having different names were similar in any way, such as Indra and +Agni, whose glory is fire; or Varuna and Mitra, whose seat is the sky. +From this casual union of like pairs comes the peculiar custom of +invoking two gods as one. But even in the case of gods not so +radically connected, if their functions were mutually approximate, +each in turn became credited with his neighbor's acts. If the traits +were similar which characterized each, if the circles of activity +overlapped at all, then those divinities that originally were tangent +to each other gradually became concentric, and eventually were united. +And so the lines between the gods were wiped out, as it were, by their +conceptions crowding upon one another. There was another factor, +however, in the development of this unconscious, or, at least, +unacknowledged, pantheism. Aided by the likeness or identity of +attributes in Indra, Savitar, Agni, Mitra, and other gods, many of +which were virtually the same under a different designation, the +priests, ever prone to extravagance of word, soon began to attribute, +regardless of strict propriety, every power to every god. With the +exception of some of the older divinities, whose forms, as they are +less complex, retain throughout the simplicity of their primitive +character, few gods escaped this adoration, which tended to make them +all universally supreme, each being endowed with all the attributes of +godhead. One might think that no better fate could happen to a god +than thus to be magnified. But when each god in the pantheon was +equally glorified, the effect on the whole was disastrous. In fact, it +was the death of the gods whom it was the intention of the seers to +exalt. And the reason is plain. From this universal praise it resulted +that the individuality of each god became less distinct; every god was +become, so to speak, any god, so far as his peculiar attributes made +him a god at all, so that out of the very praise that was given to him +and his confreres alike there arose the idea of the abstract godhead, +the god who was all the gods, the one god. As a pure abstraction one +finds thus Aditi, as equivalent to 'all the gods,'[25] and then the +more personal idea of the god that is father of all, which soon +becomes the purely personal All-god. It is at this stage where begins +conscious premeditated pantheism, which in its first beginnings is +more like monotheism, although in India there is no monotheism which +does not include devout polytheism, as will be seen in the review of +the formal philosophical systems of religion. + +It is thus that we have attempted elsewhere[26] to explain that phase +of Hindu religion which Müller calls henotheism. + +Müller, indeed, would make of henotheism a new religion, but this, the +worshipping of each divinity in turn as if it were the greatest and +even the only god recognized, is rather the result of the general +tendency to exaltation, united with pantheistic beginnings. Granting +that pure polytheism is found in a few hymns, one may yet say that +this polytheism, with an accompaniment of half-acknowledged +chrematheism, passed soon into the belief that several divinities were +ultimately and essentially but one, which may be described as +homoiotheism; and that the poets of the Rig Veda were unquestionably +esoterically unitarians to a much greater extent and in an earlier +period than has generally been acknowledged. Most of the hymns of the +Rig Veda were composed under the influence of that unification of +deities and tendency to a quasi-monotheism, which eventually results +both in philosophical pantheism, and in the recognition at the same +time of a personal first cause. To express the difference between +Hellenic polytheism and the polytheism of the Rig Veda the latter +should be called, if by any new term, rather by a name like +pantheistic polytheism, than by the somewhat misleading word +henotheism. What is novel in it is that it represents the fading of +pure polytheism and the engrafting, upon a polytheistic stock, of a +speculative homoiousian tendency soon to bud out as philosophic +pantheism. + +The admission that other gods exist does not nullify the attitude of +tentative monotheism. "Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods?" +asks Moses, and his father-in-law, when converted to the new belief, +says: "Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods."[27] But +this is not the quasi-monotheism of the Hindu, to whom the other gods +were real and potent factors, individually distinct from the one +supreme god, who represents the All-god, but is at once abstract and +concrete. + +Pantheism in the Rig Veda comes out clearly only in one or two +passages: "The priests represent in many ways the (sun) bird that is +one"; and (cited above) "They speak of him as Indra, Mitra, Varuna, +Agni, ... that which is but one they call variously." So, too, in the +Atharvan it is said that Varuna (here a pantheistic god) is "in the +little drop of water,"[28] as in the Rik the spark of material fire is +identified with the sun. + +The new belief is voiced chiefly in that portion of the Rig Veda which +appears to be latest and most Brahmanic in tone. + +Here a supreme god is described under the name of "Lord of Beings," +the "All-maker," "The Golden Germ," the "God over gods, the spirit of +their being" (x. 121). The last, a famous hymn, Müller entitles "To +the Unknown God." It may have been intended, as has been suggested, +for a theological puzzle,[29] but its language evinces that in +whatever form it is couched--each verse ends with the refrain, 'To +what god shall we offer sacrifice?' till the last verse answers the +question, saying, 'the Lord of beings'--it is meant to raise the +question of a supreme deity and leave it unanswered in terms of a +nature-religion, though the germ is at bottom fire: "In the beginning +arose the Golden Germ; as soon as born he became the Lord of All. He +established earth and heaven--to what god shall we offer sacrifice? He +who gives breath, strength, whose command the shining gods obey; whose +shadow is life and death.... When the great waters went everywhere +holding the germ and generating light, then arose from them the one +spirit (breath) of the gods.... May he not hurt us, he the begetter of +earth, the holy one who begot heaven ... Lord of beings, thou alone +embracest all things ..." + +In this closing period of the Rig Veda--a period which in many ways, +the sudden completeness of caste, the recognition of several Vedas, +etc., is much farther removed from the beginning of the work than it +is from the period of Brahmanic speculation--philosophy is hard at +work upon the problems of the origin of gods and of being. As in the +last hymn, water is the origin of all things; out of this springs +fire, and the wind which is the breath of god. So in the great hymn of +creation: "There was then neither not-being nor being; there was no +atmosphere, no sky. What hid (it)? Where and in the protection of +what? Was it water, deep darkness? There was no death nor immortality. +There was no difference between night and day. That One breathed ... +nothing other than this or above it existed. Darkness was concealed in +darkness in the beginning. Undifferentiated water was all this +(universe)." Creation is then declared to have arisen by virtue of +desire, which, in the beginning was the origin of mind;[30] and "the +gods," it is said further, "were created after this." Whether entity +springs from non-entity or vice versa is discussed in another hymn of +the same book.[31] The most celebrated of the pantheistic hymns is +that in which the universe is regarded as portions of the deity +conceived as the primal Person: "Purusha (the Male Person) is this +all, what has been and will be ... all created things are a fourth of +him; that which is immortal in the sky is three-fourths of him." The +hymn is too well known to be quoted entire. All the castes, all gods, +all animals, and the three (or four) Vedas are parts of him.[32] + +Such is the mental height to which the seers have raised themselves +before the end of the Rig Veda. The figure of the Father-god, +Praj[=a]pati, 'lord of beings,' begins here; at first an epithet of +Savitar, and finally the type of the head of a pantheon, such as one +finds him to be in the Br[=a]hmanas. In one hymn only (x. 121) is +Praj[=a]pati found as the personal Father-god and All-god. At a time +when philosophy created the one Universal Male Person, the popular +religion, keeping pace, as far as it could, with philosophy, invented +the more anthropomorphized, more human, Father-god--whose name is +ultimately interpreted as an interrogation, God Who? This trait lasts +from now on through all speculation. The philosopher conceived of a +first source. The vulgar made it a personal god. + +One of the most remarkable hymns of this epoch is that on V[=a]c, +Speech, or The Word. Weber has sought in this the prototype of the +Logos doctrine (below). The Word, V[=a]c (feminine) is introduced as +speaking (x. 125): + + I wander with the Rudras, with the Vasus,[33] with the + [=A]dityas, and with all the gods; I support Mitra, + Va['r]una, Indra-Agni, and the twin Açvins ... I give wealth + to him that gives sacrifice, to him that presses the _soma_. + I am the queen, the best of those worthy of sacrifice ... + The gods have put me in many places ... I am that through + which one eats, breathes, sees, and hears ... Him that I + love I make strong, to be a priest, a seer, a wise man. 'Tis + I bend Rudra's bow to hit the unbeliever; I prepare war for + the people; I am entered into heaven and earth. I beget the + father of this (all) on the height; my place is in the + waters, the sea; thence I extend myself among all creatures + and touch heaven with my crown. Even I blow like the wind, + encompassing all creatures. Above heaven and above earth, so + great am I grown in majesty. + +This is almost Vedantic pantheism with the Vishnuite doctrine of +'special grace' included. + +The moral tone of this period--if period it may be called--may best be +examined after one has studied the idea which the Vedic Hindu has +formed of the life hereafter. The happiness of heaven will be typical +of what he regards as best here. Bliss beyond the grave depends in +turn upon the existence of the spirit after death, and, that the +reader may understand this, we must say a few words in regard to the +Manes, or fathers dead. "Father Manu," as he is called,[34] was the +first 'Man.' Subsequently he is the secondary parent as a kind of +Noah; but Yama, in later tradition his brother, has taken his place as +norm of the departed fathers, Pitaras. + +These Fathers (Manes), although of different sort than the gods, are +yet divine and have many godly powers, granting prayers and lending +aid, as may be seen from this invocation: "O Fathers, may the +sky-people grant us life; may we follow the course of the living" (x. +57. 5). One whole hymn is addressed to these quasi-divinities (x. 15): + + Arise may the lowest, the highest, the middlemost Fathers, + those worthy of the _soma_, who without harm have entered + into the spirit (-world); may these Fathers, knowing the + seasons, aid us at our call. This reverence be to-day to the + Fathers, who of old and afterwards departed; those who have + settled in an earthly sphere,[35] or among peoples living in + fair places (the gods?). I have found the gracious Fathers, + the descendant(s) and the wide-step[36] of Vishnu; those + who, sitting on the sacrificial straw, willingly partake of + the pressed drink, these are most apt to come hither.... + Come hither with blessings, O Fathers; may they come hither, + hear us, address and bless us.... May ye not injure us for + whatever impiety we have as men committed.... With those who + are our former Fathers, those worthy of _soma_, who are come + to the _soma_ drink, the best (fathers), may Yama rejoicing, + willingly with them that are willing, eat the oblations as + much as is agreeable (to them). Come running, O Agni, with + these (fathers), who thirsted among the gods and hastened + hither, finding oblations and praised with songs. These + gracious ones, the real poets, the Fathers that seat + themselves at the sacrificial heat; who are real eaters of + oblation; drinkers of oblation; and are set together on one + chariot with Indra and the gods. Come, O Agni, with these, a + thousand, honored like gods, the ancient, the original + Fathers who seat themselves at the sacrificial heat.... + Thou, Agni, didst give the oblations to the Fathers, that + eat according to their custom; do thou (too) eat, O god, the + oblation offered (to thee). Thou knowest, O thou knower (or + finder) of beings, how many are the Fathers--those who are + here, and who are not here, of whom we know, and of whom we + know not. According to custom eat thou the well-made + sacrifice. With those who, burned in fire or not burned, + (now) enjoy themselves according to custom in the middle of + the sky, do thou, being the lord, form (for us) a spirit + life, a body according to (our) wishes.[37] + +Often the Fathers are invoked in similar language in the hymn to the +"All-gods" mentioned above, and occasionally no distinction is to be +noticed between the powers and attributes of the Fathers and those of +the gods. The Fathers, like the luminous gods, "give light" (x. 107. +1). Exactly like the gods, they are called upon to aid the living, and +even 'not to harm' (iii. 55. 2; x. 15. 6). According to one verse, the +Fathers have not attained the greatness of the gods, who impart +strength only to the gods.[38] + +The Fathers are kept distinct from the gods. When the laudations +bestowed upon the former are of unequivocal character there is no +confusion between the two.[39] + +The good dead, to get to the paradise awaiting them, pass over water +(X. 63. 10), and a bridge (ix. 41. 2). Here, by the gift of the gods, +not by inherent capacity, they obtain immortality. He that believes on +Agni, sings: "Thou puttest the mortal in highest immortality, O Agni"; +and, accordingly, there is no suggestion that heavenly joys may cease; +nor is there in this age any notion of a _Götterdämmerung_. +Immortality is described as "continuing life in the highest sky," +another proof that when formulated the doctrine was that the soul of +the dead lives in heaven or in the sun.[40] + +Other cases of immortality granted by different gods are recorded by +Muir and Zimmer. Yet in one passage the words, "two paths I have heard +of the Fathers (exist), of the gods and of mortals," may mean that the +Fathers go the way of mortals or that of gods, rather than, as is the +usual interpretation, that mortals have two paths, one of the Fathers +and one of the gods,[41] for the dead may live on earth or in the air +as well as in heaven. When a good man dies his breath, it is said, +goes to the wind, his eye to the sun, etc.[42]--each part to its +appropriate prototype--while the "unborn part" is carried +"to the world of the righteous," after having been burned and heated +by the funeral fire. All these parts are restored to the soul, +however, and Agni and Soma return to it what has been injured. With +this Muir compares a passage in the Atharva Veda where it is said that +the Manes in heaven rejoice with all their limbs.[43] We dissent, +therefore, wholly from Barth, who declares that the dead are conceived +of as "resting forever in the tomb, the narrow house of clay." The +only passage cited to prove this is X. 18. 10-13, where are the words +(addressed to the dead man at the burial): "Go now to mother earth ... +she shall guard thee from destruction's lap ... Open wide, O earth, be +easy of access; as a mother her son cover this man, O earth," etc. +Ending with the verse quoted above: "May the Fathers hold the pillar +and Yama there build thee a seat."[44] The following is also found in +the Rig Veda bearing on this point: the prayer that one may meet his +parents after death; the statement that a generous man goes to the +gods; and a suggestion of the later belief that one wins immortality +by means of a son.[45] + +The joys of paradise are those of earth; and heaven is thus described, +albeit in a late hymn:[46] "Where is light inexhaustible; in the world +where is placed the shining sky; set me in this immortal, unending +world, O thou that purifiest thyself (Soma); where is king (Yama), the +son of Vivasvant, and the paradise of the sky;[47] where are the +flowing waters; there make me immortal. Where one can go as he will; +in the third heaven, the third vault of the sky; where are worlds full +of light, there make me immortal; where are wishes and desires +and the red (sun)'s highest place; where one can follow his own habits +[48] and have satisfaction; there make me immortal; where exist +delight, joy, rejoicing, and joyance; where wishes are obtained, there +make me immortal."[49] Here, as above, the saints join the Fathers, +'who guard the sun.' + +There is a 'bottomless darkness' occasionally referred to as a place +where evil spirits are to be sent by the gods; and a 'deep place' is +mentioned as the portion of 'evil, false, untruthful men'; while Soma +casts into 'a hole' (abyss) those that are irreligious.[50] + +As darkness is hell to the Hindu, and as in all later time the demons +are spirits of darkness, it is rather forced not to see in these +allusions a misty hell, without torture indeed, but a place for the +bad either 'far away,' as it is sometimes said _(par[=a]váti)_, or +'deep down,' 'under three earths,' exactly as the Greek has a hell +below and one on the edge of the earth. Ordinarily, however, the gods +are requested simply to annihilate offenders. It is plain, as Zimmer +says, from the office of Yama's dogs, that they kept out of paradise +unworthy souls; so that the annihilation cannot have been imagined to +be purely corporeal. But heaven is not often described, and hell +never, in this period. Yet, when the paradise desired is described, it +is a place where earthly joys are prolonged and intensified. Zimmer +argues that a race which believes in good for the good hereafter must +logically believe in punishment for the wicked, and Scherman, +strangely enough, agrees with this pedantic opinion.[51] If either of +these scholars had looked away from India to the western Indians he +would have seen that, whereas almost all American Indians believe in a +happy hereafter for good warriors, only a very few tribes have any +belief in punishment for the bad. At most a Niflheim awaits the +coward. Weber thinks the Aryans already believed in a personal +immortality, and we agree with him. Whitney's belief that hell was not +known before the Upanishad period (in his translations of the _Katha +Upanishad_) is correct only if by hell torture is meant, and if the +Atharvan is later than this Upanishad, which is improbable. + +The good dead in the Rig Veda return with Yama to the sacrifice to +enjoy the _soma_ and viands prepared for them by their descendants. +Hence the whole belief in the necessity of a son in order to the +obtaining of a joyful hereafter. What the rite of burial was to the +Greek, a son was to the Hindu, a means of bliss in heaven. Roth +apparently thinks that the Rig Veda's heaven is one that can best be +described in Dr. Watt's hymn: + + There is a land of pure delight + Where saints immortal reign, + Eternal day excludes the night, + And pleasures banish pain; + +and that especial stress should be laid on the word 'pure.' But there +is very little teaching of personal purity in the Veda, and the poet +who hopes for a heaven where he is to find 'longing women,' 'desire +and its fulfillment' has in mind, in all probability, purely impure +delights. It is not to be assumed that the earlier morality surpassed +that of the later day, when, even in the epic, the hero's really +desired heaven is one of drunkenness and women _ad libitum_. Of the +'good man' in the Rig Veda are demanded piety toward gods and manes +and liberality to priests; truthfulness and courage; and in the end of +the work there is a suggestion of ascetic 'goodness' by means of +_tapas_, austerity.[52] Grassman cites one hymn as dedicated to + +'Mercy.' It is really (not a hymn and) not on mercy, but a poem +praising generosity. This generosity, however (and in general this is +true of the whole people), is not general generosity, but liberality +to the priests.[53] The blessings asked for are wealth (cattle, +horses, gold, etc.), virile power, male children ('heroic offspring') +and immortality, with its accompanying joys. Once there is a tirade +against the friend that is false to his friend (truth in act as well +as in word);[54] once only, a poem on concord, which seems to partake +of the nature of an incantation. + +Incantations are rare in the Rig Veda, and appear to be looked upon as +objectionable. So in VII. 104 the charge of a 'magician' is furiously +repudiated; yet do an incantation against a rival wife, a mocking hymn +of exultation after subduing rivals, and a few other hymns of like +sort show that magical practices were well known.[55] + +The sacrifice occupies a high place in the religion of the Rig Veda, +but it is not all-important, as it is later. Nevertheless, the same +presumptuous assumption that the gods depend on earthly sacrifice is +often made; the result of which, even before the collection was +complete (IV. 50), was to teach that gods and men depended on the will +of the wise men who knew how properly to conduct a sacrifice, the +key-note of religious pride in the Brahmanic period. + +Indra depends on the sacrificial _soma_ to accomplish his great works. +The gods first got power through the sacrificial fire and _soma_.[56] +That images of the gods were supposed to be powerful may be inferred +from the late verses, "who buys this Indra," etc. (above), but +allusions to idolatry are elsewhere extremely doubtful.[57] + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Compare T[=a]itt. S. VII. 4.2.1. The gods win + immortality by means of 'sacrifice' in this later + priest-ridden period.] + + [Footnote 2: Ludwig (IV. p. 134) wrongly understands a hell + here.] + + [Footnote 3: 'Yama's seat' is here what it is in the epic, + not a chapel (Pischel), but a home.] + + [Footnote 4: This may mean 'to Yama (and) to death.' In the + Atharva Veda, V. 24. 13-14, it is said that Death is the + lord of men; Yama, of the Manes.] + + [Footnote 5: It is here said, also, that the 'Gandharva in + the waters and the water-woman' are the ties of + consanguinity between Yama and Yam[=i], which means, + apparently, that their parents were Moon and Water; a late + idea, as in viii. 48. 13 (unique).] + + [Footnote 6: The passage, X. 17, 1-2, is perhaps meant as a + riddle, as Bloomfield suggests (JAOS. XV. p. 172). At any + rate, it is still a dubious passage. Compare Hillebrandt, + _Vedische Mythologie_, I. p. 503.] + + [Footnote 7: Cited by Scherman, _Visionslitteratur_, p. + 147.] + + [Footnote 8: Possibly, 'streams.'] + + [Footnote 9: AV. XVIII. 3. 13.] + + [Footnote 10: Compare AV. VI. 88. 2: "King Varuna and God + Brihaspati," where both are gods.] + + [Footnote 11: [Greek: Kerberos](=Çabala)=_Ç[=a]rvara_. + Saram[=a] is storm or dawn, or something else that means + 'runner.'] + + [Footnote 12: Here the fiend is expelled by a four-eyed dog + or a white one which has yellow ears. See the _Sacred Books + of the East_, IV. p. IXXXVII.] + + [Footnote 13: Scherman proposes an easy solution, namely to + cut the description in two, and make only part of it refer + to the dogs! (_loc. cit_. p. 130).] + + [Footnote 14: The dogs may be meant in I. 29. 3, but compare + II. 31. 5. Doubtful is I. 66. 8, according to Bergaigne, + applied to Yama as fire.] + + [Footnote 15: _India_, p. 224.] + + [Footnote 17: Barth, p. 23, cites I. 123. 6; X. 107. 2; 82. + 2, to prove that stars are souls of dead men. These passages + do not prove the point, but it may be inferred from X. 68. + 11. Later on it is a received belief. A moon-heaven is found + only in VIII. 48.] + + [Footnote 18: Especially with Ymir in Scandinavian + mythology.] + + [Footnote 19: _Visionslitteratur_, 1892.] + + [Footnote 20: _Henotheism in the Rig Veda_, p. 81.] + + [Footnote 21: This religious phase is often confounded + loosely with pantheism, but the distinction should be + observed. Parkman speaks of (American) Indian 'pantheism'; + and Barth speaks of ritualistic 'pantheism,' meaning thereby + the deification of different objects used in sacrifice (p. + 37, note). But chrematheism is as distinct from pantheism as + it is from fetishism.] + + [Footnote 22: Some seem to be old; thus Aramati, piety, has + an Iranian representative, [=A]rma[=i]t[=i]. As masculine + abstractions are to be added Anger, Death, etc.] + + [Footnote 23: Compare iv. 50; ii. 23 and 24; v. 43. 12; x. + 68. 9; ii. 26. 3; 23. 17; x. 97. 15. For interpretation + compare Hillebrandt, _Ved. Myth._ i. 409-420; Bergaigne, _La + Rel, Vèd._ i. 304; Muir, OST, v. 272 ff. (with previous + literature).] + + [Footnote 24: _Mbh[=a]_.i. 74. 68. Compare Holtzmann, ZDMG. + xxxiii. 631 ff.] + + [Footnote 25: i. 89. 10: "Aditi is all the gods and men; + Aditi is whatever has been born; Aditi is whatever will be + born."] + + [Footnote 26: _Henotheism in the Rig Veda_ (Drisler + Memorial).] + + [Footnote 27: Ex. xv. 11; xviii. 11.] + + [Footnote 28: RV. x. 114. 5; i. 164. 46; AV. iv. 16. 3.] + + [Footnote 29: Bloomfield, JAOS. xv. 184.] + + [Footnote 30: "Desire, the primal seed of mind," x. 129. 4.] + + [Footnote 31: x. 72 (contains also the origin of the gods + from Aditi).] + + [Footnote 32: x. 90, Here _chand[=a][.m]si_, carmina, is + probably the Atharvan.] + + [Footnote 33: Rudras, Vasus, and [=A]dityas, the three + famous groups of gods. The Vasus are in Indra's train, the + 'shining,' or, perhaps, 'good' gods.] + + [Footnote 34: ii. 33. 13; x. 100. 5, etc. If the idea of + manus=bonus be rejected, the Latin _manes_ may be referred + to _m[=a]navas_, the children of Manu.] + + [Footnote 35: Or: "in an earthly place, in the atmosphere, + or," etc.] + + [Footnote 36: That is where the Fathers live. This is the + only place where the Fathers are said to be _náp[=a]t_ + (descendants) of Vishnu, and here the sense may be "I have + discovered _Náp[=a]t_ (fire?)" But in i. 154. 5 Vishnu's + worshippers rejoice in his home.] + + [Footnote 37: Or: "form as thou wilt this body (of a corpse) + to spirit life."] + + [Footnote 38: x. 56. 4; otherwise, Grassmann.] + + [Footnote 39: vi. 73. 9 refers to ancestors on earth, not in + heaven.] + + [Footnote 40: Compare Muir, OST. v. 285, where i. 125. 5 is + compared with x. 107. 2: "The gift-giver becomes immortal; + the gift-giver lives in the sky; he that gives horses lives + in the sun." Compare Zimmer, _Altind. Leben_ p. 409; Geiger, + _Ostiran. Cultur_, p. 290.] + + [Footnote 41: x. 88. 15, word for word: "two paths heard of + the Fathers I, of the gods and of mortals." Cited as a + mystery, Brih. [=A]ran. Up. vi. 2. 2.] + + [Footnote 42: x. 16. 3: "if thou wilt go to the waters or to + the plants," is added after this (in addressing the soul of + the dead man). Plant-souls occur again in x. 58. 7.] + + [Footnote 43: A V. XVIII.4.64; Muir, Av. _loc. cit._ p. 298. + A passage of the Atharvan suggests that the dead may have + been exposed as in Iran, but there is no trace of this in + the Rig Veda (Zimmer, _loc. cit._ p. 402).] + + [Footnote 44: Barth, _Vedic Religions_, p. 23; _ib._, the + narrow 'house of clay,' RV. VII. 89. 1.] + + [Footnote 45: I. 24. 1; I. 125.6; VII. 56.24; cited by + Müller, _Chips_, I. p. 45.] + + [Footnote 46: IX. 113. 7 ff.] + + [Footnote 47: _Avar[=o]dhana[.m] divás_, 'enclosure of the + sky.'] + + [Footnote 48: Literally, 'where custom' (obtains), _i.e._, + where the old usages still hold.] + + [Footnote 49: The last words are to be understood as of + sensual pleasures (Muir, _loc. cit._ p. 307, notes 462, + 463).] + + [Footnote 50: RV. II. 29. 6; VII. 104. 3, 17; IV. 5. 5; IX. + 73. 8. Compare Mulr, _loc. cit_. pp. 311-312; and Zimmer, + _loc. cit._ pp. 408, 418. Yama's 'hero-holding abode' is not + a hell, as Ludwig thinks, but, as usual, the top vault of + heaven.] + + [Footnote 51: _loc. cit._ p. 123.] + + [Footnote 52: X. 154. 2; 107. 2. Compare the mad ascetic, + _múni_, VIII. 17. 14.] + + [Footnote 53: X. 117. This is clearly seen in the seventh + verse, where is praised the 'Brahman who talks,' _i.e._, can + speak in behalf of the giver to the gods (compare verse + three).] + + [Footnote 54: X. 71. 6.] + + [Footnote 55: Compare X. 145; 159. In X. 184 there is a + prayer addressed to the goddesses Sin[=i]v[=a]l[=i] and + Sarasvat[=i] (in conjunction with Vishnu, Tvashtar, the + Creator, Praj[=a]pati, and the Horsemen) to make a woman + fruitful.] + + [Footnote 56: II. 15. 2; X. 6. 7 (Barth, _loc. cit._ p. 36). + The sacrifice of animals, cattle, horses, goats, is + customary; that of man, legendary; but it is implied in X. + 18.8 (Hillebrandt, ZDMG. Xl p. 708), and is ritualized in + the next period (below).] + + [Footnote 57: Phallic worship may be alluded to in that of + the 'tail-gods,' as Garbe thinks, but it is deprecated. One + verse, however, which seems to have crept in by mistake, is + apparently due to phallic influence (VIII. 1. 34), though + such a cult was not openly acknowledged till Çiva-worship + began, and is no part of Brahmanism.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE RELIGION OF THE ATHARVA VEDA. + + +The hymns of the Rig Veda inextricably confused; the deities of an +earlier era confounded, and again merged together in a pantheism now +complete; the introduction of strange gods; recognition of a hell of +torture; instead of many divinities the One that represents all the +gods, and nature as well; incantations for evil purposes and charms +for a worthy purpose; formulae of malediction to be directed against +'those whom I hate and who hate me'; magical verses to obtain +children, to prolong life, to dispel 'evil magic,' to guard against +poison and other ills; the paralyzing extreme of ritualistic reverence +indicated by the exaltation to godhead of the 'remnant' of sacrifice; +hymns to snakes, to diseases, to sleep, time, and the stars; curses on +the 'priest-plaguer'--such, in general outline, is the impression +produced by a perusal of the Atharvan after that of the Rig Veda. How +much of this is new? + +The Rig Veda is not lacking in incantations, in witchcraft practices, +in hymns to inanimate things, in indications of pantheism. But the +general impression is produced, both by the tone of such hymns as +these and by their place in the collection, that they are an addition +to the original work. On the other hand, in reading the Atharvan hymns +the collective impression is decidedly this, that what to the Rig is +adventitious is essential to the Atharvan. + +It has often been pointed out, however, that not only the practices +involved, but the hymns themselves, in the Atharvan, may have existed +long before they were collected, and that, while the Atharvan +collection, as a whole, takes historical place after the Rig Veda, +there yet may be comprised in the former much which is as old as any +part of the latter work. It is also customary to assume that such +hymns as betoken a lower worship (incantations, magical formulae, +etc.) were omitted purposely from the Rig Veda to be collected in the +Atharvan. That which eventually can neither be proved nor disproved +is, perhaps, best left undiscussed, and it is vain to seek scientific +proof where only historic probabilities are obtainable. Yet, if a +closer approach to truth be attractive, even a greater probability +will be a gain, and it becomes worth while to consider the problem a +little with only this hope in view. + +Those portions of the Rig Veda which seem to be Atharvan-like are, in +general, to be found in the later books (or places) of the collection. +But it would be presumptuous to conclude that a work, although almost +entirely given up to what in the Rig Veda appears to be late, should +itself be late in origin. By analogy, in a nature-religion such as was +that of India, the practice of demonology, witchcraft, etc., must have +been an early factor. But, while this is true, it is clearly +impossible to postulate therefrom that the hymns recording all this +array of cursing, deviltry, and witchcraft are themselves early. The +further forward one advances into the labyrinth of Hindu religions the +more superstitions, the more devils, demons, magic, witchcraft, and +uncanny things generally, does he find. Hence, while any one +superstitious practice may be antique, there is small probability for +assuming a contemporaneous origin of the hymns of the two collections. +The many verses cited, apparently pell-mell, from the Rig Veda, might, +it is true, revert to a version older than that in which they are +found in the Rig Veda, but there is nothing to show that they were not +taken from the Rig Veda, and re-dressed in a form that rendered them +in many cases more intelligible; so that often what is respectfully +spoken of as a 'better varied reading' of the Atharvan may be better, +as we have said in the introductory chapter, only in lucidity; and the +lucidity be due to tampering with a text old and unintelligible. +Classical examples abound in illustrations. + +Nevertheless, although an antiquity equal to that of the whole Rig +Veda can by no means be claimed for the Atharvan collection (which, at +least in its tone, belongs to the Brahmanic period), yet is the mass +represented by the latter, if not contemporaneous, at any rate so +venerable, that it safely may be assigned to a period as old as that +in which were composed the later hymns of the Rik itself. But in +distinction from the hymns themselves the weird religion they +represent is doubtless as old, if not older, than that of the Rig +Veda. For, while the Rig Vedic _soma-_cult is Indo-Iranian, the +original Atharvan (fire) cult is even more primitive, and the basis of +the work, from this point of view, may have preceded the composition +of Rik hymns. This Atharvan religion--if it may be called so--is, +therefore, of exceeding importance. It opens wide the door which the +Rik puts ajar, and shows a world of religious and mystical ideas which +without it could scarcely have been suspected. Here magic eclipses +Soma and reigns supreme. The wizard is greater than the gods; his +herbs and amulets are sovereign remedies. Religion is seen on its +lowest side. It is true that there is 'bad magic' and 'good magic' +(the existence of the former is substantiated by the maledictions +against it), but what has been received into the collection is +apparently the best. To heal the sick and procure desirable things is +the object of most of the charms and incantations--but some of the +desirable things are disease and death of one's foes. On the higher +side of religion, from a metaphysical point of view, the Atharvan is +pantheistic. It knows also the importance of the 'breaths,'[1] the +vital forces; it puts side by side the different gods and says that +each 'is lord.' It does not lack philosophical speculation which, +although most of it is puerile, sometimes raises questions of wider +scope, as when the sage inquires who made the body with its wonderful +parts--implying, but not stating the argument, from design, in its +oldest form.[2] + +Of magical verses there are many, but the content is seldom more than +"do thou, O plant, preserve from harm," etc. Harmless enough, if +somewhat weak, are also many other hymns calculated to procure +blessings: + + Blessings blow to us the wind, + Blessings glow to us the sun, + Blessings be to us the day, + Blest to us the night appear, + Blest to us the dawn shall shine, + +is a fair specimen of this innocuous sort of verse.[3] Another example +may be seen in this hymn to a king: "Firm is the sky; firm is the +earth; firm, all creation; firm, these hills; firm the king of the +people (shall be)," etc.[4] In another hymn there is an incantation to +release from possible ill coming from a foe and from inherited ill or +sin.[5] A free spirit of doubt and atheism, already foreshadowed in +the Rig Veda, is implied in the prayer that the god will be merciful +to the cattle of that man "whose creed is 'Gods exist.'"[6] +Serpent-worship is not only known, but prevalent.[7] The old gods +still hold, as always, their nominal places, albeit the system is +pantheistic, so that Varuna is god of waters; and Mitra with Varuna, +gods of rain.[8] As a starting-point of philosophy the dictum of the +Rig Veda is repeated: 'Desire is the seed of mind,' and 'love, _i.e._, +desire, was born first.' Here Aditi is defined anew as the one in +whose lap is the wide atmosphere-- she is parent and child, gods and +men, all in all--'may she extend to us a triple shelter.' As an +example of curse against curse may be compared II. 7: + + The sin-hated, god-born plant, that frees from the curse as + waters (wash out) the spot, has washed away all curses, the + curse of my rival and of my sister; (that) which the Brahman + in anger cursed, all this lies under my feet ... With this + plant protect this (wife), protect my child, protect our + property ... May the curse return to the curser ... We smite + even the ribs of the foe with the evil (_mantra_) eye. + +A love-charm in the same book (II. 30) will remind the classical +student of Theocritus' second idyl: 'As the wind twirls around grass +upon the ground, so I twirl thy mind about, that thou mayst become +loving, that thou mayst not depart from me,' etc. In the following +verses the Horsemen gods are invoked to unite the lovers. +Characteristic among bucolic passages is the cow-song in II. 26, the +whole intent of which is to ensure a safe return to the cows on their +wanderings: 'Hither may they come, the cattle that have wandered far +away,' etc. + +The view that there are different conditions of Manes is clearly +taught in XVIII. 2. 48-49, where it is said that there are three +heavens, in the highest of which reside the Manes; while a distinction +is made at the same time between 'fathers' and 'grandfathers,' the +fathers' fathers, 'who have entered air, who inhabit earth and +heaven.' Here appears nascent the doctrine of 'elevating the Fathers,' +which is expressly taught in the next era. The performance of rites in +honor of the Manes causes them to ascend from a low state to a higher +one. In fact, if the offerings are not given at all, the spirits do +not go to heaven. In general the older generations of Manes go up +highest and are happiest. The personal offering is only to the +immediate fathers. + +If, as was shown in the introductory chapter, the Atharvan represents +a geographical advance on the part of the Vedic Aryans, this fact +cannot be ignored in estimating the primitiveness of the collection. +Geographical advance, acquaintance with other flora and fauna than +those of the Rig Veda, means--although the argument of silence must +not be exaggerated--a temporal advance also. And not less significant +are the points of view to which one is led in the useful little work +of Scherman on the philosophical hymns of the Atharvan. Scherman +wishes to show the connection between the Upanishads and Vedas. But +the bearing of his collection is toward a closer union of the two +bodies of works, and especially of the Atharvan, not to the greater +gain in age of the Upanishads so much as to the depreciation in +venerableness of the former. If the Atharvan has much more in common +with the Br[=a]hmanas and Upanishads than has the Rig Veda, it is +because the Atharvan stands, in many respects, midway in time between +the era of Vedic hymnology and the thought of the philosophical +period. The terminology is that of the Br[=a]hmanas, rather than that +of the Rig Veda. The latter knows the great person; the Atharvan, and +the former know the original great person, _i.e._., the _tausa movens_ +under the _causa efficiens_, etc. In the Atharvan appears first the +worship of Time, Love, 'Support' (Skambha), and the 'highest _brahma_. +The cult of the holy cow is fully recognized (XII. 4 and 5). The late +ritualistic terms, as well as linguistic evidence, confirm the fact +indicated by the geographical advance. The country is known from +western Balkh to eastern Beh[=a]r, the latter familiarly.[9] In a +word, one may conclude that on its higher side the Atharvan is later +than the Rig Veda, while on its lower side of demonology one may +recognize the religion of the lower classes as compared with that of +the two upper classes--for the latter the Rig Veda, for the +superstitious people at large the Atharvan, a collection +of which the origin agrees with its application. For, if it at first +was devoted to the unholy side of fire-cult, and if the fire-cult is +older than the _soma_-cult, then this is the cult that one would +expect to see most affected by the conservative vulgar, who in India +hold fast to what the cultured have long dropped as superstition, or, +at least, pretended to drop; though the house-ritual keeps some magic +in its fire-cult. + +In that case, it may be asked, why not begin the history of Hindu +religion with the Atharvan, rather than with the Rig Veda? Because the +Atharvan, as a whole, in its language, social conditions, geography, +'remnant' worship, etc., shows that this literary collection is +posterior to the Rik collection. As to individual hymns, especially +those imbued with the tone of fetishism and witchcraft, any one of +them, either in its present or original form, may outrank the whole +Rik in antiquity, as do its superstitions the religion of the Rik--if +it is right to make a distinction between superstition and religion, +meaning by the former a lower, and by the latter a more elevated form +of belief in the supernatural. + +The difference between the Rik-worshipper and Atharvan-worshipper is +somewhat like that which existed at a later age between the +philosophical Çivaite and Durg[=a]ite. The former revered Çiva, but +did not deny the power of a host of lesser mights, whom he was ashamed +to worship too much; the latter granted the all-god-head of Çiva, but +paid attention almost exclusively to some demoniac divinity. +Superstition, perhaps, always precedes theology; but as surely does +superstition outlive any one form of its protean rival. And the simple +reason is that a theology is the real belief of few, and varies with +their changing intellectual point of view; while superstition is the +belief unacknowledged of the few and acknowledged of the many, nor +does it materially change from age to age. The rites employed among +the clam-diggers on the New York coast, the witch-charms they use, the +incantations, cutting of flesh, fire-oblations, meaningless formulae, +united with sacrosanct expressions of the church, are all on a par +with the religion of the lower classes as depicted in Theocritus and +the Atharvan. If these mummeries and this hocus-pocus were collected +into a volume, and set out with elegant extracts from the Bible, there +would be a nineteenth century Atharva Veda. What are the necessary +equipment of a Long Island witch? First, "a good hot fire," and then +formulae such as this:[10] + + "If a man is attacked by wicked people and how to banish + them: + + "Bedgoblin and all ye evil spirits, I, N.N., forbid you my + bedstead, my couch; I, N.N., forbid you in the name of God + my house and home; I forbid you in the name of the Holy + Trinity my blood and flesh, my body and soul; I forbid you + all the nail-holes in my house and home, till you have + travelled over every hill, waded through every water, have + counted all the leaves of every tree, and counted all the + stars in the sky, until the day arrives when the mother of + God shall bare her second son." + +If this formula be repeated three times, with the baptismal name of +the person, it will succeed! + + "To make one's self invisible: + + "Obtain the ear of a black cat, boil it in the milk of a + black cow, wear it on the thumb, and no one will see you." + +This is the Atharvan, or fire-and witch-craft of to-day--not differing +much from the ancient. It is the unchanging foundation of the many +lofty buildings of faith that are erected, removed, and rebuilt upon +it--the belief in the supernatural at its lowest, a belief which, in +its higher stages, is always level with the general intellect of those +that abide in it. + +The latest book of the Atharvan is especially for the warrior-caste, +but the mass of it is for the folk at large. It was long before it was +recognized as a legitimate Veda. It never stands, in the older period +of Brahmanism, on a par with the S[=a]man and Rik. In the epic period +good and bad magic are carefully differentiated, and even to-day the +Atharvan is repudiated by southern Br[=a]hmans. But there is no doubt +that _sub rosa_, the silliest practices inculcated and formulated in +the Atharvan were the stronghold of a certain class of priests, or +that such priests were feared and employed by the laity, openly by the +low classes, secretly by the intelligent. + +In respect of the name the magical cult was referred, historically +with justice, to the fire-priests, Atharvan and Angiras, though little +application to fire, other than in _soma_-worship, is apparent. Yet +was this undoubtedly the source of the cult (the fire-cult is still +distinctly associated with the Atharva Veda in the epic), and the name +is due neither to accident nor to a desire to invoke the names of +great seers, as will Weber.[11] The other name of Brahmaveda may have +connection with the 'false science of Brihaspati,' alluded to in a +Upanishad.[12] This seer is not over-orthodox, and later he is the +patron of the unorthodox C[=a]rv[=a]kas. It was seen above that the +god Brihaspati is also a novelty not altogether relished by the Vedic +Aryans. + +From an Aryan point of view how much weight is to be placed on +comparisons of the formulae in the Atharvan of India with those of +other Aryan nations? Kuhn has compared[13] an old German magic formula +of healing with one in the Atharvan, and because each says 'limb to +limb' he thinks that they are of the same origin, particularly since +the formula is found in Russian. The comparison is interesting, but it +is far from convincing. Such formulae spring up independently all over +the earth. + +Finally, it is to be observed that in this Veda first occurs the +implication of the story of the flood (xix. 39. 8), and the saving of +Father Manu, who, however, is known by this title in the Rik. The +supposition that the story of the flood is derived from Babylon, +seems, therefore, to be an unnecessary (although a permissible) +hypothesis, as the tale is old enough in India to warrant a belief in +its indigenous origin.[14] + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: XV. 15.] + + [Footnote 2: X. 2.] + + [Footnote 3: VII. 69. Compare RV. VII. 35, and the epic + (below).] + + [Footnote 4: X. 173.] + + [Footnote 5: V. 30.] + + [Footnote 6: XI. 2. 28.] + + [Footnote 7: XI. 9; VIII. 6 and 7, with tree-worship.] + + [Footnote 8: V. 24. 4-5. On 'the one god' compare X. 8. 28; + XIII. 4. 15. Indra as S[=u]rya, in VII. 11; cf. xiii. 4; + XVII. 1. 24. Pantheism in X. 7. 14. 25. Of charms, compare + ii. 9, to restore life; III. 6, a curse against 'whom I + hate'; III. 23, to obtain offspring. On the stars and night, + see hymn at XIX. 8 and 47. In V. 13, a guard against poison; + _ib._ a hymn to a drum; _ib._ 31, a charm to dispel evil + magic; VI. 133, magic to produce long life; V. 23, against + worms, etc., etc. Aditi, VII. 6. 1-4 (partly Rik).] + + [Footnote 9: Compare Muir, OST. II. 447 ff.] + + [Footnote 10: This old charm is still used among the + clam-diggers of Canarsie, N.Y.] + + [Footnote 11: _Ind. Lit_^2 p. 164.] + + [Footnote 12: _M[=a]it. Up._. vii. 9. He is 'the gods' + Brahm[=a]' (Rik.)] + + [Footnote 13: _Indische und germanische Segenssprüche_; KZ. + xiii. 49.] + + [Footnote 14: One long hymn, xii. 1, of the Atharvan is to + earth and fire (19-20). In the Rik, _átharvan_ is + fire-priest and bringer of fire from heaven; while once the + word may mean fire itself (viii. 9, 7). The name Brahmaveda + is perhaps best referred to _brahma_ as fire (whence + 'fervor,' 'prayer,' and again 'energy,' 'force'). In + distinction from the great _soma_-sacrifices, the fire-cult + always remains the chief thing in the domestic ritual. The + present Atharvan formulae have for the most part no visible + application to fire, but the name still shows the original + connection.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +EARLY HINDU DIVINITIES COMPARED WITH THOSE OF OTHER ARYANS. + + +Nothing is more usual than to attempt a reconstruction of Aryan ideas +in manners, customs, laws, and religious conceptions, by placing side +by side similar traits of individual Aryan nations, and stating or +insinuating that the result of the comparison shows that one is +handling primitive characteristics of the whole Aryan body. It is of +special importance, therefore, to see in how far the views and +practices of peoples not Aryan may be found to be identical with those +of Aryans. The division of the army into clans, as in the Iliad and +the Veda; the love of gambling, as shown by Greeks, Teutons, and +Hindus; the separation of captains and princes, as is illustrated by +Teuton and Hindu; the belief in a flood, common to Iranian, Greek, and +Hindu; in the place of departed spirits, with the journey over a river +(Iranian, Hindu, Scandinavian, Greek); in the after-felicity of +warriors who die on the field of battle (Scandinavian, Greek, and +Hindu); in the reverence paid to the wind-god (Hindu, Iranian, and +Teutonic, V[=a]ta-Wotan); these and many other traits at different +times, by various writers, have been united and compared to illustrate +primitive Aryan belief and religion. + +The traits of the Five Nations of the Veda for this reason may be +compared very advantageously with the traits of the Five Nations of +the Iroquois Indians, the most united and intelligent of American +native tribes. Their institutions are not yet extinct, and they have +been described by missionaries of the 17th century and by some modern +writers, to whom can be imputed no hankering after Aryan primitive +ideas.[1] It is but a few years back since the last _avat[=a]r_ of the +Iroquois' incarnate god lived in Onondaga, N.Y. + +First, as an illustration of the extraordinary development of memory +among rhapsodes, Vedic students, and other Aryans; among the Iroquois +"memory was tasked to the utmost, and developed to an extraordinary +degree," says Parkman, who adds that they could repeat point by point +with precision any address made to them.[2] Murder was compromised for +by _Wehrgeld_, as among the Vedic, Iranic, and Teutonic peoples. The +Iroquois, like all Indians, was a great gambler, staking all his +property[3] (like the Teutons and Hindus). In religion "A mysterious +and inexplicable power resides in inanimate things ... Lakes, rivers, +and waterfalls [as conspicuously in India] are sometimes the +dwelling-place of spirits; but more frequently they are themselves +living beings, to be propitiated by prayers and offerings."[4] The +greatest spirit among the Algonquins is the descendant of the moon, +and son of the west-wind (personified). After the deluge (thus the +Hindus, etc.) this great spirit (Manabozho, _mana_ is Manu?) restored +the world; some asserting that he created the world out of water. But +others say that the supreme spirit is the sun (Le Jeune, Relation, +1633). The Algonquins, besides a belief in a good spirit (_manitou_), +had also a belief in a malignant _manitou_, in whom the missionaries +recognized the devil (why not Ormuzd and Ahriman?). One tribe invokes +the 'Maker of Heaven,' the 'god of waters,' and also the 'seven +spirits of the wind' (so, too, seven is a holy number in the Veda, +etc.). + +The Iroquois, like the Hindu (later), believe that the earth rests on +the back of a turtle or tortoise[5], and that this is ruled over by +the sun and moon, the first being a good spirit; the second, +malignant. The good spirit interposes between the malice of the moon +and mankind, and it is he who makes rivers; for when the earth was +parched, all the water being held back from earth under the armpit of +a monster frog, he pierced the armpit and let out the water (exactly +as Indra lets out the water held back by the demon). According to +some, this great spirit created mankind, but in the third generation a +deluge destroyed his posterity[6]. The good spirit among the Iroquois +is the one that gives good luck (perhaps Bhaga). These Indians believe +in the immortality of the soul. Skillful hunters, brave warriors, go, +after death, to the happy hunting-grounds (as in India and +Scandinavia); the cowardly and weak are doomed to live in dreary +regions of mist and darkness (compare Niflheim and the Iranian +eschatology?). To pass over other religious correspondences, the +sacrifice of animals, use of amulets, love-charms, magic, and sorcery, +which are all like those of Aryans (to compare, also, are the burying +or exposing of the dead and the Hurons' funeral games), let one take +this as a good illustration of the value of 'comparative Aryan +mythology': + +According to the Aryan belief the soul of the dead passes over a +stream, across a bridge, past a dog or two, which guard the gate of +paradise. The Hindu, Iranian, Greek, and Scandinavian, all have the +dog, and much emphasis has been laid on the 'Aryan' character of this +creed. The native Iroquois Indians believed that "the spirits on their +journey (to heaven) were beset with difficulties and perils. There was +a swift river to be crossed on a log that shook beneath the feet, +while a ferocious dog opposed their passage[7]." Here is the Persians' +narrow bridge, and even Kerberos himself! + +It is also interesting to note that, as the Hindus identify with the +sun so many of their great gods, so the Iroquois "sacrifices to some +superior spirit, or to the sun, with which the superior spirits were +constantly confounded by the primitive Indian[8]." + +Weber holds that because Greek and Hindu gave the name 'bear' to a +constellation, therefore this is the "primitive Indo-Germanic name of +the star[9]." But the Massachusetts Indians "gave their own name for +bear to the Ursa major" (Williams' 'Key,' cited Palfrey, I. p. 36; so +Lafitau, further west). + +Again, three, seven, and even 'thrice-seven,' are holy not only in +India but in America. + +In this new world are found, to go further, the analogues of Varuna in +the monotheistic god Viracocha of the Peruvians, to whom is addressed +this prayer: "Cause of all things! ever present, helper, creator, ever +near, ever fortunate one! Thou incorporeal one above the sun, +infinite, and beneficent[10]"; of the Vedic Snake of the Deep, in the +Mexican Cloud-serpent; of the Vedic Lightning-bird, who brings fire +from heaven, in the Indian Thunder-bird, who brings fire from +heaven[11]; of the preservation of one individual from a flood (in the +epic, Manu's 'Seven Seers') in the same American myth, even including +the holy mountain, which is still shown[12]; of the belief that the +sun is the home of departed spirits, in the same belief all over +America;[13] of the belief that stars are the souls of the dead, in +the same belief held by the Pampas;[14] and even of the late Brahmanic +custom of sacrificing the widow (suttee), in the practice of the +Natchez Indians, and in Guatemala, of burning the widow on the pyre of +the dead husband.[15] The storm wind (Odin) as highest god is found +among the Choctaws; while 'Master of Breath' is the Creeks' name for +this divinity. Huraka (hurricane, ouragon, ourage) is the chief god in +Hayti.[16] An exact parallel to the vague idea of hell at the close of +the Vedic period, with the gradual increase of the idea, alternating +with a theory of reincarnation, may be found in the fact that, in +general, there is no notion of punishment after death among the +Indians of the New World; but that, while the good are assisted and +cared for after death by the 'Master of Breath,' the Creeks believe +that the liar, the coward, and the niggard (Vedic sinners _par +excellence!_) are left to shift for themselves in darkness; whereas +the Aztecs believed in a hell surrounded by the water called 'Nine +Rivers,' guarded by a dog and a dragon; and the great Eastern American +tribes believe that after the soul has been for a while in heaven it +can, if it chooses, return to earth and be born again as a man, +utilizing its old bones (which are, therefore, carefully preserved by +the surviving members of the family) as a basis for a new body.[17] + +To turn to another foreign religion, how tempting would it be to see +in Nutar the 'abstract power' of the Egyptian, an analogue of _brahma_ +and the other 'power' abstractions of India; to recognize Brahm[=a] in +El; and in Nu, sky, and expanse of waters, to see Varuna; especially +when one compares the boat-journey of the Vedic seer with R[=a]'s boat +in Egypt. Or, again, in the twin children of R[=a] to see the Açvins; +and to associate the mundane egg of the Egyptians with that of the +Brahmans.[18] Certainly, had the Egyptians been one of the Aryan +families, all these conceptions had been referred long ago to the +category of 'primitive Aryan ideas.' But how primitive is a certain +religious idea will not be shown by simple comparison of Aryan +parallels. It will appear more often that it is not 'primitive,' but, +so to speak, per-primitive, aboriginal with no one race, but with the +race of man. When we come to describe the religions of the wild tribes +of India it will be seen that among them also are found traits common, +on the one hand, to the Hindu, and on the other to the wild tribes of +America. With this warning in mind one may inquire at last in how far +a conservative judgment can find among the Aryans themselves an +identity of original conception in the different forms of divinities +and religious rites. Foremost stand the universal chrematheism, +worship of inanimate objects regarded as usefully divine, and the cult +of the departed dead. This latter is almost universal, perhaps +pan-Aryan, and Weber is probably right in assuming that the primitive +Aryans believed in a future life. But Benfey's identification of +Tartaras with the Sanskrit Tal[=a]tala, the name of a special hell in +very late systems of cosmogony, is decidedly without the bearing he +would put upon it. The Sanskrit word may be taken directly from the +Greek, but of an Aryan source for both there is not the remotest +historical probability. + +When, however, one comes to the Lord of the Dead he finds himself +already in a narrower circle. Yama is the Persian Yima, and the name +of Kerberos may have been once an adjective applied to the dog that +guarded the path to paradise; but other particular conceptions that +gather about each god point only to a period of Indo-Iranian unity. + +Of the great nature-gods the sun is more than Aryan, but doubtless was +Aryan, for S[=u]rya is Helios, but Savitar is a development especially +Indian. Dy[=a]ús-pitar is Zeús-pater, Jupiter.[19] Trita, scarcely +Triton, is the Persian Thraetaona who conquers Vritra, as does Indra +in India. The last, on the other hand, is to be referred only +hesitatingly to the demon A[=n]dra of the Avesta. Varuna, despite +phonetic difficulties, probably is Ouranos; but Asura (Asen?) is a +title of many gods in India's first period, while the corresponding +Ahura is restricted to the good spirit, [Greek: kat hexochên]. The +seven [=A]dityas are reflected in the _Amesha Çpentas_ of Zoroastrian +Puritanism, but these are mere imitations, spiritualized and moralized +into abstractions. Bhaga is Slavic Bogu and Persian Bagha; Mitra is +Persian Mithra. The Açvins are all but in name the Greek gods +Dioskouroi, and correspond closely in detail (riding on horses, +healing and helping, originally twins of twilight). Tacitus gives a +parallel Teutonic pair (Germ. 43). Ushas, on the other hand, while +etymologically corresponding to Aurora, Eos, is a specially Indian +development, as Eos has no cult. V[=a]ta, Wind, is an aboriginal god, +and may perhaps be Wotan, Odin.[20] Parjanya, the rain-god, as Bühler +has shown, is one with Lithuanian Perkúna, and with the northern +Fiögyu. The 'fashioner,' Tvashtar (sun) is only Indo-Iranian; +Thw[=a]sha probably being the same word. + +Of lesser mights, Angiras, name of fire, may be Persian _angaros_, +'fire-messenger' (compare [Greek: haggelos]), perhaps originally one +with Sk. _ang[=a]ra_, 'coal.'[21] Hebe has been identified with +_yavy[=a]_, young woman, but this word is enough to show that Hebe has +naught to do with the Indian pantheon. The Gandharva, moon, is +certainly one with the Persian Gandarewa, but can hardly be identical +with the Centaur. Saram[=a] seems to have, together with S[=a]rameya, +a Grecian parallel development in Helena (a goddess in Sparta), +Selene, Hermes; and Sarany[=u] may be the same with Erinnys, but these +are not Aryan figures in the form of their respective developments, +though they appear to be so in origin. It is scarcely possible that +Earth is an Aryan deity with a cult, though different Aryan (and +un-Aryan) nations regarded her as divine. The Maruts are especially +Indian and have no primitive identity as gods with Mars, though the +names may be radically connected. The fire-priests, Bhrigus, are +supposed to be one with the [Greek: phlegixu]. The fact that the fate +of each in later myth is to visit hell would presuppose, however, an +Aryan notion of a torture-hell, of which the Rig Veda has no +conception. The Aryan identity of the two myths is thereby made +uncertain, if not implausible. The special development in India of the +fire-priest that brings down fire from heaven, when compared with the +personification of the 'twirler' (Promantheus) in Greece, shows that +no detailed myth was current in primitive times.[22] The name of the +fire-priest, _brahman_ = fla(g)men(?), is an indication of the +primitive fire-cult in antithesis to the _soma_-cult, which latter +belongs to the narrower circle of the Hindus and Persians. Here, +however, in the identity of names for sacrifice (_yajna, yaçna_) and +of _barhis_, the sacrificial straw, of _soma = haoma_, together with +many other liturgical similarities, as in the case of the metres, one +must recognize a fully developed _soma_-cult prior to the separation +of the Hindus and Iranians. + +Of demigods of evil type the _Y[=a]tus_ are both Hindu and Iranian, +but the priest-names of the one religion are evil names in the other, +as the _devas_, gods, of one are the _daevas_, demons, of the +other.[23] There are no other identifications that seem at +all certain in the strict province of religion, although in myth the +form of Manus, who is the Hindu Noah, has been associated with +Teutonic Mannus, and Greek Minos, noted in Thucydides for his +sea-faring. He is to Yama (later regarded as his brother) as is Noah +to Adam. + +We do not lay stress on lack of equation in proper names, but, as +Schrader shows (p. 596 ff.), very few comparisons on this line have a +solid phonetic foundation. Minos, Manu; Ouranos, Varuna; Wotan, +V[=a]ta, are dubious; and some equate flamen with blôtan, sacrifice. + +Other wider or narrower comparisons, such as Neptunus from _náp[=a]t +ap[=a]m,_ seem to us too daring to be believed. Apollo (_sapary_), +Aphrodite (Apsaras), Artamis (non-existent _[r.]tam[=a]l_), P[=a]n +(_pavana_), have been cleverly compared, but the identity of forms has +scarcely been proved. Nor is it important for the comparative +mythologist that Okeanus is 'lying around' (_[=a]çáy[=a]na_). More +than that is necessary to connect Ocean mythologically with the demon +that surrounds (swallows) the waters of the sky. The Vedic parallel is +rather Ras[=a], the far-off great 'stream.' It is rarely that one +finds Aryan equivalents in the land of fairies and fays. Yet are the +Hindu clever artizan Ribhus[24] our 'elves,' who, even to this day, +are distinct from fairies in their dexterity and cleverness, as every +wise child knows. + +But animism, as simple spiritism, fetishism, perhaps ancestor-worship, +and polytheism, with the polydaemonism that may be called +chrematheism, exists from the beginning of the religious history, +undisturbed by the proximity of theism, pantheism, or atheism; exactly +as to-day in the Occident, beside theism and atheism, exist spiritism +and fetishism (with their inherent magic), and even ancestor-worship, +as implied by the reputed after-effect of parental curses. + +When the circle is narrowed to that of the Indo-Iranian connection the +similarity in religion between the Veda and Avesta becomes much more +striking than in any other group, as has been shown. It is here that +the greatest discrepancy in opinion obtains among modern scholars. +Some are inclined to refer all that smacks of Persia to a remote +period of Indo-Iranian unity, and, in consequence, to connect all +tokens of contact with the west with far-away regions out of India. It +is scarcely possible that such can be the case. But, on the other +hand, it is unhistorical to connect, as do some scholars, the worship +of _soma_ and Varuna with a remote period of unity, and then with a +jump to admit a close connection between Veda and Avesta in the Vedic +period. The Vedic Aryans appear to have lived, so to speak, hand in +glove with the Iranians for a period long enough for the latter to +share in that advance of Varuna-worship from polytheism to +quasi-monotheism which is seen in the Rig Veda. This worship of Varuna +as a superior god, with his former equals ranged under him in a group, +chiefly obtains in that family (be it of priest or tribe, or be the +two essentially one from a religious point of view) which has least to +do with pure _soma_-worship, the inherited Indo-Iranian cult; and the +Persian Ahura, with the six spiritualized equivalents of the old Vedic +[=A]dityas, can have come into existence only as a direct +transformation of the latter cult, which in turn is later than the +cult that developed in one direction as chief of gods a Zeus; in +another, a Bhaga; in a third, an Odin. On the other hand, in the +gradual change in India of Iranic gods to devils, _asuras_, there is +an exact counterpart to the Iranian change of meaning from _deva_ to +_daeva_. But if this be the connection, it is impossible to assume a +long break between India and the west, and then such a sudden tie as +is indicated by the allusions in the Rig Veda to the Persians and +other western lands. The most reasonable view, therefore, appears to +be that the Vedic and Iranian Aryans were for a long time in contact, +that the contact began to cease as the two peoples separated to east +and west, but that after the two peoples separated communication was +sporadically kept up between them by individuals in the way of trade +or otherwise. This explains the still surviving relationship as it is +found in later hymns and in thank-offerings apparently involving +Iranian personages. + +They that believe in a monotheistic Varuna-cult preceding the Vedic +polytheism must then ignore the following facts: The Slavic equivalent +of Bhaga and the Teutonic equivalent of V[=a]ta are to these +respective peoples their highest gods. They had no Varuna. Moreover, +there is not the slightest proof that Ouranos in Greece[25] was ever a +god worshipped as a great god before Zeus, nor is there any +probability that to the Hindu Dyaus Pitar was ever a great god, in the +sense that he ever had a special cult as supreme deity. He is +physically great, and physically he is father, as is Earth mother, but +he is religiously great only in the Hellenic-Italic circle, where +exists no Uranos-cult[26]. Rather is it apparent that the Greek raised +Zeus, as did the Slav Bhaga, to his first head of the pantheon. Now +when one sees that in the Vedic period Varuna is the type of +[=A]dityas, to which belong Bhaga and Mitra as distinctly less +important personages, it is plain that this can mean only that Varuna +has gradually been exalted to his position at the expense of the other +gods. Nor is there perfect uniformity between Persian and Hindu +conceptions. Asura in the Veda is not applied to Varuna alone. But in +the Avesta, Ahura is the one great spirit, and his six spirits are +plainly a protestant copy and modification of Varuna and his six +underlings. This, then, can mean--which stands in concordance with the +other parallels between the two religions--only that Zarathustra +borrows the Ahura idea from the Vedic Aryans at a time when Varuna was +become superior to the other gods, and when the Vedic cult is +established in its second phase[27]. To this fact points also the +evidence that shows how near together geographically were once the +Hindus and Persians. Whether one puts the place of separation at the +Kabul or further to the north-west is a matter of indifference. The +Persians borrow the idea of Varuna Asura, whose eye is the sun. They +spiritualize this, and create an Asura unknown to other nations. + +Of von Bradke's attempt to prove an original Dyaus Asura we have said +nothing, because the attempt has failed signally. He imagines that the +epithet Asura was given to Dyaus in the Indo-Iranian period, and that +from a Dyaus Pitar Asura the Iranians made an abstract Asura, while +the Hindus raised the other gods and depressed Dyaus Pitar Asura; +whereas it is quite certain that Varuna (Asura) grew up, out, and over +the other Asuras, his former equals. + +And yet it is almost a pity to spend time to demonstrate that +Varuna-worship was not monotheistic originally. We gladly admit that, +even if not a primitive monotheistic deity, Varuna yet is a god that +belongs to a very old period of Hindu literature. And, for a worship +so antique, how noble is the idea, how exalted is the completed +conception of him! Truly, the Hindus and Persians alone of Aryans +mount nearest to the high level of Hebraic thought. For Varuna beside +the loftiest figure in the Hellenic pantheon stands like a god beside +a man. The Greeks had, indeed, a surpassing aesthetic taste, but in +grandeur of religious ideas even the daring of Aeschylus becomes but +hesitating bravado when compared with the serene boldness of the Vedic +seers, who, first of their race, out of many gods imagined God. + +In regard to eschatology, as in regard to myths, it has been shown +that the utmost caution in identification is called for. It may be +surmised that such or such a belief or legend is in origin one with a +like faith or tale of other peoples. But the question whether it be +one in historical origin or in universal mythopoetic fancy, and this +latter be the only common origin, must remain in almost every case +unanswered[28]. This is by far not so entertaining, nor so picturesque +a solution as is the explanation of a common historical basis for any +two legends, with its inspiring 'open sesame' to the door of the +locked past. But which is truer? Which accords more with the facts as +they are collected from a wider field? As man in the process of +development, in whatever quarter of earth he be located, makes for +himself independently clothes, language, and gods, so he makes myths +that are more or less like those of other peoples, and it is only when +names coincide and traits that are unknown elsewhere are strikingly +similar in any two mythologies that one has a right to argue a +probable community of origin. + +But even if the legend of the flood were Babylonian, and the Asuras as +devils were due to Iranian influence--which can neither be proved nor +disproved--the fact remains that the Indian religion in its main +features is of a purely native character. + +As the most prominent features of the Vedic religion must be regarded +the worship of _soma_ of nature-gods that are in part already more +than this, of spirits, and of the Manes; the acknowledgment of a moral +law and a belief in a life hereafter. There is also a vaguer nascent +belief in a creator apart from any natural phenomenon, but the creed +for the most part is poetically, indefinitely, stated: 'Most +wonder-working of the wonder-working gods, who made heaven and +earth'(as above). The corresponding Power is Cerus in Cerus-Creator +(Kronos?), although when a name is given, the Maker, Dh[=a]tar, is +employed; while Tvashtar, the artificer, is more an epithet of the sun +than of the unknown creator. The personification of Dh[=a]tar as +creator of the sun, etc., belongs to later Vedic times, and foreruns +the Father-god of the last Vedic period. Not till the classical age +(below) is found a formal identification of the Vedic nature-gods with +the departed Fathers (Manes). Indra, for example, is invoked in the +Rig Veda to 'be a friend, be a father, be more fatherly than the +fathers';[29] but this implies no patristic side in Indra, who is +called in the same hymn (vs. 4) the son of Dyaus (his father); and +Dyaus Pitar no more implies, as say some sciolists, that Dyaus was +regarded as a human ancestor than does 'Mother Earth' imply a belief +that Earth is the ghost of a dead woman. + +In the Veda there is a nature-religion and an ancestor-religion. These +approach, but do not unite; they are felt as sundered beliefs. +Sun-myths, though by some denied _in toto_, appear plainly in the +Vedic hymns. Dead heroes may be gods, but gods, too, are natural +phenomena, and, again, they are abstractions. He that denies any one +of these sources of godhead is ignorant of India. + +Müller, in his _Ancient Sanskrit Literature_, has divided Vedic +literature into four periods, that of _chandas_, songs; _mantras_, +texts; _br[=a]hmanas;_ and _s[=u]tras_. The _mantras_ are in +distinction from _chandas_, the later hymns to the earlier gods.[30] +The latter distinction can, however, be established only on subjective +grounds, and, though generally unimpeachable, is sometimes liable to +reversion. Thus, Müller looks upon RV. VIII. 30 as 'simple and +primitive,' while others see in this hymn a late _mantra_. Between the +Rig Veda and the Br[=a]hmanas, which are in prose, lies a period +filled out in part by the present form of the Atharva Veda, which, as +has been shown, is a Veda of the low cult that is almost ignored by +the Rig Veda, while it contains at the same time much that is later +than the Rig Veda, and consists of old and new together in a manner +entirely conformable to the state of every other Hindu work of early +times. After this epoch there is found in the liturgical period, into +which extend the later portions of the Rig Veda (noticeably parts of +the first, fourth, eighth, and tenth books), a religion which, in +spiritual tone, in metaphysical speculation, and even in the +interpretation of some of the natural divinities, differs not more +from the bulk of the Rig Veda than does the social status of the time +from that of the earlier text. Religion has become, in so far as the +gods are concerned, a ritual. But, except in the building up of a +Father-god, theology is at bottom not much altered, and the +eschatological conceptions remain about as they were, despite a +preliminary sign of the doctrine of metempsychosis. In the Atharva +Veda, for the first time, hell is known by its later name (xii. 4. +36), and perhaps its tortures; but the idea of future punishment +appears plainly first in the Brahmanic period. Both the doctrine of +re-birth and that of hell appear in the earliest S[=u]tras, and +consequently the assumption that these dogmas come from Buddhism does +not appear to be well founded; for it is to be presumed whatever +religious belief is established in legal literature will have preceded +that literature by a considerable period, certainly by a greater +length of time than that which divides the first Brahmanic law from +Buddhism. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Compare the accounts of Lafitau; of the native + Iroquois, baptized as Morgan; and the works of Schoolcraft + and Parkman.] + + [Footnote 2: _Jesuits in North America_, Introduction, p. + lxi.] + + [Footnote 3: "Like other Indians, the Hurons were desperate + gamblers, staking their all,--ornaments, clothing, canoes, + pipes, weapons, and wives," _loc. cit._ p. xxxvi. Compare + Palfrey, of Massachusetts Indians. The same is true of all + savages.] + + [Footnote 4: _Ib._ p. lxvii.] + + [Footnote 5: Compare _Çat. Br_. VI. 1. 1, 12; VII. 5. 1, 2 + _sq_., for the Hindu tortoise in its first form. The + totem-form of the tortoise is well known in America. + (Brinton, _Myths of the New World_, p. 85.)] + + [Footnote 6: Charlevoix ap. Parkman.] + + [Footnote 7: Parkman, _loc. cit_. p. LXXII; Brinton, _Myths + of the New World_, p. 248. A good instance of bad comparison + in eschatology will be found in Geiger, _Ostir. Cult_. pp. + 274-275.] + + [Footnote 8: Parkman, _loc. cit_. p. LXXXVI.] + + [Footnote 9: _Sits. Berl. Akad_. 1891, p. 15.] + + [Footnote 10: Brinton, _American Hero Myths_, p. 174. The + first worship was Sun-worship, then Viracocha-worship arose, + which kept Sun-worship while it predicated a 'power beyond.] + + [Footnote 11: Brinton, _Myths of the New World_, pp. 85, + 203.] + + [Footnote 12: _Ib_. pp. 86, 202.] + + [Footnote 13: Brinton, _Myths of the New World_, p. 243. The + American Indians "uniformly regard the sun as heaven, the + soul goes to the sun."] + + [Footnote 14: _Ib._ p. 245.] + + [Footnote 15: _Ib._ p. 239-40.] + + [Footnote 16: _Ib._ p. 50, 51.] + + [Footnote 17: _Ib._ pp. 242, 248, 255; Schoolcraft, III. + 229.] + + [Footnote 18: Renouf, _Religion of Ancient Egypt_; pp. 103, + 113 ff.] + + [Footnote 19: Teutonic Tuisco is doubtful, as the identity + with Dyaus has lately been contested on phonetic grounds.] + + [Footnote 20: V[=a]ta, ventus, does not agree very well with + Wotan.] + + [Footnote 21: _[=A]it. Br._ III, 34. [Greek: haggaron pur] + is really tautological, but beacon fires gave way to + couriers and [Greek: haggaros] lost the sense of fire, as + did [Greek: haggelos].] + + [Footnote 22: But the general belief that fire (Agni, Ignis, + Slavic ogni) was first brought to earth from heaven by a + half-divine personality is (at least) Aryan, as Kuhn has + shown.] + + [Footnote 23: Compare the _kavis_ and _ugijs_ (poets and + priests) of the Veda with the evil spirits of the same names + in the Avesta, like _daeva_ = _deva_. Compare, besides, the + Indo-Iranian feasts, _medha_, that accompany this + Bacchanalian liquor-worship.] + + [Footnote 24: Ludwig interprets the three Ribhus as the + three seasons personified. Etymologically connected is + Orpheus, perhaps.] + + [Footnote 25: [Greek: o de chalkeos asphales aien edos menei + ouranos], Pind. N. vi. 5; compare Preller[4], p.40.] + + [Footnote 26: Wahrscheinlich sind Uranos und Kronos erst aus + dem Culte des Zeus abstrahirt worden. Preller[4], p. 43.] + + [Footnote 27: When Aryan deities are decadent, Trita, Mitra, + etc.] + + [Footnote 28: Spiegel holds that the whole idea of future + punishment is derived from Persia (_Eranische + Altherthumskunde_, I. p. 458), but his point of view is + naturally prejudiced. The allusion to the supposed + Babylonian coin, _man[=a]_, in RV. VIII. 78. 2, would + indicate that the relation with Babylon is one of trade, as + with Aegypt. The account of the flood may be drawn thence, + so may the story of Deucalion, but both Hindu and Hellenic + versions may be as native as is that of the American + redskins.] + + [Footnote 29: IV. 17. 17.] + + [Footnote 30: _loc. cit._ pp. 70, 480.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +BRAHMANISM. + + +Besides the Rig Veda and the Atharva Veda there are two others, called +respectively the S[=a]ma Veda and the Yajur Veda.[1] The former +consists of a small collection of verses, which are taken chiefly from +the eighth and ninth books of the Rig Veda, and are arranged for +singing. It has a few more verses than are contained in the +corresponding parts of the Rik, but the whole is of no added +importance from the present point of view. It is of course made +entirely for the ritual. Also made for the ritual is the Yajur Veda, +the Veda of sacrificial formulae. But this Veda is far more important. +With it one is brought into a new land, and into a world of ideas that +are strange to the Rik. The period represented by it is a sort of +bridge between the Rik and the Br[=a]hmanas. The Yajus is later than +Rik or Atharvan, belonging in its entirety more to the age of the +liturgy than to the older Vedic era. With the Br[=a]hmanas not only is +the tone changed from that of the Rig Veda; the whole moral atmosphere +is now surcharged with hocus-pocus, mysticism, religiosity, instead of +the cheerful, real religion which, however formal, is the soul of the +Rik. In the Br[=a]hmanas there is no freshness, no poetry. There is in +some regards a more scrupulous outward morality, but for the rest +there is only cynicism, bigotry, and dullness. It is true that each of +these traits may be found in certain parts of the Rig Veda, but it is +not true that they represent there the spirit of the age, as they do +in the Brahmanic period. Of this Brahmanic stoa, to which we now turn, +the Yajur Veda forms the fitting entrance. Here the priest is as much +lord as he is in the Br[=a]hmanas. Here the sacrifice is only the act, +the sacrificial forms (_yajus_), without the spirit. + +In distinction from the verse-Veda (the Rik), the Yajur Veda contains +the special formulae which the priest that attends to the erection of +the altar has to speak, with explanatory remarks added thereto. This +of course stamps the collection as mechanical; but the wonder is that +this collection, with the similar Br[=a]hmana scriptures that follow +it, should be the only new literature which centuries have to show.[2] +As explanatory of the sacrifice there is found, indeed, a good deal of +legendary stuff, which sometimes has a literary character. But nothing +is for itself; everything is for the correct performance of the +sacrifice.[3] + +The geographical centre is now changed, and instead of the Punj[=a]b, +the 'middle district' becomes the seat of culture. Nor is there much +difference between the district to which can be referred the rise of +the Yajur Veda and that of the Br[=a]hmanas. No less altered is the +religion. All is now symbolical, and the gods, though in general they +are the gods of the Rig Veda, are not the same as of old. The priests +have become gods. The old appellation of 'spirit,' _asura_, is +confined to evil spirits. There is no longer any such 'henotheism' as +that of the Rig Veda. The Father-god, 'lord of beings,' or simply 'the +father,' is the chief god. The last thought of the Rig Veda is the +first thought of the Yajur Veda. Other changes have taken place. The +demigods of the older period, the water-nymphs of the Rik, here become +seductive goddesses, whose increase of power in this art agrees with +the decline of the warrior spirit that is shown too in the whole mode +of thinking. Most important is the gradual rise of Vishnu and the +first appearance of Çiva. Here _brahma_, which in the Rik has the +meaning 'prayer' alone, is no longer mere prayer, but, as in later +literature, holiness. In short, before the Br[=a]hmanas are reached +they are perceptible in the near distance, in the Veda of Formulae, +the Yajus;[4] for between the Yajur Veda and the Br[=a]hmanas there is +no essential difference. The latter consist of explanations of the +sacrificial liturgy, interspersed with legends, bits of history, +philosophical explanations, and other matter more or less related to +the subject. They are completed by the Forest Books, [=A]ranyakas, +which contain the speculations of the later theosophy, the Upanishads +(below). It is with the Yajur Veda and its nearly related literature, +the Br[=a]hmanas, that Brahmanism really begins. Of these latter the +most important in age and content are the Br[=a]hmanas (of the Rig +Veda and Yajur Veda), called [=A]itareya and Çata-patha, the former +representing the western district, the latter, in great part, a more +eastern region. + +Although the 'Northerners' are still respectfully referred to, yet, as +we have just said, the people among whom arose the Br[=a]hmanas are +not settled in the Punj[=a]b, but in the country called the 'middle +district,' round about the modern Delhi. For the most part the +Punj[=a]b is abandoned; or rather, the literature of this period does +not emanate from the Aryans that remained in the Punj[=a]b, but from +the still emigrating descendants of the old Vedic people that used to +live there. Some stay behind and keep the older practices, not in all +regards looked upon as orthodox by their more advanced brethren, who +have pushed east and now live in the country called the land of the +Kurus and Pa[.n]c[=a]las.[5] They are spread farther east, along the +banks of the Jumna and Ganges, south of Nep[=a]l; while some are still +about and south of the holy Kurukshetra or 'plain of Kurus.' East of +the middle district the Kosalas and Videhas form, in opposition to the +Kurus and Pa[.n]c[=a]las, the second great tribe (Tirh[=u]t). There +are now two sets of 'Seven Rivers,' and the holiness of the western +group is perceptibly lessened. Here for the first time are found the +_Vr[=a]tya_-hymns, intended to initiate into the Brahmanic order +Aryans who have not conformed to it, and speak a dialectic +language.[6] From the point of view of language and geography, no less +than from that of the social and spiritual conditions, it is evident +that quite a period has elapsed since the body of the Rig Veda was +composed. The revealed texts are now ancient storehouses of wisdom. +Religion has apparently become a form; in some regards it is a farce. + +"There are two kinds of gods; for the gods are gods, and priests that +are learned in the Veda and teach it are human gods." This sentence, +from one of the most important Hindu prose works,[7] is the key to the +religion of the period which it represents; and it is fitly followed +by the further statement, that like sacrifice to the gods are the fees +paid to the human gods the priests.[8] Yet with this dictum, so +important for the understanding of the religion of the age, must be +joined another, if one would do that age full justice: 'The sacrifice +is like a ship sailing heavenward; if there be a sinful priest in it, +that one priest would make it sink' (_Çat. Br_. IV. 2. 5. 10). For +although the time is one in which ritualism had, indeed, become more +important than religion, and the priest more important than the gods, +yet is there no lack of reverential feeling, nor is morality regarded +as unimportant. The first impression, however, which is gained from +the literature of this period is that the sacrifice is all in all; +that the endless details of its course, and the petty questions in +regard to its arrangement, are not only the principal objects of care +and of chief moment, but even of so cardinal importance that the whole +religious spirit swings upon them. But such is not altogether the +case. It is the truth, yet is it not the whole truth, that in these +Br[=a]hmanas religion is an appearance, not a reality. The sacrifice +is indeed represented to be the only door to prosperity on earth and +to future bliss; but there is a quiet yet persistent belief that at +bottom a moral and religious life is quite as essential as are the +ritualistic observances with which worship is accompanied. + +To describe Brahmanism as implying a religion that is purely one of +ceremonies, one composed entirely of observances, is therefore not +altogether correct. In reading a liturgical work it must not be +forgotten for what the work was intended. If its object be simply to +inculcate a special rite, one cannot demand that it should show +breadth of view or elevation of sentiment. Composed of observances +every work must be of which the aim is to explain observances. In +point of fact, religion (faith and moral behavior) is here assumed, +and so entirely is it taken for granted that a statement emphasizing +the necessity of godliness is seldom found. + +Nevertheless, having called attention to the religious spirit that +lies latent in the pedantic Br[=a]hmanas, we are willing to +admit that the age is overcast, not only with a thick cloud of +ritualism, but also with an unpleasant mask of phariseeism. There +cannot have been quite so much attention paid to the outside of the +platter without neglect of the inside. And it is true that the priests +of this period strive more for the completion of their rites than for +the perfection of themselves. It is true, also, that occasionally +there is a revolting contempt for those people who are not of especial +service to the priest. There are now two godlike aristocrats, the +priest and the noble. The 'people' are regarded as only fit to be the +"food of the nobility." In the symbolical language of the time the +bricks of the altar, which are consecrated, are the warrior caste; the +fillings, in the space between the bricks, are not consecrated; and +these "fillers of space" are "the people" (_Çat. Br_. VI. 1. 2. 25). +Yet is religion in these books not dead, but sleeping; to wake again +in the Upanishads with a fuller spiritual life than is found in any +other pre-Christian system. Although the subject matter of the +Br[=a]hmanas is the cult, yet are there found in them numerous +legends, moral teachings, philosophical fancies, historical items, +etymologies and other adventitious matter, all of which are helpful in +giving a better understanding of the intelligence of the people to +whom is due all the extant literature of the period. Long citations +from these ritualistic productions would have a certain value, in +showing in native form the character of the works, but they would make +unendurable reading; and we have thought it better to arrange the +multifarious contents of the chief Br[=a]hmanas in a sort of order, +although it is difficult always to decide where theology ends and +moral teachings begin, the two are here so interwoven. + + +BRAHMANIC THEOLOGY AND THE SACRIFICE. + +While in general the pantheon of the Rig Veda and Atharva Veda is that +of the Br[=a]hmanas, some of the older gods are now reduced in +importance, and, on the other hand, as in the Yajur Veda, some gods +are seen to be growing in importance. 'Time,' deified in the Atharvan, +is a great god, but beside him still stand the old rustic divinities; +and chrematheism, which antedates even the Rig Veda, is still +recognized. To the 'ploughshare' and the 'plough' the Rig Veda has an +hymn (IV. 57. 5-8), and so the ritual gives them a cake at the +sacrifice (_Çun[=a]ç[=i]rya, Çat. Br._ II. 6. 3. 5). The number of the +gods, in the Rig Veda estimated as thirty-three, or, at the end of +this period, as thousands, remains as doubtful as ever; but, in +general, all groups of deities become greater in number. Thus, in TS. +I. 4. 11. 1, the Rudras alone are counted as thirty-three instead of +eleven; and, _ib._ V. 5. 2. 5, the eight Vasus become three hundred +and thirty-three; but it is elsewhere hinted that the number of the +gods stands in the same relation to that of men as that in which men +stand to the beasts; that is, there are not quite so many gods as men +(_Çat. Br._ II. 3. 2. 18). + +Of more importance than the addition of new deities is the subdivision +of the old. As one finds in Greece a [Greek: Zeus katachthonios] +beside a [Greek: Zeus xenios], so in the Yajur Veda and Br[=a]hmanas +are found (an extreme instance) hail 'to K[=a]ya,' and hail 'to +Kasm[=a]i,' that is, the god Ka is differentiated into two divinities, +according as he is declined as a noun or as a pronoun; for this is the +god "Who?" as the dull Br[=a]hmanas interpreted that verse of the Rig +Veda which asks 'to whom (which, as) god shall we offer sacrifice?' +(M[=a]it. S. III. 12. 5.) But ordinarily one divinity like Agni is +subdivided, according to his functions, as 'lord of food,' 'lord of +prayer,' etc.[9] + +In the Br[=a]hmanas different names are given to the chief god, but he +is most often called the Father-god (Praj[=a]pati, 'lord of +creatures,' or the Father, _pit[=a]_). His earlier Vedic type is +Brihaspati, the lord of strength, and, from another point of +view, the All-god.[10] The other gods fall into various groups, the +most significant being the triad of Fire, Wind, and Sun.[11] Not much +weight is to be laid on the theological speculations of the time as +indicative of primitive conceptions, although they may occasionally +hit true. For out of the number of inane fancies it is reasonable to +suppose that some might coincide with historic facts. Thus the +All-gods of the Rig Veda, by implication, are of later origin than the +other gods, and this, very likely, was the case; but it is a mere +guess on the part of the priest. The _Çatapatha_, III. 6. 1. 28, +speaks of the All-gods as gods that gained immortality on a certain +occasion, _i.e._, became immortal like other gods. So the [=A]dityas +go to heaven before the Angirasas (_[=A][=i]t. Br_. IV. 17), but this +has no such historical importance as some scholars are inclined to +think. The lesser gods are in part carefully grouped and numbered, in +a manner somewhat contradictory to what must have been the earlier +belief. Thus the 'three kinds of gods' are now Vasus, of earth, +Rudras, of air, and [=A]dityas, of sky, and the daily offerings are +divided between them; the morning offering belonging only to the +Vasus, the mid-day one only to (Indra and) the Rudras, the third to +the [=A]dityas with the Vasus and Rudras together.[12] Again, the +morning and mid-day pressing belong to the gods alone, and strict rule +is observed in distinguishing their portion from that of the Manes +(_Çat. Br_. IV. 4. 22). The difference of sex is quite ignored, so +that the 'universal Agni' is identified with (mother) earth; as is +also, once or twice, P[=u]shan (_ib._ III. 8. 5. 4; 2. 4. 19; II. 5. +4. 7). As the 'progenitor,' Agni facilitates connubial union, and is +called "the head god, the progenitor among gods, the lord of beings" +(_ib._ III. 4. 3. 4; III. 9. 1. 6). P[=u]shan is interpreted to mean +cattle, and Brihaspati is the priestly caste (_ib_. III. 9. 1. 10 +ff.). The base of comparison is usually easy to find. 'The earth +nourishes,' and 'P[=u]shan nourishes,' hence Pushan is the earth; or +'the earth belongs to all' and Agni is called 'belonging to all' +(universal), hence the two are identified. The All-gods, merely on +account of their name, are now the All; Aditi is the 'unbounded' earth +(_ib_. III. 9. 1. 13; IV. 1. 1. 23; i. 1. 4. 5; III. 2. 3. 6). Agni +represents all the gods, and he is the dearest, the closest, and the +surest of all the gods (_ib_. I. 6. 2. 8 ff.). It is said that man on +earth fathers the fire (that is, protects it), and when he dies the +fire that he has made his son on earth becomes his father, causing him +to be reborn in heaven (_ib_. II. 3. 3. 3-5; VI. 1. 2. 26). + +The wives of the gods _(dev[=a]n[=a]m patn[=i]r yajati)_, occasionally +mentioned in the Rig Veda, have now an established place and cult +apart from that of the gods (_ib_. I. 9. 2. 11). The fire on the +hearth is god Agni in person, and is not a divine or mystic type; but +he is prayed to as a heavenly friend. Some of these traits are old, +but they are exaggerated as compared with the more ancient theology. +When one goes on a journey or returns from one, 'even if a king were +in his house' he should not greet him till he makes homage to his +hearth-fires, either with spoken words or with silent obeisance. For +Agni and Praj[=a]pati are one, they are son and father (_ib_. II. 4. +1. 3, 10; VI. 1. 2. 26). The gods have mystic names, and these 'who +will dare to speak?' Thus, Indra's mystic name is Arjuna (_ib_. II. 1. +2. 11). In the early period of the Rig Veda the priest dares to speak. +The pantheism of the end of the Rig Veda is here decided and +plain-spoken, as it is in the Atharvan. As it burns brightly or not +the fire is in turn identified with different gods, Rudra, Varuna, +Indra, and Mitra (_ib_. II. 3. 2. 9 ff.). Agni is all the gods and the +gods are in men (_ib_. III. 1. 3. 1; 4. 1. 19; II. 3. 2. 1: Indra and +King Yama dwell in men). And, again, the Father (Praj[=a]pati) is the +All; he is the year of twelve months and five seasons(_ib_. I. 3. 5. +10). Then follows a characteristic bit. Seventeen verses are to be +recited to correspond to the 'seventeenfold' Praj[=a]pati. But 'some +say' twenty-one verses; and he may recite twenty-one, for if 'the +three worlds' are added to the above seventeen one gets twenty, and +the sun (_ya esa tapati_) makes the twenty-first! As to the number of +worlds, it is said (_ib_. I. 2. 4. 11, 20-21) that there are three +worlds, and possibly a fourth. + +Soma is now the moon, but as being one half of Vritra, the evil demon. +The other half became the belly of creatures (_ib_. I. 6. 3. 17). +Slightly different is the statement that Soma was Vritra, IV. 2. 5. +15. In _[=A]it. Br._ I. 27, King Soma is bought of the Gandharvas by +V[=a]c, 'speech,' as a cow.[13] With phases of the moon Indra and Agni +are identified. One is the deity of the new; the other, of the full +moon; while Mitra is the waning, and Varuna the waxing moon (_Çat. +Br._ II. 4. 4. 17-18). This opposition of deities is more fully +expressed in the attempt to make antithetic the relations of the gods +and the Manes, thus: 'The gods are represented by spring, summer, and +rains; the Fathers, by autumn, winter, and the dewy season; the gods, +by the waxing; the Fathers, by the waning moon; the gods, by day; the +Fathers, by night; the gods, by morning; the Fathers, by afternoon' +(_Çat. Br._ II. 1.-31; _ib_. II. 4. 2. 1. ff.: 'The sun is the light +of the gods; the moon, of the Fathers; fire, of men'). Between morning +and afternoon, as representative of gods and Manes respectively, +stands midday, which, according to the same authority (II. 4. 2. 8), +represents men. The passage first cited continues thus: 'The seasons +are gods and Fathers; gods are immortal; the Fathers are mortal.' In +regard to the relation between spring and the other seasons, the fifth +section of this passage may be compared: 'Spring is the priesthood; +summer, the warrior-caste; the rains are the (_viç_) people.'[14] + +Among the conspicuous divine forms of this period is the Queen of +Serpents, whose verses are chanted over fire; but she is the earth, +according to some passages (_[=A]it. Br._. V. 23; _Çat. Br._ II. 1. 4. +30; IV. 6. 9. 17). In their divine origin there is, indeed, according +to the theology now current, no difference between the powers of light +and of darkness, between the gods and the 'spirits,' _asuras, i.e._, +evil spirits. Many tales begin with the formula: 'The gods and evil +spirits, both born of the Father-god' (_Çat. Br._ I. 2. 4. 8). Weber +thinks that this implies close acquaintance with Persian worship, a +sort of tit-for-tat; for the Hindu would in that case call the holy +spirit, _ahura_, of the Persian a devil, just as the Persian makes an +evil spirit, _daeva_, out of the Hindu god, _deva_. But the relations +between Hindu and Persian in this period are still very uncertain. It +is interesting to follow out some of the Brahmanic legends, if only to +see what was the conception of the evil spirits. In one such +theological legend the gods and the (evil) spirits, both being sons of +the Father-god, inherited from him, respectively, mind and speech; +hence the gods got the sacrifice and heaven, while the evil spirits +got this earth. Again, the two entered on the inheritance of their +father in time, and so the gods have the waxing moon, and the evil +spirits, the waning moon (_ib._ III 2. 1. 18; I. 7. 2. 22). + +But what these Asuras or (evil) spirits really are may be read easily +from the texts. The gods are the spirits of light; the Asuras are the +spirits of darkness. Therewith is indissolubly connected the idea that +sin and darkness are of the same nature. So one reads that when the +sun rises it frees itself 'from darkness, from sin,' as a snake from +its slough (_ib._ II. 3. I. 6). And in another passage it is said that +darkness and illusion were given to the Asuras as their portion by the +Father-god _(ib._ II. 4. 2. 5). With this may be compared also the +frequent grouping of The Asuras or Rakshas with darkness (_e.g., ib._ +III. 8. 2. 15; IV. 3. 4. 21). As to the nature of the gods the +evidence is contradictóry. Both gods and evil spirits were originally +soulless and mortal. Agni (Fire) alone was immortal, and it was only +through him that the others continued to live. They became immortal by +putting in their inmost being the holy (immortal) fire (_ib._ II. 2. +2. 8). On the other hand, it is said that Agni was originally without +brightness; and Indra, identified with the sun, was originally dark +(_ib._ IV. 5.4.3; III. 4. 2. 15). The belief in an originally human +condition of the gods (even the Father-god was originally mortal) is +exemplified in a further passage, where it is said that the gods used +to live on earth, but they grew tired of man's endless petitions and +fled; also in another place, where it is stated that the gods used to +drink together with men visibly, but now they do so invisibly (_ib_. +II. 3. 4. 4; III. 6. 2. 26). How did such gods obtain their supremacy? +The answer is simple, 'by sacrifice' (_Çat. Br_. III. 1. 4. 3; +_[=A]it. Br_. II. I. I). So now they live by sacrifice: 'The sun would +not rise if the priest did not make sacrifice' (_Çat. Br_. II. 3. 1. +5). Even the order of things would change if the order of ceremonial +were varied: Night would be eternal if the priests did so and so; the +months would not pass, one following the other, if the priests walked +out or entered together, etc. (_ib._ IV. 3. 1. 9-10). It is by a +knowledge of the Vedas that one conquers all things, and the sacrifice +is part and application of this knowledge, which in one passage is +thus reconditely subdivided: 'Threefold is knowledge, the Rig Veda, +the Yajur Veda, and the S[=a]ma Veda.[15] The Rig Veda, _i.e_., the +verses sung, are the earth; the Yajus is air; the S[=a]man is the sky. +He conquers earth, air, and sky respectively by these three Vedas. The +Rik and S[=a]man are Indra and are speech; the Yajus is Vishnu and +mind' (_ib._ IV. 6. 7. 1 ff.). An item follows that touches on a +modern philosophical question. Apropos of speech and mind: 'Where +speech (alone) existed everything was accomplished and known; but +where mind (alone) existed nothing was accomplished or known' (_ib._ +I. 4. 4. 3-4, 7). Mind and speech are male and female, and as +yoke-fellows bear sacrificed to the gods; to be compared is the +interesting dispute between mind and speech (_ib._ 5. 8). As dependent +as is man on what is given by the gods, so dependent are the gods on +what is offered to them by men (_T[=a]itt. Br._ II. 2. 7. 3; _Çat. +Br._ I. 2. 5. 24). Even the gods are now not native to heaven. They +win heaven by sacrifice, by metres, etc. (_Çat. Br._ IV. 3. 2. 5). + +What, then, is the sacrifice? A means to enter into the godhead of the +gods, and even to control the gods; a ceremony where every word was +pregnant with consequences;[16] every movement momentous. There are +indications, however, that the priests themselves understood that much +in the ceremonial was pure hocus-pocus, and not of such importance as +it was reputed to be. But such faint traces as survive of a freer +spirit objecting to ceremonial absurdities only mark more clearly the +level plain of unintelligent superstition which was the feeding-ground +of the ordinary priests. + +Some of the cases of revolted common-sense are worth citing. +Conspicuous as an authority on the sacrifice, and at the same time as +a somewhat recalcitrant priest, is Y[=a]j[.n]avalkya, author and +critic, one of the greatest names in Hindu ecclesiastical history. It +was he who, apropos of the new rule in ethics, so strongly insisted +upon after the Vedic age and already beginning to obtain, the rule +that no one should eat the flesh of the (sacred) cow ('Let no one eat +beef.... Whoever eats it would be reborn (on earth) as a man of ill +fame') said bluntly: 'As for me I eat (beef) if it is good (firm).[17] +It certainly required courage to say this, with the especial warning +against beef, the meat of an animal peculiarly holy (_Çat. Br._ III. +I. 2. 21). It was, again, Y[=a]jñavalkya (_Çat. Br_., I. 3. I. 26), +who protested against the priests' new demand that the benefit of the +sacrifice should accrue in part to the priest; whereas it had +previously been understood that not the sacrificial priest but the +sacrificer (the worshipper, the man who hired the priest and paid the +expenses) got all the benefit of the ceremony. Against the priests' +novel and unjustifiable claim Y[=a]jñavalkya exclaims: 'How can people +have faith in this? Whatever be the blessing for which the priests +pray, this blessing is for the worshipper (sacrificer) alone.[18] It +was Y[=a]jñavalkya, too, who rebutted some new superstition involving +the sacrificer's wife, with the sneer, 'who cares whether the wife,' +etc. (_kas tad [=a]driyeta, ib._ 21). These protestations are naïvely +recorded, though it is once suggested that in some of his utterances +Y[=a]jñavalkya was not in earnest (_ib._ IV. 2. 1. 7). The high mind +of this great priest is contrasted with the mundane views of his +contemporaries in the prayers of himself and of another priest; for it +is recorded that whereas Y[=a]jñavalkya's prayer to the Sun was 'give +me light' (or 'glory,' _varco me dehi_), that of [=A]upoditeya was +'give me cows' (_ib_. I. 9. 3. 16). The chronicler adds, after citing +these prayers, that one obtains whatever he prays for, either +illumination or wealth.[19] Y[=a]jñavalkya, however, is not the only +protestant. In another passage, _ib_. ii. 6. 3. 14-17, the sacrificer +is told to shave his head all around, so as to be like the sun; this +will ensure his being able to 'consume (his foes) on all sides like +the sun,' and it is added: But [=A]suri said, 'What on earth has it to +do with his head? Let him not shave.'[20] + +'Eternal holiness' is won by him that offers the sacrifice of the +seasons. Characteristic is the explanation, 'for such an one wins the +year, and a year is a complete whole, and a complete whole is +indestructible (eternal); hence his holiness is indestructible, and he +thereby becomes a part of a year and goes to the gods; but as there is +no destruction in the gods, his holiness is therefore indestructible' +(_ib._ ii. 6. 3. 1). + +Not only a man's self but also his Manes are benefited by means of +sacrifice.[21] He gives the Manes pleasure with his offering, but he +also raises their estate, and sends them up to live in a higher +world.[22] The cosmological position of the Manes are the +_av[=a]ntaradiças_, that is, between the four quarters; though, +according to some, there are three kinds of them, _soma_-Manes, +sacrifice-Manes (Manes of the sacrificial straw), and the burnt, +_i.e_., the spirits of those that have been consumed in fire. They +are, again, identified with the seasons, and are expressly mentioned +as the guardians of houses, so that the Brahmanic Manes are at once +Penates, Lares, and Manes.[23] + +The sacrifice is by no means meant as an aid to the acquirement of +heavenly bliss alone. Many of the great sacrifices are for the gaining +of good things on earth. In one passage there is described a ceremony, +the result of which is to be that the warrior, who is the sacrificer, +may say to a man of the people "fetch out and give me your store" +(_ib._ i. 3. 2. 15; iv. 3. 3. 10). Everybody sacrifices, even the +beasts erect altars and fires![24] That one should sacrifice without +the ulterior motive of gain is unknown. Brahmanic India knows no +thank-offering. Ordinarily the gain is represented as a compensating +gift from the divinity, whom the sacrificer pleases with his +sacrifice. Very plainly is this expressed. "He offers the sacrifice to +the god with this text: 'Do thou give to me (and) I (will) give to +thee; do thou bestow on me (and) I (will) bestow on thee'" (_V[=a]j. +S._ iii. 50; _Çat. Br_. ii. 5. 3. 19). But other ends are +accomplished. By the sacrifice he may injure his enemy, but in +offering it, if he leaves too much over, that part accrues to the good +of his foe (_Çat. Br_. i. 2. 1.7; 9. 1. 18). + +The sacrifice is throughout symbolical. The sacrificial straw +represents the world; the metre used represents all living creatures, +etc.,--a symbolism frequently suggested by a mere pun, but often as +ridiculously expounded without such aid. The altar's measure is the +measure of metres. The cord of regeneration (badge of the twice-born, +the holy cord of the high castes) is triple, because food is +threefold, or because the father and mother with the child make three +(_Çat. Br._ iii. 5. 1. 7 ff.; 2. 1. 12); the _jagati_ metre contains +the living world, because this is called _jagat_ (_ib._ i. 8. 2. 11). + +Out of the varied mass of rules, speculations, and fancies, a few of +general character may find place here, that the reader may gain a +collective impression of the religious literature of the time. + +The fee for the sacrifice is mentioned in one place as one thousand +cows. These must be presented in groups of three hundred and +thirty-three each, three times, with an odd one of three colors. This +is on account of the holy character of the numeral three. 'But +[=A]suri (apparently fearful that this rule would limit the fee) said +"he may give more"' (_Çat. Br._ iv. 5. 8. 14). As to the fee, the +rules are precise and their propounders are unblushing. The priest +performs the sacrifice for the fee alone, and it must consist of +valuable garments, kine, horses,[25] or gold--when each is to be given +is carefully stated. Gold is coveted most, for this is 'immortality,' +'the seed of Agni,' and therefore peculiarly agreeable to the pious +priest.[26] For his greed, which goes so far that he proclaims that he +who gives a thousand kine obtains all things of heaven (_ib._ iv. 5. +1. 11), the priest has good precept to cite, for the gods of heaven, +in all the tales told of them, ever demand a reward from each other +when they help their neighbor-gods. Nay, even the gods require a +witness and a vow, lest they injure each other. Discord arose among +them when once they performed the guest-offering; they divided into +different parties, Agni with the Vasus, Soma with the Rudras, Varuna +with the [=A]dityas, and Indra with the Maruts. But with discord came +weakness, and the evil spirits got the better of them. So they made a +covenant with each other, and took Wind as witness that they would not +deceive each other. This famous covenant of the gods is the prototype +of that significant covenant made by the priest, that he would not, +while pretending to beseech } good for the sacrificer,[27] secretly do +him harm (as he could by altering the ceremonial).[28] The theory of +the fee, in so far as it affects the sacrifices, is that the gods, the +Manes, and men all exist by what is sacrificed. Even the gods seek +rewards; hence the priests do the same.[29] The sacrificer sacrifices +to get a place in _devaloka_ (the world of the gods). The sacrifice +goes up to the world of gods, and after it goes the fee which the +sacrificer (the patron) gives; the sacrificer follows by catching hold +of the fee given to the priests (_ib._. i. 9. 3. 1). It is to be +noted, moreover, that sacrificing for a fee is recognized as a +profession. The work (sacrifice is work, 'work is sacrifice,' it is +somewhere said) is regarded as a matter of business. There are three +means of livelihood occasionally referred to, telling stories, singing +songs, and reciting the Veda at a sacrifice (_Çat. Br_. iii. 2. 4. +16). + +As an example of the absurdities given as 'the ways of knowledge' +(absurdities which are necessary to know in order to a full +understanding of the mental state under consideration) may be cited +_Çat. Br_. iv. 5. 8. 11, where it is said that if the sacrificial cow +goes east the sacrificer wins a good world hereafter; if north, he +becomes more glorious on earth; if west, rich in people and crops; if +south, he dies; 'such are the ways of knowledge.' In the same spirit +it is said that the sun rises east because the priest repeats certain +verses _([=A]it. Br_. i. 7. 4). No little stress is laid on +geographical position. The east is the quarter of the gods; the north, +of men; the south, of the dead (Manes; _Çat. Br_. i. 2. 5. 17); while +the west is the region of snakes, according to _ib_. iii. 1. 1. 7. On +account of the godly nature of the east ("from the east came the gods +westward to men," _ib_. ii. 6. 1. 11) the sacrificial building, like +occidental churches, is built east and west, not north and south. The +cardinal points are elsewhere given to certain gods; thus the north is +Rudra's.[30] + +It has been said that the theological ideas are not clear. This was +inevitable, owing to the tendency to identify various divinities. +Especially noticeable is the identification of new or local gods with +others better accredited, Rudra and Agni, etc. Rudra is the god of +cattle, and when the other gods went to heaven by means of sacrifice +he remained on earth; his local names are Çarva, Bhava, 'Beast-lord,' +Rudra, Agni (_Çat. Br_. i. 7. 3. 8; M[=a]it. S. i. 6. 6). Indra is the +Vasu of the gods. The gods are occasionally thirty-four in number, +eight Vasus, eleven Rudras, twelve [=A]dityas, heaven and earth, and +Praj[=a]pati as the thirty-fourth; but this Praj[=a]pati is the All +and Everything (_Çat. Br_. i. 6. 4. 2; iv. 5. 7. 2 ff.). Of these +gods, who at first were all alike and good, three became superior, +Agni, Indra, and S[=u]rya. But, again, the Sun is death, and Agni is +head of all the gods. Moreover, the Sun is now Indra; the Manes are +the seasons, and Varuna, too, is the seasons, as being the year (_Çat. +Br._ iv. 5. 4. 1; i. 6. 4. 18; iv. 4. 5. 18). Aditi, as we have said, +is the Earth; the fee for an offering to her is a cow. Why? Because +Earth is a cow and Aditi is Earth; Earth is a mother and a cow is a +mother. Hence the fee is a cow.[31] + +The tales of the gods, for the most part, are foolish. But they show +well what conception the priests had of their divinities. + +Man's original skin was put by the gods upon the cow; hence a cow runs +away from a man because she thinks he is trying to get back his skin. +The gods cluster about at an oblation, each crying out 'My name,' +_i.e._, each is anxious to get it. The gods, with the evil +spirits--'both sons of the Father'--attract to themselves the plants; +Varuna gets the barley by a pun. They build castles to defend +themselves from the evil spirits. Five gods are picked out as worthy +of offerings: Aditi, Speech, Agni, Soma, the Sun (five, because the +seasons are five and the regions are five). Indra and Wind have a +dispute of possession; Praj[=a]pati, the Father, decides it. The +heavenly singers, called the Gandharvas, recited the Veda to entice +(the divine female) Speech to come to them; while the gods, for the +same purpose, created the lute, and sang and played to her. She came +to the gods; hence the weakness of women in regard to such things. +Indra is the god of sacrifice; the stake of the sacrifice is Vishnu's; +V[=a]yu (Wind) is the leader of beasts; Bhaga is blind;[32] P[=u]shan +(because he eats mush) is toothless. The gods run a race to see who +shall get first to the sacrifice, and Indra and Agni win; they are the +warrior-caste among the gods, and the All-gods are the people (_viçve, +viç._). Yet, again, the Maruts are the people, and Varuna is the +warrior-caste; and, again, Soma is the warrior-caste. The Father-god +first created birds, then reptiles and snakes. As these all died he +created mammalia; these survived because they had food in themselves; +hence the Vedic poet says 'three generations have passed away.'[33] + +Varuna is now quite the god of night and god of purification, as a +water-god. Water is the 'essence (sap) of immortality,' and the bath +of purification at the end of the sacrifice (_avabh[r.]tha_) stands in +direct relation to Varuna. The formula to be repeated is: "With the +gods' help may I wash out sin against the gods; with the help of men +the sin against men" (_Çat. Br_. iv. 4. 3. 15; ii. 5. 2. 47). Mitra +and Varuna are, respectively, intelligence and will, priest and +warrior; and while the former may exist without the latter, the latter +cannot live without the former, 'but they are perfect only when they +coöperate' (_ib_. iv. 1. 4. 1). + +Of the divine legends some are old, some new. One speaks of the +sacrifice as having been at first human, subsequently changing to +beast sacrifice, eventually to a rice offering, which last now +represents the original sacrificial animal, man.[34] Famous, too, is +the legend of the flood and Father Manu's escape from it (_Çat. Br_. +i. 8. 1. 1 ff.). Again, the Vedic myth is retold, recounting the rape +of _soma_ by the metrical equivalent of fire (_T[=a]itt. Br_. i. 1. 3. +10; _Çat. Br_. i. 8. 2. 10). Another tale takes up anew the old story +of Cupid and Psyche (Pur[=u]ravas and Urvaç[=i]); and another that of +the Hindu Prometheus story, wherein M[=a]tariçvan fetches fire from +heaven, and gives it to mortals (_T[=a]itt. Br_. iii. 2. 3. 2; _Çat. +Br_. xi. 5. 1. 1; i. 7. 1. 11).[35] + +Interesting, also, is the tale of Vishnu having been a dwarf, and the +tortoise _avatar_, not of Vishnu, but of Praj[=a]pati; also the +attempt of the evil spirits to climb to heaven, and the trick with +which Indra outwitted them.[36] For it is noticeable that the evil +spirits are as strong by nature as are the gods, and it is only by +craft that the latter prevail.[37] + +Seldom are the tales of the gods indecent. The story of Praj[=a]pati's +incest with his daughter is a remnant of nature worship which +survives, in more or less anthropomorphic form, from the time of the +Rig Veda (x. 61.) to that of mediaeval literature,[38] and is found in +full in the epic, as in the Brahmanic period; but the story always +ends with the horror of the gods at the act.[39] + +Old legends are varied. The victory over Vritra is now expounded thus: +Indra, who slays Vritra, is the sun. Vritra is the moon, who swims +into the sun's mouth on the night of the new moon. The sun rises after +swallowing him, and the moon is invisible because he is swallowed ("he +who knows this swallows his foes"). The sun vomits out the moon, and +the latter is then seen in the west, and increases again, to serve the +sun as food. In another passage it is said that when the moon is +invisible he is hiding in plants and waters (_Çat. Br._ i. 6. 3. 17; +4. 18-20). + + +BRAHMANIC RELIGION. + +When the sacrifice is completed the priest returns, as it were, to +earth, and becomes human. He formally puts off his sacrificial vow, +and rehabilitates himself with humanity, saying, "I am even he that I +am."[40] As such a man, through service to the gods become a divine +offering, and no longer human, was doubtless considered the creature +that first served as the sacrificial animal. Despite protestant +legends such as that just recorded, despite formal disclaimers, human +sacrifice existed long after the period of the Rig Veda, where it is +alluded to; a period when even old men are exposed to die.[41] The +_anaddh[=a]purusha_ is not a fiction; for that, on certain occasions, +instead of this 'man of straw' a real victim was offered, is shown by +the ritual manuals and by Brahmanic texts.[42] Thus, in _Çat. Br_. vi. +2. 1. 18: "He kills a man first.... The cord that holds the man is the +longest." It is noteworthy that also among the American Indians the +death of a human victim by fire was regarded as a religious ceremony, +and that, just as in India the man to be sacrificed was allowed almost +all his desires for a year, so the victim of the Indian was first +greeted as brother and presented with gifts, even with a wife.[43] + +But this, the terrible barbaric side of religious worship, is now +distinctly yielding to a more humane religion. The 'barley ewe'[44] is +taking the place of a bloodier offering. It has been urged that the +humanity[45] and the accompanying silliness of the Brahmanic period as +compared with the more robust character of the earlier age are due to +the weakening and softening effects of the climate. But we doubt +whether the climate of the Punj[=a]b differs as much from that of +Delhi and Patna as does the character of the Rig Veda from that of the +Br[=a]hmanas. We shall protest again when we come to the subject of +Buddhism against the too great influence which has been claimed for +climate. Politics and society, in our opinion, had more to do with +altering the religions of India than had a higher temperature and +miasma. As a result of ease and sloth--for the Brahmans are now the +divine pampered servants of established kings, not the energetic peers +of a changing population of warriors--the priests had lost the +inspiration that came from action; they now made no new hymns; they +only formulated new rules of sacrifice. They became intellectually +debauched and altogether weakened in character. Synchronous with this +universal degradation and lack of fibre, is found the occasional +substitution of barley and rice sacrifices for those of blood; and it +may be that a sort of selfish charity was at work here, and the priest +saved the beast to spare himself. But there is no very early evidence +of a humane view of sacrifice influencing the priests. + +The Brahman is no Jain. One must read far to hear a note of the +approaching _ahims[=a]_ doctrine of 'non-injury.' At most one finds a +contemptuous allusion, as in a pitying strain, to the poor plants and +animals that follow after man in reaping some sacrificial benefit from +a ceremony.[46] It does not seem to us that a recognized respect for +animal life or kindness to dumb creatures lies at the root of proxy +sacrifice, though it doubtless came in play. But still less does it +appear probable that, as is often said, aversion to beast-sacrifice is +due to the doctrine of _karma_, and re-birth in animal form. The +_karma_ notion begins to appear in the Brahmanas, but not in the +_sams[=a]ra_ shape of transmigration. It was surely not because the +Hindu was afraid of eating his deceased grandmother that he first +abstained from meat. For, long after the doctrine of _karma_ and +_sams[=a]ra_[47] is established, animal sacrifices are not only +permitted but enjoined; and the epic characters shoot deer and even +eat cows. We think, in short, that the change began as a sumptuary +measure only. In the case of human sacrifice there is doubtless a +civilized repugnance to the act, which is clearly seen in many +passages where the slaughter of man is made purely symbolical. The +only wonder is that it should have obtained so long after the age of +the Rig Veda. But like the stone knife of sacrifice among the Romans +it is received custom, and hard to do away with, for priests are +conservative. Human sacrifice must have been peculiarly horrible from +the fact that the sacrificer not only had to kill the man but to eat +him, as is attested by the formal statement of the liturgical +works.[48] But in the case of other animals (there are five +sacrificial animals, of which man is first) we think it was a question +of expense on the part of the laity. When the _soma_ became rare and +expensive, substitutes were permitted and enjoined. So with the great +sacrifices. The priests had built up a great complex of forms, where +at every turn fees were demanded. The whole expense, falling on the +one individual to whose benefit accrued the sacrifice, must have been +enormous; in the case of ordinary people impossible. But the priests +then permitted the sacrifice of substitutes, for their fees still +remained; and even in the case of human sacrifice some such caution +may have worked, for ordinarily it cost 'one thousand cattle' to buy a +man to be sacrificed. A proof of this lies in the fact that animal +sacrifices were not forbidden at any time, only smaller (cheaper) +animals took the place of cattle. In the completed Brahmanic code the +rule is that animals ought not to be killed except at sacrifice, and +practically the smaller creatures were substituted for cattle, just as +the latter had gradually taken the place of the old horse (and man) +sacrifice. + +If advancing civilization results in an agreeable change of morality +in many regards, it is yet accompanied with wretched traits in others. +The whole silliness of superstition exceeds belief. Because +Bh[=a]llabheya once broke his arm on changing the metre of certain +formulae, it is evident to the priest that it is wrong to trifle with +received metres, and hence "let no one do this hereafter." There is a +compensation on reading such trash in the thought that all this +superstition has kept for us a carefully preserved text, but that is +an accident of priestly foolishness, and the priest can be credited +only with the folly. Why is 'horse-grass' used in the sacrifice? +Because the sacrifice once ran away and "became a horse." Again one is +thankful for the historical side-light on the horse-sacrifice; but the +witlessness of the unconscious historian can but bring him into +contempt.[49] Charms that are said against one are of course cast out +by other charms. If one is not prosperous with one name he takes +another. If the cart creaks at the sacrifice it is the voice of evil +spirits; and a formula must avert the omen. _Soma_-husks are liable to +turn into snakes; a formula must avert this catastrophe. Everything +done at the sacrifice is godly; _ergo_, everything human is to be done +in an inhuman manner, and, since in human practice one cuts his left +finger-nails first and combs the left side of the beard first, at the +sacrifice he must cut nails and beard first on the other side, for +"whatever is human at a sacrifice is useless" (_vy[r.]ddhain v[=a]i +tad yajñasya yad m[=a]nu[s.]am_). Of religious puns we have given +instances already. Agni says: "prop me on the propper for that is +proper" (_hita_), etc, etc.[50] One of these examples of depraved +superstition is of a more dangerous nature. The effect of the +sacrifice is covert as well as overt. + +The word is as potent as the act. Consequently if the sacrificer +during the sacrifice merely mutter the words "let such an one die," he +must die; for the sacrifice is holy, godly; the words are divine, and +cannot be frustrated (_Çat. Br_. iii. 1. 4. 1; iv. 1. 1. 26). + +All this superstition would be pardonable if it were primitive. But +that it comes long after the Vedic poets have sung reveals a +continuance of stupidity which is marvellous. Doubtless those same +poets were just as superstitious, but one would think that with all +the great literature behind them, and the thoughts of the philosophers +just rising among them, these later priests might show a higher level +of intelligence. But in this regard they are to India what were the +monks of mediaeval times to Europe. + +We turn now to the ethical side of religion. But, before leaving the +sacrifice, one point should be explained clearly. The Hindu sacrifice +can be performed only by the priest, and he must be of the highest +caste. No other might or could perform it. For he alone understood the +ancient texts, which to the laity were already only half intelligible. +Again, as Barth has pointed out, the Hindu sacrifice is performed only +for one individual or his family. It was an expensive rite (for the +gaining of one object), addressed to many gods for the benefit of one +man. To offset this, however, one must remember that there were +popular fêtes and sacrifices of a more general nature, to which many +were invited and in which even the lower castes took part; and these +were also of remote antiquity. + +Already current in the Br[=a]hmanas is the phrase 'man's debts.' +Either three or four of such moral obligations were recognized, debts +to the gods, to the seers, to the Manes, and to men. Whoever pays +these debts, it is said, has discharged all his duties, and by him all +is obtained, all is won. And what are these duties? To the gods he +owes sacrifices; to the seers, study of the Vedas; to the Manes, +offspring; to man, hospitality (_Çat. Br_. i. 7. 2. 1 ff.; in +_T[=a]itt. Br_. vi. 3. 10. 5, the last fails). Translated into modern +equivalents this means that man must have faith and good works. But +more really is demanded than is stated here. First and foremost is the +duty of truthfulness. Agni is the lord of vows among the gods (RV. +viii. 11. 1; _Çat. Br_. iii. 2. 2. 24), and speech is a divinity +(Sarasvat[=i] is personified speech, _Çat. Br_. iii. 1. 4. 9, etc). +Truth is a religious as well as moral duty. "This (All) is two-fold, +there is no third; all is either truth or untruth; now truth alone is +the gods (_satyam eva dev[=a]s_) and untruth is man."[51] Moreover, +"one law the gods observe, truth" (_Çat. Br_. i. 1.1. 4; iii. 3. 2. 2; +4. 2. 8). There is another passage upon this subject: "To serve the +sacred fire means truth; he who speaks truth feeds the fire; he who +speaks lies pours water on it; in the one case he strengthens his +vital (spiritual) energy, and becomes better; in the other he weakens +it and becomes worse" (_ib_. ii. 2. 2. 19). The second sin, expressly +named and reprobated as such, is adultery. This is a sin against +Varuna.[52] In connection with this there is an interesting passage +implying a priestly confessional. At the sacrifice the sacrificer's +wife is formally asked by the priest whether she is faithful to her +husband. She is asked this that she may not sacrifice with guilt on +her soul, for "when confessed the guilt becomes less."[53] If it is +asked what other moral virtues are especially inculcated besides truth +and purity the answer is that the acts commonly cited as +self-evidently sins are murder, theft, and abortion; incidentally, +gluttony, anger, and procrastination.[54] + +As to the moral virtue of observing days, certain times are allowed +and certain times are not allowed for worldly acts. But every day is +in part a holy-day to the Hindu. The list of virtues is about the +same, therefore, as that of the decalogue--the worship of the right +divinity; the observance of certain seasons for prayer and sacrifice; +honor to the parents; abstinence from theft, murder, adultery. Envy +alone is omitted.[55] + +What eschatological conceptions are strewn through the literature of +this era are vague and often contradictory. The souls of the departed +are at one time spoken of as the stars (_T[=a]itt. S_. v. 4. 1. 3.); at +another, as uniting with gods and living in the world of the gods +_(Çal. Br._. ii. 6. 4. 8). + +The principle of _karma_ if not the theory, is already known, but the +very thing that the completed philosopher abhors is looked upon as a +blessing, viz., rebirth, body and all, even on earth.[56] Thus in one +passage, as a reward for knowing some divine mystery (as often +happens, this mystery is of little importance, only that 'spring is +born again out of winter'), the savant is to be 'born again in this +world' _(punar ha v[=a] 'asmin loke bhavati, Çat. Br._ i. 5. 3. 14). +The esoteric wisdom is here the transfer of the doctrine of +metempsychosis to spring. Man has no hope of immortal life (on +earth);[57] but, by establishing the holy fires, and especially by +establishing in his inmost soul the immortal element of fire, he lives +the full desirable length of life (_ib_. ii. 2. 2. 14. To the later +sage, length of life is undesirable). But in yonder world, where the +sun itself is death, the soul dies again and again. All those on the +other side of the sun, the gods, are immortal; but all those on this +side are exposed to this death. When the sun wishes, he draws out the +vitality of any one, and then that one dies; not once, but, being +drawn up by the sun, which is death, into the very realm of death (how +different to the conception of the sun in the Rig Veda!) he dies over +and over again.[58] But in another passage it is said that when the +sacrificer is consecrated he 'becomes one of the deities'; and one +even finds the doctrine that one obtains 'union with Brahm[=a],' which +is quite in the strain of the Upanishads; but here such a saying can +refer only to the upper castes, for "the gods talk only to the upper +castes" (_Çal. Br._. xi. 4. 4. 1; iii. 1. 1. 8-10). The dead man is +elsewhere represented as going to heaven 'with his whole body,' and, +according to one passage, when he gets to the next world his good and +evil are weighed in a balance. There are, then, quite diverse views in +regard to the fate of a man after death, and not less various are the +opinions in regard to his reward and punishment. According to the +common belief the dead, on leaving this world, pass between two fires, +_agniçikhe_ raging on either side of his path. These fires burn the +one that ought to be burned (the wicked), and let the good pass by. +Then the spirit (or the man himself in body) is represented as going +up on one of two paths. Either he goes to the Manes on a path which, +according to later teaching, passes southeast through the moon, or he +goes northeast (the gods' direction) to the sun, which is his 'course +and stay.' In the same chapter one is informed that the rays of the +sun are the good (dead), and that every brightest light is the +Father-god. The general conception here is that the sun or the stars +are the destination of the pious. On the other hand it is said that +one will enjoy the fruit of his acts here on earth, in a new birth; or +that he will 'go to the next world'; or that he will suffer for his +sins in hell. The last is told in legendary form, and appears to us to +be not an early view retained in folk-lore, but a late modification of +an old legend. Varuna sends his son Bhrigu to hell to find out what +happens after death, and he finds people suffering torture, and, +again, avenging themselves on those that have wronged them. But, +despite the resemblance between this and Grecian myth, the fact that +in the whole compass of the Rik (in the Atharvan perhaps in v. 19) +there is not the slightest allusion to torture in hell, precludes, to +our mind, the possibility of this phase having been an ancient +inherited belief.[59] + +Annihilation or a life in under darkness is the first (Rik) hell. The +general antithesis of light (as good) and darkness (as bad) is here +plainly revealed again. Sometimes a little variation occurs. Thus, +according to _Çat. Br._ vi. 5. 4. 8, the stars are women-souls, +perhaps, as elsewhere, men also. The converse notion that darkness is +the abode of evil appears at a very early date: "Indra brought down +the heathen, _dasyus_, into the lowest darkness," it is said in the +Atharva Veda (ix. 2. 17).[60] + +In the later part of the great 'Br[=a]hmana of the hundred paths' +there seems to be a more modern view inculcated in regard to the fate +of the dead. Thus, in vi. 1. 2. 36, the opinion of 'some,' that the +fire on the altar is to bear the worshipper to the sky, is objected +to, and it is explained that he becomes immortal; which antithesis is +in purely Upanishadic style, as will be seen below. + + +BRAHMANIC THEORIES OF CREATION. + +In Vedic polytheism, with its strain of pantheism, the act of creating +the world[61] is variously attributed to different gods. At the end of +this period theosophy invented the god of the golden germ, the great +Person (known also by other titles), who is the one (pantheistic) god, +in whom all things are contained, and who himself is contain in even +the smallest thing. The Atharvan transfers the same idea in its +delineation of the pantheistic image to Varuna, that Varuna who is the +seas and yet is contained "in the drop of water" (iv. 16), a Varuna as +different to the Varuna of the Rik as is the Atharvan Indra to his +older prototype. Philosophically the Rik, at its close, declares that +"desire is the seed of mind," and that "being arises from not-being." + +In the Br[=a]hmanas the creator is the All-god in more anthropomorphic +form. The Father-god, Praj[=a]pati, or Brahm[=a] (personal equivalent +of _brahma_) is not only the father of gods, men, and devils, but he +is the All. This Father-god of universal sovereignty, Brahm[=a], +remains to the end the personal creator. It is he who will serve as +creator for the Puranic S[=a]nkhya philosophy, and even after the rise +of the Hindu sects he will still be regarded in this light, although +his activity will be conditioned by the will of Vishnu or Çiva. In +pure philosophy there will be an abstract First Cause; but as there is +no religion in the acknowledgment of a First Cause, this too will soon +be anthropomorphized. + +The Br[=a]hmanas themselves present no clear picture of creation. All +the accounts of a personal creator are based merely on +anthropomorphized versions of the text 'desire is the seed.' +Praj[=a]pati wishes offspring, and creates. There is, on the other +hand, a philosophy of creation which reverts to the tale of the +'golden germ.'[62] The world was at first water; thereon floated a +cosmic golden egg (the principle of fire). Out of this came Spirit +that desired; and by desire he begat the worlds and all things. It is +improbable that in this somewhat Orphic mystery there lies any +pre-Vedic myth. The notion comes up first in the golden germ and +egg-born bird (sun) of the Rik. It is not specially Aryan, and is +found even among the American Indians.[63] It is this Spirit with +which the Father-god is identified. But guess-work philosophy then +asks what upheld this god, and answers that a support upheld all +things. So Support becomes a god in his turn, and, since he must reach +through time and space, this Support, Skambha, becomes the All-god +also; and to him as to a great divinity the Atharvan sings some of its +wildest strains. When once speculation is set going in the +Br[=a]hmanas, the result of its travel is to land its followers in +intellectual chaos.[64] The gods create the Father-god in one passage, +and in another the Father-god creates the gods. The Father creates the +waters, whence rises the golden egg. But, again, the waters create the +egg, and out of the egg is born the Father. A farrago of +contradictions is all that these tales amount to, nor are they +redeemed even by a poetical garb.[65] + +In the period immediately following the Br[=a]hmanas, or toward the +end of the Brahmanic period, as one will, there is a famous +distinction made between the gods. Some gods, it is said, are +spirit-gods; some are work-gods. They are born of spirit and of works, +respectively. The difference, however, is not essential, but +functional; so that one may conclude from this authority, the Nirukta +(a grammatical and epexigetical work), that all the gods have a like +nature; and that the spirit-gods, who are the older, differ only in +lack of specific functions from the work-gods. A not uninteresting +debate follows this passage in regard to the true nature of the gods. +Some people say they are anthropomorphic; others deny this. "And +certainly what is seen of the gods is not anthropomorphic; for +example, the sun, the earth, etc."[66] In such a period of theological +advance it is matter of indifference to which of a group of gods, all +essentially one, is laid the task of creation. And, indeed, from the +Vedic period until the completed systems of philosophy, all creation +to the philosopher is but emanation; and stories of specific acts of +creation are not regarded by him as detracting from the creative +faculty of the First Cause. The actual creator is for him the factor +and agent of the real god. On the other hand, the vulgar worshipper of +every era believed only in reproduction on the part of an +anthropomorphic god; and that god's own origin he satisfactorily +explained by the myth of the golden egg. The view depended in each +case not on the age but on the man. + +If in these many pages devoted to the Br[=a]hmanas we have produced +the impression that the religious literature of this period is a +confused jumble, where unite descriptions of ceremonies, formulae, +mysticism, superstitions, and all the output of active bigotry; an +_olla podrida_ which contains, indeed, odds and ends of sound +morality, while it presents, on the whole, a sad view of the +latter-day saints, who devoted their lives to making it what it is; we +have offered a fairly correct view of the age and its priests, and the +rather dreary series of illustrations will not have been collected in +vain. We have given, however, no notion at all of the chief object of +this class of writings, the liturgical details of the sacrifices +themselves. Even a résumé of one comparatively short ceremony would be +so long and tedious that the explication of the intricate formalities +would scarcely be a sufficient reward. With Hillebrandt's patient +analysis of the New-and Full-Moon sacrifice,[67] of which a sketch is +given by von Schroeder in his _Literatur und Cultur_, the curious +reader will be able to satisfy himself that a minute description of +these ceremonies would do little to further his knowledge of the +religion, when once he grasps the fact that the sacrifice is but show. +Symbolism without folk-lore, only with the imbecile imaginings of a +daft mysticism, is the soul of it; and its outer form is a certain +number of formulae, mechanical movements, oblations, and +slaughterings. + +But we ought not to close the account of the era without giving +counter-illustrations of the legendary aspect of this religion; for +which purpose we select two of the best-known tales, one from the end +of the Br[=a]hmana that is called the [=A]itareya; the other from the +beginning of the Çatapatha; the former in abstract, the latter in +full. + + +THE SACRIFICE OF DOGSTAIL (_[=A]it. Br._ vii. 13). + +Hariçcandra, a king born in the great race of Ikshv[=a]ku, had no son. +A sage told him what blessings are his who has a son: 'He that has no +son has no place in the world; in the person of a son a man is reborn, +a second self is begotten.' Then the king desired a son, and the sage +instructed him to pray to Varuna for one, and to offer to sacrifice +him to the god. This he did, and a son, Rohita, at last was born to +him. God Varuna demanded the sacrifice. But the king said: 'He is not +fit to be sacrificed, so young as he is; wait till he is ten days +old.' The god waited ten days, and demanded the sacrifice. But the +king said: 'Wait till his teeth come.' The god waited, and then +demanded the sacrifice. But the king said: 'Wait till his teeth fall +out'; and when the god had waited, and again demanded the sacrifice, +the father said: 'Wait till his new teeth come.' But, when his teeth +were come and he was demanded, the father said: 'A warrior is not fit +to be sacrificed till he has received his armor' (_i.e._, until he is +knighted). So the god waited till the boy had received his armor, and +then he demanded the sacrifice. Thereupon, the king called his son, +and said unto him: 'I will sacrifice thee to the god who gave thee to +me.' But the son said, 'No, no,' and took his bow and fled into the +desert. Then Varuna caused the king to be afflicted with dropsy.[68] +When Rohita heard of this he was about to return, but Indra, disguised +as a priest, met him, and said: 'Wander on, for the foot of a wanderer +is like a flower; his spirit grows, and reaps fruit, and all his sins +are forgiven in the fatigue of wandering.'[69] So Rohita, thinking +that a priest had commanded him, wandered; and every year, as he would +return, Indra met him, and told him still to wander. On one of these +occasions Indra inspires him to continue on his journey by telling him +that the _krita_ was now auspicious; using the names of dice +afterwards applied to the four ages.[70] Finally, after six years, +Rohita resolved to purchase a substitute for sacrifice. He meets a +starving seer, and offers to buy one of his sons (to serve as +sacrifice), the price to be one hundred cows. The seer has three sons, +and agrees to the bargain; but "the father said, 'Do not take the +oldest,' and the mother said, 'Do not take the youngest,' so Rohita +took the middle son, Dogstail." Varuna immediately agrees to this +substitution of Dogstail for Rohita, "since a priest is of more value +than a warrior." + +The sacrifice is made ready, and Viçv[=a]mitra (the Vedic seer) is the +officiating priest. But no one would bind the boy to the post. 'If +thou wilt give me another hundred cows I will bind him,' says the +father of Dogstail. But then no one would kill the boy. 'If thou wilt +give me another hundred cows I will kill him,' says the father. The +[=A]pri verses[71] are said, and the fire is carried around the boy. +He is about to be slain. Then Dogstail prays to 'the first of gods,' +the Father-god, for protection. But the Father-god tells him to pray +to Agni, 'the nearest of the gods.' Agni sends him to another, and he +to another, till at last, when the boy has prayed to all the gods, +including the All-gods, his fetters drop off; Hariçcandra's dropsy +ceases, and all ends well.[72] Only, when the avaricious father +demands his son back, he is refused, and Viçv[=a]mitra adopts the boy, +even dispossessing his own protesting sons. For fifty of the latter +agree to the exaltation of Dogstail; but fifty revolt, and are cursed +by Viçv[=a]mitra, that their sons' sons should become barbarians, the +Andhras, Pundras, Çabaras, Pulindas, and M[=u]tibas, savage races (of +this time), one of which can be located on the southeast coast. The +conclusion, and the matter that follows close on this tale, is +significant of the time, and of the priest's authority. For it is said +that 'if a king hears this story he is made free of sin,' but he can +hear it only from a priest, who is to be rewarded for telling it by a +gift of one thousand cows, and other rich goods. + +The matter following, to which we have alluded, is the use of +sacrificial formulae to defeat the king's foes, the description of a +royal inauguration, and, at this ceremony, the oath which the king has +to swear ere the priest will anoint him (he is anointed with milk, +honey, butter, and water, 'for water is immortality'): "I swear that +thou mayst take from me whatever good works I do to the day of my +death, together with my life and children, if ever I should do thee +harm."[73] + +When the priest is secretly told how he may ruin the king by a false +invocation at the sacrifice, and the king is made to swear that if +ever he hurts the priest the latter may rob him of earthly and +heavenly felicity, the respective positions of the two, and the +contrast between this era and that of the early hymns, become +strikingly evident. It is not from such an age as this that one can +explain the spirit of the Rig Veda. + +The next selection is the famous story of the flood, which we +translate literally in its older form.[74] The object of the legend in +the Br[=a]hmana is to explain the importance of the Id[=a] (or Il[=a]) +ceremony, which is identified with Id[=a], Manu's daughter. + +"In the morning they brought water to Manu to wash with, even as they +bring it to-day to wash hands with. While he was washing a fish came +into his hands. The fish said, 'Keep me, and I will save thee.' 'What +wilt thou save me from?' 'A flood will sweep away all creatures on +earth. I will save thee from that.' 'How am I to keep thee?' 'As long +as we are small,' said he (the fish), 'we are subject to much +destruction; fish eats fish. Thou shalt keep me first in a jar. When I +outgrow that, thou shalt dig a hole, and keep me in it. When I outgrow +that, thou shalt take me down to the sea, for there I shall be beyond +destruction.' + +"It soon became a (great horned fish called a) _jhasha_, for this +grows the largest, and then it said: 'The flood will come this summer +(or in such a year). Look out for (or worship) me, and build a ship. +When the flood rises, enter into the ship, and I will save thee.' +After he had kept it he took it down to the sea. And the same summer +(year) as the fish had told him he looked out for (or worshipped) the +fish; and built a ship. And when the flood rose he entered into the +ship. Then up swam the fish, and Manu tied the ship's rope to the horn +of the fish; and thus he sailed swiftly up toward the mountain of the +north. 'I have saved thee' said he (the fish). 'Fasten the ship to a +tree. But let not the water leave thee stranded while thou art on the +mountain (top). Descend slowly as the water goes down.' So he +descended slowly, and that descent of the mountain of the north is +called the 'Descent of Manu.' The flood then swept off all the +creatures of the earth, and Manu here remained alone. Desirous of +posterity, he worshipped and performed austerities. While he was +performing a sacrifice, he offered up in the waters clarified butter, +sour milk, whey and curds. Out of these in a year was produced a +woman. She arose when she was solid, and clarified butter collected +where she trod. Mitra and Varuna met her, and said: 'Who art thou?' +'Manu's daughter,' said she. 'Say ours,' said they. 'No,' said she; 'I +am my father's.' They wanted part in her. She agreed to this, and she +did not agree; but she went by them and came to Manu. Said Manu: 'Who +art thou?' 'Thy daughter,' said she. 'How my daughter, glorious +woman?' She said: 'Thou hast begotten me of the offering, which thou +madest in the water, clarified butter, sour milk, whey, and curds. I +am a blessing; use me at the sacrifice. If thou usest me at the +sacrifice, thou shalt become rich in children and cattle. Whatever +blessing thou invokest through me, all shall be granted to thee.' So +he used her as the blessing in the middle of the sacrifice. For what +is between the introductory and final offerings is the middle of the +sacrifice. With her he went on worshipping and performing austerities, +wishing for offspring. Through her he begot the race of men on earth, +the race of Manu; and whatever the blessing he invoked through her, +all was granted unto him. + +"Now she is the same with the Id[=a] ceremony; and whoever, knowing +this, performs sacrifice with the Id[=a], he begets the race that Manu +generated; and whatever blessing he invokes through her, all is +granted unto him." + +There is one of the earliest _avatar_ stories in this tale. Later +writers, of course, identify the fish with Brahm[=a] and with Vishnu. +In other early Br[=a]hmanas the _avatars_ of a god as a tortoise and a +boar were known long before they were appropriated by the Vishnuites. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: In _[=A]it. Br_. I. 22, there is an unexplained + antithesis of Rik, Yajus, S[=a]man, Veda, and Brahma; where + the commentator takes Veda to be Atharva Veda. The priests, + belonging respectively to the first three Vedas, are for the + Rig Veda, the Hotar priest, who recites; for the S[=a]man, + the Udg[=a]tar, 'the singer'; for the Y[=a]jus, the + Adhvaryu, who attends to the erection of the altar, etc. + Compare Müller, ASL. p. 468.] + + [Footnote 2: It is the only literature of its time except + (an important exception) those fore-runners of later + S[=u]tra and epic which one may suppose to be in process of + formation long before they come to the front.] + + [Footnote 3: There are several schools of this Veda, of + which the chief are the V[=a]jasaneyi, or 'White Yajus,' + collection; the T[=a]ittir[=i]ya collection; and the + M[=a]itr[=a]yan[=i] collection; the first named being the + latest though the most popular, the last two being the + foremost representatives of the 'Black Yajus.'] + + [Footnote 4: The different traits here recorded are given + with many illustrative examples by Schroeder, in his + _Literatur und Cultur_, p. 90 ff.] + + [Footnote 5: Compare Weber, _Ind. Streifen_, II. 197.] + + [Footnote 6: Weber, _Lit_. p. 73.] + + [Footnote 7: The _Çata-patha Br[=a]hmana_ (or "Br[=a]mana of + the hundred paths") II. 2. 2. 6; 4.3.14.] + + [Footnote 8: The chief family priest, it is said in the + _Çat. Br_. II. 4. 4. 5, is a man of great influence. + Sometimes one priest becomes religious head of two clans (an + extraordinary event, however; only one name is reported) and + then how exalted is his position. Probably, as in the later + age of the drama, the chief priest often at the same time + practically prime minister. It is said in another part of + the same book that although the whole earth is divine, yet + it is the priest that makes holy the place of sacrifice + (III. 1. 1. 4). In this period murder is defined as killing + a priest; other cases are not called murder. Weber, _IS_. X. + 66.] + + [Footnote 9: Barth, _loc. cit._ p. 42.] + + [Footnote 10: He has analogy with Agni in being made of + 'seven persons (males),' _Çat. Br._ X. 2. 2. 1.] + + [Footnote 11: Compare M[=a]it. S. IV. 2. 12, 'sons of + Praj[=a]pati, Agni, V[=a]yu, S[=u]rya.'] + + [Footnote 12: _Çat. Br._ I. 3. 4. 12; IV. 3. 5. 1.] + + [Footnote 13: Interesting is the fact that only priests may + eat sacrificial food and drink _soma_ at this period. When + even the king should drink _soma_, he is made to drink some + transubstantiated liquor which, the priests inform him, has + been 'made into _soma_' for him by magic, for the latter is + too holy for any warrior really to drink (VII. 19; VIII. + 20). But in the more popular feasts there are indications + that this rule is often broken. Compare Weber, + _R[=a]jas[=u]ya_ p. 98.] + + [Footnote 14: For the relations of the different castes at + this period, see Weber, in the tenth volume of the _Indische + Studien_.] + + [Footnote 15: The Atharvan is not yet recognized as a Veda.] + + [Footnote 16: And even the pronunciation of a word or the + accent is fateful. The famous godly example of this is where + Tvashtar, the artificer, in anger mispronounced + _indra-çátru_ as _indraçatru,_ whereby the meaning was + changed from 'conqueror of Indra' to 'Indra-conquered,' with + unexpected result (_Çat. Br._ I. 6. 3. 8; _T[=a]itt. S._ II. + 4. 12. 1).] + + [Footnote 17: The word is _a[.m]sala_, strong, or 'from the + shoulder' (?). In III. 4. 1. 2 one cooks an ox or a goat for + a very distinguished guest, as a sort of guest-sacrifice. So + the guest is called 'cow-killer' (Weber, _Ved. Beiträge_, p. + 36).] + + [Footnote 18: Compare _ib_. I. 9. 1. 21, "let the priest not + say 'guard me (or us),' but 'guard this worshipper + (sacrificer),' for if he says 'me' he induces no blessing at + all; the blessing is not for the priest, but for the + sacrificer." In both passages, most emphatically, + _yajam[=a]nasy[=a]iva_, 'for the sacrificer alone.'] + + [Footnote 19: _Ya[.m] k[=a]ma[.m] k[=a]mayate so 'sm[=a]i + k[=a]ma[h.] sam[r.]dhyate_.] + + [Footnote 20: [=A]suri's name as a theologian is important, + since the S[=a]nkhya philosophy is intimately connected with + him; if this [=A]suri be not another man with the same name + (compare Weber, _Lit_. p. 152).] + + [Footnote 21: The regular sacrifices to the Manes are daily + and monthly; funerals and 'faith-feasts,' _çr[=a]ddha_, are + occasional additions.] + + [Footnote 22: Each generation of Manes rises to a better + (higher) state if the offerings continue. As a matter of + ceremonial this means that the remoter generations of + fathers are put indefinitely far off, while the immediate + predecessors of a man are the real beneficiaries; they climb + up to the sky on the offering.] + + [Footnote 23: Compare _Çat. Br_. i. 8. 1. 40; ii. 6. 1. 3, + 7, 10, 42; ii. 4. 2. 24; v. 5. 4. 28.] + + [Footnote 24: This passage (_ib_. ii. 1. 2. 7) is preceded + by a typical argument for setting up the fires under the + Pleiades, the wives of the Great Bear stars. He may do or he + may not do so--the reasons contradict each other, and all of + them are incredibly silly.] + + [Footnote 25: This last fee is not so common. For an + oblation to S[=u]rya the fee is a white horse or a white + bull; either of them representing the proper form of the sun + (_Çat. Br_. ii. 6. 3. 9); but another authority specifies + twelve oxen and a plough (T[=a]itt. S. i. 8. 7).] + + [Footnote 26: _Çat. Br_. ii. 1. 1. 3; 2. 3. 28; iv. 3. 4. + 14; 5. 1. 15; four kinds of fees, _ib_. iv. 3. 4. 6, 7, 24 + ff. (Milk is also 'Agni's seed,' _ib_. ii. 2. 4. 15).] + + [Footnote 27: Yet in _[=A]it. Br_. iii. 19, the priest is + coolly informed how he may be able to slay his patron by + making a little change in the invocations. Elsewhere such + conduct is reprobated.] + + [Footnote 28: For other covenants, see the epic (chapter on + Hinduism).] + + [Footnote 29: _Çat. Br_. iii. 4. 2. 1 ff.; iii. 6. 2. 25; + iv. 3. 3. 3; iv. 4.1.17; 6. 6. 3; 7. 6, etc.; iii. 8. 2. 27; + 3. 26; _[=A]it. Br._. i. 24.] + + [Footnote 30: _ib_. ii. 6. 2. 5. Here Rudra (compare Çiva + and Hekate of the cross-roads) is said to go upon + 'cross-roads'; so that his sacrifice is on cross-roads--one + of the new teachings since the time of the Rig Veda. Rudra's + sister, Ambik[=a], _ib_. 9, is another new creation, the + genius of autumnal sickness.] + + [Footnote 31: _Çat. Br_. ii. 2. 1. 21. How much non-serious + fancy there may be here it is difficult to determine. It + seems impossible that such as follows can have been meant in + earnest: "The sacrifice, _pray[=a]ja,_ is victory, _jaya_, + because _yaja_ = _jaya_. With this knowledge one gets the + victory over his rivals" (_ib_. i. 5. 3. 3, 10).] + + [Footnote 32: Although Bhaga is here (_Çat. Br_. i. 7. 4. 6-7, + _endho bhagas_) interpreted as the Sun, he is evidently the same + with Good Luck [Greek: typhlhos ghar ho Êlohhytos] or wealth.] + + [Footnote 33: _Çat. Br_. iii. 1. 2. 13 ff.; l. 1. 2. 18; + iii. 6. 1. 8 ff.; ii. 5. 2. 1; iv. 2. 1. 11; iii. 4.4. 3 + ff.; 2. 3. 6-12, 13-14; iv. 5. 5. 12; 1.3. 13 ff.; iii. 2. + 4. 5-6; 3. 2. 8; 7. 1. 17; iv. 2. 5. 17; 4. 1. 15; i. 7. 4. + 6-7; ii. 4. 3. 4 ff.; li. 5.2.34; 5. 1. 12; 5. 1. 1 ff.; RV. + viii. 104. 14. The reader must distinguish, in the name of + Brahm[=a], the god from the priest, and this from + _brahm[=a]_, prayer. The first step is _brahma_--force, + power, prayer; then this is, as a masculine Brahm[=a], the + one who prays, that is, prayer, the Brahman priest, as, in + the Rig Veda, x. 141. 3. Brihaspati is the 'Brahm[=a] of + gods.' The next (Brahmanic) step is deified _brahma_, the + personal Brahm[=a] as god, called also Father-god + (Praj[=a]pati) or simply The Father (_pit[=a]_).] + + [Footnote 33: _Çat. Br_. iii. 1. 2. 13 ff.; l. 1. 2. 18; + iii. 6. 1. 8 ff.; ii. 5. 2. 1; iv. 2. 1. 11; iii. 4.4. 3 + ff.; 2. 3. 6-12, 13-14; iv. 5. 5. 12; 1.3. 13 ff.; iii. 2. + 4. 5-6; 3. 2. 8; 7. 1. 17; iv. 2. 5. 17; 4. 1. 15; i. 7. 4. + 6-7; ii. 4. 3. 4 ff.; li. 5.2.34; 5. 1. 12; 5. 1. 1 ff.; RV. + viii. 104. 14. The reader must distinguish, in the name of + Brahm[=a], the god from the priest, and this from + _brahm[=a]_, prayer. The first step is _brahma_--force, + power, prayer; then this is, as a masculine Brahm[=a], the + one who prays, that is, prayer, the Brahman priest, as, in + the Rig Veda, x. 141. 3. Brihaspati is the 'Brahm[=a] of + gods.' The next (Brahmanic) step is deified _brahma_, the + personal Brahm[=a] as god, called also Father-god + (Praj[=a]pati) or simply The Father (_pit[=a]_).] + + [Footnote 34: Compare _M[=a]it. S_ iii. 10. 2; _[=A]it. + Br_. ii. 8; _Çat. Br_. i. 2. 3. 5; vi. 2. 1. 39; 3. 1. 24; + ii. 5. 2. 16, a ram and ewe 'made of barley.' On human + sacrifices, compare Müller, ASL. p. 419; Weber. ZDMG. xviii. + 262 (see the Bibliography); _Streifen_, i.54.] + + [Footnote 35: Weber has translated some of these legends. + _Ind. Streifen_, i. 9 ff.] + + [Footnote 36: _T[=a]itt. Br_. iii. 2. 9. 7; _Çat. Br_. i. 2. + 5. 5; ii. 1. 2. 13 ff.; vii. 5. 1. 6.] + + [Footnote 37: Compare _M[=a]it. S_. i. 9. 8; _Çat. Br_. i. + 6. 1. 1 ff. The seasons desert the gods, and the demons + thrive. In _Çat. Br._ i. 5. 4. 6-11, the Asuras and Indra + contend with numbers.] + + [Footnote 38: Müller, ASL. p. 529.] + + [Footnote 39: _M[=a]it. S_. iv. 2. 12; _Çat. Br_. i. 7. 4. + 1; ii. 1. 2. 9; vi. 1. 3. 8; _[=A]it. Br_. iii. 33. Compare + Muir, OST. iv. p. 45. At a later period there are frequently + found indecent tales of the gods, and the Br[=a]hmanas + themselves are vulgar enough, but they exhibit no special + lubricity on the part of the priests.] + + [Footnote 40: _Idam aham ya èv[=a] smi so asmi, Çat. Br_. i. + 1. 1. 6; 9. 3. 23.] + + [Footnote 41: RV. viii. 51. 2; Zimmer, _loc. cit_. p. 328.] + + [Footnote 42: Compare Weber, _Episch. in Vedisch. Ritual_, + p. 777 (and above). The man who is slaughtered must be + neither a priest nor a slave, but a warrior or a man of the + third caste (Weber, _loc. cit_. above).] + + [Footnote 43: _Le Mercier_, 1637, ap. Parkman, _loc. cit_. + p. 80. The current notion that the American Indian burns his + victims at the stake merely for pleasure is not incorrect. + He frequently did so, as he does so to-day, but in the + seventeenth century this act often is part of a religious + ceremony. He probably would have burned his captive, anyway, + but he gladly utilized his pleasure as a means of + propitiating his gods. In India it was just the other way.] + + [Footnote 44: Substitutes of metal or of earthen victims are + also mentioned.] + + [Footnote 45: That the Vedic rite of killing the sacrificial + beast (by beating and smothering) was very cruel may be seen + in the description, _[=A]it. Br_. ii. 6.] + + [Footnote 46: _Çat. Br._ i. 5. 2. 4.] + + [Footnote 47: _Sams[=a]ra_ is transmigration; _karma_, + 'act,' implies that the change of abode is conditioned by + the acts of a former life. Each may exclude the other; but + in common parlance each implies the other.] + + [Footnote 48: Weber, _Indischt Streifen_, i. p. 72.] + + [Footnote 49: _Çat. Br_. i. 7. 3. 19: iii. 4. 1. 17.] + + [Footnote 50: _Çaf. Br_. iii. 5. 4. 10; 6. 2. 24; 5. 3. 17 + (compare 6. 4. 23-24; 3. 4. 11; 2. 1. 12); iii. 1. 2. 4; 3. + 14; i. 7. 2. 9; vi. 1. 2. 14. The change of name is + interesting. There is a remark in another part of the same + work to the effect that when a man prospers in life they + give his name also to his son, grandson, _and to his father + and grandfather_ (vi. 1. 2. 13). On the other hand, it was + the custom of the Indian kings in later ages to assume the + names of their prosperous grandfathers (JRAS. iv. 85).] + + [Footnote 51: Were it not for the first clause it would be + more natural to render the original 'The gods are truth + alone, and men are untruth.'] + + [Footnote 52: In _Çat. Br_. ii. 4. 2. 5-6 it is said that + the Father-god gives certain rules of eating to gods, Manes, + men, and beasts: "Neither gods, Manes, nor beasts transgress + the Father's law, only some men do."] + + [Footnote 53: _Çat. Br_. ii. 5. 2. 20. Varuna seizes on her + paramour, when she confesses. _T[.a]itt. Br_. i. 6. 5. 2. + The guilt confessed becomes less "because it thereby becomes + truth" (right).] + + [Footnote 54: See _Çat. Br._. ii. 4. 2. 6; 4. 1. 14; 1. 3. + 9; 3. 1. 28: "Who knows man's morrow? Then let one not + procrastinate." "Today is self, this alone is certain, + uncertain is the morrow."] + + [Footnote 55: Some little rules are interesting. The + Pythagorean abstinence from _m[=a][s.][=a]s_, beans, for + instance, is enjoined; though this rule is opposed by Barku + V[=a]rshna, _Çat. Br_. i. 1. 1. 10, on the ground that no + offering to the gods is made of beans; "hence he said 'cook + beans for me.'"] + + [Footnote 56: Animals may represent gods. "The bull is a + form of Indra," and so if the bull can be made to roar + (_Çat. Br._ ii. 5. 3. 18), then one may know that Indra is + come to the sacrifice. "Man is born into (whatever) world is + made (by his acts in a previous existence)," is a short + formula (_Çat. Br._. vi. 2. 2. 27), which represents the + _karma_ doctrine in its essential principle, though the + 'world' is here not this world, but the next. Compare Weber, + ZDMG. ix. 237 ff.; Muir, OST. v. 314 ff.] + + [Footnote 57: Though youth may be restored to him by the + Açvins, _Çat. Br._. iv. i. 5. 1 ff. Here the Horsemen are + identified with Heaven and Earth (16).] + + [Footnote 58: _Cal. Br_. ii. 3. 3. 7. Apropos of the + Brahmanic sun it may be mentioned that, according to _Ait. + Br._ iii. 44, the sun never really sets. "People think that + he sets, but in truth he only turns round after reaching the + end of the day, and makes night below, day above; and when + they think he rises in the morning, he having come to the + end of the night, turns round, and makes day below, night + above. He never really sets. Whoever knows this of him, that + he never sets, obtains union and likeness of form with the + sun, and the same abode as the sun's." Compare Muir, OST. v. + 521. This may be the real reason why the Rig Veda speaks of + a dark and light sun.] + + [Footnote 59: _Çat. Br._. i. 4. 3. 11-22 ('The sinner shall + suffer and go quickly to yonder world'); xi. 6. 1 (compare + Weber, _loc. cit._ p. 20 ff.; ZDMG. ix. 237), the Bhrigu + story, of which a more modern form is found in the Upanishad + period. For the course of the sun, the fires on either side + of the way, the departure to heaven 'with the whole body,' + compare _Çat. Br._ i. 9. 3. 2-15; iv. 5. 1. 1; vi. 6. 2. 4; + xi. 2. 7. 33; Weber, _loc. cit._: Muir, _loc. cit._ v. p. + 314. Not to have all one's bones in the next world is a + disgrace, as Muir says, and for that reason they are + collected at burial. Compare the custom as described by the + French missionaries here. The American Indian has to have + all his bones for future use, and the burying of the + skeleton is an annual religious ceremony.] + + [Footnote 60: Compare RV. iv. 28. 4: 'Thou Indra madest + lowest the heathen.' Weber has shown, _loc. cit._, that the + general notion of the Br[=a]hmanas is that all are born + again in the next world, where they are rewarded or punished + according as they are good or bad; whereas in the Rig Veda + the good rejoice in heaven, and the bad are annihilated. + This general view is to be modified, however, by such + side-theories as those just mentioned, that the good (or + wise) may be reborn on earth, or be united with gods, or + become sunlight or stars (the latter are 'watery' to the + Hindu, and this may explain the statement that the soul is + 'in the midst of waters').] + + [Footnote 61: There is in this age no notion of the repeated + creations found in later literature. On the contrary, it is + expressly said in the Rig Veda, vi. 48. 22, that heaven and + earth are created but once: "Only once was heaven created, + only once was earth created," Zimmer, AIL. 408.] + + [Footnote 62: When the principle of life is explained it is + in terms of sun or fire. Thus Praj[=a]pati, Lord of beings, + or Father-god, is first an epithet of Savitar, RV. iv. 53. + 2; and the golden germ must be fire.] + + [Footnote 63: Schoolcraft, _Historical and Statistical + Information_, i. 32. As examples of the many passages where + 'water is the beginning' may be cited _Çat. Br._ vi. 7. 1. + 17; xi. 1. 6. 1. The sun, born as Aditi's eighth son, is the + bird, 'egg-born,' RV. x. 72. 8.] + + [Footnote 64: Among the new curators of Atharvan origin are, + for instance, the sun under the name of Rohita, Desire + (Love), etc., etc.] + + [Footnote 65: Illustrations of these contradictions may be + found in plenty _apud_ Muir iv. p. 20 ff.] + + [Footnote 66: Nirukta, vii. 4; Muir, _loc. cit._ p. 131 and + v. 17.] + + [Footnote 67: _Neu-und Vollmonds Opfer_, 1880. The + _D[=i]ksh[=a]_, or initiation, has been described by + Lindner; the _R[=a]jas[=u]ya_ and _Vajapeya_, by Weber.] + + [Footnote 68: The water-sickness already imputed to this god + in the Rig Veda. This tale and that of Bhrigu (referred to + above) show an ancient trait in the position of Varuna, as + chief god.] + + [Footnote 69: This is the germ of the pilgrimage doctrine + (see below).] + + [Footnote 70: Perhaps (M. ix. 301) interpolated; or the + first allusion to the Four Ages.] + + [Footnote 71: These (compare _afri_, 'blessing,' in the + Avesta) are verses in the Rig Veda introducing the + sacrifice. They are meant as propitiations, and appear to be + an ancient part of the ritual.] + + [Footnote 72: A group of hymns in the first book of the Rig + Veda are attributed to Dogstail. At any rate, they do allude + to him, and so prove a moderate antiquity (probably the + middle period of the Rik) for the tale. The name, in + Sanskrit Çunasçepa, has been ingeniously starred by Weber as + Cynosoura; the last part of each compound having the same + meaning, and the first part being even phonetically the same + _çunas, [Greek: kunhos]_.] + + [Footnote 73: _Ait. Br._ viii. 10, 15, 20.] + + [Footnote 74: The epic has a later version. This earlier + form is found in _Çat. Br._ i. 8. 1. For the story of the + flood among the American Indians compare Schoolcraft + (_Historical and Statistical Information_), i. 17.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +BRAHMANIC PANTHEISM.--THE UPANISHADS. + + +In the Vedic hymns man fears the gods, and imagines God. In the +Br[=a]hmanas man subdues the gods, and fears God. In the Upanishads +man ignores the gods, and becomes God.[1] + +Such in a word is the theosophic relations between the three periods +represented by the first Vedic Collection, the ritualistic +Br[=a]hmanas, and the philosophical treatises called Upanishads. Yet +if one took these three strata of thought to be quite independent of +each other he would go amiss. Rather is it true that the Br[=a]hmanas +logically continue what the hymns begin; that the Upanishads logically +carry on the thought of the Br[=a]hmanas. And more, for in the oldest +Upanishads are traits that connect this class of writings (if they +were written) directly, and even closely with the Vedic hymns +themselves; so that one may safely assume that the time of the first +Upanishads is not much posterior to that of the latest additions made +to the Vedic collections, though this indicates only that these +additions were composed at a much later period than is generally +supposed.[2] In India no literary period subsides with the rise of its +eventually 'succeeding' period. All the works overlap. Parts of the +Br[=a]hmanas succeed, sometimes with the addition of whole books, +their proper literary successors, the Upanishads. Vedic hymns are +composed in the Brahmanic period.[3] The prose S[=u]tras, which, in +general, are earlier, sometimes post-date metrical Ç[=a]stra-rules. +Thus it is highly probable that, whereas the Upanishads began before +the time of Buddha, the Çatapatha Br[=a]hmana (if not others of this +class) continued to within two or three centuries of our era; that the +legal S[=u]tras were, therefore, contemporary with part of the +Br[=a]hmanic period;[4] and that, in short, the end of the Vedic +period is so knit with the beginning of the Br[=a]hmanic, while the +Br[=a]hmanic period is so knit with the rise of the Upanishads, +S[=u]tras, epics, and Buddhism, that one cannot say of any one: 'this +is later,' 'this is earlier'; but each must be taken only for a phase +of indefinitely dated thought, exhibited on certain lines. It must +also be remembered that by the same class of works a wide geographical +area may be represented; by the Br[=a]hmanas, west and east; by the +S[=u]tras, north and south; by the Vedic poems, northwest and east to +Benares (AV.); by the epics, all India, centred about the holy middle +land near Delhi. + +The meaning of Upanishad as used in the compositions themselves, is +either, as it is used to-day, the title of a philosophical work; that +of knowledge derived from esoteric teaching; or the esoteric teaching +itself. Thus _brahma upanishad_ is the secret doctrine of _brahma_, +and 'whoever follows this _upanishad_' means whoever follows this +doctrine. This seems, however, to be a meaning derived from the nature +of the Upanishads themselves, and we are almost inclined to think that +the true significance of the word was originally that in which alone +occurs, in the early period, the combination _upa-ni-[s.]ad_, and this +is purely external: "he makes the common people _upa-ni-s[=a]din," +i.e_., 'sitting below' or 'subject,' it is said in _Çat. Br_. ix. 4. +3. 3 (from the literal meaning of 'sitting below').[5] Instead, +therefore, of seeing in _upan[=i]sad_, Upanishad, the idea of a +session, of pupils sitting down to hear instruction (the prepositions +and verb are never used in this sense), it may be that the Upanishads +were at first _subsidiary_ works of the ritualistic Br[=a]hmanas +contained in the [=A]ranyakas or Forest Books, that is, appendices to +the Br[=a]hmana, ostensibly intended for the use of pious +forest-hermits (who had passed beyond the need of sacrifice); and +this, in point of fact, is just what they were; till their growth +resulted in their becoming an independent branch of literature. The +usual explanation of 'Upanishad,' however, is that it represents the +instruction given to the pupil 'sitting under' the teacher. + +Although at present between two and three hundred Upanishads are +known, at least by name, to exist, yet scarcely a dozen appear to be +of great antiquity. Some of these are integral parts of Br[=a]hmanas, +and apparently were added to the ritualistic works at an early +period.[6] + +While man's chief effort in the Brahmanic period seems to be by +sacrifice and penance to attain happiness hereafter, and to get the +upper hand of divine powers; while he recognizes a God, who, though +supreme, has yet, like the priest himself, attained his supremacy by +sacrifice and penance; while he dreams of a life hereafter in heavenly +worlds, in the realm of light, though hardly seeking to avoid a +continuation of earthly re-births; nevertheless he frees himself at +times from ritualistic observances sufficiently to continue the +questioning asked by his Vedic ancestors, and to wonder whither his +immortal part is definitively going, and whether that spirit of his +will live independently, or be united with some higher power, such as +the sun or Brahm[=a]. + +The philosophical writings called Upanishads[7] take up this question +in earnest, but the answer is already assured, and the philosophers, +or poets, of this period seek less to prove the truth than to expound +it. The soul of man will not only join a heavenly Power. It is part of +that Power. Man's spirit (self) is the world-spirit. And what is this? +While all the Upanishads are at one in answering the first question, +they are not at one in the method by which they arrive at the same +result. There is no systematic philosophy; but a tentative, and more +or less dogmatic, logic. In regard to the second question they are +still less at one; but in general their answer is that the +world-spirit is All, and everything is a part of It or Him. Yet, +whether that All is personal or impersonal, and what is the relation +between spirit and matter, this is still an unsettled point. + +The methods and results of this half-philosophical literature will +most easily be understood by a few examples. But, before these are +given, it will be necessary to emphasize the colloquial and scrappy +nature of the teaching. Legend, parable, ritualistic absurdities, +belief in gods, denial of gods, belief in heaven, denial of heaven, +are all mingled, and for a purpose. For some men are able, and some +are unable, to receive the true light of knowledge. But man's fate +depends on his knowledge. The wise man becomes hereafter what his +knowledge has prepared him to be. Not every spirit is fitted for +immortality, but only the spirit of them that have wisely desired it, +or, rather, not desired it; for every desire must have been +extinguished before one is fitted for this end. Hence, with advancing +belief in absorption and pantheism, there still lingers, and not as a +mere superfluity, the use of sacrifice and penance. Rites and the +paraphernalia of religion are essential till one learns that they are +unessential. Desire will be gratified till one learns that the most +desirable thing is lack of desire. But so long as one desires even the +lack of desire he is still in the fetters of desire. The way is long +to the extinction of emotion, but its attainment results in happiness +that is greater than delight; in peace that surpasses joy. + +In the exposition of this doctrine the old gods are retained as +figures. They are not real gods. But they are existent forms of God. +They are portions of the absolute, a form of the Eternal, even as man +is a form of the same. Absolute being, again, is described as +anthropomorphic. 'This is that' under a certain form. Incessantly made +is the attempt to explain the identity of the absolute with phenomena. +The power _brahma_, which is originally applied to prayer, is now +taken as absolute being, and this, again, must be equated with the +personal spirit (ego, self, _[=a]tm[=a]_). One finds himself back in +the age of Vedic speculation when he reads of prayer (or penance) and +power as one. For, as was shown above, the Rig Veda already recognizes +that prayer is power. There the word for power, _brahma_, is used only +as equivalent of prayer, and Brihaspati or Brahmanaspati is literally +the 'god of power,' as he is interpreted by the priests. The +significance of the other great word of this period, namely +_[=a]tm[=a]_, is not at all uncertain, but to translate it is +difficult. It is breath, spirit, self, soul. Yet, since in its +original sense it corresponds to spiritus (comparable to athmen), the +word spirit, which also signifies the real person, perhaps represents +it best. We shall then render _brahma_ and _[=a]tm[=a]_ by the +absolute and the ego or spirit, respectively; or leave them, which is +perhaps the best way, in their native form. The physical breath, +_pr[=a]na,_ is occasionally used just like _[=a]tm[=a]._ Thus it is +said that all the gods are one god, and this is _pr[=a]na,_ identical +with _brahma_ (Brihad [=A]ranyaka Upanishad, 3.9.9); or _pr[=a]na_ is +so used as to be the same with spirit, though, on the other hand, +'breath is born of spirit' (Praçna Up. 3.3), just as in the Rig Veda +(above) it is said that all comes from the breath of God. + +One of the most instructive of the older Upanishads is the +Ch[=a]ndogya. A sketch of its doctrines will give a clearer idea of +Upanishad philosophy than a chapter of disconnected excerpts: + +All this (universe) is _brahma_. Man has intelligent force (or will). +He, after death, will exist in accordance with his will in life. This +spirit in (my) heart is that mind-making, breath-bodied, light-formed, +truth-thoughted, ether-spirited One, of whom are all works, all +desires, all smells, and all tastes; who comprehends the universe, who +speaks not and is not moved; smaller than a rice-corn, smaller than a +mustard-seed, ... greater than earth, greater than heaven. This +(universal being) is my ego, spirit, and is _brahma,_ force (absolute +being). After death I shall enter into him (3.14).[8] This all is +breath (==spirit in 3.15.4). + +After this epitome of pantheism follows a ritualistic bit: + +Man is sacrifice. Four and twenty years are the morning libation; the +next four and forty, the mid-day libation; the next eight and forty, +the evening libation. The son of Itar[=a], knowing this, lived one +hundred and sixteen years. He who knows this lives one hundred and +sixteen years (3.16). + +Then, for the abolition of all sacrifice, follows a chapter which +explains that man may sacrifice symbolically, so that, for example, +gifts to the priests (a necessary adjunct of a real sacrifice) here +become penance, liberality, rectitude, non-injury, truth-speaking +(_ib._ 17. 4). There follows then the identification of _brahma_ with +mind, sun, breath, cardinal points, ether, etc, even puns being +brought into requisition, _Ka_ is _Kha_ and _Kha_ is _Ka_ (4. 10. +5);[9] earth, fire, food, sun, water, stars, man, are _brahma_, and +_brahma_ is the man seen in the moon (4. 12. I). And now comes the +identity of the impersonal _brahma_ with the personal spirit. The man +seen in the eye is the spirit; this is the immortal, unfearing +_brahma_ (4. 15. I = 8. 7. 4). He that knows this goes after death to +light, thence to day, thence to the light moon, thence to the season, +thence to the year, thence to the sun, thence to the moon, thence to +lightning; thus he becomes divine, and enters _brahma_. They that go +on this path of the gods that conducts to _brahma_ do not return to +human conditions _(ib._ 15. 6). + +But the Father-god of the Br[=a]hmanas is still a temporary creator, +and thus he appears now (_ib._ 17): The Father-god brooded over[10] +the worlds, and from them extracted essences, fire from earth, wind +from air, sun from sky. These three divinities (the triad, fire, wind, +and sun) he brooded over, and from them extracted essences, the Rig +Veda from fire, the Yajur Veda from wind, the S[=a]ma Veda from sun. +In the preceding the northern path of them that know the absolute +(_brahma_) has been described, and it was said that they return no +more to earth. Now follows the southern path of them that only partly +know _brahma_: + +"He that knows the oldest, _jye[s.]tham_ and the best, _çre[s]tham,_ +becomes the oldest and the best. Now breath is oldest and best" (then +follows the famous parable of the senses and breath, 5. 1. I). This +(found elsewhere) is evidently regarded as a new doctrine, for, after +the deduction has been made that, because a creature can live without +senses, and even without mind, but cannot live without breath, +therefore the breath is the 'oldest and best,' the text continues, 'if +one told this to a dry stick, branches would be produced and leaves +put forth' (5. 2. 3).[11]] The path of him that partly knows the +_brahma_ which is expressed in breath, etc, is as follows: He goes to +the moon, and, when his good works are used up, he (ultimately mist) +rains down, becoming seed, and begins life over again on earth, to +become like the people who eat him (5. 10. 6); they that are good +become priests, warriors, or members of the third estate; while the +bad become dogs, hogs, or members of the low castes.[12] A story is +now told, instructive as illustrating the time. Five great doctors of +the law came together to discuss what is Spirit, what is _brahma_. In +the end they are taught by a king that the universal Spirit is one's +own spirit (5. 18. 1). + +It is interesting to see that, although the Rig Veda distinctly says +that 'being was born of not-being' (_ásatas sád aj[=a]yata_, X. 72. +3),[13] yet not-being is here derived quite as emphatically from +being. For in the philosophical explanation of the universe given in +6. 2. 1 ff. one reads: "Being alone existed in the beginning, one, and +without a second. Others say 'not-being alone' ... but how could being +be born of not-being? Being alone existed in the beginning."[14] This +being is then represented as sentient. "It saw (and desired), 'may I +be many,' and sent forth fire (or heat); fire (or heat) desired and +produced water; water, food (earth); with the living spirit the +divinity entered fire, water, and earth" (6. 3). As mind comes +from food, breath from water, and speech from fire, all that makes a +man is thus derived from the (true) being (6. 7. 6); and when one dies +his speech is absorbed into mind, his mind into breath, his breath +into fire (heat), and heat into the highest godhead (6. 8. 7). This is +the subtle spirit, that is the Spirit, that is the True, and this is +the spirit of man. Now comes the grand conclusion of the Ch[=a]ndogya. +He who knows the ego escapes grief. What is the ego? The Vedas are +names, and he that sees _brahma_ in the Vedas is indeed (partly) wise; +but speech is better than a name; mind is better than speech; will is +better than mind; meditation, better than will; reflection, than +meditation; understanding, than reflection; power, than understanding; +food, than power; water, than food; heat (fire), than water; ether, +than heat; memory, than ether; hope, than memory; breath (=spirit), +than hope. In each let one see _brahma_; ego in All. Who knows this is +supreme in knowledge; but more supreme in knowledge is he that knows +that in true (being) is the highest being. True being is happiness; +true being is ego; ego is all; ego is the absolute.[15] + +The relativity o£ divinity is the discovery of the Upanishads. And the +relativity of happiness hereafter is the key-note of their religious +philosophy. Pious men are of three classes, according to the completed +system. Some are good men, but they do not know enough to appreciate, +intellectually or spiritually, the highest. Let this class meditate on +the Vedas. They desire wealth, not freedom. The second class wish, +indeed, to emancipate themselves; but to do so step by step; not to +reach absolute _brahma_, but to live in bliss hereafter. Let these +worship the Spirit as physical life. They will attain to the +bliss of the realm of light, the realm of the personal creator. But +the highest class, they that wish to emancipate themselves at once, +know that physical life is but a form of spiritual life; that the +personal creator is but a form of the Spirit; that the Spirit is +absolute _brahma_; and that in reaching this they attain to +immortality. These, then, are to meditate on spirit as the highest +Spirit, that is, the absolute. To fear heaven as much as hell, to know +that knowledge is, after all, the key to _brahma_; that _brahma_ is +knowledge; this is the way to emancipation. The gods are; but they are +forms of the ego, and their heaven is mortal. It is false to deny the +gods. Indra and the Father-god exist, just as men exist, as transient +forms of _brahma_. Therefore, according to the weakness or strength of +a man's mind and heart (desire) is he fitted to ignore gods and +sacrifice. To obtain _brahma_ his desires must be weak, his knowledge +strong; but sacrifice is not to be put away as useless. The +disciplinary teaching of the sacrifice is a necessary preparation for +highest wisdom. It is here that the Upanishads, which otherwise are to +a great extent on the highway to Buddhism, practically contrast with +it. Buddhism ignores the sacrifice and the stadia in a priest's life. +The Upanishads retain them, but only to throw them over at the end +when one has learned not to need them. Philosophically there is no +place for the ritual in the Upanishad doctrine; but their teachers +stood too much under the dominion of the Br[=a]hmanas to ignore the +ritual. They kept it as a means of perfecting the knowledge of what +was essential. + +So 'by wisdom' it is said 'one gets immortality.' The Spirit develops +gradually in man; by means of the mortal he desires the immortal; +whereas other animals have only hunger and thirst as a kind of +understanding, and they are reborn according to their knowledge as +beasts again. Such is the teaching of another of the Upanishads, the +[=A]itareya [=A]ranyaka. + +This Upanishad contains some rather striking passages: "Whatever man +attains, he desires to go beyond it; if he should reach heaven itself +he would desire to go beyond it" (2. 3. 3. 1). "_Brahma_ is the A, +thither goes the ego" (2. 3. 8. 7). "A is the whole of Speech, and +Speech is Truth, and Truth is Spirit" (2. 3. 6. 5-14).[16] "The Spirit +brooded over the water, and form (matter) was born" (2. 4. 3. 1 ff.); +so physically water is the origin of all things" (2. 1. 8. 1).[17] +"Whatever belongs to the father belongs to the son, whatever belongs +to the son belongs to the father" (_ib_.). "Man has three births: he +is born of his mother, reborn in the person of his son, and finds his +highest birth in death" (2. 5). + +In the exposition of these two Upanishads one gets at once the sum of +them all. The methods, the illustrations, even the doctrines, differ +in detail; but in the chief end and object of the Upanishads, and in +the principle of knowledge as a means of attaining _brahma_, they are +united. This it is that causes the refutation of the Vedic 'being from +not-being.' It is even said in the [=A]itareya that the gods +worshipped breath (the spirit) as being and so became gods (great); +while devils worshipped spirit as not-being, and hence became +(inferior) devils (2. 1. 8. 6). + +It was noticed above that a king instructed priests. This interchange +of the rôles of the two castes is not unique. In the K[=a]ush[=i]taki +Upanishad (4. 19), occurs another instance of a warrior teaching a +Brahman. This, with the familiar illustration of a Gandh[=a]ra +(Kandahar) man, the song of the Kurus, and the absence of Brahmanic +literature as such in the list of works, cited vii. 1, would indicate +that the Ch[=a]ndogya was at least as old as the Br[=a]hmana +literature.[18] + +In their present form several differences remain to be pointed out +between the Vedic period and that of the Upanishads. The goal of the +soul, the two paths of gods and of _brahma_, have been indicated. As +already explained, the road to the absolute _brahma_ lies beyond the +path to the conditioned _brahma_. Opposed to this is the path that +leads to the world of heaven, whence, when good works have been +exhausted, the spirit descends to a new birth on earth. The course of +this second path is conceived to be the dark half of the moon, and so +back to man. Both roads lead first to the moon, then one goes on to +_brahma_, the other returns to earth. It will be seen that good works +are regarded as buoying a man up for a time, till, like gas in a +balloon, they lose their force, and he sinks down again. What then +becomes of the virtue of a man who enters the absolute _brahma,_ and +descends no more? He himself goes to the world where there is "no +sorrow and no snow," where he lives forever (_Brihad [=A]ran_. 5. 10); +but "his beloved relations get his virtue, and the relations he does +not love get his evil" (_K[=a]ush[=i]t. Up_. 1. 4). In this Upanishad +fire, sun, moon, and lightning die out, and reappear as _brahma_. This +is the doctrine of the _Götterdämmerung_, and succession of aeons with +their divinities (2. 12). Here again is it distinctly stated that +_pr[=a]na_, breath, is _brahma_; that is, spirit is the absolute (2. +13). + +What becomes of them that die ignorant of the ego? They go either to +the worlds of evil spirits, which are covered with darkness--the same +antithesis of light and darkness, as good and evil, that was seen in +the Br[=a]hmanas--or are reborn on earth again like the wicked +(_[=I]ç[=a]_, 3). + +It is to be noted that at times all the parts of a man are +said to become immortal. For just as different rivers enter the ocean +and their names and forms are lost in it, so the sixteen parts of a +man sink into the godhead and he becomes without parts and immortal +(_Praçna Up_. 6. 5); a purely pantheistic view of absorption, in +distinction from the Vedic view of heaven, which latter, in the form +of immortal joy hereafter, still lingers in the earlier Upanishads. + +It is further to be observed as the crowning point of these +speculations that, just as the bliss of emancipation must not be +desired, although it is desirable, so too, though knowledge is the +fundamental condition of emancipation, yet is delight in the true a +fatal error: "They that revere what is not knowledge enter into blind +darkness; they that delight in knowledge come as it were into still +greater darkness" (_Iç[=a]_, 9). Here, what is not real knowledge +means good works, sacrifice, etc. But the sacrifice is not discarded. +To those people capable only of attaining to rectitude, sacrifices, +and belief in gods there is given some bliss hereafter; but to him +that is risen above this, who knows the ego (Spirit) and real being, +such bliss is no bliss. His bliss is union with the Spirit. + +This is the completion of Upanishad philosophy. Before it is a stage +where bliss alone, not absorption, is taught.[19] But what is the ego, +spirit or self (_[=a]tm[=a]_)? First of all it is conscious; next it +is not the Person, for the Person is produced by the _[=a]tm[=a]_. +Since this Person is the type of the personal god, it is evident that +the ego is regarded as lying back of personality. Nevertheless, the +teachers sometimes stop with the latter. The developed view is that +the immortality of the personal creator is commensurate only with that +of the world which he creates. It is for this reason that in the +Mundaka (1. 2. 10) it is said that fools regard fulfillment of desire +in heavenly happiness as the best thing; for although they have their +'reward in the top of heaven, yet, when the elevation caused by their +good works ends, as it will end, when the buoyant power of good works +is exhausted, then they drop down to earth again. Hence, to worship +the creator as the _[=a]tm[=a]_ is indeed productive of temporary +pleasure, but no more. "If a man worship another divinity, +_devat[=a]_, with the idea that he and the god are different, he does +not know" (_Brihad [=A]ran. Up_. 1. 4. 10). "Without passion and +without parts" is the _brahma (Mund_. 2. 2. 9). The further doctrine, +therefore, that all except _brahma_ is delusion is implied here, and +the "extinction of gods in _brahma_" is once or twice formulated.[20] +The fatal error of judgment is to imagine that there is in absolute +being anything separate from man's being. When personified, this being +appears as the supreme Person, identical with the ego, who is lord of +what has been and what will be. By perceiving this controlling spirit +in one's own spirit (or self) one obtains eternal bliss; "when +desires cease, the mortal becomes immortal; he attains _brahma_ here" +in life (_Katha Up_. 2. 5. 12; 6. 14; _Br. [=A]ran. Up_. 4. 4. 7). + +How inconsistent are the teachings of the Upanishads in regard to +cosmogonic and eschatological matters will be evident if one contrast +the statements of the different tracts not only with those of other +writings of the same sort, but even with other statements in the same +Upanishads. Thus the Mundaka teaches first that Brahm[=a], the +personal creator, made the world and explained _brahma_ (1. 1. 1). It +then defines _brahma_ as the Imperishable, which, like a spider, sends +out a web of being and draws it in again (_ib_. 6, 7). It states with +all distinctness that the (neuter) _brahma_ comes from The (masculine) + +One who is all-wise, all-knowing (_ib_. 9). This heavenly Person is +the imperishable ego; it is without form; higher than the imperishable +(1. 2. 10 ff.; 2. 1. 2); greater than the great (3. 2. 8). Against +this is then set (2. 2. 9) the great being _brahma_, without passions +or parts, _i. +e_., without intelligence such as was predicated of the +_[=a]tm[=a]_; and (3. 1. 3) then follows the doctrine of the personal +'Lord, who is the maker, the Person, who has his birth in _brahma' +(purusho brahmayonis_). That this Upanishad is pantheistic is plain +from 3. 2. 6, where Ved[=a]nta and Yoga are named. According to this +tract the wise go to _brahma_ or to ego (3. 2. 9 and 1. 2. 11), while +fools go to heaven and return again. + +On the same plane stands the [=I]ç[=a], where _[=a]tm[=a]_, ego, +Spirit, is the True, the Lord, and is in the sun. Opposed to each +other here are 'darkness' and 'immortality,' as fruit, respectively, +of ignorance and wisdom. + +In the K[=a]ush[=i]taki Upanishad, taken with the meaning put into it +by the commentators, the wise man goes to a very different sort of +_brahma_--one where he is met by nymphs, and rejoices in a kind of +heaven. This _brahma_ is of two sorts, absolute and conditioned; but +it is ultimately defined as 'breath.' Whenever it is convenient, +'breath' is regarded by the commentators as ego, 'spirit'; but one can +scarcely escape the conviction that in many passages 'breath' was +meant by the speaker to be taken at its face value. It is the vital +power. With this vital power (breath or spirit) one in dreamless sleep +unites. Indra has nothing higher to say than that he is breath +(spirit), conscious and immortal. Eventually the soul after death +comes to Indra, or gains the bright heaven. But here too the doctrine +of the dying out of the gods is known (as in _T[=a]tt_. 3. 10. 4). +Cosmogonically all here springs from water (1. 4, 6, 7; 2. 1, 12; 3. +1, 2; 4. 20). + +Most striking are the contradictions in the Brihad [=A]ranyaka: "In +the beginning there was only nothing; this (world) was covered with +death, that is hunger;[21] he desired," etc. (1. 2. 1). "In the +beginning there was only ego (_[=a]tm[=a])." [=A]tm[=a]_ articulated +"I am," and (finding himself lonely and unhappy) divided himself into +male and female,[22] whence arose men, etc. (1. 4. 1). Again: "In the +beginning there was only _brahma_; this (neuter) knew _[=a]tm[=a] ... +brahma_ was the one and only ... it created" (1. 4. 10-11); followed +immediately by "he created" (12). And after this, in 17, one is +brought back to "in the beginning there was only _[=a]tm[=a]_; he +desired 'let me have a wife.'" + +In 2. 3. 1 ff. the explicitness of the differences in _brahma_ makes +the account of unusual value. It appears that there are two forms of +_brahma_, one is mortal, with form; the other is immortal, without +form. Whatever is other than air and the space between (heaven and +earth) is mortal and with form. This is being, its essence is in the +sun. On the other hand, the essence of the immortal is the person in +the circle (of the sun). In man's body breath and ether are the +immortal, the essence of which is the person in the eye. There is a +visible and invisible _brahma ([=a]tm[=a])_; the real _brahma_ is +incomprehensible and is described only by negations (3. 4. 1; 9. 26). +The highest is the Imperishable (_neuter_), but this sees, hears, and +knows. It is in this that ether (as above) is woven (3. 8. 11). After +death the wise man goes to the world of the gods (1. 5. 16); he +becomes the _[=a]tm[=a]_ of all beings, just like that deity (1. 5. +20); he becomes identical ('how can one know the knower?' +_vijñ[=a]tar_) in 2. 4. 12-13; and according to 3. 2. 13, the doctrine +of _sams[=a]ra_ is extolled ("they talked of _karma_, extolled _karma_ +secretly"), as something too secret to be divulged easily, even to +priests. + +That different views are recognized is evident from _Taitt_. 2. 6: "If +one knows _brahma_ as _asat_ he becomes only _asat_ (non-existence); +if he knows that '_brahma_ is' (_i.e._, a _sad brahma_), people know +him as thence existing." Personal _[=a]tm[=a]_ is here insisted on +("He wished 'may I be many'"); and from _[=a]tm[=a]_, the conscious +_brahma_, in highest heaven, came the ether (2. 1, 6). Yet, +immediately afterwards: "In the beginning was the non-existent; thence +arose the existent; and That made for himself an ego (spirit, +conscious life, _[=a]tm[=a]; tad [=a]tm[=a]nain svayam akuruta_, 2. +7). In man _brahma_ is the sun-_brahma_. Here too one finds the +_brahma[n.]a[h.] parimaras_ (3. 10. 4 = K[=a]ush[=i]t. 2. 12, +_d[=a]iva_), or extinction of gods in _brahma_. But what that _brahma_ +is, except that it is bliss, and that man after death reaches 'the +bliss-making _[=a]tm[=a],_' it is impossible to say (3. 6; 2. 8). +Especially as the departed soul 'eats and sits down singing' in heaven +(3. 10. 5). + +The greatest discrepancies in eschatology occur perhaps in the +[=A]itareya [=A]ranyaka. After death one either "gets _brahma_" (i. 3. +1. 2), "comes near to the immortal spirit" (1. 3. 8. 14), or goes to +the "heavenly world." Knowledge here expressly conditions the +hereafter; so much so that it is represented not (as above) that fools +go to heaven and return, but that all, save the very highest, are to +recognize a personal creator (Praj[=a]pati) in breath (=ego=_brahma_), +and then they will "go to the heavenly world" (2. 3. 8. 5), "become +the sun" (2. 1. 8. 14), or "go to gods" (2. 2. 4. 6). Moreover after +the highest wisdom has been revealed, and the second class of men has +been disposed of, the author still returns to the 'shining sky,' +_svarga_, as the best promise (3). Sinners are born again (2. 1. 1. 5) +on earth, although hell is mentioned (2. 3. 2. 5). The origin of world +is water, as usual (2. 1. 8. 1). The highest teaching is that all was +_[=a]tm[=a],_ who sent forth worlds (_lok[=a]n as[r.]jata_), and +formed the Person (as guardian of worlds), taking him from waters. +Hence _[=a]tm[=a],_ Praj[=a]pati (of the second-class thinkers), and +_brahma_ are the same. Knowledge is _brahma_ (2. 4. 1. 1; 6. 1. 5-7). + +In the Kena, where the best that can be said in regard to _brahma_ is +that he is _tadvana_, the one that 'likes this' (or, perhaps, is 'like +this'), there is no absorption into a world-spirit. The wise 'become +immortal'; 'by knowledge one gets immortality'; 'who knows this stands +in heaven' (1. 2; 2. 4; 4. 9). The general results are about those +formulated by Whitney in regard to the Katha: knowledge gives +continuation of happiness in heaven; the punishment of the unworthy is +to continue _sams[=a]ra_, the round of rebirths. Hell is not mentioned +in the [=A]itareya Upanishad itself but in the [=A]ranyaka[23] (2. 3. +2. 5). That, however, a union with the universal _[=a]tm[=a]_ (as well +as heaven) is desired, would seem to be the case from several of the +passages cited above, notably Brihad [=A]ran., i. 5. 20 (_sa +eva[.m]vit sarve[s.][=a]m bh[=u]t[=a]n[=a]m [=a]tm[=a] bhavati, +Yath[=a] i[s.][=a] devat[=a]ivam sa_); 'he that knows this becomes the +_[=a]tm[=a]_ of all creatures, as is that divinity so is he'; though +this is doubtless the _[=a]nandamaya [=a]tm[=a]_, or joy-making Spirit +(T[=a]itt. 2. 8). + +Again two forms of _brahma_ are explained (M[=a]it. Up. 6. 15 ff.): +There are two forms of _brahma_, time and not-time. That which was +before the sun is not-time and has no parts. Time and parts begin with +the sun. Time is the Father-god, the Spirit. Time makes and dissolves +all in the Spirit. He knows the Veda who knows into what Time itself +is dissolved. This manifest time is the ocean of creatures. But +_brahma_ exists before and after time.[24] + +As an example of the best style of the Upanishads we will cite a +favorite passage (given no less than four times in various versions) +where the doctrine of absorption is most distinctly taught under the +form of a tale. It is the famous + + +DIALOGUE OF Y[=A]JÑAVALKYA AND M[=A]ITREY[=I].[25] + +Y[=a]jñavalkya had two wives, M[=a]itrey[=i] and K[=a]ty[=a]yani. Now +M[=a]itrey[=i] was versed in holy knowledge (_brahma_), but +K[=a]ty[=a]yani had only such knowledge as women have. But when +Y[=a]jñavalkya was about to go away into the forest (to become a +hermit), he said: 'M[=a]itrey[=i], I am going away from this +place. Behold, I will make a settlement between thee and that +K[=a]ty[=a]yani.' Then said M[=a]itrey[=i]: 'Lord, if this whole earth +filled with wealth were mine, how then? should I be immortal by reason +of this wealth?' 'Nay,' said Y[=a]jñavalkya. 'Even as is the life of +the rich would be thy life; by reason of wealth one has no hope of +immortality.' Then said M[=a]itrey[=i]: 'With what I cannot be +immortal, what can I do with that? whatever my Lord knows even that +tell me.' And Y[=a]jñavalkya said: 'Dear to me thou art, indeed, and +fondly speakest. Therefore I will explain to thee and do thou regard +me as I explain.' And he said: 'Not for the husband's sake is a +husband dear, but for the ego's sake is the husband dear. Not for the +wife's sake is a wife dear; but for the ego's sake is a wife dear; not +for the son's sake are sons dear, but for the ego's sake are sons +dear; not for wealth's sake is wealth dear, but for the ego's sake is +wealth dear; not for the sake of the Brahman caste is the Brahman +caste dear, but for the sake of the ego is the Brahman caste dear; not +for the sake of the Warrior caste is the Warrior caste dear, but for +love of the ego is the Warrior caste dear; not for the sake of the +worlds are worlds dear, but for the sake of the ego are worlds dear; +not for the sake of gods are gods dear, but for the ego's sake are +gods dear; not for the sake of _bh[=u]ts_ (spirits) are _bh[=u]ts_ +dear, but for the ego's sake are _bhuts_ dear; not for the sake of +anything is anything dear, but for love of one's self (ego) is +anything (everything) dear; the ego (self) must be seen, heard, +apprehended, regarded, M[=a]itrey[=i], for with the seeing, hearing, +apprehending, and regarding of the ego the All is known.... Even as +smoke pours out of a fire lighted with damp kindling wood, even so out +of the Great Being is blown out all that which is, Rig Veda, Yajur +Veda, S[=a]ma Veda, Atharva (Angiras) Veda, Stories, Tales, Sciences, +Upanishads, food, drink, sacrifices; all creatures that exist are +blown (breathed) out of this one (Great Spirit) alone. As in the +ocean all the waters have their meeting-place; as the skin is the +meeting-place of all touches; the tongue, of all tastes; the +nose, of all smells; the mind, of all precepts; the heart, of all +knowledges; ... as salt cast into water is dissolved so that one +cannot seize it, but wherever one tastes it is salty, so this +Great Being, endless, limitless, is a mass of knowledge. It arises out +of the elements and then disappears in them. After death there is no +more consciousness.[26] I have spoken.' Thus said Y[=a]jñavalkya. Then +said M[=a]itrey[=i]: 'Truly my Lord has bewildered me in saying that +after death there is no more consciousness.' And Y[=a]jñavalkya said: +'I say nothing bewildering, but what suffices for understanding. For +where there is as it were duality (_dv[=a]itam_), there one sees, +smells, hears, addresses, notices, knows another; but when all the +universe has become mere ego, with what should one smell, see, hear, +address, notice, know any one (else)? How can one know him through +whom he knows this all, how can he know the knower (as something +different)? The ego is to be described by negations alone, the +incomprehensible, imperishable, unattached, unfettered; the ego +neither suffers nor fails. Thus, M[=a]itrey[=i], hast thou been +instructed. So much for immortality.' And having spoken thus +Y[=a]jñavalkya went away (into the forest). + +Returning to the Upanishad, of which an outline was given in the +beginning of this chapter, one finds a state of things which, in +general, may be said to be characteristic of the whole Upanishad +period. The same vague views in regard to cosmogony and eschatology +obtain in all save the outspoken sectarian tracts, and the same +uncertainty in regard to man's future fate prevails in this whole +cycle.[27] A few extracts will show this. According to the +Ch[=a]ndogya (4. 17. 1), a personal creator, the old Father-god of the +Br[=a]hmanas, Praj[=a]pati, made the elements proceed from the worlds +he had 'brooded' over (or had done penance over, _abhyatapat_). In 3. +19. 1, not-being was first; this became being (with the mundane egg, +etc.). In sharp contradiction (6. 2. 1): 'being was the first thing, +it willed,' etc., a conscious divinity, as is seen in _ib_. 3. 2, +where it is a 'deity,' producing elements as 'deities' (_ib._ 8. 6) +which it enters 'with the living _[=a]tm[=a]_,' and so develops names +and forms (so _T[=a]itt_. 2. 7). The latter is the prevailing view of +the Upanishad. In 1. 7. 5 ff. the _[=a]tm[=a]_ is the same with the +universal _[=a]tm[=a]_; in 3. 12. 7, the _brahma_ is the same with +ether without and within, unchanging; in 3. 13. 7, the 'light above +heaven' is identical with the light in man; in 3. 14. 1, all is +_brahma_ (neuter), and this is an intelligent universal spirit. Like +the ether is the _[=a]tm[=a]_ in the heart, this is _brahma_ (_ib_. 2 +ff.); in 4. 3. air and breath are the two ends (so in the argument +above, these are immortal as distinguished from all else); in 4. 10. 5 +_yad v[=a]v[=a] ka[.m] tad eva kham_ (_brahma_ is ether); in 4. 15. 1, +the ego is _brahma_; in 5. 18. 1 the universal ego is identified with +the particular ego (_[=a]tm[=a]_); in 6. 8 the ego is the True, with +which one unites in dreamless sleep; in 6. 15. 1, into _par[=a] +devat[=a]_ or 'highest divinity' enters man's spirit, like salt in +water (_ib_. 13). In 7. 15-26, a view but half correct is stated to be +that 'breath' is all, but it is better to know that _yo bh[=u]m[=a]_ +_tad am[r.]tam_, the immortal (all) is infinity, which rests in its +own greatness, with a corrective 'but perhaps it doesn't' (_yadi v[=a] +na_). This infinity is ego and _[=a]tm[=a]_.[28] + +What is the reward for knowing this? One obtains worlds, unchanging +happiness, _brahma_; or, with some circumnavigation, one goes to the +moon, and eventually reaches _brahma_ or obtains the worlds of the +blessed (5. 10. 10). The round of existence, _sams[=a]ra_, is +indicated at 6. 16, and expressly stated in 5. 10. 7 (insects have +here a third path). Immortality is forcibly claimed: 'The living one +dies not' (6. 11. 3). He who knows the sections 7. 15 to 26 becomes +_[=a]tm[=a]nanda_ and "lord of all worlds"; whereas an incorrect view +gives perishable worlds. In one Upanishad there is a verse (_Çvet_. 4. +5) which would indicate a formal duality like that of the +S[=a]nkhyas;[29] but in general one may say that the Upanishads are +simply pantheistic, only the absorption into a world-soul is as yet +scarcely formulated. On the other hand, some of the older Upanishads +show traces of an atheistic and materialistic (_asad_) philosophy, +which is swallowed up in the growing inclination to personify the +creative principle, and ultimately is lost in the erection of a +personal Lord, as in the latest Upanishads. This tendency to +personify, with the increase of special sectarian gods, will lead +again, after centuries, to the rehabilitation of a triad of gods, the +_trim[=u]rti_, where unite Vishnu, Çiva, and, with these, who are more +powerful, Brahm[=a], the Praj[=a]pati of the Veda, as the All-god of +purely pantheistic systems. In the purer, older form recorded above, +the _purusha_ (Person) is sprung from the _[=a]tm[=a]_. There is no +distinction between matter and spirit. Conscious being (_sat_) wills, +and so produces all. Or _[=a]tm[=a]_ comes first; and this is +conscious _sat_ and the cause of the worlds; which _[=a]tm[=a]_ +eventually becomes the Lord. The _[=a]tm[=a]_ in man, owing to his +environment, cannot see whole, and needs the Yoga discipline of +asceticism to enable him to do so. But he is the same ego which is the +All. + +The relation between the absolute and the ego is through will. "This +(neuter) _brahma_ willed, 'May I be many,' and created" _(Ch[=a]nd_., +above). Sometimes the impersonal, and sometimes the personal "spirit +willed" _(T[=a]iit._ 2. 6). And when it is said, in _Brihad [=A]ran_. +1. 4. 1, that "In the beginning ego, spirit, _[=a]tm[=a],_ alone +existed," one finds this spirit (self) to be a form of _brahma (ib._ +10-11). Personified in a sectarian sense, this spirit becomes the +divinity Rudra Çiva, the Blessed One (_Çvet[=a]çvatara,_ 3. 5. +11).[30] + +In short, the teachers of the Upanishads not only do not declare +clearly what they believed in regard to cosmogonic and eschatological +matters, but many of them probably did not know clearly what they +believed. Their great discovery was that man's spirit was not +particular and mortal, but part of the immortal universal. Whether +this universal was a being alive and a personal _[=a]tm[=a]_, or +whether this personal being was but a transient form of impersonal, +imperishable being;[31] and whether the union with being, _brahma_, +would result in a survival of individual consciousness,--these are +evidently points they were not agreed upon, and, in all probability, +no one of the sages was certain in regard to them. Crass +identifications of the vital principle with breath, as one with ether, +which is twice emphasized as one of the two immortal things, were +provisionally accepted. Then breath and immortal spirit were made one. +Matter had energy from the beginning, _brahma_; or was chaos, _asat_, +without being. But when _asat_ becomes _sat_, that _sat_ becomes +_brahma_, energized being, and to _asat_ there is no return. In +eschatology the real (spirit, or self) part of man (ego) either +rejoices forever as a conscious part of the conscious world-self, or +exists immortal in _brahma_--imperishable being, conceived as more or +less conscious.[32] + +The teachers recognize the limitations of understanding: "The gods are +in Indra, Indra is in the Father-god, the Father-god (the Spirit) is +in _brahma_"--"But in what is _brahma?_" And the answer is, "Ask not +too much" (_Brihad. [=A]ran. Up_. 3. 6). + +These problems will be those of the future formal philosophy. Even the +Upanishads do not furnish a philosophy altogether new. Their doctrine +of _karma_ their identification of particular ego and universal ego, +is not original. The 'breaths,' the 'nine doors,' the 'three +qualities,' the _purusha_ as identical with ego, are older even than +the Br[=a]hmanas (Scherman, _loc. cit_. p. 62). + +It is not a new philosophy, it is a new religion that the Upanishads +offer.[33] This is no religion of rites and ceremonies, although the +cult is retained as helpful in disciplining and teaching; it is a +religion for sorrowing humanity. It is a religion that comforts the +afflicted, and gives to the soul 'that peace which the world cannot +give.' In the sectarian Upanishads this bliss of religion is ever +present. "Through knowing Him who is more subtile than subtile, who is +creator of everything, who has many forms, who embraces everything, +the Blessed Lord--one attains to peace without end" (_Çvet_. 4. +14-15). These teachers, who enjoin the highest morality +('self-restraint, generosity, and mercy' are God's commandments in +_Brihad [=A]ran_. 5. 2) refuse to be satisfied with virtue's reward, +and, being able to obtain heaven, 'seek for something beyond.' And +this they do not from mere pessimism, but from a conviction that they +will find a joy greater than that of heaven, and more enduring, in +that world where is "the light beyond the darkness" (_Çvet_. 3. 8); +"where shines neither sun, moon, stars, lightning, nor fire, but all +shines after Him that shines alone, and through His light the universe +is lighted" (_Mund_. 2. 2. 10). This, moreover, is not a future joy. +It is one that frees from perturbation in this life, and gives relief +from sorrow. In the Ch[=a]ndogya (7. 1. 3) a man in grief comes +seeking this new knowledge of the universal Spirit; "For," says he, "I +have heard it said that he who knows the Spirit passes beyond grief." +So in the [=I]ç[=a], though this is a late sectarian work, it is +asked, "What sorrow can there be for him to whom Spirit alone has +become all things?' (7). Again, "He that knows the joy of _brahma_, +whence speech with mind turns away without apprehending it, fears not" +(_T[=a]itt_. 2. 4); for "fear comes only from a second" (_Brihad +[=A]ran. Up_. 1. 4. 2), and when one recognizes that all is one he no +longer fears death (_ib_. 4. 4. 15). + +Such is the religion of these teachers. In the quiet assumption that +life is not worth living, they are as pessimistic as was Buddha. But +if, as seems to be the case, the Buddhist believed in the eventual +extinction of his individuality, their pessimism is of a different +sort. For the teacher of the Upanishads believes that he will attain +to unending joy; not the rude happiness of 'heaven-seekers,' but the +unchanging bliss of immortal peace. For him that wished it, there was +heaven and the gods. These were not denied; they were as real as the +"fool" that desired them. But for him that conquered passion, and knew +the truth, there was existence without the pain of desire, life +without end, freedom from rebirth. The spirit of the sage becomes one +with the Eternal; man becomes God. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Compare _Çal. Br._ ii. 4. 2. 1-6, where the + Father-god gives laws of conduct; and Kaush[=i]taki Brahmana + Upanishad, 3. 8: "This spirit (breath) is guardian of the + world, the lord of the world; he is my spirit" (or, myself), + _sa ma [=a]tm[=a]_. The Brahmanic priest teaches that he is a + god like other gods, and goes so far as to say that he may + be united with a god after death. The Upanishad philosopher + says 'I am God.'] + + [Footnote 2: Compare Scherman, _Philosophische Hymnen_, p. + 93; above, p. 156.] + + [Footnote 3: Or, in other words, the thought of the + Brahmanic period (not necessarily of extant Br[=a]hmanas) is + synchronous with part of the Vedic collection.] + + [Footnote 4: The last additions to this class of literature + would, of course, conform in language to their models, just + as the late Vedic Mantras conform as well as their composers + can make them to the older song or _chandas_ style.] + + [Footnote 5: Cited by Müller in SBE. i. _Introd_. p. + lxxxii.] + + [Footnote 6: Compare Weber, _Ind. Lit_. p. 171; Müller, + _loc. cit._ p. lxviii.] + + [Footnote 7: The relation between the Br[=a]hmanas (ritual + works discussed in the last chapter) and the early + Upanishads will be seen better with the help of a concrete + example. As has been explained before, Rig Veda means to the + Hindu not only the 'Collection' of hymns, but all the + library connected with this collection; for instance, the + two Br[=a]hmanas (of the Rig Veda), namely, the Aitareya and + the K[=a]ush[=i]taki (or Ç[=a]nkh[=a]yana). Now, each of + these Br[=a]hmanas concludes with an [=A]ranyaka, that is, a + Forest-Book (_ara[n.]ya_, forest, solitude); and in each + Forest Book is an Upanishad. For example, the third book of + the K[=a]ush[=i]taki [=A]ranyaka is the K[=a]ush[=i]taki + Upanishad. So the Ch[=a]ndogya and Brihad [=A]ranyaka belong + respectively to the S[=a]man and Yajus.] + + [Footnote 8: This teaching is ascribed to Ç[=a]ndilya, to + whose heresy, as opposed to the pure Vedantic doctrinc of + Çankara, we shall have to revert in a later chapter. The + heresy consists, in a word, in regarding the individual + spirit as at any time distinct from the Supreme Spirit, + though Ç[=a]ndilya teaches that it is ultimately absorbed + into the latter.] + + [Footnote 9: "God' Who' is air, air (space) is God 'Who'," + as if one said 'either is aether.'] + + [Footnote 10: 'Did penance over,' as one doing penance + remains in meditation. 'Brooded' is Müller's apt word for + this _abhi-tap._] + + [Footnote 11: Compare _Brihad [=A]ran. Up_. 6. 3. 7.] + + [Footnote 12: This is the _karma_ or _sams[=a]ra_ doctrine.] + + [Footnote 13: In J.U.B. alone have we noticed the formula + asserting that 'both being and not-being existed in the + beginning' (1. 53. 1; JAOS. XVI. 130).] + + [Footnote 14: Opposed is 3. 19. 1 and _T[=a]itt. Up_. 2. 7. + 1 (_Br_. II. 2. 9. 1, 10): "Not-being was here in the + beginning. From it arose being." And so _Çat. Br_. VI. 1. 1. + 1 (though in word only, for here not-being is the seven + spirits of God!)] + + [Footnote 15: As the Vedic notion of not-being existing + before being is refuted, so the Atharvan homage to Time as + Lord is also derided (_Çvet._ 6) in the Upanishads. The + supreme being is above time, as he is without parts (_ib_.). + In this later Upanishad wisdom, penance, and the grace of + God are requisite to know _brahma_.] + + [Footnote 16: This Vedic [Greek: Adgos] doctrine is + conspicuous in the Br[=a]hmana. Compare _Çat. Br_. VII. 5. + 2. 21: "V[=a]c ([Greek: Adgos]) is the Unborn one; from + V[=a]c the all-maker made creatures." See Weber, _Ind. + Stud_. IX. 477 ff.] + + [Footnote 17: Compare J.U.B. i. 56. 1, 'Water (alone) + existed in the beginning.' This is the oldest and latest + Hindu explanation of the matter of the physical universe. + From the time of the Vedas to mediaeval times, as is + recorded by the Greek travellers, water is regarded as the + original element.] + + [Footnote 18: The Gandh[=a]ra might indicate a late + geographical expansion as well as an early heritage, so that + this is not conclusive.] + + [Footnote 19: Gough, _Philosophy of the Upanishads_, has + sought to show that the pure Vedantism of Çankara is the + only belief taught in the Upanishads, ignoring the weight of + those passages that oppose his (in our view) too sweeping + assertion.] + + [Footnote 20: See the Parimara described, _[=A]it. Br_. + VIII. 28. Here _brahma_ is wind, around which die five + divinities--lightning in rain, rain in moon, moon in sun, + sun in fire, fire in wind--and they are reborn in reverse + order. The 'dying' is used as a curse. The king shall say, + 'When fire dies in wind then may my foe die,' and he will + die; so when any of the other gods dies around _brahma_.] + + [Footnote 21: Compare sterben, starve.] + + [Footnote 22: The androgynous creator of the Br[=a]hmanas.] + + [Footnote 23: We cannot, however, quite agree with Whitney + who, _loc. cit._ p. 92, and Journal, xiii, p. ciii ff., + implies that belief in hell comes later than this period. + This is not so late a teaching. Hell is Vedic and + Brahmanic.] + + [Footnote 24: This, in pantheistic style, is expressed thus + (Çvet. 4): "When the light has arisen there is no day no + night, neither being nor not-being; the Blessed One alone + exists there. There is no likeness of him whose name is + Great Glory."] + + [Footnote 25: Brihad [=A]ranyaka Upanishad, 2.4; 4. 5.] + + [Footnote 26: _Na pretya sa[.m]jñ[=a] 'sti._] + + [Footnote 27: Some of the Upanishads have been tampered + with, so that all of the contradictions may not be due to + the composers. Nevertheless, as the uncertainty of opinion + in regard to cosmogony is quite as great as that in respect + of absorption, all the vagueness cannot properly be + attributed to the efforts of later systematizers to bring + the Upanishads into their more or less orthodox Vedantism.] + + [Footnote 28: In 4. 10. 5 _kam_ is pleasure, one with ether + as _brahma_, not as wrongly above, p. 222, the god Ka.] + + [Footnote 29: This Upanishad appears to be sectarian, + perhaps an early Çivaite tract (dualistic), if the allusion + to Rudra Çiva, below, be accepted as original.] + + [Footnote 30: As is foreshadowed in the doctrine of grace by + V[=a]c in the Rig Veda, in the _Çvet_, the _Katha_, and the + _Mund_. Upanishads (_K. 2. 23; M_. 3. 2. 3), but nowhere + else, there enters, with the sectarian phase, that radical + subversion of the Upanishad doctrine which becomes so + powerful at a later date, the teaching that salvation is a + gift of God. "This Spirit is not got by wisdom; the Spirit + chooses as his own the body of that man whom He chooses."] + + [Footnote 31: See above. As descriptive of the immortal + conscious Spirit, there is the famous verse: "If the slayer + thinks to slay, if the slain thinks he is slain; they both + understand not; this one (the Spirit) slays not, and is not + slain" (_Katha_, 2. 19); loosely rendered by Emerson, 'If + the red slayer think he slays,' etc.] + + [Footnote 32: The fact remarked by Thibaut that radically + different systems of philosophy are built upon the + Upanishads is enough to show how ambiguous are the + declarations of the latter.] + + [Footnote 33: Compare Barth, _Religions_, p. 76.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE POPULAR BRAHMANIC FAITH + + +For a long time after the Vedic age there is little that gives one an +insight into the views of the people. It may be presumed, since the +orthodox systems never dispensed with the established cult, that the +form of the old Vedic creed was kept intact. Yet, since the real +belief changed, and the cult became more and more the practice of a +formality, it becomes necessary to seek, apart from the inherited +ritual, the faith which formed the actual religion of the people. +Inasmuch as this phase of Hindu belief has scarcely been touched upon +elsewhere, it may be well to state more fully the object of the +present chapter. + +We have shown above that the theology of the Vedic period had +resulted, before its close, in a form of pantheism, which was +accompanied, as is attested by the Atharva Veda, with a demonology and +witch-craft religion, the latter presumably of high antiquity. +Immediately after this come the esoteric Br[=a]hmanas, in which the +gods are, more or less, figures in the eyes of the priests, and the +form of a Father-god rises into chief prominence, being sometimes +regarded as the creative force, but at all times as the moral +authority in the world. At the end of this period, however, and +probably even before this period ended, there is for the first time, +in the Upanishads, a new religion, that, in some regards, is esoteric. +Hitherto the secrets of religious mysteries had been treated as hidden +priestly wisdom, not to be revealed. But, for the most part, this +wisdom is really nonsense; and when it is said in the Br[=a]hmanas, at +the end of a bit of theological mystery, that it is a secret, or +that 'the gods love that which is secret,' one is not persuaded by the +examples given that this esoteric knowledge is intellectually +valuable. But with the Upanishads there comes the antithesis of +inherited belief and right belief. The latter is public property, +though it is not taught carelessly. The student is not initiated into +the higher wisdom till he is drilled in the lower. The most unexpected +characters appear in the rôle of instructors of priests, namely, +women, kings, and members of the third caste, whose deeper wisdom is +promulgated oftentimes as something quite new, and sometimes is +whispered in secret. Pantheism, _sams[=a]ra_,[1] and the eternal bliss +of the individual spirit when eventually it is freed from further +transmigration,--these three fundamental traits of the new religion +are discussed in such a way as to show that they had no hold upon the +general public, but they were the intellectual wealth of a few. Some +of the Upanishads hide behind a veil of mystery; yet many of them, as +Windisch has said, are, in a way, popular; that is, they are intended +for a general public, not for priests alone. This is especially the +case with the pantheistic Upanishads in their more pronounced form. +But still it is only the very wise that can accept the teaching. It is +not the faith of the people. + +Epic literature, which is the next living literature of the Brahmans, +after the Upanishads, takes one, in a trice, from the beginnings of a +formal pantheism, to a pantheism already disintegrated by the newer +worship of sectaries. Here the impersonal _[=a]tm[=a]_, or nameless +Lord, is not only an anthropomorphic Çiva, as in the late Upanishads, +where the philosophic _brahma_ is equated with a long recognized type +of divinity, but _[=a]tm[=a]_ is identified with the figure of a +theomorphic man. + +Is there, then, nothing with which to bridge this gulf? + +In our opinion the religion of the law-books, as a legitimate phase of +Hindu religion, has been too much ignored. The religion of Upanishad +and Ved[=a]nta, with its attractive analogies with modern speculation, +has been taken as illustrative of the religion of a vast period, to +the discrediting of the belief represented in the manuals of law. To +these certainly the name of literature can scarcely be applied, but in +their rapport with ordinary life they will be found more apt than are +the profounder speculations of the philosophers to reflect the +religious belief taught to the masses and accepted by them. + +The study of these books casts a broad light upon that interval +between the Vedic and epic periods wherein it is customary to imagine +religion as being, in the main, cult or philosophy. Nor does the +interest cease with the yield of necessarily scanty yet very +significant facts in regard to eschatological and cosmogonic views. +The gods themselves are not what they are in the rites of the cunning +priests or in the dogmas of the sages. In the Hindu law there is a +reversion to Vedic belief; or rather not a reversion, but here one +sees again, through the froth of rites and the murk of philosophy, the +under-stream of faith that still flows from the old fount, if somewhat +discolored, and waters the heart of the people. + +At just what time was elaborated the stupendous system of rites, which +are already traditional in the Br[=a]hmanas, can never be known. Some +of these rites have to do with special ceremonies, such as the royal +inauguration, some are stated _soma_-sacrifices.[2] Opposed to these +_soma_-feasts is the simpler and older fire-cult, which persists in +the house-rituals. All of these together make up a sightly array of +sacrifices.[3] The _soma_-ritual is developed in the Br[=a]hmanas. But +with this class of works there must have been from ancient times +another which treated of the fire-ritual, and of which the more modern +representatives are the extant S[=u]tras. It is with S[=u]tras that +legal literature begins, but these differ from the ritualistic +S[=u]tras. Yet both are full of religious meat. In these collections, +even in the more special, there is no arrangement that corresponds to +western ideas of order. In a completed code, for example, there is a +rough distribution of subjects under different heads, but the attempt +is only tentative, and each work presents the appearance of a +heterogeneous mass of regulations and laws, from which one must pick +out the law for which he is seeking. The earlier legal works were in +prose; the later evolved codes, of which there is a large number, in +metre. It is in these two classes of house-ritual and law-ritual, +which together constitute what is called Smriti, tradition-ritual (in +distinction from the so-called Çruti, revelation-ritual), that one may +expect to find the religion of the time; not as inculcated by the +promoters of mystery, nor yet as disclosed by the philosopher, but as +taught (through the priest) to the people, and as accepted by them for +their daily guidance in matters of every-day observance. We glance +first at the religious observances, for here, as in the case of the +great sacrifices, a detailed examination would be of no more value +than a collective impression; unless, indeed, one were hunting for +folk-lore superstitions, of which we can treat now only in the mass. +It is sufficient to understand that, according to the house-ritual +(_g[r.]hya-s[=u]tra_) and the law-ritual (_dharma-s[=u]tra_, and +_dharma-ç[=a]stra_),[4] for every change in life there was an +appropriate ceremony and a religious observance; for every day, +oblations (three at least); for every fortnight and season, a +sacrifice. Religious formulae were said over the child yet unborn. +From the moment of birth he was surrounded with observances.[5] At +such and such a time the child's head was shaved; he was taken out to +look at the sun; made to eat from a golden spoon; invested with the +sacred cord, etc, etc. When grown up, a certain number of years were +passed with a Guru, or tutor, who taught the boy his Veda; and to whom +he acted as body-servant (a study and office often cut short in the +case of Aryans who were not priests). Of the sacraments alone, such as +the observances to which we have just alluded, there are no less than +forty according to Gautama's laws (the name-rite, eating-rite, etc.). +The pious householder who had once set up his own fire, that is, got +married, must have spent most of his time, if he followed directions, +in attending to some religious ceremony. He had several little rites +to attend to even before he might say his prayers in the morning; and +since even to-day most of these personal regulations are dutifully +observed, one may assume that in the full power of Brahmanhood they +were very straitly enforced.[6] + +It is, therefore, important to know what these works, so closely in +touch with the general public, have to say in regard to religion. What +they inculcate will be the popular theology of completed Brahmanism. +For these books are intended to give instruction to all the Aryan +castes, and, though this instruction filtrates through the hands of +the priest, one may be sure that the understanding between king and +priest was such as to make the code the real norm of justice and +arbiter of religious opinions. For instance, when one reads that the +king is a prime divinity, and that, _quid pro quo_, the priest may be +banished, but never may be punished corporally by the king, because +the former is a still greater divinity, it may be taken for granted +that such was received opinion. When we come to take up the Hinduism +of the epic we shall point out that that work contains a religion more +popular even than that of the legal literature, for one knows that +this latter phase of religion was at first not taught at all, but grew +up in the face of opposition. But for the present, before the rise of +epic 'Hinduism,' and before taking up the heretical writings, it is a +great gain to be able to scan a side of religion that may be called +popular in so far as it evidently is the faith which not only was +taught to the masses, but which, as is universally assumed in the law, +the masses accept; whereas philosophers alone accept the _[=a]tm[=a]_ +religion of the Upanishads, and the Br[=a]hmanas are not intended for +the public at all, but only for initiated priests. + +What, then, is the religious belief and the moral position of the +Hindu law-books? In how far has philosophy affected public religion, +and in what way has a reconciliation been affected between the +contradictory beliefs in regard to the gods; in regard to the value of +works on the one hand, and of knowledge on the other; in regard to +hell as a means of punishment for sin on the one hand, and +reincarnation (_sams[=a]ra_) on the other; in regard to heaven as a +reward of good deeds on the one hand, and absorption into God on the +other; in regard to a personal creator on the one hand, and a First +Cause without personal attributes on the other? + +For the philosophical treatises are known and referred to in the early +codes; so that, although the completed systems post-dated the +S[=u]tras, the cosmical and theological speculations of the earlier +Upanishads were familiar to the authors of the legal systems. + +The first general impression produced by a perusal of the law-books is +that the popular religion has remained unaffected by philosophy. And +this is correct in so far as that it must be put first in describing +the codes, which, in the main, in keeping the ancient observances, +reflect the inherited faith. When, therefore, one says that +pantheism[7] succeeded polytheism in India, he must qualify the +assertion. The philosophers are pantheists, but what of the vulgar? Do +they give up polytheism; are they inclined to do so, or are they +taught to do so? No. For there is no formal abatement in the rigor of +the older creed. Whatever the wise man thought, and whatever in his +philosophy was the instruction which he imparted to his peers, when he +dealt with the world about him he taught his intellectual inferiors a +scarcely modified form of the creed of their fathers. How in his own +mind this wise man reconciled the two sets of opinion has been shown +above. The works of sacrifice, with all the inherited belief implied +by them, were for him preparatory studies. The elasticity of his +philosophy admitted the whole world of gods, as a temporary reality, +into his pantheistic scheme. It was, therefore, neither the hypocrisy +of the Roman augur, nor the fear of results that in his teaching held +him to the inheritance he had received. Gods, ghosts, demons, and +consequently sacrifices, rites, ordeals, and formulae were not +incongruous with his philosophical opinions. He himself believed in +these spiritual powers and in the usefulness of serving them. It is +true that he believed in their eventual doom, but so far as man was +concerned they were practically real. There was, therefore, not only +no reason why the sage should not inculcate the old rites, but there +was every reason why he should. Especially in the case of pious but +ignorant people, whose wisdom was not yet developed to a full +appreciation of divine relativity, was it incumbent on him to keep +them, the lower castes, to the one religion that they could +comprehend. + +It is thus that the apparent inconsistency in exoteric and esoteric +beliefs explains itself. For the two are not contradictory. They do +not exclude each other. Hindu pantheism includes polytheism with its +attendant patrolatry, demonology, and consequent ritualism.[8] + +With rare exceptions it was only the grosser religion that the vulgar +could understand; it was only this that they were taught and believed. + +Thus the old Vedic gods are revered and worshipped by name. The Sun, +Indra, and all the divinities embalmed in ritual, are placated and +'satiated' with offerings, just as they had been satiated from time +immemorial. But no hint is given that this is a form; or that the +Vedic gods are of less account than they had been. Moreover, it is not +in the inherited formulae of the ritual alone that this view is +upheld. To be sure, when philosophical speculation is introduced, the +Father-god comes to the fore; Brahm[=a][9] sits aloft, indulgently +advising his children, as he does in the intermediate stage of the +Br[=a]hmanas; and _[=a]tm[=a] (brahma)_ too is recognized to be the +real being of Brahm[=a], as in the Upanishads.[10] But none of this +touches the practice of the common law, where the ordinary man is +admonished to fear Yama's hell and Varuna's bonds, as he would have +been admonished before the philosopher grew wiser than the Vedic +seers. Only personified Right, Dharma, takes his seat with shadowy +Brahm[=a] among the other gods.[11] + +What is the speech which the judge on the bench is ordered to repeat +to the witnesses? Thus says the law-giver Manu: "When the witnesses +are collected together in the court, in the presence of the plaintiff +and defendant, the (Brahman) judge should call upon them to speak, +kindly addressing them in the following manner: 'Whatever you know has +been done in this affair ... declare it all. A witness who in +testifying speaks the truth reaches the worlds where all is plenty ... +such testimony is honored by Brahm[=a]. One who in testifying speaks +an untruth is, all unwilling, bound fast by the cords of Varuna,[12] +till an hundred births are passed.' ... (Then, speaking to one +witness): 'Spirit (soul) is the witness for the Spirit, and the Spirit +is likewise the refuge of the Spirit. Despise not, therefore, thine +own spirit (or soul), the highest witness of man. Verily, the wicked +think 'no one sees us,' but the gods are looking at them, and also the +person within (conscience). _Dyaus, Earth, the Waters_, (the person in +the) heart, _Moon, Sun, Fire, Yama, Wind, Night, the twin Twilights_, +and Dharma know the conduct of all corporeal beings.... Although, O +good man, thou regardest thyself, thinking, 'I am alone,' yet the holy +one (saint) who sees the evil and the good, stands ever in thy heart. +It is in truth god Yama, the son of Vivasvant, who resideth in thy +heart; if thou beest not at variance with him (thou needest) not (to) +go to the Ganges and to the (holy land of) the Kurus (to be +purified).'" + +Here there is no abatement in Vedic polytheism, although it is circled +round with a thin mist from later teachings. In the same way the +ordinary man is taught that at death his spirit (soul) will pass as a +manikin out of his body and go to Yama to be judged; while the feasts +to the Manes, of course, imply always the belief in the individual +activity of dead ancestors. Such expressions as 'The seven daughters +of +Varuna' (_sapta v[=a]ru[n.][=i]r im[=a]s,_ [=A]çv. _Grih. S_. 2. 3. 3) +show that even in detail the old views are still retained. There is no +advance, except in superstitions,[13] on the main features of the old +religion. So the same old fear of words is found, resulting in new +euphemisms. One must not say 'scull,' _kap[=a]la_, but call it +_bhag[=a]la_, 'lucky' (Gaut. 9. 21); a factor in the making of African +languages also, according to modern travellers. Images of the gods are +now over-recognized by the priest, for they must be revered like the +gods themselves (_ib_. 12; P[=a]r. _Grih. S_. 3. 14. 8. etc.). Among +the developed objects of the cult serpents now occupy a prominent +place. They are mentioned as worshipful in the Br[=a]hmanas. In the +S[=u]tra period offerings are made to snakes of earth, air, and +heaven; the serpents are 'satiated' along with gods, plants, demons, +etc. (Ç[=a][.n]kh. 4. 9. 3; 15. 4; [=A]çv. 2. 1. 9; 3. 4. 1; +P[=a]rask. 2. 14. 9) and blood is poured out to them ([=A]çv. 4. 8. +27.).[14] But other later divinities than those of the earliest Veda, +such as Wealth (Kubera), and Dharma, have crept into the ritual. With +the Vedic gods appears as a divinity in Kh[=a]d. 1. 5. 31 the love-god +K[=a]ma, of the Atharvan; while on the other hand Rudra the beast-lord +(Paçupati, Lord of Cattle), the 'kindly' Çiva, appears as 'great god,' +whose names are Çankara, Prish[=a]taka, Bhava, Çarva, Ugra, Iç[=a]na +(Lord); who has all names and greatness, while he yet is described in +the words of the older text as 'the god that desires to kill' ([=A]çv. +2. 2. 2; 4. 8. 9, 19,[15] 29, 32; _[=A]it. Br_. 3. 34). On the other +hand Vishnu is also adored, and that in connection with the [Greek: +logos], or V[=a]c (_ib_. 3. 3. 4). Quite in Upanishad manner--for it +is necessary to show that these were then really known--is the formula +'thou art a student of _pr[=a][n.]a_ (Breath,) and art given over to +Ka' (_ib_. 1. 20. 8.), or _'whom?'_ In [=A]çval[=a]yana no Upanishads +are given in the list of literature, which includes the 'Eulogies of +men,' Itih[=a]sas, Pur[=a]nas, and even the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata (3. 3. +1; 4. 4). But in 1. 13. 1, _Upanishad-rites_ (and that of a very +domestic nature) are recognized, which would corroborate the +explanation of Upanishad given above, as being at first a subsidiary +work, dealing with minor points.[16] Something of the sciolism of the +Upanishads seems to lie in the prayer that of the four paths on which +walk the gods the mortal may be led in that which bestows 'freedom +from death' (P[=a]r. 3. 1. 2); and many of the teachers famous in the +Upanishads are now revered by name like gods ([=A]çv. 3. 4. 4, etc.). + +On turning from these domestic S[=u]tras to the legal S[=u]tras it +becomes evident that the pantheistic doctrine of the Upanishads, and +in part the Upanishads themselves, were already familiar to the +law-makers, and that they influenced, in some degree, the doctrines of +the law, despite the retention of the older forms. Not only is +_sams[=a]ra_ the accepted doctrine, but the _[=a]tm[=a]_, as if in a +veritable Upanishad, is the object of religious devotion. Here, +however, this quest is permitted only to the ascetic, who presumably +has performed all ritualistic duties and passed through the stadia +that legally precede his own. + +Of all the legal S[=u]tra-writers Gautama is oldest, and perhaps is +pre-buddhistic. Turning to his work one notices first that the +M[=i]m[=a]msist is omitted in the list of learned men (28. 49);[17] +but since the Upanishads and Ved[=a]nta are expressly mentioned, it is +evident that the author of even the oldest S[=u]tra was acquainted +with whatever then corresponded to these works.[18] The opposed +teaching of hell versus _sams[=a]ra_ is found in Gautama. But there is +rather an interesting attempt to unite them. Ordinarily it is to hell +and heaven that reference is made, _e.g_., 'the one that knows the law +obtains the heavenly world' (28. 52); 'if one speak untruth to a +teacher, even in thought, even in respect to little things, he slays +seven men after and before him' (seven descendants and seven +ancestors, 23. 31). So in the case of witnesses: 'heaven (is the +fruit) for speaking the truth; otherwise hell' (13. 7); 'for stealing +(land) hell' (is the punishment, _ib_. 17). Now and then comes the +philosophical doctrine: 'one does not fall from the world of +Brahm[=a]' (9. 74); 'one enters into union and into the same world +with Brahm[=a]' (8. 25). + +But in 21. 4-6 there occurs the following statement: 'To be an outcast +is to be deprived of the works of the twice-born, and hereafter to be +deprived of happiness; this some (call) hell.' It is evident here that +the expression _asiddhis_ (deprivation of success or happiness) is +placed optionally beside _naraka_ (hell) as the view of one set of +theologians compared with that of another; 'lack of obtaining success, +_i.e_., reward' stands parallel to 'hell.' In the same chapter, where +Manu says that he who assaults a Brahman "obtains hell for one hundred +years" (M. xi. 207), Gautama (21. 20) says "for one hundred years, +lack of heaven" (_asvargyam_), which may mean hell or the deprivation +of the result of merit, _i.e_., one hundred years will be deducted +from his heavenly life. In this case not a new and better birth but +heaven is assumed to be the reward of good acts. Now if one turns to +11. 29-30 he finds both views combined. In the parallel passage in +[=A]pastamba only better or worse re-births are promised as a reward +for good or evil (2. 5. 11. 10-11); but here it is said: "The castes +and orders that remain by their duty, having died, having enjoyed the +fruits of their acts, with the remnant of their (merit) obtain +re-birth, having an excellent country, caste, and family; having long +life, learning, good conduct, wealth, happiness, and wisdom. They of +different sort are destroyed in various ways." Here, heavenly joys +(such as are implied by _ni[h.]çreyasam_ in 26) are to be enjoyed +first, and a good birth afterwards, and by implication one probably +has to interpret the next sentence to mean 'they are sent to hell and +then re-born in various low births.' This, too, is Manu's rule +(below). At this time the sacred places which purify are in great +vogue, and in Gautama a list of them is given (19. 14), viz.: "all +mountains, all rivers, holy pools, places of pilgrimage (_i.e_., +river-fords, _tirth[=a]ni_), homes of saints, cow-pens, and altars." +Of these the _tirthas_ are particularly interesting, as they later +become of great importance, thousands of verses in the epic being +devoted to their enumeration and praise. + +Gautama says also that ascetics, according to some teachers, need not +be householders first (3. 1), and that the Brahman ascetic stays at +home during the rainy season, like the heretic monks (_ib_. 13). If +one examine the relative importance of the forms and spirit of +religion as taught in this, the oldest _dharma-s[=u]tra_,[19] he will +be impressed at first with the tremendous weight laid on the former as +compared with the latter. But, as was said apropos of the Brahmanic +literature, one errs who fails to appreciate the fact that these works +are intended not to give a summary of religious conduct, but to +inculcate ceremonial rules. Of the more importance, therefore, is the +occasional pause which is made to insist, beyond peradventure, on the +superiority of moral rules. A very good instance of this is found in +Gautama. He has a list of venial sins. Since lying is one of the most +heinous offences to a Hindu lawgiver, and the penances are severe, all +the treatises state formally that an untruth uttered in fun, or when +one is in danger, or an oath of the sort implied by Plato: [Greek: +_aphrodision orkon ou phasin einai_],--all these are venial, and so +are lies told to benefit a (holy) cow, or to aid a priest; or told +from religious motives of any sort without self-interest. This is +almost the only example of looseness in morals as taught in the law. +But the following case shows most plainly the importance of morality +as opposed to formal righteousness. After all the forty sacraments (to +which allusion was made above), have been recounted, there are given +'eight good qualities of the soul,' viz., mercy, forbearance, freedom +from envy, purity, calmness, correct behavior, freedom from greed and +from covetousness. Then follows: "He that has (performed) the forty +sacraments but has not the eight good qualities enters not into union +with Brahm[=a], nor into the heaven of Brahm[=a].[20] But he that has +(performed) only a part of the forty sacraments and has the eight good +qualities enters into union with Brahm[=a], and into the heaven of +Brahm[=a]." This is as near to heresy as pre-buddhistic Brahmanism +permitted itself to come. + +In the later legal S[=u]tra of the northern Vasistha[21] occurs a rule +which, while it distinctly explains what is meant by liberality, viz., +gifts to a priest, also recognizes the 'heavenly reward': "If gifts +are given to a man that does not know the Veda the divinities are not +satisfied" (3. 8). In the same work (6. 1) 'destruction' is the fate +of the sinner that lives without observance of good custom; yet is it +said in the same chapter (27): "If a twice-born man dies with the food +of a Ç[=u]dra (lowest caste) in his belly, he would become a village +pig, or he is born again in that (Ç[=u]dra's) family"; and, in respect +to sons begotten when he has in him such food: "Of whom the food, of +him are these sons; and he himself would not mount to heaven ... he +does not find the upward path" (29, 28). In _ib_. 8. 17 the Brahman +that observes all the rules 'does not fall from _brahmaloka,' i.e_., +the locality of Brahm[=a]. Further, in 10. 4: "Let (an ascetic) do +away with all (sacrificial) works; but let him not do away with one +thing, the Veda; for from doing away with the Veda (one becomes) a +Ç[=u]dra." But, in the same chapter: "Let (the ascetic) live at the +end of a village, in a temple ('god's house'), in a deserted house, or +at the root of a tree; there in his mind studying the knowledge (of +the _[=a]tm[=a]_) ... so they cite (verses): 'Sure is the freedom from +re-birth in the case of one that lives in the wood with passions +subdued ... and meditates on the supreme spirit' ... Let him not be +confined to any custom ... and in regard to this (freedom from worldly +pursuits) they cite these verses: 'There is no salvation (literally +'release') for a philologist (_na çabdaç[=a]str[=a]bhiratasya +mokshas_), nor for one that delights in catching (men) in the world, +nor for one addicted to food and dress, nor for one pleased with a +fine house. By means of prodigies, omens, astrology, palmistry, +teaching, and talking let him not seek alms ... he best knows +salvation who (cares for naught)' ... (such are the verses). Let him +neither harm nor do good to anything.... Avoidance of disagreeable +conduct, jealousy, presumption, selfishness, lack of belief, lack of +uprightness, self-praise, blame of others, harm, greed, distraction, +wrath, and envy, is a rule that applies to all the stadia of life. The +Brahman that is pure, and wears the girdle, and carries the gourd in +his hand, and avoids the food of low castes fails not of obtaining the +world of Brahm[=a]" (_ib_. 10. 18 ff.). Yama, the Manes, and evil +spirits (_asuras_) are referred to in the following chapter (20, 25); +and hell in the same chapter is declared to be the portion of such +ascetics as will not eat meat when requested to do so at a feast to +the Manes or gods (11. 34),--rather an interesting verse, for in +Manu's code the corresponding threat is that, instead of going to hell +'for as long, _i.e_., as many years, as the beast has hairs,' as here, +one shall experience 'twenty-one rebirths,' _i.e_., the hell-doctrine +in terms of _sams[=a]ra_; while the same image occurs in Manu in the +form 'he that slaughters beasts unlawfully obtains as many rebirths as +there are hairs on the beast' (v. 35. 38). The passive attitude +sometimes ascribed to the Manes is denied; they rejoice over a +virtuous descendant (11. 41); a bad one deprives them of the heaven +they stand in (16. 36). The authorities on morals are here, as +elsewhere, Manu and other seers, the Vedas, and the Father-god, who +with Yama gives directions to man in regard to lawful food, etc. (14. +30). The moral side of the code, apart from ritual impurities, +is given, as usual, by a list of good and bad qualities (above), +while formal laws in regard to theft, murder (especially of a +priest), adultery and drunkenness (20. 44; i. 20), with violation +of caste-regulations by intercourse with outcasts, are 'great +crimes.' Though older than [=A]pastamba, who mentions the +P[=u]rva-m[=i]m[=a]ms[=a], Vasistha, too, knows the Ved[=a]nta (3. +17), and the M[=i]m[=a]ms[=a] (_vikalpin--tarkin_, 3. 20, M. XII. +111). + +From the S[=u]tras of B[=a]udh[=a]yana's probably southern school +something of additional interest is to be gained. Here 'darkness' +takes the place of hell (2. 3. 5. 9), which, however, by a citation is +explained (in 2. 2. 3. 34) as 'Yama's hall.' A verse is cited to show +that the greatest sin is lack of faith (1. 5. 10. 6) and not going to +heaven is the reward of folly (_ib_. 7); while the reward of virtue is +to live in heaven for long (4. 8. 7). The same freedom in regard to +ascetics as occurs in other S[=u]tra works is to be found in this +author, not in the more suspicious final chapters, but in that part of +the work which is accepted as oldest,[22] and agrees with the data +found in the Br[=a]hmanas, where the pre-buddhistic monk is called +Bhikshu, 'beggar/or Sanny[=a]sin 'he that renounces,' just as these +terms are employed in the heretical writings. As among the Jains (and +Buddhists), the Brahmanic ascetic carries a few simple utensils, and +wanders about from house to house and village to village, begging +food. Some authorities (among the Brahmans) say that one may become an +ascetic as soon as he has completed his study, though ordinarily this +may be done only after passing through the householder stadium. On +becoming an ascetic the beggar takes the vow not to injure any living +thing (B[=a]udh. II.10.17.2. 11, 29), exactly as the Jain ascetic +takes the vow of non-injury. More than this, as will be seen below, +the details of the Brahman ascetic's vows are almost identical with +those of the Jain ascetic. He vows not to injure living beings, not to +lie, not to steal, to be continent, to be liberal; with the five minor +vows, not to get angry, to obey the Teacher, not to be rash, to be +cleanly and pure in eating.[23] To this ascetic order in the Brahman +priesthood may be traced the origin of the heretical monks. Even in +the Br[=a]hmanas occur the termini technici of the Buddhist +priesthood, notably the Çramana or ascetic monk, and the word +_buddha_, 'awakened' (_pratibudh_). The 'four orders' are those +enumerated as the householder, student, ascetic, and forest-hermit. If +one live in all four orders according to rule, and be serene, he will +come to peace, that is, salvation ([=A]pastamba, 2. 9. 21. I, 2). + +According to this later legal writer, who belongs to Southern +India,[24] it is only after one has passed through all the preceding +stadia that he may give up works (sacrifice, etc.) and devote himself +to seeking the [=a]tm[=a],'wandering about, without caring for earth +or heaven, renouncing truth and falsehood, pleasure and pain' (_ib_. +10, 13). There follows this passage one significant of the opposition +between purely Upanishad-ideas and those of the law-givers: +'Acquirement of peace (salvation) depends, it is said, on knowledge; +this is opposed by the codes. If on knowledge (depended) acquirement +of peace, even here (in this world) one would escape grief' (_ib._ +14-16). Further, in describing the forest-hermit's austerities (_ib._ +23. 4 ff.), verses from a Pur[=a]na are cited which are virtually +Upanishadic: 'The eight and eighty thousand seers who desired +offspring (went) south on Aryaman's path, and obtained (as their +reward) graves; (but) the eight and eighty thousand who did not desire +offspring (went) north on Aryaman's path and make for themselves +immortality,' that is to say 'abandon desire for offspring; and of the +two paths (which, as the commentator observes, are mentioned in the +Ch[=a]ndogya Upanishad), that which gives immortality instead of death +(graves) will be yours.' It is admitted that such ascetics have +miraculous powers; but the law-maker emphatically protests in the +following S[=u]tra against the supposition that a rule which stands +opposed to the received rites (marriage, sacrifice, etc.) is of any +power, and asserts that for the future life an endless reward +('fruit'), called in revelation 'heavenly,' is appointed (_ib._ 8-11). +The next chapter, however, limits, as it were, this dogma, for it is +stated that immortality is the re-birth of one's self in the body of +one's son, and a verse is cited: 'Thou procreatest progeny, and that's +thy immortality, O mortal,' with other verses, which teach that sons +that attend to the Vedic rites magnify the fame and heaven of their +ancestors, who 'live in heaven until the destruction of creation' +_([=a] bh[=u]tasamptav[=a]t_, 2. 9. 24. 5), But 'according to the +Bhavishyat-Pur[=a]na' after this destruction of creation 'they exist +again in heaven as the cause of seed' (_ib._) 6. And then follows a +quotation from the Father-god: 'We live with those people who do these +(following) things: (attend to) the three Vedas, live as students, +create children, sacrifice to the Manes, do penance, make sacrifice to +the gods, practice liberality; he that extols anything else becomes +air (or dust) and perishes' (_ib._) 8; and further: 'only they that +commit sin perish' (not their ancestors). + +The animus of this whole passage is apparent. The law-maker has to +contend with them that would reject the necessity of following in +order the traditional stadia of a priest's life; that imagine that by +becoming ascetics without first having passed through the preliminary +stadia they can by knowledge alone attain the bliss that is obtained +by union with _brahma_ (or Brahm[=a]). In other words the jurist has +to contend with a trait eminently anti-Brahmanistic, even Buddhistic. +He denies this value of knowledge, and therewith shows that what he +wishes to have inculcated is a belief in the temporary personal +existence of the Manes; in heaven till the end of the world-order; and +the annihilation of the wicked; while he has a confused or mixed +opinion in regard to one's own personal immortality, believing on the +one hand that there is a future existence in heaven with the gods, and +on the other (rather a materialistic view) that immortality is nothing +but continued existence in the person of one's descendants, who are +virtually one's self in another body: _dehatvam ev[=a]'nyat,_ "only +the body is different" (_ib_) 2. As to cosmogony it is stated to be +(not the emanation of an _[=a]tm[=a]_) but the "emission (creation) of +the Father-god and of the seers" (the latter being visible as stars, +_ib_. 13, 14). In this there is plainly a received popular opinion, +which reflects the Vedic and Brahmanic stage, and is opposed to the +philosophical views of the Upanishads, in other words of the first +Vedantic philosophy; while it is mixed up with the late doctrine of +the cataclysms, which ruin each succeeding^ creation. The equal +annihilation of the wicked (_dhvamsanti_) and unorthodox (_dhvamsate_) +is to be noticed. They are here subject neither to hell nor to +rebirth, but they "become dust and perish" (_ib_. 8. 9). + +Throughout the whole legal literature one will find this same +antithesis of views in regard to the fate of good and bad, although it +is seldom that annihilation is predicated of the latter. Usually hell +or rebirth are their fate--two views, which no one can really +reconcile. They are put side by side; exactly as in priestly +discussion in India and Europe it still remains an unsettled question +as to when the soul becomes immortal.[25] Occidental experience +teaches how easy it is for such views to stand together unattacked, +although they are the object of speculation. This passage is perhaps, +historically, the most satisfactory (as it is philosophically +unsatisfactory) that can be cited in answer to the questions that were +posed above. But from other parts of legal literature a few more +statements may be culled, to illustrate still further the lack of +uniformity not only in popular belief, but in the teaching provided +for the public. First from the same work of [=A]pastamba, in 2. 11. +29. 9-10 it is said that if a witness in court perjure himself he +shall be punished by the king, "and further, in passing to the next +world, hell" (is his portion); whereas "(the reward) for truth is +heaven, and praise on the part of all creatures." Now, let one compare +first _ib_. 2. 5. 11. 10-11: "Men of low castes are reborn in higher +castes in successive births, and men of high castes in low castes, if +they respectively perform and neglect their duties." And then this +Vedantic passage of the same author (1. 8. 22 ff.): "Let one (as +penance for sin) devote himself to the Yoga (mental discipline) which +has to do with the highest _[=a]tm[=a]_ ... Nothing is known higher +than the acquisition of _[=a]tm[=a]_. We shall (now) cite some +_[=a]tm[=a]_-acquisition-verses, viz.: All living creatures (are) the +citadel of him that rests in secret, the indestructible one, the +immaculate one. Immortal they that devote themselves to the moveless +one who has a movable dwelling ... the great one whose body is light, +universal, free ... the eternal (part) in all creatures, the wise, +immortal, unchanging one, limbless, voiceless, formless, touchless, +purest, the highest goal. He that everywhere devotes himself to Him +(_[=a]tm[=a]_ as Lord), and always lives accordingly; that by virtue +of Yoga recognizes Him, the subtile one, shall rejoice in the top of +heaven ... He, _[=a]tm[=a],_ comprehends all, embraces all, more +subtile than a lotus-thread and huger than the earth ... From him are +created all bodies; he is the root, he the Everlasting, the Eternal +One." + +This discipline it will be observed is enjoined as penance and to get +rid of faults, that is, to subdue the passions. As the same chapter +contains a list of the faults which are to be overcome before one +"arrives at peace" (salvation) they may be cited here: "Anger, joy, +wrath, greed, distraction, injury, threats, lying, over-eating, +calumny, envy, sexual desire, and hate, lack of studying _[=a]tm[=a],_ +lack of Yoga--the destruction of these (faults) is based on Yoga" +(mental concentration). On the other hand: "He that devotes himself, +in accordance with the law, to avoiding anger, joy, wrath, greed, +distraction, injury, threats, lies, over-eating, calumny and envy; and +practices liberality, renunciation, uprightness, kindness, subduing +(of the passions), self-control; and is at peace with all creatures; +and practices Yoga; and acts in an [=A]ryan (noble) way; and does not +hurt anything; and has contentment--qualities which, it is agreed, +appertain to all the (four) stadia--he becomes _s[=a]rvag[=a]min" +(ib._ 23.6), that is 'one belonging to the all-pervading' (All-soul). +There appears to be a contradiction between the former passage, where +Yoga is enjoined on ascetics alone; and this, where Yoga is part of +the discipline of all four stadia. But what was in the author's mind +was probably that all these vices and moral virtues are enumerated as +such for all; and he slips in mental concentration as a virtue for the +ascetic, meaning to include all the virtues he knows. + +A few further illustrations from that special code which has won for +itself a preeminent name, 'the law-book of Manu,'[26] will give in +epitome the popular religion as taught to the masses; withal even +better than this is taught in the S[=u]tras. For Father Manu's +law-book, as the Hindus call it, is a popular Ç[=a]stra or metrical[27] +composite of law and religion, which reflects the opinion of +Brahmanism in its geographical stronghold, whereas the S[=u]tras +emanate from various localities, north and south. To Manu there is but +one Holy Land, the Kurus' plain and the region round-about it (near +Delhi). + +The work takes us forward in time beyond even the latest S[=u]tras, +but the content is such as to show that formal Brahmanism in this +latest stage still keeps to its old norm and to Brahmanic models. + +It deserves therefore to be examined with care from several points of +view if one would escape from the belief of the philosopher to the +more general teaching. In this popular religion all morality is +conditioned by the castes,[28] which is true also to a certain degree +of the earlier Sutras, but the evil fruit of this plant is not there +quite so ripe as it is in the later code. The enormity of all crimes +depends on who commits them, and against whom they are committed. The +three upper castes alone have religious privileges. The lowest caste, +outcasts, women, and diseased persons are not allowed to hear the holy +texts or take part in ceremonies.[29] As to the rites, they are the +inherited ones, sacrifices to gods, offerings to Manes and spirits, +and all the ceremonies of house and individual, as explained above; +with especial and very minute rules of observance for each of the four +stadia of a priest's life.[30] There is no hint in any of this of the +importance of the knowledge of the _[=a]tm[=a]._ But in their proper +place the rules of morality and the higher philosophical views are +taught. The doctrine of re-birth is formally stated, and the +attainment of the world of Brahm[=a] _(brahma)_ by union of ceremonies +and knowledge is inculcated. The ascetic should seek, by meditation, +to go to Brahm[=a] (or _brahma_) for when he is utterly indifferent, +then, both here and after death, he gains everlasting happiness. +Therefore he should study the Vedas, but especially the teachings in +regard to the Supreme Spirit, and the Upanishads; studying the +Ved[=a]nta is a regular part of his final discipline (VI, 74-94). In +another part of the work the distinction made in the Upanishads is +upheld, that religious acts are of two sorts, one designed to procure +bliss, and cause a good man to reach equality with the gods; the other +performed without selfish motive; by which latter "even the five +elements are overcome," that is, the absorption into _brahma_ is +effected. For "among all virtuous acts the knowledge of the spirit, +_[=a]tm[=a],_ is highest; through this is obtained even immortality. +One that sees spirit in all things and all things in spirit sacrifices +to spirit and enters Brahm[=a] (or _brahma_)" "The spirit (or self) is +all divinities; the All is based on spirit." And in Upanishadic vein +the Person is then proclaimed as lord of gods, whom "some call fire, +some call Manu, some call Indra, some call air, and some call eternal +_brahma._" But though this be the view of the closing verses, yet in +the beginning of the work is this Person represented as being produced +from a First Cause. It would be out of place here to analyse the +conflicting philosophical views of the Manu code. Even his +commentators are uncertain whether he belonged to the pantheistic +Ved[=a]nta or dualistic S[=a]nkhya school. For them that believe in no +Manu the solution is simpler. Although Manu is usually called a +Puranic Sankhyan, yet are both schools represented, and that without +regard to incongruous teaching. Manu is no more Sankhyan than +Vedantic. Indeed in the main part of the work the teaching is clearly +more Vedantic. But it suffices here to point out that the +_[=a]tm[=a]_-philosophy and religion is not ignored; it is taught as +essential. Nevertheless, it is not taught in such a way as to indicate +that it is requisite for the vulgar. On the contrary, it is only when +one becomes an ascetic that he is told to devote himself to the +pursuit of the knowledge of _[=a]tm[=a]_. In one passage there is +evidence that two replies were given to this fundamental question in +regard to works and knowledge. For after enumerating a list of good +acts, among which are knowledge and Vedic ceremonies, it is asked +which among them most tends to deliverance. The answer is vital. Or it +should be, but it is given in an ambiguous form (xii. 85-6): "Amid all +these acts the knowledge of self, _[=a]tm[=a],_ is the highest, for it +produces immortality. Amid all these acts the one most productive of +happiness, both after death and in this life, is the Vedic ceremony." + +Knowledge gives real immortality; rites give temporary bliss. The +Upanishads teach that the latter is lower than the former, but each +answers the question. There were two answers, and Manu gives both. +That is the secret of many discrepancies in Hindu rules. The law-giver +cannot admit absolutely and once for all that the Vedic ceremony is of +no abiding use, as it can be of no use to one that accepts the higher +teaching. He keeps it as a training and allows only the ascetic to be +a philosopher indeed. But at the same time he gives as a sort of +peroration to his treatise some 'elegant extracts' from philosophical +works, which he believes theoretically, although practically he will +not allow them to influence his ritualism. He is a true Brahman +priest. + +It is this that is always so annoying in Brahmanic philosophy. For the +slavery of tradition is everywhere. Not only does the ritualist, while +admitting the force of the philosopher's reasons, remain by Vedic +tradition, and in consequence refuse to supplant 'revelation' with the +higher wisdom and better religion, which he sees while he will not +follow it; but even the philosopher must needs be 'orthodox,' and, +since the scriptures themselves are self-contradictory, he is obliged +to use his energies not in discovering truth, but in reconciling his +ancestors' dogmas, in order to the creation of a philosophical system +which shall agree with everything that has been said in the Vedas and +Upanishads. When one sees what subtlety and logical acumen these +philosophers possessed, he is moved to wonder what might have been the +outcome had their minds been as free as those of more liberal Hellas. +But unfortunately they were bound to argue within limits, and were as +much handicapped in the race of thought as were they that had to +conform to the teachings of Rome. For though India had no church, it +had an inquisitorial priestly caste, and the unbeliever was an +outcast. What is said of custom is true of faith: "Let one walk in the +path of good men, the path in which his father walked, in which his +grandfathers walked; walking in that path one does no wrong" (Manu iv. +178). Real philosophy, unhampered by tradition, is found only among +the heretics and in the sects of a later time. + +The gods of old are accepted by the orthodox as a matter of course, +although theoretically they are born of the All-god, who is without +the need of ceremonial rites. To the other castes the active and most +terrible deity is represented as being the priest himself. He not only +symbolizes the fire-god, to whom is offered the sacrifice, but he +actually is the divinity in person. Hence there is no greater merit +than in giving gifts to priests. As to eschatology, opinions are not +contrasted any more. They are put side by side. In morality truth, +purity, and harmlessness are chiefly inculcated. But the last +(ascribed by some scholars to Buddhistic influence) is not permitted +to interfere with animal sacrifices. + +Some of the rules for the life of a householder will show in brief the +moral excellence and theoretical uncertainty of Manu's law-code. The +following extracts are from the fourth, the Ten Commandments from the +sixth, and the description of the hells (twenty-two in all)[31] from +the fourth and twelfth books of Manu's code. These rules may be +accepted as a true reflexion of what was taught to the people by +stringent Brahmanism as yet holding aloof from Hinduism. + +A householder must live without giving any pain (to living creatures). +He must perform daily the ceremonies ordained in the Veda. In this way +he obtains heaven. Let him never neglect the offerings to seers, gods, +spirits (sprites), men, and Manes. Some offer sacrifice only in their +organs of sense (not in external offerings); some by knowledge alone. +Let him not explain law and rites to the Ç[=u]dra (slave) caste; if he +does so, he sinks into the hell Boundless. Let him not take presents +from an avaricious king who disobeys the law-codes; if he does so, he +goes to twenty-one hells (called Darkness, Dense-darkness, Frightful, +Hell, Thread of Death, Great Hell, Burning, Place of Spikes, +Frying-pan, River of Hell, etc., etc., etc.). Let him never despise a +warrior, a snake, or a priest. Let him never despise himself. Let him +say what is true and what is agreeable, but not disagreeable truth or +agreeable false-hood. Let him not dispute with anybody, but let him +say 'very well.' Let him not insult anybody. Remembering his former +births, and studying the Veda again and again, he gets endless +happiness. Let him avoid unbelief and censure of the Vedas, reviling +of gods, hatred, pride, anger, and cruelty. He that even threatens a +priest will go to the hell Darkness for one hundred years; if he +strikes him he will be born in twenty-one sinful rebirths (according +to another passage in the eleventh book he goes to hell for a thousand +years for the latter offence). Priests rule the world of gods. But +deceitful, hypocritical priests go to hell. Let the householder give +gifts, and he will be rewarded. One that gives a garment gets a place +in the moon; a giver of grain gets eternal happiness; a giver of the +Veda gets union with Brahm[=a] (_brahma_; these gifts, of course, are +all to priests). He that gives respectfully and he that receives +respectfully go to heaven; otherwise both go to hell. Let him, without +giving pain to any creature, slowly pile up virtue, as does an ant its +house, that he may have a companion in the next world. For after death +neither father, nor mother, nor son, nor wife, nor relations are his +companions; his virtue alone remains with him. The relations leave the +dead body, but its virtue follows the spirit: with his virtue as his +companion he will traverse the darkness that is hard to cross; and +virtue will lead him to the other world with a luminous form and +ethereal body. A priest that makes low connections is reborn as a +slave. The Father-god permits a priest to accept alms even from a bad +man. For fifteen years the Manes refuse to accept food from one that +despises a free gift. A priest that sins should be punished (that is, +mulcted, a priest may not be punished corporally), more than an +ordinary man, for the greater the wisdom the greater the offence. They +that commit the Five Great Sins live many years in hells, and +afterwards obtain vile births; the slayer of a priest becomes in turn +a dog, a pig, an ass, a camel, a cow, a goat, a sheep, etc, etc. A +priest that drinks intoxicating liquor becomes various insects, one +after another. A priest that steals becomes a spider, snake, etc, etc. +By repeating sinful acts men are reborn in painful and base births, +and are hurled about in hells; where are sword-leaved trees, etc, and +where they are eaten, burned, spitted, and boiled; and they receive +births in despicable wombs; rebirth to age, sorrow, and unquenchable +death. But to secure supreme bliss a priest must study the Veda, +practice austerity, seek knowledge, subdue the senses, abstain from +injury, and serve his Teacher. Which of these gives highest bliss? The +knowledge of the spirit is the highest and foremost, for it gives +immortality. The performance of Vedic ceremonies is the most +productive of happiness here and hereafter. The Ten Commandments for +the twice-born are: Contentment, patience, self-control, not to steal, +purity, control of passions, devotion (or wisdom), knowledge, +truthfulness, and freedom from anger. These are concisely summarized +again in the following: 'Manu declared the condensed rule of duty for +(all) the four castes to be: not to injure a living thing; to speak +the truth; not to steal; to be pure; to control the passions' (VI. 92; +X. 63). The 'non-injury' rule does not apply, of course, to sacrifice +(_ib_. III. 268). In the epic the commandments are given sometimes as +ten, sometimes as eight. + +In order to give a completed exposition of Brahmanism we have passed +beyond the period of the great heresies, to which we must soon revert. +But, before leaving the present division of the subject, we select +from the mass of Brahmanic domestic rites, the details of which offer +in general little that is worth noting, two or three ceremonies which +possess a more human interest, the marriage rite, the funeral rite, +and those strange trials, known among so many other peoples, the +ordeals. We sketch these briefly, wishing merely to illustrate the +religious side of each ceremony, as it appears in one or more of its +features. + + +THE MARRIAGE RITE. + +Traces of exogamy may be suspected in the bridegroom's driving off +with his bride, but no such custom, of course, is recognized in the +law. On the contrary, the groom is supposed to belong to the same +village, and special rites are enjoined 'if he be from another +village.' But again, in the early rule there is no trace of that taint +of family which the totem-scholars of to-day cite so loosely from +Hindu law. The girl is not precluded because she belongs to the same +family within certain degrees. The only restriction in the +House-rituals is that she shall have had "on the mother's and father's +side" wise, pious, and honorable ancestors for ten generations +([=A]çvl. I. 5). Then comes the legal restriction, which some scholars +call 'primitive,' that the wife must not be too nearly related. The +girl has her own ordeal (not generally mentioned among ordeals!): The +wooer that thus selects his bride (this he does if one has not been +found already either by his parents or by his own inclination) makes +eight balls of earth and calls on the girl to choose one ('may she get +that to which she is born'). If she select a ball made from the earth +of a field that bears two crops, she (or her child) will be rich in +grain; if from the cow-stall, rich in cattle; if from the place of +sacrifice, godly; if from a pool that does not dry, gifted; if from +the gambler's court, devoted to gambling; if from cross-roads, +unfaithful; if from a barren field, poor in grain; if from the +burying-ground, destructful of her husband. There are several forms of +making a choice, but we confine ourselves to the marriage.[32] In +village-life the bridegroom is escorted to the girl's house by young +women who tease him. The bridegroom presents presents to the bride, +and receives a cow. The bridegroom takes the bride's hand, saying 'I +take thy hand for weal' (Rig Veda, X. 85. 36), and leads her to a +certain stone, on which she steps first with the right foot (toe). +Then three times they circumambulate the fire, keeping it to the +right, an old Aryan custom for many rites, as in the _deisel_ of the +Kelts; the bride herself offering grain in the fire, and the groom +repeating more Vedic verses. They then take together the seven solemn +steps (with verses),[33] and so they are married. The groom, if of +another village, now drives away with the bride, and has ready Vedic +verses for every stage of the journey. After sun-down the groom points +out the north star, and admonishes the bride to be no less constant +and faithful. Three or twelve days they remain chaste, some say one +night; others say, only if he be from another village. The new husband +must now see to the house-fire, which he keeps ever burning, the sign +of his being a householder. + + +THE FUNERAL CEREMONY. + +Roth has an article in the Journal of the German Oriental Society +(VIII. 467) which is at once a description of one of the funeral hymns +o£ the Rig Veda (X. 18) with the later ritual, and a criticism of the +bearing of the latter on the former.[34] He shows here that the +ritual, so far from having induced the hymn, totally changes it. The +hymn was written for a burial ceremony. The later ritual knows only +cremation. The ritual, therefore, forces the hymn into its service, +and makes it a cremation-hymn. This is a very good (though very +extreme) example of the difference in age between the early hymns of +the Rig Veda and the more modern ritual. Müller, _ib_. IX. p. I +(_sic_), has given a thorough account of the later ritual and +ritualistic paraphernalia. We confine ourselves here to the older +ceremony. + +The scene of the Vedic hymn is as follows: The friends and relatives +stand about the corpse of a married man. By the side of the corpse +sits the widow. The hymn begins: "Depart, O Death, upon some other +pathway, upon thy path, which differs from the path of gods ... harm +not our children, nor our heroes.... These living ones are separated +from the dead; successful today was our call to the gods. (This man is +dead, but) _we_ go back to dancing and to laughter, extending further +our still lengthened lives." Then the priest puts a stone between the +dead and living: "I set up a wall for the living, may no one of these +come to this goal; may they live an hundred full harvests, and hide +death with this stone...." + +The matrons assembled are now bid to advance without tears, and make +their offerings to the fire, while the widow is separated from the +corpse of her husband and told to enter again into the world of the +living. The priest removes the dead warrior's bow from his hand: "Let +the women, not widows, advance with the ointment and holy butter; and +without tears, happy, adorned, let them, to begin with, mount to the +altar (verse 7, p. 274, below). Raise thyself, woman, to the world of +the living; his breath is gone by whom thou liest; come hither; of the +taker of thy hand (in marriage), of thy wooer thou art become the +wife[35] (verse 8). I take the bow from the hand of the dead for our +(own) lordship, glory, and strength." Then he addresses the dead: +"Thou art there, and we are here; we will slay every foe and every +attacker (with the power got from thee). Go thou now to Mother Earth, +who is wide opened, favorable, a wool-soft maiden to the good man; may +she guard thee from the lap of destruction. Open, O earth, be not +oppressive to him; let him enter easily; may he fasten close to thee. +Cover him like a mother, who wraps her child in her garment. Roomy and +firm be the earth, supported by a thousand pillars; from this time on +thou (man) hast thy home and happiness yonder; may a sure place remain +to him forever. I make firm the earth about thee; may I not be harmed +in laying the clod here; may the fathers hold this pillar for thee, +and Yama make thee a home yonder." + +In the Atharva Veda mention is made of a coffin, but none is noticed +here. + +Hillebrandt (_loc. cit_. xl. 711) has made it probable that the eighth +verse belongs to a still older ritual, according to which this verse +is one for human sacrifice, which is here ignored, though the text is +kept.[36] 'Just so the later ritual keeps all this text, but twists it +into a crematory rite. For in the later period only young children are +buried. Of burial there was nothing for adults but the collection of +bones and ashes. At this time too the ritual consists of three parts, +cremation, collection of ashes, expiation. How are these to be +reconciled with this hymn? Very simply. The rite is described and +verses from the hymn are injected into it without the slightest +logical connection. That is the essence of all the Brahmanic +ritualism. The later rite is as follows: Three altars are erected, +northwest, southwest, and southeast of a mound of earth. In the fourth +corner is the corpse; at whose feet, the widow. The brother of the +dead man, or an old servant, takes the widow's hand and causes her to +rise while the priest says "Raise thyself, woman, to the world of the +living." Then follows the removal of the bow; or the breaking of it, +in the case of a slave. The body is now burned, while the priest says +"These living ones are separated from the dead"; and the mourners +depart without looking around, and must at once perform their +ablutions of lustration. After a time the collection of bones is made +with the verse "Go thou now to Mother Earth" and "Open, O earth." Dust +is flung on the bones with the words "Roomy and firm be the earth"; +and the skull is laid on top with the verse "I make firm the earth +about thee." In other words the original hymn is fitted to the ritual +only by displacement of verses from their proper order and by a forced +application of the words. After all this comes the ceremony of +expiation with the use of the verse "I set up a wall" without +application of any sort. Further ceremonies, with further senseless +use of other verses, follow in course of time. These are all explained +minutely in the essay of Roth, whose clear demonstration of the +modernness of the ritual, as compared with the antiquity of the hymn +should be read complete. + +The seventh verse (above) has a special literature of its own, since +the words "let them, to begin with, mount the altar," have been +changed by the advocates of _suttee_, widow-burning, to mean 'to the +place of fire'; which change, however, is quite recent. The burning of +widows begins rather late in India, and probably was confined at first +to the pet wife of royal persons. It was then claimed as an honor by +the first wife, and eventually without real authority, and in fact +against early law, became the rule and sign of a devoted wife. The +practice was abolished by the English in 1829; but, considering the +widow's present horrible existence, it is questionable whether it +would not be a mercy to her and to her family to restore the right of +dying and the hope of heaven, in the place of the living death and +actual hell on earth in which she is entombed to-day. + + +ORDEALS.[37] + +Fire and water are the means employed in India to test guilt in the +earlier period. Then comes the oath with judgment indicated by +subsequent misfortune. All other forms of ordeals are first recognized +in late law-books. We speak first of the ordeals that have been +thought to be primitive Aryan. The Fire-ordeal: (1) Seven fig-leaves +are tied seven times upon the hands after rice has been rubbed upon +the palms; and the judge then lays a red-hot ball upon them; the +accused, or the judge himself, invoking the god (Fire) to indicate the +innocence or the guilt of the accused. The latter then walks a certain +distance, 'slowly through seven circles, each circle sixteen fingers +broad, and the space between the circles being of the same extent,' +according to some jurists; but other dimensions, and eight or nine +circles are given by other authorities. If the accused drop the ball +he must repeat the test. The burning of the hands indicates guilt. The +Teutonic laws give a different measurement, and state that the hand is +to be sealed for three days (manus sub sigillo triduum tegatur) before +inspection. This sealing for three days is paralleled by modern Indic +practice, but not by ancient law. In Greece there is the simple +[Greek: _mudrous airein cheroin_] (Ant. 264) to be compared. The +German sealing of the hand is not reported till the ninth century.[38] + +(2) Walking on Fire: There is no ordeal in India to correspond to the +Teutonic walking over six, nine, or twelve hot ploughshares. To lick a +hot ploughshare, to sit on or handle hot iron, and to take a short +walk over coals is _late_ Indic. The German practice also according to +Schlagintweit "war erst in späterer Zeit aufgekommen."[39] + +(3) Walking through Fire: This is a Teutonic ordeal, and (like the +conflict-ordeal) an Indic custom not formally legalized. The accused +walks directly into the fire. So [Greek: _pur dierpein] (loc. cit_.). + +Water-ordeals: (1) May better be reckoned to fire-ordeals. The +innocent plunges his hand into boiling water and fetches out a stone +(Anglo-Saxon law) or a coin (Indic law) without injury to his hand. +Sometimes (in both practices) the plunge alone is demanded. The depth +to which the hand must be inserted is defined by Hindu jurists. + +(2) The Floating-ordeal. The victim is cast into water. If he floats +he is guilty; if he drowns he is innocent. According to some Indic +authorities an arrow is shot off at the moment the accused is dropped +into the water, and a 'swift runner' goes after and fetches it back. +"If at his return he find the body of the accused still under water, +the latter shall be declared to be innocent."[40] According to Kaegi +this ordeal would appear to be unknown in Europe before the ninth +century. In both countries Water (in India, Varuna) is invoked not to +keep the body of a guilty man but to reject it (make it float). + +Food-ordeal: Some Hindu law-books prescribe that in the case of +suspected theft the accused shall eat consecrated rice. If the gums be +not hurt, no blood appear on spitting, and the man do not tremble, he +will be innocent. This is also a Teutonic test, but it is to be +observed that the older laws in India do not mention it. + +On the basis of these examples (not chosen in historical sequence) +Kaegi has concluded, while admitting that ordeals with a general +similarity to these have arisen quite apart from Aryan influence, that +there is here a bit of primitive Aryan law; and that even the minutiae +of the various trials described above are _un_-Aryan. This we do +not believe. But before stating our objections we must mention another +ordeal. + +The Oath: While fire and water are the usual means of testing crime in +India, a simple oath is also permitted, which may involve either the +accused alone or his whole family. If misfortune, within a certain +time (at once, in seven days, in a fortnight, or even half a year) +happen to the one that has sworn, he will be guilty. This oath-test is +also employed in the case of witnesses at court, perjury being +indicated by the subsequent misfortune (Manu, viii. 108).[41] + +Our objections to seeing primitive Aryan law in the minutiae of +ordeals is based on the gradual evolution of these ordeals and of +their minutiae in India itself. The earlier law of the S[=u]tras +barely mentions ordeals; the first 'tradition law' of Manu has only +fire, water, and the oath. All others, and all special descriptions +and restrictions, are mentioned in later books alone. Moreover, the +earliest (pre-legal) notice of ordeals in India describes the carrying +of hot iron (in the test of theft) as simply "bearing a hot axe," +while still earlier there is only walking through fire.[42] + +To the tests by oath, fire, and water of the code of Manu are soon +added in later law those of consecrated water, poison, and the +balance. Restrictions increase and new trials are described as one +descends the series of law-books (the consecrated food, the hot-water +test, the licking of the ploughshare, and the lot), Some of these +later forms have already been described. The further later tests we +will now sketch briefly. + +Poison: The earliest poison-test, in the code of Y[=a]jñavalkya (the +next after Manu), is an application of aconite-root, and as the poison +is very deadly, the accused is pretty sure to die. Other laws give +other poisons and very minute restrictions, tending to ease the +severity of the trial. + +The Balance-test: This is the opposite of the floating-test. The +man[43] stands in one scale and is placed in equilibrium with a weight +of stone in the other scale. He then gets out and prays, and gets in +again. If the balance sinks, he is guilty; if it rises, he is +innocent. + +The Lot-ordeal: This consists in drawing out of a vessel one of two +lots, equivalent respectively to _dharma_ and _adharma_, right and +wrong. Although Tacitus mentions the same ordeal among the Germans, it +is not early Indic law, not being known to any of the ancient legal +codes. + +One may claim without proof or disproof that these are all 'primitive +Aryan'; but to us it appears most probable that only the idea of the +ordeal, or at most its application in the simplest forms of water and +fire (and perhaps oath) is primitive Aryan, and that all else +(including ordeal by conflict) is of secondary growth among the +different nations. + +As an offset to the later Indic tendency to lighten the severity of +the ordeal may be mentioned the description of the floating-test as +seen by a Chinese traveller in India in the seventh century A.D.:[44] +"The accused is put into a sack and a stone is put into another sack. +The two sacks are connected by a cord and flung into deep water. If +the sack with the man sinks and the sack with the stone floats the +accused is declared to be innocent." + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Literally, transmigration, the doctrine of + metempsychosis, successive births; first, as in Plato: + [Greek: _metabolê tis tugchanei ousa kai metoikêois tê + psuchê ton topon tou enthende eis allon tochon_], then + _metabole_, from 'the other place,' back to earth; then, + with advancing speculation, fresh _metabole_ again, and so + on; a theory more or less clumsily united with the + bell-doctrine.] + + [Footnote 2: Weber has lately published two monographs on + the sacrifices, the R[=a]jas[=u]ya and the V[=a]japeya + rites, both full of interesting details and popular + features.] + + [Footnote 3: The traditional sacrifices are twenty-one in + number, divided into three classes of seven each. The formal + divisions are (1) oblations of butter, milk, corn, etc.; (2) + _soma_ sacrifices; (3) animal sacrifices, regarded as part + of the first two. The sacrifice of the new and full moon is + to be repeated on each occasion for thirty years. A + _sattra_, session, is a long sacrifice which may last a year + or more.] + + [Footnote 4: The latter are the metrical codes, a part of + Smriti (sm[r.]ti).] + + [Footnote 5: The Five Paramount Sacrifices (Observances) + are, according to Manu III. 70, study of the Veda (or + teaching it); sacrifice to the Manes and to the gods; + offerings of foods to ghosts (or spirits); and hospitality.] + + [Footnote 6: In the report of the Or. Congress for 1880, p. + 158 ff., Williams has a very interesting account of the + daily rites of the modern orthodox Hindu ('_Rig Veda in + Religious Service_').] + + [Footnote 7: We ignore here the later distinction between + the Ved[=a]nta and S[=a]nkhya systems. Properly speaking, + the latter is dualistic.] + + [Footnote 8: At a later date Buddha himself is admitted into + the Brahmanic pantheon as an _avatar_ of the All-god!] + + [Footnote 9: Sometimes regarded as one with Praj[=a]pati, + and sometimes treated as distinct from him.] + + [Footnote 10: Thus (for the priestly ascetic alone) in M. + vi. 79: 'Leaving his good deeds to his loved ones and his + evil deeds to his enemies, by force of meditation he goes to + the eternal _brahma_.' Here _brahma_; but in Gautama perhaps + Brahm[=a].] + + [Footnote 11: That is, when the latter are grouped as in the + following list. Our point is that, despite new faith and new + gods, Vedic polytheism is taught not as a form but as a + reality, and that in this period the people still believe as + of old in the old gods, though they also acknowledge new + ones (below).] + + [Footnote 12: Compare Manu, ix. 245: "Varuna is the lord of + punishment and holdeth a sceptre (punishment) even over + kings."] + + [Footnote 13: In new rites, for instance. Thus in P[=a]rask. + _Grih. S_. 3. 7 a silly and dirty rite 'prevents a slave + from running away'; and there is an ordeal for girls before + becoming engaged (below).] + + [Footnote 14: Blood is poured out to the demons in order + that they may take this and no other part of the sacrifice, + _[=A]it. Br_. ii. 7. 1.] + + [Footnote 15: Here. 4. 8. 19, Çiva's names are Hara, Mrida, + Çarva, Çiva, Bhava, Mah[=a]deva, Ugra, Bhima, Paçupati, + Rudra, Çankara, Içana.] + + [Footnote 16: These rites are described in 6. 4. 24 of the + _Brihad [=A]ranyaka Upanishad_ which consists both of + metaphysics and of ceremonial rules.] + + [Footnote 17: Especially mentioned in the later Vasistha + (see below); on _m[=i]m[=a]ms[=a]_ a branch of the + Ved[=a]nta system see below.] + + [Footnote 18: The commentator here (19. 12, cited by Bühler) + defines Ved[=a]nta as the part of the [=A]ranyakas which are + not Upanishads, that is, apparently as a local 'Veda-end' + (_veda-anta_), though this meaning is not admitted by some + scholars, who will see in _anta_ only the meaning 'goal, + aim.'] + + [Footnote 19: The Rudra (Çiva) invocation at 26. 12 ff. is + interpolated, according to Bühler.] + + [Footnote 20: Here there is plainly an allusion to the two + states of felicity of the Upanishads. Whether the law-giver + believes that the spirit will be united with Brahm[=a] or + simply live in his heaven he does not say.] + + [Footnote 21: Gautama, too, is probably a Northerner. The + S[=u]tra, it should be observed, are not so individual as + would be implied by the name of the teachers to whom they + are credited. They were each texts of a school, _carana_, + but they are attributed uniformly to a special teacher, who + represents the _cara[n.]a_, as has been shown by Müller. For + what is known in regard to the early 'S[=u]tra-makers' see + Bühler's introductions to volumes ii. and xiv. of the Sacred + Books.] + + [Footnote 22: Compare Bühler's Introduction, p. XXXV, SBE. + vol. XIV.] + + [Footnote 23: B[=a]udh. II. 18. 2-3. Compare Jacobi's + Introduction, p. XXIII ff. of SBE. vol. XXII.] + + [Footnote 24: Bühler (Introduction, p. XXXI) gives as the + district of the [=A]pastamb[=i]ya school parts of the Bombay + Presidency, the greater parts of the Niz[=a]m's possessions, + and parts of the Madras Presidency. Apastamba himself refers + to Northerners as if they were foreigners (_loc. cit.)_.] + + [Footnote 25: In India the latter question is: does the soul + immediately at death unite with the _[=a]tm[=a]_ or does it + travel to it. In Europe: does the soul wait for the Last + Day, or get to heaven immediately? Compare Maine, _Early Law + and Custom_, p. 71.] + + [Footnote 26: Thought by some scholars to have been + developed out of the code of The M[=a]navas; but ascribed by + the Hindus to Father Manu, as are many other verses of legal + character contained in the epic and elsewhere.] + + [Footnote 27: Although S[=u]tras may be metrical too in + part, yet is the complete metrical form, as in the case of + still later Ç[=a]stra, evidence that the work is intended + for the general public.] + + [Footnote 28: The priest alone, in the post-Vedic age, has + the right to teach the sacred texts; he has immunity from + bodily punishment; the right to receive gifts, and other + special privileges. The three upper castes have each the + right and duty of studying the sacred texts for a number of + years.] + + [Footnote 29: Weber has shown, _loc. cit_., that the + Ç[=u]dras did attend some of the more popular ceremonies, + and at first apparently even took a part in them.] + + [Footnote 30: The 'four orders' or stadia of a priest's + life, student, householder, hermit, ascetic, must not be + confused with the 'four (political) orders' (castes), + priest, warrior, farmer, slave--to which, from time to time, + were added many 'mixed castes,' as well as 'outcasts,' and + natural pariahs. At the time of Manu's code there were + already many of these half-assimilated groups.] + + [Footnote 31: Theoretically, twenty-one; but an extra one + has slipped in by mistake.] + + [Footnote 32: The girl is given or bought, or may make her + own choice among different suitors. Buying a wife is + reprehended by the early law-givers (therefore, customary). + The rite of marriage presupposes a grown girl, but + child-marriages also were known to the early law.] + + [Footnote 33: The groom 'releases her from Varuna's fetter,' + by symbolically loosening the hair. They step northeast, and + he says: 'One step for sap; two for strength; three for + riches; four for luck; five for children; six for the + seasons; seven for friendship. Be true to me--may we have + many long-lived sons.'] + + [Footnote 34: There is another funeral hymn, X. 16, in which + the Fire is invoked to burn the dead, and bear him to the + fathers; his corporeal parts being distributed 'eye to the + sun, breath to the wind,' etc.] + + [Footnote 35: See below.] + + [Footnote 36: Compare Weber, _Streifen_, I. 66; The king's + first wife lies with a dead victim, and is bid to come back + again to life. Levirate marriage is known to all the codes, + but it is reprehended by the same code that enjoins it. (M. + ix. 65.)] + + [Footnote 37: The ordeal is called _divyam_ + (_pram[=a][n.]am_) 'Gottesurtheil.' This means of + information is employed especially in a disputed debt and + deposit, and according to the formal code is to be applied + only in the absence of witnesses. The code also restricts + the use of fire, water, and poison to the slaves (Y[=a]j. + ii. 98).] + + [Footnote 38: Kaegi. _Alter und Herkunft des Germanischen + Gottesurtheils_, p. 50. We call especial attention to the + fact that the most striking coincidences in details of + practice are not early either in India or Germany.] + + [Footnote 39: Schlagintweit, _Die Gattesurtheile der + Indier_, p. 24.] + + [Footnote 40: This is the earliest formula. Later law-books + describe the length and strength of the bow, and some even + give the measure of distance to which the arrow must be + shot. Two runners, one to go and one to return, are + sometimes allowed. There is another water-ordeal "for + religious men." The accused is to drink consecrated water. + If in fourteen (or more or less) days no calamity happen to + him he will be innocent. The same test is made in the case + of the oath and of poison (below).] + + [Footnote 41: In the case of witnesses Manu gives seven days + as the limit. When one adopts the oath as an ordeal the + misfortune of the guilty is supposed to come 'quickly.' As + an ordeal this is not found in the later law. It is one of + the Greek tests (_loc. cit_.). When swearing the Hindu holds + water or holy-grass.] + + [Footnote 42: AV. ii. 12 is not a certain case of this, but + it is at least Brahmanic. The carrying of the axe is alluded + to in the Ch[=a]ndogya Upanishad (Schlagintweit, _Die + Gattesurtheile der Indier_, p. 6).] + + [Footnote 43: Y[=a]jñavalkya (_loc. cit_.) restricts this + test to women, children, priests, the old, blind, lame, and + sick. On _ph[=a]la_ for _agni, ib._ ii. 99, see ZDMG. ix. + 677.] + + [Footnote 44: Schlagintweit, _loc. cit_. p. 26 (Hiouen + Thsang).] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +JAINISM.[1] + + +One cannot read the Upanishads without feeling that he is already +facing an intellectual revolt. Not only in the later tracts, which are +inspired with devotion to a supreme and universal Lord, but even in +the oldest of these works the atmosphere, as compared with that of the +earlier Brahmanic period, is essentially different. The close and +stifling air of ritualism has been charged with an electrical current +of thought that must soon produce a storm. + +That storm reached a head in Buddhism, but its premonitory signs +appear in the Upanishads, and its first outbreak preceded the advent +of Gautama. Were it possible to draw a line of demarcation between the +Upanishads that come before and after Buddhism, it would be +historically more correct to review the two great schisms, Jainism and +Buddhism, before referring to the sectarian Upanishads. For these +latter in their present form are posterior to the rise of the two +great heresies. But, since such a division is practically uncertain in +its application, we have thought it better in our sketch of the +Upanishads and legal literature to follow to the end the course of +that agitated thought, which, starting with the great identification +of _jiva_, the individual spirit, and _[=a]tm[=a]_, the world-spirit, +the All, continues till it loses itself in a multiplication of +sectarian dogmas, where the All becomes the god that has been elected +by one communion of devotees.[2] + +The external characteristics of Upanishad thought are those of a +religion that has replaced formal acts by formal introspection. The +Yogin devotee, who by mystic communion desires absorption into the +world-spirit, replaces the Sanny[=a]sin and Yati ascetics, who would +accomplish the same end by renunciation and severe self-mortification. +This is a fresh figure on the stage of thought, where before were mad +Munis, beggars, and miracle-mongers. On this stage stands beside the +ascetic the theoretical theosophist who has succeeded in identifying +himself, soberly, not in frenzy, with God.[3] What were the practical +results of this teaching has been indicated in part already. The +futility of the stereotyped religious offices was recognized. But +these offices could not be discarded by the orthodox. With the lame +and illogical excuse that they were useful as discipline, though +unessential in reality, they were retained by the Brahman priest. Not +so by the Jain; still less so by the Buddhist. + +In the era in which arose the public revolt against the dogmatic +teaching of the Brahman there were more sects than one that have now +passed away forgotten. The eastern part of India, to which appertain +the later part of the Çatapatha Br[=a]hmana and the schismatic +heresies, was full of religious and philosophical controversy. The +great heretics were not innovators in heresy. The Brahmans permitted, +encouraged, and shared in theoretical controversy. There was nothing +in the tenets of Jainism or of Buddhism that from a philosophical +point of view need have caused a rupture with the Brahmans. + +But the heresies, nevertheless, do not represent the priestly caste, +so much as the caste most apt to rival and to disregard the claim of +the Brahman, viz., the warrior-caste. They were supported by kings, +who gladly stood against priests. To a great extent both Jainism and +Buddhism owed their success (amid other rival heresies with no less +claim to good protestantism) to the politics of the day. The kings of +the East were impatient of the Western church; they were pleased to +throw it over. The leaders in the 'reformation' were the younger sons +of noble blood. The church received many of these younger sons as +priests. Both Buddha and Mah[=a]v[=i]ra were, in fact, revolting +adherents of the Brahmanic faith, but they were princes and had +royalty to back them. + +Nor in the Brahmanhood of Benares was Brahmanhood at its strongest. +The seat of the Vedic cult lay to the westward, where it arose, in the +'holy land,' which received the Vedic Aryans after they had crossed +out of the Punj[=a]b. With the eastward course of conquest the +character of the people and the very orthodoxy of the priests were +relaxed. The country that gave rise to the first heresies was one not +consecrated to the ancient rites. Very slowly had these rites marched +thither, and they were, so to speak, far from their religious base of +supplies. The West was more conservative than the East. It was the +home of the rites it favored. The East was but a foster-father. New +tribes, new land, new growth, socially and intellectually,--all these +contributed in the new seat of Brahmanhood to weaken the hold of the +priests upon their speculative and now recalcitrant laity. So before +Buddha there were heretics and even Buddhas, for the title was +Buddha's only by adoption. But of most of these earlier sects one +knows little. Three or four names of reformers have been handed down; +half a dozen opponents or rivals of Buddha existed and vied +with him. Most important of these, both on account of his probable +priority and because of the lasting character of his school, was the +founder or reformer of Jainism, Mah[=a]v[=i]ra Jñ[=a]triputra,[4] who +with his eleven chief disciples may be regarded as the first open +seceders from Brahmanism, unless one assign the same date to the +revolt of Buddha. The two schisms have so much in common, especially +in outward features, that for long it was thought that Jainism was a +sub-sect of Buddhism. In their legends, in the localities in which +they flourished, and in many minutiae of observances they are alike. +Nevertheless, their differences are as great as the resemblance +between them, and what Jainism at first appeared to have got of +Buddhism seems now to be rather the common loan made by each sect from +Brahmanism. It is safest, perhaps, to rest in the assurance that the +two heresies were contemporaries of the sixth century B.C, and leave +unanswered the question which Master preceded the other, though we +incline to the opinion that the founder of Jainism, be he +Mah[=a]v[=i]ra or his own reputed master, P[=a]rçvan[=a]tha, had +founded his sect before Gautama became Buddha. But there is one good +reason for treating of Jainism before Buddhism,[5] and that is, that +the former represents a theological mean between Brahmanism and +Buddhism. + +Mah[=a]v[=i]ra, the reputed founder of his sect, was, like Buddha +and perhaps his other rivals, of aristocratic birth. His father is +called king, but he was probably hereditary chief of a district +incorporated as a suburb of the capital city of Videha, while by +marriage he was related to the king of Videha, and to the ruling house +of M[=a]gadha. His family name was Jñ[=a]triputra, or, in his own +Prakrit (Ardham[=a]gadh[=i]) dialect, N[=a]taputta; but by his sect he +was entitled the Great Hero, Mah[=a]v[=i]ra; the Conqueror, Jina; the +Great One, Vardham[=a]na (Vardahmana in the original), etc. His sect +was that of the Nirgranthas (Nigganthas), _i.e_., 'without bonds,' +perhaps the oldest name of the whole body. Later there are found no +less than seven sub-sects, to which come as eighth the Digambaras, in +contradistinction to all the seven Çvet[=a]mbara sects. These two +names represent the two present bodies of the church, one body being +the Çvet[=a]mbaras, or 'white-attire' faction, who are in the north +and west; the other, the Digambaras, or 'sky-attire,' _i.e_., naked +devotees of the south. The latter split off from the main body about +two hundred years after Mah[=a]v[=i]ra's death; as has been thought by +some, because the Çvet[=a]mbaras refused to follow the Digambaras in +insisting upon nakedness as the rule for ascetics.[6] The earlier +writings show that nakedness was recommended, but was not +compulsory.[7] Other designations of the main sects, as of the +sub-sects, are found. Thus, from the practice of pulling out the hairs +of their body, the Jains were derisively termed Luñcitakeças, or +'hair-pluckers.' The naked devotees of this school are probably the +gymnosophists of the Greek historians, although this general term may +have been used in describing other sects, as the practice of +dispensing with attire is common even to-day with many Hindu +devotees.[8] + +An account of the Jain absurdities in the way of speculation would +indeed give some idea of their intellectual frailty, but, as in the +case of the Buddhists, such an account has but little to do with their +religion. It will suffice to state that the 'ages' of the Brahmans +from whom Jain and Buddhist derived their general conceptions of the +ages, are here reckoned quite differently; and that the first Jina of +the long series of pre-historic prophets lived more than eight million +years and was five hundred bow-lengths in height. Monks and laymen now +appear at large in India, a division which originated neither with +Jain nor Buddhist,[9] though these orders are more clearly divided +among the heretics, from whom, again, was borrowed by the Hindu sects, +the monastic institution, in the ninth century (A.D.), in all the +older heretical completeness. Although atheistic the Jain worshipped +the Teacher, and paid some regard to the Brahmanical divinities, just +as he worships the Hindu gods to-day, for the atheistical systems +admitted gods as demi-gods or dummy gods, and in point of fact became +very superstitious. Yet are both founder-worship and superstition +rather the growth of later generations than the original practice. The +atheism of the Jain means denial of a divine creative Spirit.[10] + +Though at times in conflict with the Brahmans the Jains never departed +from India as did the Buddhists, and even Brahmanic priests in some +parts of India serve today in Jain temples. + +In metaphysics as in religion the Jain differs radically from the +Buddhist. He believes in a dualism not unlike that of the S[=a]nkhyas, +whereas Buddhistic philosophy has no close connection with this +Brahmanic system. To the Jain eternal matter stands opposed to eternal +spirits, for (opposed to pantheism) every material entity (even water) +has its own individual spirit. The Jain's Nirv[=a]na, as Barth has +said, is escape from the body, not escape from existence.[11] Like the +Buddhist the Jain believes in reincarnation, eight births, after one +has started on the right road, being necessary to the completion of +perfection. Both sects, with the Brahmans, insist on the non-injury +doctrine, but in this regard the Jain exceeds his Brahmanical +teacher's practice. Both heretical sects claim that their reputed +founders were the last of twenty-four or twenty-five prophets who +preceded the real founder, each successively having become less +monstrous (more human) in form. + +The Jain literature left to us is quite large[12] and enough has been +published already to make it necessary to revise the old belief in +regard to the relation between Jainism and Buddhism. + +We have said that Jainism stands nearer to Brahmanism (with which, +however, it frequently had quarrels) than does Buddhism.[13] The most +striking outward sign of this is the weight laid on asceticism, which +is common to Brahmanism and Jainism but is repudiated by Buddhism. +Twelve years of asceticism are necessary to salvation, as thinks the +Jain, and this self-mortification is of the most stringent sort. But +it is not in their different conception of a Nirv[=a]na release rather +than of annihilation, nor in the S[=a]nkhya-like[14] duality they +affect, nor yet in the prominence given to self-mortification that the +Jains differ most from the Buddhists. The contrast will appear more +clearly when we come to deal with the latter sect. At present we take +up the Jain doctrine for itself. + +The 'three gems' which, according to the Jains,[15] result in the +spirit's attainment of deliverance are knowledge, faith, and virtue, +or literally 'right knowledge, right intuition, and right practices.' +Right knowledge is a true knowledge of the relation of spirit and +not-spirit (the world consists of two classes, spirit and non-spirit), +the latter being immortal like the former. Right intuition is absolute +faith in the word of the Master and the declarations of the [=A]gamas, +or sacred texts. Right practices or virtue consists, according to the +Yogaç[=a]stra, in the correct fivefold conduct of one that has +knowledge and faith: (1) Non-injury, (2) kindness and speaking which +is true (in so far as the truth is pleasant to the hearer),[16] (3) +honorable conduct, typified by 'not stealing,' (4) chastity in word, +thought, and deed, (5) renunciation of earthly interests. + +The doctrine of non-injury found but modified approval among the +Brahmans. They limited its application in the case of +sacrifice, and for this reason were bitterly taunted by the Jains as +'murderers.' "Viler than unbelievers," says the Yogaç[=a]stra, quoting +a law of Manu to the effect that animals may be slain for sacrifice, +"all those cruel ones who make the law that teaches killing."[17] For +this reason the Jain is far more particular in his respect for life +than is the Buddhist. Lest animate things, even plants and +animalculae, be destroyed, he sweeps the ground before him as he goes, +walks veiled lest he inhale a living organism, strains water, and +rejects not only meat but even honey, together with various fruits +that are supposed to contain worms; not because of his distaste for +worms but because of his regard for life. Other arguments which, +logically, should not be allowed to influence him are admitted, +however, in order to terrify the hearer. Thus the first argument +against the use of honey is that it destroys life; then follows the +argument that honey is 'spit out by bees' and therefore it is +nasty.[18] + +The Jain differs from the Buddhist still more in ascetic practices. He +is a forerunner, in fact, of the horrible modern devotee whose +practices we shall describe below. The older view of seven hells in +opposition to the legal Brahmanic number of thrice seven is found (as +it is in the M[=a]rkandeya Pur[=a]na), but whether this be the rule we +cannot say.[19] It is interesting to see that hell is prescribed with +metempsychosis exactly as it is among the Brahmans.[20] Reincarnation +onearth and punishment in hells between reincarnation seems to be the +usual belief. The salvation which is attained by the practice of +knowledge, faith, and five-fold virtue, is not immediate, but it will +come after successive reincarnations; and this salvation is the +freeing of the eternal spirit from the bonds of eternal matter; in +other words, it is much more like the 'release' of the Brahman than it +is like the Buddhistic Nirv[=a]na, though, of course, there is no +'absorption,' each spirit remaining single. In the order of the +Ratnatraya or 'three gems' Çankara appears to lay the greatest weight +on faith, but in Hemacandra's schedule knowledge[21] holds the first +place. This is part of that Yoga, asceticism, which is the most +important element in attaining salvation.[22] + +Another division of right practices is cited by the Yogaç[=a]stra (I. +33 ff.): Some saints say that virtue is divided into five kinds of +care and three kinds of control, to wit, proper care in walking, +talking, begging for food, sitting, and performing natural functions +of the body--these constitute the five kinds of care, and the kinds of +control are those of thought, speech, and act. This teaching it is +stated, is for the monks. The practice of the laity is to accord with +the custom of their country. + +The chief general rules for the laity consist in vows of obedience to +the true god, to the law, and to the (present) Teacher; which are +somewhat like the vows of the Buddhist. God here is the Arhat, the +'venerable' founder of the sect. The laic has also five lesser vows: +not to kill, not to lie, not to steal, not to commit adultery or +fornication, to be content with little. + +According to the Ç[=a]stra already cited the laic must rise early in +the morning, worship the god's idol at home, go to the temple and +circumambulate the Jina idol three times, strewing flowers, and +singing hymnsand then read the Praty[=a]khy[=a]na (an old P[=u]rva, +gospel).[23] Further rules of prayer and practice guide him through +his day. And by following this rule he expects to obtain spiritual +'freedom' hereafter; but for his life on earth he is "without praise +or blame for this world or the next, for life or for death, having +meditation as his one pure wife" (iii. 150). He will become a god in +heaven, be reborn again on earth, and so, after eight successive +existences (the Buddhistic number), at last obtain salvation, release +(from bodies) for his eternal soul (153). + +As in the Upanishads, the gods, like men, are a part of the system of +the universe. The wise man goes to them (becomes a god) only to return +to earth again. All systems thus unite hell and heaven with the +_karma_ doctrine. But in this Jain work, as in so many of the orthodox +writings, the weight is laid more on hell as a punishment than on +rebirth. Probably the first Jains did not acknowledge gods at all, for +it is an early rule with them not to say 'God rains,' or use any such +expression, but to say 'the cloud rains'; and in other ways they avoid +to employ a terminology which admits even implicitly the existence of +divinities. Yet do they use a god not infrequently as an agent of +glorification of Mah[=a]v[=i]ra, saying in later writings that Indra +transformed himself, to do the Teacher honor; and often they speak of +the gods and goddesses as if these were regarded as spirits. Demons +and inferior beings are also utilized in the same way, as when it is +said that at the Teacher's birth the demons (spirits) showered gold +upon the town. + +The religious orders of the Çvet[=a]mbara sect contained nuns as well +as monks, although, as we have said, women are not esteemed very +favorably: "The world is greatly troubled by women. People say that +women are vessels of pleasure. But this leads them to pain, to +delusion, to death, to hell, to birth as hell-beings or brute-beasts." +Such is the decision in the [=A]e[=a]r[=a]nga S[=u]tra, or book of +usages for the Jain monk and nun. From the same work we extract a few +rules to illustrate the practices of the Jains. This literature is the +most tedious in the world, and to give the gist of the heretic +law-maker's manual will suffice. + +Asceticism should be practiced by monk and nun, if possible. But if +one finds that he cannot resist his passions, or is disabled and +cannot endure austerities, he may commit suicide; although this +release is sometimes reprehended, and is not allowable till one has +striven against yielding to such a means. But when the twelve years of +asceticism are passed one has assurance of reaching Nirv[=a]na, and so +may kill himself. Of Nirv[=a]na there is no description. It is +release, salvation, but it is of such sort that in regard to it +'speculation has no place,' and 'the mind cannot conceive of it' +(copied from the Upanishads). In other regards, in contrast to the +nihilistic Buddhist, the Jain assumes a doubtful attitude, so that he +is termed the 'may-be philosopher,' _sy[=a]dv[=a]din_,[24] in +opposition to the Buddhist, the philosopher of 'the void.' + +But if the Jain may kill himself, he may not kill or injure anything +else. Not even food prepared over a fire is acceptable, lest he hurt +the 'fire-beings,' for as he believes in water-beings, so he believes +in fire-beings, wind-beings, etc. Every plant and seed is holy with +the sacredness of life. He may not hurt or drive away the insects that +torment his naked flesh. 'Patience is the highest good,' he declares, +and the rules for sitting and lying conclude with the statement that +not to move at all, not to stir, is the best rule. To lie naked, +bitten by vermin, and not to disturb them, is religion. Like a true +Puritan, the Jain regards pleasure in itself as sinful. "What is +discontent, and what is pleasure? One should live subject to neither. +Giving up all gaiety, circumspect, restrained, one should lead a +religious life. Man! Thou art thine own friend; why longest thou for a +friend beyond thyself?... First troubles, then pleasures; first +pleasures, then troubles. These are the cause of quarrels." And again, +"Let one think, 'I am I.'" _i.e_., let one be dependent on himself +alone. When a Jain monk or nun hears that there is to be a festival +(perhaps to the gods, to Indra, Skahda, Rudra, Vishnu,[25] or the +demons, as in [=A]c[=a]r[=a]nga S[=u]tra, ii. 1. 2) he must not go +thither; he must keep himself from all frivolities and entertainments. +During the four months of the rainy season he is to remain in one +place,[26] but at other times, either naked or attired in a few +garments, he is to wander about begging. In going on his begging tour +he is not to answer questions, nor to retort if reviled. He is to +speak politely (the formulae for polite address and rude address are +given), beg modestly, and not render himself liable to suspicion on +account of his behavior when in the house of one of the faithful. +Whatever be the quality of the food he must eat it, if it be not a +wrong sort. Rice and beans are especially recommended to him. The +great Teacher Jñ[=a]triputra (Mah[=a]v[=i]ra), it is said, never went +to shows, pantomines, boxing-matches, and the like; but, remaining in +his parents' house till their death, that he might not grieve his +mother, at the age of twenty-eight renounced the world with the +consent of the government, and betook himself to asceticism; +travelling naked (after a year of clothes) into barbarous lands, but +always converting and enduring the reproach of the wicked. He was +beaten and set upon by sinful men, yet was he never moved to anger. +Thus it was that he became the Arhat, the Jina, the Kevalin (perfect +sage).[27] It is sad to have to add, however, that Mah[=a]v[=i]ra is +traditionally said to have died in a fit of apoplectic rage. + +The equipment of a monk are his clothes (or, better, none), his +alms-bowl, broom, and veil. He is 'unfettered,' in being without +desires and without injury to others. 'Some say that all sorts of +living beings may be slain, or abused, or tormented, or driven +away--the doctrine of the unworthy. The righteous man does not kill +nor cause others to kill. He should not cause the same punishment for +himself.' + +The last clause is significant. What he does to another living being +will be done to him. He will suffer as he has caused others to suffer. +The chain from emotion to hell--the avoidance of the former is on +account of the fear of the latter--is thus connected: He who knows +wrath knows pride; he who knows pride knows deceit; he who knows +deceit knows greed (and so on; thus one advances) from greed to love, +from love to hate, from hate to delusion, from delusion to conception, +from conception to birth, from birth to death, from death to hell, +from hell to animal existence, 'and he who knows animal existence +knows pain.' + +The five great vows, which have been thought by some scholars to be +copies of the Buddhistic rules, whereas they are really modifications +of the old Brahmanic rules for ascetics as explained in pre-Buddhistic +literature, are in detail as follows:[28] + +The First vow: I renounce all killing of living beings, whether +subtile or gross, whether movable or immovable. Nor shall I myself +kill living beings nor cause others to do it, nor consent to it. As +long as I live I confess and blame, repent and exempt myself of these +sins in the thrice threefold way,[29] in mind, speech, and body. + +The five 'clauses' that explain this vow are: (1) the Niggantha (Jain) +is careful in walking; (2) he does not allow his mind to act in a way +to suggest injury of living beings; (3) he does not allow his speech +to incite to injury; (4) he is careful in laying down his utensils; +(5) he inspects his food and drink lest he hurt living beings. + +The Second Vow: I renounce all vices of lying speech arising from +anger, or greed, or fear, or mirth. I confess (etc, as in the first +vow). + +The five clauses here explain that the Niggantha speaks only after +deliberation; does not get angry; renounces greed; renounces fear; +renounces mirth--lest through any of these he be moved to lie. + +The Third Vow: I renounce all taking of anything not given, either in +a village, or a town, or a wood, either of little or much, or small or +great, of living or lifeless things. I shall neither take myself what +is not given nor cause others to take it, nor consent to their taking +it. As long as I live I confess (etc., as in the first vow). + +The clauses here explain that the Niggantha must avoid different +possibilities of stealing, such as taking food without permission of +his superior. One clause states that he may take only a limited ground +for a limited time, _i.e_., he may not settle down indefinitely on a +wide area, for he may not hold land absolutely. Another clause insists +on his having his grant to the land renewed frequently. + +The Fourth Vow: I renounce all sexual pleasures, either with gods, or +men, or animals. I shall not give way to sensuality (etc). + +The clauses here forbid the Niggantha to discuss topics relating to +women, to contemplate the forms of women, to recall the pleasures and +amusements he used to have with women, to eat and drink too highly +seasoned viands, to lie near women. + +The Fifth Vow: I renounce all attachments, whether little or much, +small or great, living or lifeless; neither shall I myself form such +attachments, nor cause others to do so, nor consent to their doing so +(etc.). + +The five clauses particularize the dangerous attachments formed by +ears, eyes, smell, taste, touch. + +It has been shown above (following Jacobi's telling comparison of the +heretical vows with those of the early Brahman ascetic) that these +vows are taken not from Buddhism but from Brahmanism. Jacobi opines +that the Jains took the four first and that the reformer +Mah[=a]v[=i]ra added the fifth as an offset to the Brahmanical vow of +liberality.[30] The same writer shows that certain minor rules of the +Jain sect are derived from the same Brahmanical source. + +The main differences between the two Jain sects have been catalogued +in an interesting sketch by Williams,[31] who mentions as the chief +Jain stations of the north Delhi (where there is an annual gathering), +Jeypur, and [=A]jm[=i]r. To these Mathur[=a] on the Jumna should be +added.[32] The Çvet[=a]mbaras had forty-five or forty-six [=A]gamas, +eleven or twelve Angas, twelve Up[=a]ngas, and other scriptures of the +third or fourth century B.C., as they claim. They do not go naked +(even their idols are clothed), and they admit women into the order. +The Digambaras do not admit women, go naked, and have for sacred texts +later works of the fifth century A.D. The latter of course assert that +the scriptures of the former sect are spurious.[33] + +In distinction from the Buddhists the Jains of to-day keep up caste. +Some of them are Brahmans. They have, of course, a different +prayer-formula, and have no St[=u]pas or D[=a]gobas (to hold relics); +and, besides the metaphysical difference spoken of above, they differ +from the Buddhists in assuming that metempsychosis does not stop at +animal existence, but includes inanimate things (as these are regarded +by others). According to one of their own sect of to-day, +_ahi[.m]s[=a] paramo dharmas_, 'the highest law of duty is not to hurt +a living creature.'[34] + +The most striking absurdity of the Jain reverence for life has +frequently been commented upon. Almost every city of western India, +where they are found, has its beast-hospital, where animals are kept +and fed. An amusing account of such an hospital, called Pi[=n]jra Pol, +at Saurar[=a]shtra, Surat, is given in the first number of the +_Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_.[35] Five thousand rats were +supported in such a temple-hospital in Kutch.[36] + +Of all the great religious sects of India that of N[=a]taputta is +perhaps the least interesting, and has apparently the least excuse for +being.[37] The Jains offered to the world but one great moral truth, +withal a negative truth, 'not to harm,' nor was this verity invented +by them. Indeed, what to the Jain is the great truth is only a +grotesque exaggeration of what other sects recognized in a reasonable +form. Of all the sects the Jains are the most colorless, the most +insipid. They have no literature worthy of the name. They were not +original enough to give up many orthodox features, so that they seem +like a weakened rill of Brahmanism, cut off from the source, yet +devoid of all independent character. A religion in which the chief +points insisted upon are that one should deny God, worship man, and +nourish vermin, has indeed no right to exist; nor has it had as a +system much influence on the history of thought. As in the case of +Buddhism, the refined Jain metaphysics are probably a late growth. +Historically these sectaries served a purpose as early protestants +against ritualistic and polytheistic Brahmanism; but their real +affinity with the latter faith is so great that at heart they soon +became Brahmanic again. Their position geographically would make it +seem probable that they, and not the Buddhists, had a hand in the +making of the ethics of the later epic. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: We retain here and in Buddhism the usual + terminology. Strictly speaking, Jainism is to Jina (the + reformer's title) as is Bauddhism to Buddha, so that one + should say Jinism, Buddhism, or Jainism, Bauddhism. Both + titles, Jina and Buddha ('victor' and 'awakened'), were + given to each leader; as in general many other mutual titles + of honor were applied by each sect to its own head, Jina, + Arhat ('venerable'), Mah[=a]v[=i]ra ('great hero'), Buddha, + etc. One of these titles was used, however, as a title of + honor by the Jains, but to designate heretics by the Buddhists, + viz., T[=i]rthankara (T[=i]rthakara in the original), 'prophet' + (see Jacobi, SBE. xxii. Introd. p. xx).] + + [Footnote 2: It is possible, however, on the other hand, + that both Vishnuite and Çivaite sects (or, less anglicized, + Vaishnavas, Çaivas, if one will also say Vaidic for Vedic), + were formed before the end of the sixth century B.C. Not + long after this the divinities Çiva and Vishnu receive + especial honor.] + + [Footnote 3: The Beggar (Çramana, Bhikshu), the Renunciator + (Sanny[=a]s[=i]n), the Ascetic (Yati), are Brahmanic terms + as well as sectarian.] + + [Footnote 4: The three great reformers of this period are + Mah[=a]v[=i]ra, Buddha, and Gos[=a]la. The last was first a + pupil and then a rival of Mah[=a]v[=i]ra. The latter's + nephew, Jam[=a]li, also founded a distinct sect and became + his uncle's opponent, the speculative sectarian tendency + being as pronounced as it was about the same time in Hellas. + Gos[=a]la appears to have had quite a following, and his + sect existed for a long time, but now it is utterly + perished. An account of this reformer and of Jam[=a]li will + be found in Leumann's essay, _Indische Studien_, xvii. p. 98 + ff. and in the appendix to Rockhill's _Life of Buddha_.] + + [Footnote 5: The Nirgranthas (Jains) are never referred to + by the Buddhists as being a new sect, nor is their reputed + founder, N[=a]taputta, spoken of as their founder; whence + Jacobi plausibly argues that their real founder was older + than Mah[=a]v[=i]ra, and that the sect preceded that of + Buddha. Lassen and Weber have claimed, on the contrary, that + Jainism is a revolt against Buddhism. The identification of + N[=a]taputta (Jñ[=a]triputra) with Mah[=a]v[=i]ra is due to + Bühler and Jacobi (Kalpas[=u]tra, Introd. p.6).] + + [Footnote 6: According to Jacobi, ZDMG. xxxviii. 17, the + split in the party arose in this way. About 350 B.C. some + Jain monks under the leadership of Bhadrab[=a]hu went south, + and they followed stricter rules of asceticism than did + their fellows in the north. Both sects are modifications of + the original type, and their differences did not result in + sectarian separation till about the time of our era, at + which epoch arose the differentiating titles of sects that + had not previously separated into formal divisions, but had + drifted apart geographically.] + + [Footnote 7: Compare Jacobi, _loc. cit_. and Leumann's + account of the seven sects of the Çvet[=a]mbaras in the + essay in the _Indische Studien_ referred to above. At the + present day the Jains are found to the number of about a + million in the northwest (Çvet[=a]mbaras), and south + (Digambaras) of India. The original seat of the whole body + in its first form was, as we have said, near Benares, where + also arose and flourished Buddhism.] + + [Footnote 8: Hemacandra's Yogaç[=a]stra, edited by Windisch, + ZDMG. xxviii. 185 ff. (iii. 133). The Jain's hate of women + did not prevent his worshipping goddesses as the female + energy like the later Hindu sects. The Jains are divided in + regard to the possibility of woman's salvation. The + Yogaç[=a]stra alludes to women as 'the lamps that burn on + the road that leads to the gate of hell,' ii. 87. The + Digambaras do not admit women into the order, as do the + Çvet[=a]mbaras.] + + [Footnote 9: _Die Bharata-sage_, Leumann, ZDMG. xlviii. + p.65. See also above in the S[=u]tras. With the Jains there + is less of the monastic side of religion than with the + Buddhists.] + + [Footnote 10: Jains are sometimes called Arhats on account + of their veneration for the Arhat or chief Jina (whence + Jain). Their only real gods are their chiefs or Teachers, + whose idols are worshipped in the temples. Thus, like the + Buddhist and some Hindu sects of modern times, they have + given up God to worship man. Rather have they adopted an + idolatry of man and worship of womanhood, for they also + revere the female energy. Positivism has ancient models!] + + [Footnote 11: The Jain sub-sects did not differ much among + themselves in philosophical speculation. Their differences + were rather of a practical sort.] + + [Footnote 12: See the list of the Bertin MSS.; Weber, + _Berlin MSS_. vol. ii. 1892; and the thirty-third volume of + the German Oriental Journal, pp. 178, 693. For an account of + the literature see also Jacobi's introduction to the SBE. + vol. xxii; and Weber, _Ueber die heiligen Schriften der + Jaina_ in vols. xvi, xvii of the _Indische Studien_ + (translated by Smyth in the Indian Antiquary); and the + Bibliography (below).] + + [Footnote 13: A case of connection in legends between + Buddhist and Jain is mentioned below. Another is the history + of king Paêsi, elaborated in Buddhistic literature + (Tripitaka) and in the second Jain Up[=a]nga alike, as has + been shown by Leumann.] + + [Footnote 14: The Jain's spirit, however, is not a + world-spirit. He does not believe in an All-Spirit, but in a + plurality of eternal spirits, fire-spirits, wind-spirits, + plant-spirits, etc.] + + [Footnote 15: Compare Colebrooke's _Essays_, vol. II. pp. + 404, 444, and the Yogaç[=a]stra cited above.] + + [Footnote 16: This is not in the earlier form of the vow + (see below).] + + [Footnote 17: II. 37 and 41. Although the Brahman ascetic + took the vow not to kill, yet is he permitted to do so for + sacrifice, and he may eat flesh of animals killed by other + animals (Gautama, 3. 31).] + + [Footnote 18: _Loc. cit_. III. 37-38. The evening and night + are not times to eat, and for the same reason "The Gods eat + in the morning, the Seers at noon, the Fathers in the + afternoon, the devils at twilight and night" (_ib_. 58). For + at night one might eat a a living thing by mistake.] + + [Footnote 19: _Loc. cit_. II. 27.] + + [Footnote 20: The pun _m[=a][.m]sa, "Me eat_ will be + hereafter whose _meat_ I eat in this life" (Lanman), shows + that Jain and Brahman believed in a hell where the injured + avenged themselves (Manu, V. 55; HYÇ. III. 26), just as is + related in the Bhrigu story (above).] + + [Footnote 21: By intuition or instruction.] + + [Footnote 22: _Loc. cit_. I. 15 ff.] + + [Footnote 23: _Loc. cit_. 121 ff. Wilson, _Essays_, I. 319, + gives a description of the simple Jain ritual.] + + [Footnote 24: Who says "may be."] + + [Footnote 25: Mukunda.] + + [Footnote 26: This 'keeping _vasso_' is also a Brahmanic + custom, as Bühler has pointed out. But it is said somewhere + that at that season the roads are impossible, so that there + is not so much a conscious copying as a physical necessity + in keeping _vasso_; perhaps also a moral touch, owing to the + increase of life and danger of killing.] + + [Footnote 27: In the lives of the Jinas it is said that + Jñ[=a]triputra's (N[=a]taputta's) parents worshipped the + 'people's favorite,' P[=a]rçva, and were followers of the + Çramanas (ascetics). In the same work (which contains + nothing further for our purpose) it is said that Arhats, + Cakravarts, Baladevas, and Vasudevas, present, past, and + future, are aristocrats, born in noble families. The + heresies and sectaries certainly claim as much.] + + [Footnote 28: [=A]c[=a]r[=a]nga S. ii. 15. We give Jacobi's + translation, as in the verses already cited from this work.] + + [Footnote 29: Acting, commanding, consenting, past, present, + or future (Jacobi).] + + [Footnote 30: SBE. xxii. Introd. p. xxiv.] + + [Footnote 31: JRAS. xx. 279.] + + [Footnote 32: See Bühler, the last volume of the + _Epigraphica Indica_, and his other articles in the WZKM. v. + 59, 175. Jeypur, according to Williams, is the stronghold of + the Digambara Jains. Compare Thomas, JRAS. ix. 155, _Early + Faith of Açoka_.] + + [Footnote 33: The redaction of the Jain canon took place, + according to tradition, in 454 or 467 A.D. (possibly 527). + "The origin of the extant Jaina literature cannot be placed + earlier than about 300 B.C." (Jacobi, Introduction to _Jain + S[=u]tras_, pp. xxxvii, xliii). The present Angas + ('divisions') were preceded by P[=u]rvas, of which there are + said to have been at first fourteen. On the number of the + scriptures see Weber, _loc. cit_.] + + [Footnote 34: Williams, _loc. cit._ The prayer-formula is: + 'Reverence to Arhats, saints, teachers, subteachers, and all + good men.'] + + [Footnote 35: 'A place which is appropriated for the + reception of old, worn-out, lame, or disabled animals. At + that time (1823) they chiefly consisted of buffaloes and + cows, but there were also goats and sheep, and even cocks + and hens,' and also 'hosts of vermin.'] + + [Footnote 36: JRAS. 1834, p. 96. The town was taxed to + provide the food for the rats.] + + [Footnote 37: Because the Jains have reverted to idolatry, + demonology, and man-worship. But at the outset they appear + to have had two great principles, one, that there is no + divine power higher than man; the other, that all life is + sacred. One of these is now practically given up, and the + other was always taken too seriously.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +BUDDHISM. + + +While the pantheistic believer proceeded to anthropomorphize in a +still greater degree the _[=a]tm[=a]_ of his fathers, and eventually +landed in heretical sectarianism; while the orthodox Brahman simply +added to his pantheon (in Manu and other law-codes) the Brahmanic +figure of the Creator, Brahm[=a]; the truth-seeker that followed the +lines of the earlier philosophical thought arrived at atheism, and in +consequence became either stoic or hedonist. The latter school, the +C[=a]rv[=a]kas, the so-called disciples of Brihaspati, have, indeed, a +philosophy without religion. They simply say that the gods do not +exist, the priests are hypocrites; the Vedas, humbug; and the only +thing worth living for, in view of the fact that there are no gods, no +heaven, and no soul, is pleasure: 'While life remains let a man live +happily; let him not go without butter (literally _ghee_) even though +he run into debt,' etc.[1] Of sterner stuff was the man who invented a +new religion as a solace for sorrow and a refuge from the nihilism in +which he believed. + +Whether Jainism or Buddhism be the older heresy, and it is not +probable that any definitive answer to this question will ever be +given, one thing has become clear in the light of recent studies, +namely, the fact already shown, that to Brahmanism are due some of the +most marked traits of both the heretical sects. The founder of +Buddhism did not strike out a new system of morals; he was not a +democrat; he did not originate a plot to overthrow the Brahmanic +priesthood; he did not invent the order of monks.[2] There is, +perhaps, no person in history in regard to whom have arisen so many +opinions that are either wholly false or half false.[3] + +We shall not canvass in detail views that would be mentioned only to +be rejected. Even the brilliant study of Senart,[4] in which the +figure of Buddha is resolved into a solar type and the history of the +reformer becomes a sun-myth, deserves only to be mentioned and laid +aside. Since the publication of the canonical books of the southern +Buddhists there is no longer any question in regard to the human +reality of the great knight who illumined, albeit with anything but +heavenly light, the darkness of Brahmanical belief. Oldenberg[5] has +taken Senart seriously, and seriously answered him. But Napoleon and +Max Müller have each been treated as sun-myths, and Senart's essay is +as convincing as either _jeu d'esprit._ + +In Nep[=a]l, far from the site of Vedic culture, and generations after +the period of the Vedic hymns, was born a son to the noble family of +the Ç[=a]kyas. A warrior prince, he made at last exclusively his own +the lofty title that was craved by many of his peers, Buddha, the +truly wise, the 'Awakened.' + +The Ç[=a]kyas' land extended along the southern border of Nep[=a]l and +the northeast part of Oude (Oudh), between the Ir[=a]vat[=i] (Rapti) +river on the west and south, and the Rohini on the east; the district +which lies around the present Gorakhpur, about one hundred miles +north-northeast of Benares. The personal history of the later Buddha +is interwoven with legend from which it is not always easy to +disentangle the threads of truth. In the accounts preserved in regard +to the Master, one has first to distinguish the P[=a]li records of the +Southern Buddhists from the Sanskrit tales of the Northerners; and +again, it is necessary to discriminate between the earlier and +later traditions of the Southerners, who have kept in general the +older history as compared with the extravagant tradition preserved in +the Lalita Vistara, the Lotus of the Law, and the other works of the +North. What little seems to be authentic history is easily told; nor +are, for our present purpose, of much value the legends, which +mangonize the life of Buddha. They will be found in every book that +treats of the subject, and some of the more famous are translated in +the article on Buddha in the Encyclopædia Brittanica. We content +ourselves with the simplest and oldest account, giving such facts as +help to explain the religious significance of Buddha's life and work +among his countrymen. Several of these facts, Buddha's place in +society, and the geographical centre of Buddhistic activity, are +essential to a true understanding of the relations between Buddhism +and Brahmanism. + +Whether Buddha's father was king or no has rightly been questioned. +The oldest texts do not refer to him as a king's son, and this +indicates that his father, who governed the Ç[=a]kya-land, of which +the limits have just been specified,[6] was rather a feudal baron or +head of a small clan, than an actual king. The Ç[=a]kya power was +overthrown and absorbed into that of the king of Oude (Kosala) either +in Buddha's own life-time or immediately afterwards. It is only the +newer tradition that extols the power and wealth which the Master gave +up on renouncing worldly ties, a trait characteristic of all the later +accounts, on the principle that the greater was the sacrifice the +greater was the glory. Whether kings or mere chieftains, the Ç[=a]kyas +were noted as a family that cared little to honor the Brahmanic +priests. They themselves claimed descent from Ikshv[=a]ku, the ancient +seer-king, son of Manu, and traditionally first king of Ayodh[=a] +(Oude). They assumed the name of Gautama, one of the Vedic seers, and +it was by the name of 'the Ascetic Gautama' that Buddha was known to +his contemporaries; but his personal name was Siddh[=a]rtha 'he that +succeeds in his aim,' prophetic of his life! His mother's name +M[=a]y[=a] (illusion) has furnished Senart with material for his +sun-theory of Buddha; but the same name is handed down as that of a +city, and perhaps means in this sense 'the wonderful.' She is said to +have died when her son was still a boy. The boy Siddh[=a]rtha, then, +was a warrior _r[=a]jput_ by birth, and possibly had a very +indifferent training in Vedic literature, since he is never spoken of +as Veda-wise.[7] The future Buddha was twenty-nine when he resolved to +renounce the world. He was already married and had a son (R[=a]hula, +according to later tradition). The legends of later growth here begin +to thicken, telling how, when the future Buddha heard of the birth of +his son, he simply said 'a new bond has been forged to hold me to the +world'; and how his mind was first awakened to appreciation of sorrow +by seeing loathy examples of age, sickness, and death presented to him +as he drove abroad. Despite his father's tears and protests +Siddh[=a]rtha, or as one may call him now by his patronymic, the man +Gautama, left his home and family, gave up all possessions, and +devoted himself to self-mortification and Yoga discipline of +concentration of thought, following in this the model set by all +previous ascetics. He says himself, according to tradition, that it +was a practical pessimism which drove him to take this step. He was +not pleased with life, and the pleasures of society had no charm for +him. When he saw the old man, the sick man, the dead man, he became +disgusted to think that he too would be subject to age, sickness, and +death: "I felt disgust at old age; all pleasure then forsook me." In +becoming an ascetic Gautama simply endeavored to discover some means +by which he might avoid a recurrence of life, of which the +disagreeable side in his estimation outweighed the joy. He too had +already answered negatively the question Is life worth living? + +We must pause here to point out that this oldest and simplest account +of Gautama's resolve shows two things. It makes clear that Gautama at +first had no plan for the universal salvation of his race. He was +alert to 'save his own soul,' nothing more. We shall show presently +that this is confirmed by subsequent events in his career. The next +point is that this narration in itself is a complete refutation of the +opinion of those scholars who believe that the doctrine of _karma_ and +reincarnation arose first in Buddhism, and that the Upanishads that +preach this doctrine are not of the pre-Buddhistic period. The last +part of this statement of opinion is, of course, not touched by the +story of Gautama's renunciation, but the first assumption wrecks on +it. Why should Gautama have so given himself to Yoga discipline? Did +he expect to escape age, sickness, death, in this life by that means? +No. The assumption from the beginning is the belief in the doctrine of +reincarnation. It was in order to free himself from future returns of +these ills that Gautama renounced his home. But nothing whatever is +said of his discovering or inventing the doctrine of reincarnation. +Both hell and _karma_ are taken for granted throughout the whole early +Buddhistic literature. Buddha discovered neither of them, any more +than he discovered a new system of morality, or a new system of +religious life; although more credit accrues to him in regard to the +last because his order was opposed to that then prevalent; yet even +here he had antique authority for his discipline. + +To return to Gautama's[8] life. Legend tells how he fled away on his +horse Kanthaka, in search of solitude and the means of salvation, far +from his home to the abode of ascetics, for he thought: "Whence comes +peace? When the fire of desire is extinguished, when the fire of hate +is extinguished, when the fire of illusion is extinguished, when all +sins and all sorrows are extinguished, then comes peace." And the only +means to this end was the renunciation of desire, the discipline of +Yoga concentration, where the mind fixed on one point loses all else +from its horizon, and feels no drawing aside to worldly things. + +What then has Gautama done from the point of view of the Brahman? He +has given up his home to become an ascetic. But this was permitted by +usage, for, although the strict western code allowed it only to the +priest, yet it was customary among the other twice-born castes at an +earlier day, and in this part of India it awakened no surprise that +one of the military caste should take up the life of a philosopher. +For the historian of Indic religions this fact is of great +significance, since such practice is the entering wedge which was to +split the castes. One step more and not only the military caste but +the lower, nay the lowest castes, might become ascetics. But, again, +all ascetics were looked upon, in that religious society, as equal to +the priests. In fact, where Gautama lived there was rather more +respect paid to the ascetic than to the priest as a member of the +caste. Gautama was most fortunate in his birth and birth-place. An +aristocrat, he became an ascetic in a land where the priests were +particularly disregarded. He had no public opinion to contend against +when later he declared that Brahman birth and Brahman wisdom had no +value. On the contrary, he spoke to glad hearers, who heard repeated +loudly now as a religious truth what often they had said to themselves +despitefully in private. + +Gautama journeyed as a _muni_, or silent ascetic sage, till after +seven years he abandoned his teachers (for he had become a disciple of +professed masters), and discontentedly wandered about in M[=a]gadha +(Beh[=a]r), 'the cradle of Buddhism,' till he came to Uruvel[=a], +Bodhi Gay[=a].[9] Here, having found that concentration of mind, +Yoga-discipline, availed nothing, he undertook another method of +asceticism, self-torture. This he practiced for some time. But it +succeeded as poorly as his first plan, and he had nearly starved +himself to death when it occurred to him that he was no wiser than +before. Thereupon he gave up starvation as a means of wisdom and began +to eat. Five other ascetics, who had been much impressed by his +endurance and were quite ready to declare themselves his disciples, +now deserted him, thinking that as he had relaxed his discipline he +must be weaker than themselves. But Gautama sat beneath the sacred +fig-tree[10] and lo! he became illumined. In a moment he saw the Great +Truths. He was now the Awakened. He became Buddha. + +The later tradition here records how he was tempted of Satan. For +M[=a]ra (Death), 'the Evil One' as he is called by the Buddhists, +knowing that Buddha had found the way of salvation, tempted him to +enter into Nirv[=a]na at once, lest by converting others Buddha should +rob M[=a]ra of his power and dominion. This and the legend of storms +attacking him and his being protected by the king of snakes, +Mucalinda, is lacking in the earlier tradition. + +Buddha remains under the _bo_-tree fasting, for four times seven days, +or seven times seven, as says the later report. At first he resolves +to be a 'Buddha for himself.'[11] that is to save only himself, not to +be 'the universal Buddha,' who converts and saves the world. But the +God Brahm[=a] comes down from heaven and persuades him out of pity for +the world to preach salvation. In this legend stands out clearly the +same fact we have animadverted upon already. Buddha had at first no +intention of helping his fellows. He found his own road to salvation. +That sufficed. But eventually he was moved through pity for his kind +to give others the same knowledge with which he had been +enlightened.[12] + +Here is to be noticed with what suddenness Gautama becomes Buddha. It +is an early case of the same absence of study or intellectual +preparation for belief that is rampant in the idea of ictic +conversion. In a moment Gautama's eyes are opened. In ecstacy he +becomes illuminated with the light of knowledge. This idea is totally +foreign to Brahmanism. It is not so strange at an earlier stage, for +the Vedic poet often 'sees' his hymn,[13] that is, he is inspired or +illumined. But no Brahman priest was ever 'enlightened' with sudden +wisdom, for his knowledge was his wisdom, and this consisted in +learning interminable trifles. But the wisdom of Buddha was this: + + I. Birth is sorrow, age is sorrow, sickness is sorrow, death + is sorrow, clinging to earthly things is sorrow. + + II. Birth and re-birth, the chain of reincarnations, result + from the thirst for life together with passion and desire. + + III. The only escape from this thirst is the annihilation of + desire. + + IV. The only way of escape from this thirst is by following + the Eightfold Path: Right belief, right resolve, right word, + right act, right life, right effort, right thinking, right + meditation.[14] + +But Buddha is said to have seen more than these, the Four Great +Truths, and the Eightfold Path, for he was enlightened at the same +time (after several days of fasting) in regard to the whole chain of +causality which is elaborated in the later tradition. + +The general result of this teaching may be formulated thus, that most +people are foolishly optimistic and that the great awakening is to +become a pessimist. One must believe not only that pain is inseparable +from existence, but that the pleasures of life are only a part of its +pain. When one has got so far along the path of knowledge he traverses +the next stage and gets rid of desire, which is the root of +life,--this is a Vedic utterance,--till by casting off desire, +ignorance, doubt, and heresy, as add some of the texts,[15] one has +removed far away all unkindness and vexation of soul, feeling +good-will to all. + +Not only in this scheme but also in other less formal declarations of +Buddha does one find the key-note of that which makes his method of +salvation different alike to that of Jain or Brahman. Knowledge is +wisdom to the Brahman; asceticism is wisdom to the Jain; purity and +love is the first wisdom to the Buddhist. We do not mean that the +Brahman does not reach theoretically a plane that puts him on the same +level with Buddhism. We have pointed out above a passage in the work +of the old law-giver Gautama which might almost have been +uttered by Gautama Buddha: "He that has performed all the forty +sacraments and has not the eight good qualities enters not into union +with Brahm[=a] nor into the heaven of Brahm[=a]; but he that has +performed only a part of the forty sacraments and has the eight good +qualities, enters into union with Brahm[=a] and into the heaven of +Brahm[=a]"; and these eight good qualities are mercy, forbearance, +freedom from envy, purity, calmness, correct behavior, freedom from +greed and from covetousness. Nevertheless with the Brahman this is +adventitious, with the Buddhist it is essential. + +These Four Great Truths are given to the world first at Benares, +whither Buddha went in order to preach to the five ascetics that had +deserted him. His conversation with them shows us another side of +Buddhistic ethics. The five monks, when they saw Buddha approaching, +jeered, and said: "Here is the one that failed in his austerities." +Buddha tells them to acknowledge him as their master, and that he is +the Enlightened One. "How," they ask, "if you could not succeed in +becoming a Buddha by asceticism, can we suppose that you become one by +indulgence?" Buddha tells them that neither voluptuousness nor +asceticism is the road that leads to Nirv[=a]na; that he, Buddha, has +found the middle path between the two extremes, the note is struck +that is neither too high nor too low. The five monks are converted +when they hear the Four Great Truths and the Eightfold Path, and there +are now six holy ones on earth, Buddha and his five disciples. + +Significant also is the social status of Buddha's first conversion. It +is 'the rich youth' of Benares that flock about him,[16] of whom sixty +soon are counted, and these are sent out into all the lands to preach +the gospel, each to speak in his own tongue, for religion was from +this time on no longer to be hid behind the veil of an unintelligible +language. And it is not only the aristocracy of wealth that attaches +itself to the new teacher and embraces his doctrines with enthusiasm. +The next converts are a thousand Brahman priests, who constituted a +religious body under the leadership of three ascetic Brahmans. It is +described in the old writings how these priests were still performing +their Vedic rites when Buddha came again to Bodhi Gay[=a] and found +them there. They were overcome with astonishment as they saw his power +over the King of Snakes that lived among them. The gods--for Buddhism, +if not Buddha, has much to do with the gods--descend from heaven to +hear him, and other marvels take place. The Brahmans are all +converted. The miracles and the numbers may be stripped off, but thus +denuded the truth still remains as important as it is plain. Priests +of Brahman caste were among the first to adopt Buddhism. The popular +effect of the teaching must have been great, for one reads how, when +Buddha, after this great conversion, begins his victorious wanderings +in Beh[=a]r (M[=a]gadha), he converted so many of the young nobles +that--since conversion led to the immediate result of +renunciation--the people murmured, saying that Gautama (Gotama) was +robbing them of their youth.[17] + +From this time on Buddha's life was spent in wandering about and +preaching the new creed mainly to the people of Beh[=a]r and Oude +(K[=a]çi-Kosala, the realm of Benares-Oude), his course extending from +the (Ir[=a]vati) Rapti river in the north to R[=a]jagriha (_gaha,_ now +Rajgir) south of Beh[=a]r, while he spent the _vasso_ or rainy season +in one of the parks, many of which were donated to him by wealthy +members of the fraternity.[18] + +Wherever he went he was accompanied with a considerable number of +followers, and one reads of pilgrims from distant places coming to see +and converse with him. The number of his followers appears to have +been somewhat exaggerated by the later writers, since Buddha himself, +when prophesying of the next Buddha, the "Buddha of love" (Maitreya) +says that, whereas he himself has hundreds of followers, the next +Buddha will lead hundreds of thousands. + +Although, theoretically, all the castes give up their name, and, when +united in the Buddhistic brotherhood, become "like rivers that give up +their identity and unite in the one ocean," yet were most of the early +recruits, as has been said, from influential and powerful families; +and it is a tenet of Buddhism in regard to the numerous Buddhas, which +have been born[19] and are still to be born on earth, that no Buddha +can be born in a low caste. + +The reason for this lies as much as anything in the nature of the +Buddhistic system which is expressly declared to be "for the wise, not +for the foolish." It was not a system based as such on love or on any +democratic sentiment. It was a philosophical exposition of the causal +nexus of birth and freedom from re-birth. The common man, untrained in +logic, might adopt the teaching, but he could not understand it. The +"Congregation of the son of the Ç[=a]kyas"--such was the earliest name +for the Buddhistic brotherhood--were required only to renounce their +family, put on the yellow robe, assume the tonsure and other outward +signs, and be chaste and high-minded. But the teachers were instructed +in the subtleties of the 'Path,' and it needed no little training to +follow the leader's thought to its logical conclusion. + +Of Buddha's life, besides the circumstances already narrated little is +known. Of his disciples the best beloved was [=A]nanda, his own +cousin, whose brother was the Judas of Buddhism. The latter, Devadatta +by name, conspired to kill Buddha in order that he himself might get +the post of honor. But hell opened and swallowed him up. He appears to +have had convictions of Jain tendency, for before his intrigue he +preached against Buddha, and formulated reactionary propositions which +inculcated a stricter asceticism than that taught by the Master.[20] + +It has been denied that the early church contained lay members as well +as monks, but Oldenberg appears to have set the matter right (p. 165) +in showing that the laity, from the beginning, were a recognized part +of the general church. The monk (_bhikshu, bhikku_) was formally +enrolled as a disciple, wore the gown and tonsure, etc. The lay +brother, 'reverer' (_up[=a]saka_) was one that assented to the +doctrine and treated the monks kindly. There were, at first, only men +in the congregation, for Buddhism took a view as unfavorable to woman +as did Jainism. But at his foster-mother's request Buddha finally +admitted nuns as well as monks into his fold. When [=A]nanda asks how +a monk should act in presence of a woman Buddha says 'avoid to look at +her'; but if it be necessary to look, 'do not speak to her'; but if it +be necessary to speak, 'then keep wide awake, [=A]nanda.'[21] + +Buddha died in the fifth century. Rhys Davids, who puts the date later +than most scholars, gives, as the time of the great Nirv[=a]na, the +second decade from the end of the fourth century. On the other hand, +Bühler and Müller reckon the year as 477, while Oldenberg says 'about +480.'[22] From Buddha's own words, as reported by tradition, he was +eighty years old at the time of his death, and if one allots him +thirty-six years as his age when he became independent of masters, his +active life would be one of forty-four years. It was probably less +than this, however, for some years must be added to the first seven of +ascetic practices before he took the field as a preacher. + +The story of Buddha's death is told simply and clearly. He crossed the +Ganges, where at that time was building the town of Patna +(P[=a]taliputta, 'Palibothra'), and prophesied its future greatness +(it was the chief city of India for centuries after); then, going +north from R[=a]jagriha, in Beh[=a]r, and V[=a]iç[=a]l[=i], he +proceeded to a point east of Gorukhpur (Kasia). Tradition thus makes +him wander over the most familiar places till he comes back almost to +his own country. There, in the region known to him as a youth, weighed +down with years and ill-health, but surrounded by his most faithful +disciples, he died. Not unaffecting is the final scene.[23] + +'Now the venerable [=A]nanda (Buddha's beloved disciple) went into the +cloister-building, and stood leaning against the lintel of the door +and weeping at the thought: "Alas! I remain still but a learner, one +who has yet to work out his own perfection. And the Master is about to +pass away from me--he who is so kind." Then the Blessed One called the +brethren and said: "Where then, brethren, is [=A]nanda?" "The +venerable [=A]nanda (they replied) has gone into the cloister-building +and stands leaning against the lintel of the door, weeping." ... And +the Blessed One called a certain brother, and said "Go now, brother, +and call [=A]nanda in my name and say, 'Brother [=A]nanda, thy Master +calls for thee.'" "Even so, Lord," said that brother, and he went up +to where [=A]nanda was, and said to the venerable [=A]nanda: "Brother +[=A]nanda, thy Master calls for thee." "It is well, brother," said the +venerable [=A]nanda, and he went to the place where Buddha was. And +when he was come thither he bowed down before the Blessed One, and +took his seat on one side. Then the Blessed One said to the venerable +[=A]nanda, as he sat there by his side: "Enough, [=A]nanda, let not +thyself be troubled; weep not. Have I not told thee already that we +must divide ourselves from all that is nearest and dearest? How can it +be possible that a being born to die should not die? For a long time, +[=A]nanda, hast thou been very near to me by acts of love that is kind +and good and never varies, and is beyond all measure. (This Buddha +repeats three times.) Thou hast done well. Be earnest in effort. Thou, +too, shalt soon be free." ... When he had thus spoken, the venerable +[=A]nanda said to the Blessed One: "Let not the Blessed One die in +this little wattle and daub town, a town in the midst of the jungle, +in this branch township. For, Lord, there are other great cities such +as Benares (and others). Let the Blessed One die in one of them."' + +This request is refused by Buddha. [=A]nanda then goes to the town and +tells the citizens that Buddha is dying. 'Now, when they had heard +this saying, they, With their young men and maidens and wives were +grieved, and sad, and afflicted at heart. And some of them wept, +dishevelling their hair, and stretched forth their arms, and wept, +fell prostrate on the ground and rolled to and fro, in anguish at +the thought "Too soon will the Blessed One die! Too soon will the +Happy One pass away! Full soon will the Light of the world vanish +away!"' ... When Buddha is alone again with his disciples, 'then the +Blessed One addressed the brethren and said "It may be, brethren, that +there may be doubt or misgiving in the mind of some brother as to the +Buddha, the truth, the path or the way. Inquire, brethren, freely. Do +not have to reproach yourselves afterwards with this thought: 'Our +Teacher was face to face with us, and we could not bring ourselves to +inquire of the Blessed One when we were face to face with him.'" And +when he had thus spoken they sat silent. Then (after repeating these +words and receiving no reply) the Blessed One addressed the brethren +and said, "It may be that you put no questions out of reverence for +the Teacher. Let one friend communicate with another." And when he had +thus spoken the brethren sat silent. And the venerable [=A]nanda said: +"How wonderful a thing, Lord, and how marvellous. Verily, in this +whole assembly, there is not one brother who has doubt or misgiving as +to Buddha, the truth, the path or the way." Then Buddha said: "It is +out of the fullness of thy faith that thou hast spoken, [=A]nanda. But +I know it for certain." ... Then the Blessed One addressed the +brethren saying: "Behold, brethren, I exhort you saying, transitory +are all component things; toil without ceasing." And these were the +last words of Buddha.' + +It is necessary here to make pause for a moment and survey the +temporal and geographical circumstances of Buddha's life. His lifetime +covered the period of greatest intellectual growth in Athens. If, as +some think, the great book of doubt[24] was written by the Hebrew in +450, there would be in three lands, at least, about the same time the +same earnestly scornful skepticism in regard to the worn-out teachings +of the fathers. But at a time when, in Greece, the greatest minds were +still veiling infidelity as best they could, in India atheism was +already formulated. + +It has been questioned, and the question has been answered both +affirmatively and negatively, whether the climatic conditions of +Buddha's home were in part responsible for the pessimistic tone of his +philosophy. If one compare the geographical relation of Buddhism to +Brahmanism and to Vedism respectively with a more familiar geography +nearer home, he will be better able to judge in how far these +conditions may have influenced the mental and religious tone. Taking +Kabul and Kashmeer as the northern limit of the period of the Rig +Veda, there are three geographical centres. The latitude of the Vedic +poets corresponds to about the southern boundary of Tennessee and +North Carolina. The entire tract covered by the southern migration to +the time of Buddhism, extending from Kabul to a point that corresponds +to Benares (35° is a little north of Kabul and 25° is a little south +of Beh[=a]r), would be represented loosely in the United States by the +difference between the northern line of Mississippi and Key West. The +extent of Georgia about represents in latitude the Vedic province (35° +to 30°), while Florida (30° to 25°) roughly shows the southern +progress from the seat of old Brahmanism to the cradle of young +Buddhism. These are the extreme limits of Vedism, Brahmanism and +proto-Buddhism. South of this the country was known to Brahmanism only +to be called savage, and not before the late S[=u]tras (c. 300 B.C.) +is one brought as far south as Bombay in the West. The [=A]itareya +Br[=a]hmana, which represents the old centre of Brahmanism around +Delhi, knows of the [=A]ndhras, south of the God[=a]var[=i] river in +the southeast (about the latitude of Bombay and Hayti), only as outer +'Barbarians.' It is quite conceivable that a race of hardy +mountaineers, in shifting their home through generations from the +hills of Georgia and Tennessee to the sub-tropical region of Key West +(to Cuba), in the course of many centuries might become morally +affected. But it seems to us, although the miasmatic plains of Bengal +may perhaps present even a sharper contrast to the Vedic region than +do Key West and Cuba to Georgia, that the climate in effecting a moral +degradation (if pessimism be immoral) must have produced also the +effect of mental debility. Now to our mind there is not the slightest +proof for the asseveration, which has been repeated so often that it +is accepted by many nowadays as a truism, that Buddhism or even +post-Buddhistic literature shows any trace of mental decay.[25] There +certainly is mental weakness in the Br[=a]hmanas, but these cannot all +be accredited to the miasms of Bengal. They are the bones of a +religion already dead, kept for instruction in a cabinet; dry, dusty, +lifeless, but awful to the beholder and useful to the owner. Again, +does Buddhism lose in the comparison from an intellectual point of +view when set beside the mazy gropings of the Upanishads? We have +shown that dogma was the base of primal pantheism; of real logic there +is not a whit. We admire the spirit of the teachers in the Upanishads, +but we have very little respect for the logical ability of any early +Hindu teachers; that is to say, there is very little of it to admire. +The doctors of the Upanishad philosophy were poets, not dialecticians. +Poetry indeed waned in the extreme south, and no spirited or powerful +literature ever was produced there, unless it was due to foreign +influence, such as the religious poetry of Ramaism and the Tamil +_Sittars_. But in secondary subtlety and in the marking of +distinctions, in classifying and analyzing on dogmatic premises, as +well as in the acceptance of hearsay truths as ultimate verities--we +do not see any fundamental disparity in these regards between the mind +of the Northwest and that of the Southeast; and what superficial +difference exists goes to the credit of Buddhism. For if one must have +dogma it is something to have system, and while precedent theosophy +was based on the former it knew nothing of the latter. Moreover, in +Buddhism there is a greater intellectual vigor than in any phase of +Brahmanism (as distinct from Vedism). To cast off not only gods but +soul, and more, to deny the moral efficacy of asceticism this was a +leap into the void, to appreciate the daring of which one has but to +read himself into the priestly literature of Buddha's rivals, both +heterodox and orthodox. We see then in Buddhism neither a debauched +moral type, nor a weakened intellectuality. The pessimism of Buddhism, +so far as it concerns earth, is not only the same pessimism that +underlies the religious motive of Brahmanic pantheism, but it is the +same pessimism that pervades Christianity and even Hebraism. This +world is a sorry place, living is suffering; do thou escape from it. +The pleasures of life are vanity; do thou renounce them. "To die is +gain," says the apostle; and the Preacher: "I have seen all the works +that are done under the sun and behold all is vanity and vexation of +spirit. He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. For what hath +man of all his labor and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath +laboured under the sun? For all his days are sorrows and his travail +grief. That which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one +thing befalleth them: as the one dieth so dieth the other; yea, they +have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: +for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all +turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of man whether it goeth +upward? I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living +which are yet alive. The dead know not anything, their love and their +hatred and their envy is now perished; neither have they any more a +portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun. The +wandering of the desire, this also is vanity." + +The Preacher is a fairly good Buddhist. + +If pessimism be the conviction that life on earth is not worth living, +this view is shared alike by the greatest of earth's religions. If +pessimism be the view that all beauty ends with life and that beyond +it there is nothing for which it is worth while to live, then India +has no parallel to this Homeric belief. If, however, pessimism mean +that to have done with existence on earth is the best that can happen +to a man, but that there is bliss beyond, then this is the opinion of +Brahmanism, Jainism, and Christianity. Buddhism alone teaches that to +live on earth is weariness, that there is no bliss beyond, and that +one should yet be calm, pure, loving, and wise. + +How could such a religion inspire enthusiasm? How could it send forth +jubilant disciples to preach the gospel of joy? Yet did Buddhism do +even this. Not less happy and blissful than were they that received +the first comfort of pantheism were the apostles of Buddha. His +progress was a triumph of gladness. They that believed in him rejoiced +and hastened to their fellows with the good tidings. Was it then a new +morality, a new ethical code, that thus inspired them? Let one but +look at the vows and commandments respectively taken by and given to +the Buddhist monk, and he will see that in Buddhism there is no new +morality. + +The Ten Vows are as follows: + + I take the vow not to kill; not to steal; to abstain from + impurity; not to lie; to abstain from intoxicating drinks + which hinder progress and virtue; not to eat at forbidden + times; to abstain from dancing, singing, music and stage + plays; not to use garlands, scents, unguents, or ornaments; + not to use a high or broad bed; not to receive gold or + silver. + +The Eight Commandments are as follows: + + Do not kill; do not steal; do not lie; do not drink + intoxicating drinks; do not commit fornication or adultery; + do not eat unseasonable food at night; do not wear garlands + or use perfumes; sleep on a mat spread on the ground. + +The first five of these commands are given to every Buddhist, monk, or +layman; the last three are binding only on the monk.[26] + +These laws and rules were, however, as we have indicated in +the chapter on Jainism, the common property, with some unimportant +variations and exceptions, of the Brahman ascetic, the Jain, and the +Buddhist. There was surely nothing here to rouse especial interest. +No. But there was one side of Buddhism that was new, not absolutely +new, for it formed part of the moral possession of that early band +which we may call the congregation of the Spirit. The Brahman +theoretically had done away with penance and with prayer, with the +Vedic gods and with the Vedic rites. Yet was it impossible for him +practically to absolve the folk of these. The priest might admit that +he knew a better way to salvation, but he still led the people over +the hard old road, and he himself went that way also, because it was +the way of the fathers, because it was the only way for them that were +unwise, and perhaps, too, because it was the only way in which the +priest could keep his place as guide and leader of the people. + +Jainism smote down some of the obstacles that the Brahman had built +and kept. Mah[=a]v[=i]ra made the way to salvation shorter, but he did +not make it easier for the masses. Asceticism, self-mortification, +starvation, torture,--this was his means of gaining happiness +hereafter. + +But Buddha cut down all obstacles. He made the lowest equal with the +highest. It is true that he was no democrat. It is true that his +success depended, in great part, on political influence, on the +conversion of kings and nobles, men of his own class. It is true also +that Buddha at first, like every other Hindu theosophist, sought no +salvation for the world around him, but only for himself. But he was +moved with pity for the multitude. And why? The sages among them knew +no path to happiness save through life-long torture; the common people +knew only a religion of rites in which they took no interest, the very +words of which were unintelligible; and its priests in their eyes, if +not contemptible, at least were unsympathetic. And at the same time +the old caste-system oppressed and insulted them. It is evident that +the times were ripe for a more humane religion and a new distribution +of social privileges. Then Buddha arose and said: "He that is pure in +heart is the true priest, not he that knows the Veda. Like unto one +that standeth where a king hath stood and spoken, and standing and +speaking there deems himself for this a king, seems to me the man that +repeateth the hymns, which the wise men of old have spoken, and +standing in their place and speaking, deems himself for this a sage. +The Vedas are nothing, the priests are of no account, save as they be +morally of repute. Again, what use to mortify the flesh? Asceticism is +of no value. Be pure, be good; this is the foundation of wisdom--to +restrain desire, to be satisfied with little. He is a holy man who +doeth this. Knowledge follows this." + +Here is the essence of Buddhism, here is its power; and when one +reflects that Buddha added: "Go into all lands and preach this gospel; +tell them that the poor and lowly, the rich and high, are all one, and +that all castes unite in this religion, as unite the rivers in the +sea"--he will understand what key was used to open the hearts of +Buddha's kinsmen and people. + +But, it will be said, there is nothing in this of that extreme +pessimism, of which mention has just been made. True. And this, again, +is an important point to bear in mind, that whereas the logic of his +own system led Buddha into a formal and complete pessimism, which +denies an after-life to the man that finds no happiness in this, he +yet never insists upon this. He not only does not insist, but in his +talks with his questioners and disciples he uses all means to evade +direct inquiry in regard to the fate of man after death. He believed +that Nirv[=a]na (extinction of lust) led to cessation of being; he did +not believe in an immortal soul. But he urged no such negative +doctrine as this. What he urged repeatedly was that every one +accepting the undisputed doctrine of _karma_ or re-birth in its full +extent (i.e., that for every sin here, punishment followed in the +next existence), should endeavor to escape, if possible, from such an +endless course of painful re-births, and that to accomplish this it +was necessary first to be sober and good, then to be learned, but not +to be an ascetic. On the other hand the doctrine, in its logical +fullness, was a teaching only for the wise, not for fools. He imparted +it only to the wise. What is one to understand from this? Clearly, +that Buddha regarded the mass of his disciples as standing in need +merely of the Four Great Truths, the confession of which was the sign +of becoming a disciple; while to the strong and wise he reserved the +logical pessimism, which resulted from his first denials and the +premises of causality on which was created his complicated system. +Only thus can one comprehend the importance of Buddhism to his own +time and people, only in this light reconcile the discrepancy between +the accounts of a religion which roused multitudes to enthusiasm and +joy, while on the other hand it stood on the cold basis of complete +nihilism. Formally there was not an esoteric[27] and exoteric +Buddhism, but practically what the apostles taught, what Buddha +himself taught to the mass of his hearers was a release from the +bondage of the law and the freedom of a high moral code as the one +thing needful. But he never taught that sacrifice was a bad thing; he +never either took the priest's place himself or cast scorn upon the +Brahman caste: "Better even than a harmless[28] sacrifice is +liberality" he says, "better than liberality is faith and kindness +(non-injury) and truth, better than faith, kindness, and truth is +renunciation of the world and the search for peace; best of all, the +highest sacrifice and greatest good, is when one enters Nirv[=a]na, +saying "I shall not return again to earth." This is to be an Arhat +(Perfect Sage). + +These are Buddha's own words as he spoke with a Brahman priest,[29] +who was converted thereby and replied at once with the Buddhist's +confession of faith: "I take refuge in Buddha, in the doctrine, in the +church." + +A significant conversation! In many ways these words should be +corrective of much that is hazarded today in regard to Buddhism. There +is here no elaborate system of metaphysics. Wisdom consists in the +truth as it is in Buddha; and before truth stand, as antecedently +essential, faith and kindness; for so may one render the passive +non-injury of the Brahman as taught by the Buddhist. To have faith and +good works, to renounce the pomps and vanities of life, to show +kindness to every living thing, to seek for salvation, to understand, +and so finally to leave no second self behind to suffer again, this is +Buddha's doctrine. + +We have avoided thus far to define Nirv[=a]na. It has three distinct +meanings, eternal blissful repose (such was the Nirv[=a]na of the +Jains and in part of Buddhism), extinction and absolute annihilation +(such was the Nirv[=a]na of some Buddhists), and the Nirv[=a]na of +Buddha himself. Nirv[=a]na meant to Buddha the extinction of lust, +anger, and ignorance. He adopted the term, he did not invent it. He +was often questioned, but persistently refused to say whether he +believed that Nirv[=a]na implied extinction of being or not. We +believe that in this refusal to speak on so vital a point lies the +evidence that he himself regarded the 'extinction' or 'blowing out' +(this is what the word means literally) as resulting in annihilation. +Had he believed otherwise we think he would not have hesitated to say +so, for it would have strengthened his influence among them to whom +annihilation was not a pleasing thought. + +But one has no right to 'go behind the returns' as these are given by +Buddha. The later church says distinctly that Buddha himself did not +teach whether he himself, his ego, was to live after death or not; or +whether a permanent ego exists. It is useless, therefore, to inquire +whether Buddha's Nirv[=a]na be a completion, as Müller defines it, or +annihilation. To one Buddhistic party it was the one; to the other, +the other; to Buddha himself it was what may be inferred from his +refusal to make any declaration in regard to it. + +The second point of interest is not more easily disposed of. What to +the Buddhist is the spirit, the soul of man? It certainly is not an +eternal spirit, such as was the spirit of Brahmanic philosophy, or +that of the Jain. But, on the other hand, it is clear that something +survived after death till one was reborn for the last time, and then +entered Nirv[=a]na. The part that animates the material complex is to +the Buddhist an individuality which depends on the nature of its +former complex, home, and is destined to project itself upon futurity +till the house which it has built ceases to exist, a home rebuilt no +more to be its tabernacle. When a man dies the component parts of his +material personality fall apart, and a new complex is formed, of which +the individuality is the effect of the _karma_ of the preceding +complex. The new person is one's karmic self, but it is not one's +identical ego. There appears, therefore, even in the doctrine of +Nirv[=a]na, to lie something of that altruism so conspicuous in the +insistence on kindness and conversion of others. It is to save from +sorrow this son of one's acts that one should seek to find the end. +But there is no soul to save. + +We cannot insist too often on the fact that the religion of Buddha was +not less practical than human. He practiced, as he taught, that the +more one worked for others, was devoted to others, the less he cared +for himself, the less was he the victim of desire. Hence he says that +a true Nirv[=a]na may come even in one's own lifetime--the utter +surrender of one's self is Nirv[=a]na,[30] while the act of dying only +draws the curtain after the tragedy has ended. "Except," Buddha says, +"for birth, age, and death, there would be no need of Buddha." + +A review of Buddha's system of metaphysics is, therefore, doubly +unnecessary for our present purpose.[31] In the first place we believe +that most of the categories and metaphysical niceties of Buddhism, as +handed down, are of secondary origin; and, were this not so, it is +still evident that they were but the unimportant, intellectual +appendage of a religion that was based on anything but metaphysical +subtleties. Buddha, like every other teacher of his time, had to have +a 'system,' though whether the system handed down as his reverts to +him it is impossible to say. But Buddha's recondite doctrine was only +for the wise. "It is hard to learn for an ordinary person," says +Buddha himself. But it was the ordinary person that Buddhism took to +its bosom. The reason can be only the one we have given. For the last +stage before Arhat-ship Buddha had ready a complicate system. But he +did not inflict it on the ordinary person.[32] It was not an essential +but the completing of his teaching; in his own eyes truth as +represented by the Four Great Truths was the real doctrine. + +The religion of Buddha, for the mass of people, lies in the Four Great +Truths and their practical application to others, which implies +kindness and love of humanity. For Buddha, whatever may have been the +reluctance with which he began to preach, shows in all his teachings +and dealings with men an enduring patience under their rebuffs, a +brotherly sympathy with their weakness, and a divine pity for their +sorrows. Something, too, of divine anger with the pettiness and +meanness of the unworthy ones among his followers, as when, after +preaching with parable and exhortation to the wrangling brothers of +the monastery of Kosamb[=i], he left them, saying, "'Truly these fools +are infatuate; it is no easy task to administer instruction to them,' +and," it is added simply, "he rose from his seat and went away."[33] + +The significance of the church organization in the development of +Buddhism should not be under-estimated. Contrasted with the lack of an +organized ecclesiastical corporation among the Brahmans the Buddhistic +synod, or congregation, Sangha, exerted a great influence. In +different places there would be a park set apart for the Buddhist +monks. Here they had their monastery buildings, here they lived during +the rainy season, from this place out as a centre the monks radiated +through the country, not as lone mendicants, but as members of a +powerful fraternity. To this monastery came gifts, receipts of all +kinds that never would have been bestowed upon individuals. +Undoubtedly organization did much for the spread of Buddhism. Yet we +think its influence has been emphasized almost too much by some +scholars, or rather the effect has been represented as too radical. +For the monasteries, as represented by tradition, with their immense +wealth and political importance as allies of the heretical kings of +the East, are plainly of secondary growth. If one limit their national +and political importance to a period one or two hundred years after +the Master's time, he will not err in attributing to this cause, as +does Barth, the reason for the rapid rise and supremacy of Buddhism +over India. But the first beginnings of the institution were small, +and what is to be sought in the beginning of Buddhism is rather +the reason why the monasteries became popular, and what was the hold +which Buddha had upon the masses, and which induced the formation of +this great engine of religious war. And when this first question is +raised the answer must still be that the banding together of the monks +was not the cause but the effect of the popularity of Buddhism. The +first monasteries, as Barth well says, were only assemblies of pious +men who formed a spiritual band of religious thinkers, of men who +united themselves into one body to the end that they might study +righteousness, learning together how to imitate the Master in holiness +of living. But the members converted soon became so many that formal +assemblies became a necessity to settle the practical disputes and +theoretical questions which were raised by the new multitude of +believers, some of whom were more factious than devout. Brahmanism had +no need of this. The Brahman priest had his law in tradition; his life +and conduct were regulated by immemorial law. The corporations of +these priests were but temporary organizations for specific purposes. +They made no attempt to proselytize. Their members never exceeded the +bounds of the caste. The cause, then, of the rapid spread of Buddhism +at the beginning of its career lies only in the conditions of its +teaching and the influential backing of its founder. It was the +individual Buddha that captivated men; it was the teaching that +emanated from him that fired enthusiasm; it was his position as an +aristocrat that made him acceptable to the aristocracy, his magnetism +that made him the idol of the people. From every page stands out the +strong, attractive personality of this teacher and winner of hearts. +No man ever lived so godless yet so godlike. Arrogating to himself no +divinity, despairing of future bliss, but without fear as without +hope, leader of thought but despising lovingly the folly of the world, +exalted but adored, the universal brother, he wandered among men, +simply, serenely; with gentle irony subduing them that opposed him, to +congregation after congregation speaking with majestic sweetness, the +master to each, the friend of all. His voice was singularly vibrant +and eloquent;[34] his very tones convinced the hearer, his looks +inspired awe. From the tradition it appears that he must have been one +of those whose personality alone suffices to make a man not only a +leader but a god to the hearts of his fellows. When such an one speaks +he obtains hearers. It matters little what he says, for he influences +the emotions, and bends whoever listens to his will. But if added to +this personality, if encompassing it, there be the feeling in the +minds of others that what this man teaches is not only a verity, but +the very hope of their salvation; if for the first time they recognize +in his words the truth that makes of slaves free men, of classes a +brotherhood, then it is not difficult to see wherein lies the +lightning-like speed with which the electric current passes from heart +to heart. Such a man was Buddha, such was the essential of his +teaching; and such was the inevitable rapidity of Buddhistic +expansion, and the profound influence of the shock that was produced +by the new faith upon the moral consciousness of Buddha's people. + +The literature of early Buddhism consists of a number of historical +works embodying the life and teaching of the master, some of more +didactic and epigrammatic intent, and, in the writings of the Northern +Buddhists, some that have given up the verbose simplicity of the first +tracts in favor of tasteless and extravagant recitals more stagey than +impressive. The final collection of the sacred books (earlier is the +Suttanta division into Nik[=a]yas) is called Tripitaka, 'the three +baskets,' one containing the tracts on discipline; one, the talks of +Buddha; and one, partly metaphysical; called respectively Vinaya, +Sutta, and Abhidhamma. The Southern[35] P[=a]li redaction--for the +writings of the Northern[36] Buddhists are in Sanskrit--was commented +upon in the fifth century of this era by Buddha-gosha ('Buddha's +glory'), and appears to be older than the Sanskrit version of +Nep[=a]l. Some of the writings go back as far as the Second Council, +and their content, so far as it concerns Buddha's own words, in many +cases is doubtless a tradition that one should accept as +authoritative. The works on discipline, instead of being as dull as +one might reasonably expect of books that deal with the petty details +of a monastery, are of exceeding interest (although whole chapters +conform to the reasonable expectation), for they contain fragments of +the work and words of Buddha which give a clearer idea of his +personality and teaching than do his more extended, and perhaps less +original discourses. They throw a strong light also on the early +church, its recalcitrant as well as its obedient members, the quarrels +and schisms that appear to have arisen even before Buddha's death. +Thus in the _Mah[=a]vagga_ (ch. X) there is found an account of the +schism caused by the expulsion of some unworthy members. The brethren +are not only schismatic, some taking the side of those expelled, but +they are even insolent to Buddha; and when he entreats them for the +sake of the effect on the outer world to heal their differences,[37] +they tell him to his face that they will take the responsibility, and +that he need not concern himself with the matter. It is on this +occasion that Buddha says, "Truly, these fools are infatuate," leaves +them, and goes into solitude, rejoicing to be free from souls so +quarrelsome and contentious. Again these tracts give a picture of how +they should live that are truly Buddha's disciples. Buddha finds three +disciples living in perfect harmony, and asks them how they live +together so peaceably and lovingly. In quaint and yet dignified +language they reply, and tell him that they serve each other. He that +rises first prepares the meal, he that returns last at night puts the +room in order, etc. (_ib_. 4). Occasionally in the account of unruly +brothers it is evident that tradition must be anticipating, or that +many joined the Buddhist fraternity as an excuse from restraint. The +_Cullavagga_ opens with the story of two notorious renegades, 'makers +of strife, quarrelsome, makers of dispute, given to idle talk, and +raisers of legal questions in the congregation.' Such were the +infamous followers of Panduka and Lohitaka. Of a different sort, +Epicurean or rather frivolous, were the adherents of Assaji and +Punabbasu, who, according to another chapter of the _Cullavagga_ (I. +13), 'cut flowers, planted cuttings of flowers, used ointment and +scents, danced, wore garlands, and revelled wickedly.' A list of the +amusements in which indulged these flighty monks includes 'games +played with six and ten pieces, tossing up, hopping over diagrams, +dice, jackstraws,[38] ball, sketching, racing, marbles, wrestling,' +etc; to which a like list (_Tevijja_, II) adds chess or checkers +('playing with a board of sixty-four squares or one hundred squares'), +ghost stories, and unseemly wrangling in regard to belief ("I am +orthodox, you are heterodox"), earning a living by prognostication, by +taking omens 'from a mirror' or otherwise, by quack medicines, and by +'pretending to understand the language of beasts.' It is gratifying to +learn that the scented offenders described in the first-mentioned work +were banished from the order. According to the regular procedure, they +were first warned, then reminded, then charged; then the matter was +laid before the congregation, and they were obliged to leave the +order. Even the detail of Subhadda's insolence is not wanting in these +records _(Cull_. XI. 1. and elsewhere). No sooner was Buddha dead than +the traitor Subhadda cries out: "We are well rid of him; he gave us +too many rules. Now we may do as we like." On which the assembly +proceeded to declare in force all the rules that Buddha had given, +although he had left it to them to discard them when they would. The +Confessional (P[=a]timokkha), out of which have been evolved in +narrative form the Vinaya texts that contain it, concerns graded +offences, matters of expiation, rules regarding decency, directions +concerning robes, rugs, bowls, and other rather uninteresting topics, +all discussed in the form of a confession.[39] The church-reader goes +over the rules in the presence of the congregation, and asks at the +end of each section whether any one is guilty of having broken this +rule. If at the third repetition no one responds, he says, 'They are +declared innocent by their silence.' This was the first public +confessional, although, as we have shown above, the idea of a partial +remission of sin by means of confession to the priest is found in +Brahmanic literature.[40] The confession extends to very small +matters, but one sees from other texts that the early congregation +laid a great deal of weight on details, such as dress, as the sign of +a sober life. Thus in _Mah[=a]vagga_, V. 2 ff., certain Buddhists +dress in a worldly way. At one time one is informed of the color of +their heretical slippers, at another of the make of their wicked +gowns. All this is monastic, even in the discipline which 'sets back' +a badly behaved monk, gives him probation, forces him to be +subordinate. In _Cullavagga_, I. 9, there is an account of stupid +Seyyasaka, who was dull and indiscreet, and was always getting 'set +back' by the brethren. Finally they grow weary of probating him and +carry out the _nissaya_ against him, obliging him to remain under the +superintendence of others. For, according to Buddha's rule, a wise +novice was kept under surveillance, or rather under the authority of +others, for five years; a stupid uninformed monk, forever. Buddha's +relations with society are plainly set forth. One reads how his +devoted friend, King Seniya Bimbis[=a]ra, four years younger than +Buddha, and his protector (for he was King of M[=a]gadha), gives him a +park, perhaps the first donation of this sort, the origin of all the +monastic foundations: "The King of M[=a]gadha, Bimbis[=a]ra, thought +'here is this bamboo forest Venuvana, my pleasure-garden, which is +neither too near to the town nor too far from it.... What if I were to +give it to the fraternity?' ... And he took a golden vessel (of water) +and dedicated the garden to Buddha, saying, 'I give up the park to the +fraternity with Buddha at its head.' And the Blessed One accepted the +park" (_Mah[=a]vagga_, i. 22).[41] Another such park Buddha accepts +from the courtezan, Ambap[=a]li, whose conversation with Buddha and +dinner-party to him forms a favorite story with the monks (_Mah[=a]v._ +v. 30; _Cull_. ii). The protection offered by Bimbis[=a]ra made the +order a fine retreat for rogues. In _Mah[=a]v._ 1. 41 ff. one reads +that King Seniya Bimbis[=a]ra made a decree: "No one is to do any harm +to those ordained among the Ç[=a]kya-son's monks.[42] Well taught is +their doctrine. Let them lead a holy life for the sake of complete +extinction of suffering." But robbers and runaway slaves immediately +took advantage of this decree, and by joining the order put the police +at defiance. Even debtors escaped, became monks, and mocked their +creditors. Buddha, therefore, made it a rule that no robber, runaway +slave, or other person liable to arrest should be admitted into the +order. He ordained further that no son might join the order without +his parents' consent (_ib_. 54). Still another motive of false +disciples had to be combated. The parents of Up[=a]li thought to +themselves: "What shalt we teach Up[=a]li that he may earn his living? +If we teach him writing his fingers will be sore; if we teach him +arithmetic his mind will be sore; if we teach him money-changing his +eyes will be sore. There are those Buddhist monks; they live an easy +life; they have enough to eat and shelter from the rain; we will make +him a monk." Buddha, hearing of this, ordained that no one should be +admitted into the order under twenty (with some exceptions). + +The monks' lives were simple. They went out by day to beg, were locked +in their cells at night (_Mah[=a]v_. i. 53), were probated for light +offences, and expelled for very severe ones.[43] The people are +represented as murmuring against the practices of the monks at first, +till the latter were brought to more modest behavior. It is perhaps +only Buddhist animosity that makes the narrator say: "They did not +behave modestly at table.... Then the people murmured and said, 'These +Buddhist monks make a riot at their meals, _they act just like the +Brahman priests.'" (Mah[=a]v_. i. 25; cf. i. 70.) + +We turn from the Discipline to the Sermons. Here one finds everything, +from moral exhortations to a book of Revelations.[44] Buddha sometimes +is represented as entering upon a dramatic dialogue with those whom he +wishes to reform, and the talk is narrated. With what soft irony he +questions, with what apparent simplicity he argues! In the +_Tevijja_[45] the scene opens with a young Brahman. He is a pious and +religious youth, and tells Buddha that although he yearns for 'union +with Brahm[=a],'[46] he does not know which of the different paths +proposed by Brahman priests lead to Brahm[=a]. Do they all lead to +union with Brahm[=a]? Buddha answers: 'Let us see; has any one of +these Brahmans ever seen Brahm[=a]?' 'No, indeed, Gautama.' 'Or did +any one of their ancestors ever see Brahm[=a]?' 'No, Gautama.' 'Well, +did the most ancient seers ever say that they knew where is +Brahm[=a]?' 'No, Gautama.' 'Then if neither the present Brahmans know, +nor the old Brahmans knew where is Brahm[=a], the present Brahmans say +in point of fact, "We can show the way to union with what we know not +and have never seen; this is the straight path, this is the direct way +which leads to Brahm[=a]"--and is this foolish talk?' 'It is foolish +talk.' 'Then, as to yearning for union with Brahm[=a], suppose a man +should say, "How I long for, how I love the most beautiful woman in +this land," and the people should ask, "Do you know whether that +beautiful woman is a noble lady, or a Brahman woman, or of the trader +class, or a slave?" and he should say, "No"; and the people should +say, "What is her name, is she tall or short, in what place does she +live?" and he should say, "I know not," and the people should say, +"Whom you know not, neither have seen, her you love and long for?" and +he should say, "Yes,"--would not that be foolish? Then, after this is +assented to, Buddha suggests another parallel. 'A man builds a +staircase, and the people ask, "Do you know where is the mansion to +which this staircase leads?" "I do not know." "Are you making a +staircase to lead to something, taking it for a mansion, which you +know not and have never seen?" "Yes." Would not this be foolish +talk?... Now what think you, is Brahm[=a] in possession of wives and +wealth?' 'He is not.' + +'Is his mind full of anger or free from anger? Is his mind full of +malice or free from malice?' 'Free from anger and malice.' 'Is his +mind depraved or pure?' 'Pure.' 'Has he self-mastery?' 'Yes.' 'Now +what think you, are the Brahmans in possession of wives and wealth, do +they have anger in their hearts, do they bear malice, are they impure +in heart, are they without self-mastery?' 'Yes.' 'Can there then be +likeness between the Brahmans and Brahm[=a]?' 'No.' 'Will they then +after death become united to Brahm[=a] who is not at all like them?' +Then Buddha points out the path of purity and love. Here is no +negative 'non-injury,' but something very different to anything that +had been preached before in India. When the novice puts away hate, +passion, wrong-doing, sinfulness of every kind, then: 'He lets his +mind pervade the whole wide world, above, below, around and +everywhere, with a heart of love, far-reaching, grown great, and +beyond measure. And he lets his mind pervade the whole world with a +heart of pity, sympathy, and equanimity, far-reaching, grown great, +and beyond measure.' Buddha concludes (adopting for effect the +Brahm[=a] of his convert): 'That the monk who is free from anger, free +from malice, pure in mind, and master of himself should after death, +when the body is dissolved, become united to Brahm[=a] who is the +same--such a condition of things is quite possible' Here is no +metaphysics, only a new religion based on morality and intense +humanity, yet is the young man moved to say, speaking for himself and +the friend with him: 'Lord, excellent are the words of thy mouth. As +if one were to bring a lamp into the darkness, just so, Lord, has the +truth been made known to us in many a figure by the Blessed One. And +we come to Buddha as our refuge, to the doctrine and to the church. +May the Blessed One accept us as disciples, as true believers, from +this day forth, as long as life endures.' + +The god Brahm[=a] of this dialoge is for the time being playfully +accepted by Buddha as the All-god. To the Buddhist himself Brahm[=a] +and all the Vedic gods are not exactly non-existent, but they are dim +figures that are more like demi-gods, fairies, or as some English +scholars call them, 'angels.' Whether Buddha himself really believed +in them, cannot be asserted or denied. This belief is attributed to +him, and his church is very superstitious. Probably Buddha did not +think it worth while to discuss the question. He neither knew nor +cared whether cloud-beings existed. It was enough to deny a Creator, +or to leave no place for him. Thaumaturgical powers are indeed +credited to the earliest belief, but there certainly is nothing in +harmony with Buddha's usual attitude in the extraordinary discourse +called _[=A]kankheyya_, wherein Buddha is represented as ascribing to +monks miraculous powers only hinted at in a vague 'shaking of the +earth' in more sober speech.[47] From the following let the 'Esoteric +Buddhists' of to-day take comfort, for it shows at least that they +share an ancient folly, although Buddha can scarcely be held +responsible for it: "If a monk should desire to become multiform, to +become visible or invisible, to go through a wall, a fence, or a +mountain as if through air; to penetrate up or down through solid +ground as if through water ... to traverse the sky, to touch the moon +... let him fulfil all righteousness, let him be devoted to that +quietude of heart which springs from within ... let him look through +things, let him be much alone." That is to say, let him aim for the +very tricks of the Yogis, which Buddha had discarded. Is there not +here perhaps a little irony? Buddha does not say that the monk will be +able to do this--he says if the monk wishes to do this, let him be +quiet and meditate and learn righteousness, then perhaps--but he will +at least have learned righteousness! + +The little tract called _Cetokhila_ contains a sermon which has not +lost entirely its usefulness or application, and it is characteristic +of the way in which Buddha treated eschatological conundrums: 'If a +brother has adopted the religious life in the hope of belonging to +some one of the angel (divine) hosts, thinking to himself, "by this +morality or by this observance or by this austerity or by this +religious life I shall become an angel," his mind does not incline to +zeal, exertion, perseverance and struggle, and he has not succeeded in +his religious life' (has not broken through the bonds). And, +continuing, Buddha says that just as a hen might sit carefully +brooding over her well-watched eggs, and might content herself with +the wish, 'O that this egg would let out the chick,' but all the time +there is no need of this torment, for the chicks will hatch if she +keeps watch and ward over them, so a man, if he does not think what is +to be, but keeps watch and ward of his words, thoughts, and acts, will +'come forth into the light.'[48] + +The questions in regard to Buddha's view of soul, immortality, and +religion are answered to our mind as clearly in the following passages +as Buddha desired they should be. 'Unwisely does one consider: "Have I +existed in ages past ... shall I exist in ages yet to be, do I exist +at all, am I, how am I? This is a being, whence is it come, whither +will it go?" Consideration such as this is walking in the jungle of +delusion. These are the things one should consider: "This is +suffering, this is the origin of suffering, this is the cessation of +suffering, this is the way that leads to the cessation of suffering." +From him that considers thus his fetters fall away' (_Sabb[=a]sava_). +In the _Vang[=i]sa-sutta_ Buddha is asked directly: "Has this good +man's life been vain to him, has he been extinguished, or is he still +left with some elements of existence; and how was he liberated?" and +he replies: "He has cut off desire for name and form in this world. He +has crossed completely the stream of birth and death." In the +_Salla-sutta_ it is said: "Without cause and unknown is the life of +mortals in this world, troubled, brief, combined with pain.... As +earthen vessels made by the potter end in being broken, so is the life +of mortals." One should compare the still stronger image, which gives +the very name of _nir-v[=a]na_ ('blowing out') in the +_Upas[=i]vam[=a]navapucch[=a]_: "As a flame blown about by wind goes +out and cannot be reckoned as existing, so a sage delivered from name +and body disappears, and cannot be reckoned as existing." To this +Upas[=i]va replies: "But has he only disappeared, or does he not +exist, or is he only free from sickness?" To which Buddha: "For him +there is no form, and that by which they say he is exists for him no +longer." One would think that this were plain enough. + +Yet must one always remember that this is the Arhat's death, the death +of him that has perfected himself.[49] Buddha, like the Brahmans, +taught hell for the bad, and re-birth for them that were not +perfected. So in the _Kok[=a]liya-sutta_ a list of hells is given, and +an estimate is made of the duration of the sinner's suffering in them. +Here, as if in a Brahman code, is it taught that 'he who lies goes to +hell,' etc. Even the names of the Brahmanic hells are taken over into +the Buddhist system, and several of those in Manu's list of hells are +found here. + +On the other hand, Buddha teaches, if one may trust tradition, that a +good man may go to heaven. 'On the dissolution of the body after death +the well-doer is re-born in some happy state in heaven' +(_Mah[=a]parinibb[=a]na,_ i. 24).[50] This, like hell, is a temporary +state, of course, before re-birth begins again on earth. In fact, +Buddhist and Brahmanic pantheists agree in their attitude toward the +respective questions of hell, heaven, and _karma_. It is only the +emancipated Arhat that goes to Nirv[=a]na.[51] + +When it is said that Buddha preaches to a new convert 'in due course,' +it means always that he gave him first a lecture on morality and +religion, and then possibly, but not necessarily, on the 'system.' And +Buddha has no narrow-minded aversion to Brahmans; he accepts 'Brahman' +as he accepts 'Brahm[=a],' only he wants it to be understood what is a +real Brahman: 'A certain Brahman once asked Buddha how one becomes a +Brahman,--what are the characteristics that make a man a Brahman. And +the Blessed One said: "The Brahman who has removed all sinfulness, who +is free from haughtiness, free from impurity, self-restrained, who is +an accomplished master of knowledge, who has fulfilled the duties of +holiness,--such a Brahman justly calls himself a Brahman."'[52] "The +_Mah[=a]vagga_, from which this is taken, is full of such sentiments. +As here, in i. 2, so in i. 7: "The Blessed One preached to Yasa, the +noble youth, 'in due course,'" that is to say, "he talked about the +merit obtained by alms-giving, the duties of morality, about heaven, +about the evils of vanity and sinfulness of desire," and when the +Blessed One saw that the mind of Yasa, the noble youth, was prepared, +"then he preached the principal doctrine of the Buddhists, namely, +suffering, and cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, the +Path;" and "just as a clean cloth takes the dye, thus Yasa, the noble +youth, even while sitting there, obtained the knowledge that +whatsoever is subject to birth is also subject to death."[53] + +The "spirit and not the letter of the law" is expressed in the formula +_(Mah[=a]vagga_, i. 23): "Of all conditions that proceed +from a cause, Buddha has explained the cause, and he has explained +their cessation." This is the Buddhist's _credo_. + +In several of the sermons the whole gist is comprised in the +admonition not to meddle with philosophy, nor to have any 'views,' for +"philosophy purifies no one; peace alone purifies."[54] + +Buddha does not ignore the fact that fools will not desire salvation +as explained by him: "What fools call pleasure the noble say is pain; +this is a thing difficult to understand; the cessation of the existing +body is regarded as pleasure by the noble, but those wise in this +world hold the opposite opinion" (_Dvayat[=a]nup. sutta_, 38).[55] But +to him the truly wise is the truly pure: "Not by birth is one a +Brahman, not by birth is one an outcast; by deeds is one a Brahman, by +deeds is one an outcast" (_Vasala-sutta_); and not alone in virtue of +_karma_ of old, for: "The man who knows in this world the destruction +of pain, who lays aside the burden and is liberated, him I call a +Brahman; whosoever in this world has overcome good and evil, both +ties, who is free from grief and defilement, and is pure,--him I call +a Brahman; the ignorant say that one is a Brahman by birth, but one is +a Brahman by penance, by religious life, by self-restraint, and by +temperance" (_V[=a]settha-sutta_). + +The penance here alluded to is not the vague penance of austerities, +but submission to the discipline of the monastery when exercised for a +specific fault. + +Later Buddhism made of Buddha a god. Even less exaltation than this is +met by Buddha thus: S[=a]riputta says to him, "Such faith have I, +Lord, that methinks there never was and never will be either monk or +Brahman who is greater and wiser than thou," and Buddha responds: +"Grand and bold are the words of thy mouth; behold, thou hast burst +forth into ecstatic song. Come, hast thou, then, known all the Buddhas +that were?" "No, Lord." "Hast thou known all the Buddhas that will +be?" "No, Lord." "But, at least, thou knowest me, my conduct, my mind, +my wisdom, my life, my salvation (i.e., thou knowest me as well as I +know myself)?" "No, Lord." "Thou seest that thou knowest not the +venerable Buddhas of the past and of the future; why, then, are thy +words so grand and bold?" (_Mah[=a]parinibb[=a]na_.) + +Metaphysically the human ego to the Buddhist is only a collection of +five _skandhas_ (form, sensations, ideas, faculties of mind, and +reason) that vanishes when the collection is dispersed, but the +factors of the collection re-form again, and the new ego is the result +of their re-formation. The Northern Buddhists, who turn Buddha into a +god, make of this an immortal soul, but this is Buddhism in one phase, +not Buddha's own belief. The strength of Northern Buddhism lies not, +as some say, in its greater religious zeal, but in its grosser +animism, the delight of the vulgar. + +It will not be necessary, interesting as would be the comparison, to +study the Buddhism of the North after this review of the older and +simpler chronicles. In Hardy's _Manual of Buddhism_ (p. 138 ff.) and +Rockhill's _Life of Buddha_ will be found the weird and silly legends +of Northern Buddhism, together with a full sketch of Buddhistic ethics +and ontology (Hardy, pp. 460, 387). The most famous of the Northern +books, the Lotus of the Law and the Lalita Vistara, give a good idea +of the extravagance and supernaturalism that already have begun to +disfigure the purer faith. According to Kern, who has translated the +former work again (after Burnouf), the whole intent of the Lotus is to +represent Buddha as the supreme, eternal God. The works, treating of +piety, philosophy, and philanthropy, contain ancient elements, but in +general are of later form. To this age belongs also the whole +collection of J[=a]takas, or 'birth-stories,' of the Buddhas that were +before Gautama, some of the tales of which are historically important, +as they have given rise to Western fables.[56] These birth-stories +represent Buddha (often as Indra) as some god or mortal, and tell what +he did in such or such a form. It is in a future form that, like +Vishnu, who is to come in the _avatar_ of Kalki, the next Buddha will +appear as Maitreya, or the 'Buddha of love.'[57] Some of the stories +are very silly; some, again, are beautiful at heart, but ugly in their +bizarre appearance. They are all, perhaps, later than our era.[58] + +The history of Buddhism after the Master's death has a certain analogy +with that of Mohammedanism. That is to say it was largely a political +growth. Further than this, of course, the comparison fails. The +religion was affected by heretical kings, and by _nouveaux riches_, +for it admitted them all into its community on equal terms--no slight +privilege to the haughty nabob or proud king who, if a believer and +follower of Brahman orthodoxy, would have been obliged to bend the +head, yield the path, and fear the slightest frown of any beggar +priest that came in his way. + +The M[=a]ruya monarch Açoka adopted Buddhism as a state religion in +the third century B.C., and taught it unto all his people, so that, +according to his own account, he changed the creed of the country from +Brahmanism to Buddhism.[59] He was king over all northern India, from +Kabul to the eastern ocean, from the northern limit of Brahmanic +civilization to its southern boundary. Buddhist missionaries were now +spread over India and beyond it. And here again, even in this later +age, one sees how little had the people to do with Buddha's +metaphysical system. Like the simple confession 'I take refuge in +Buddha, in the doctrine, and in the church' was the only credo +demanded, that cited above: "Buddha has explained the cause of +whatever conditions proceed from a cause, and he has declared their +cessation." In this credo, which is en-graved all over India, +everything is left in confidence to Buddha. However he explained the +reason, that creed is to be accepted without inquiry. The convert took +the patent facts of life, believing that Buddha had explained all, and +based his own belief not on understanding but on faith. + +With the council of Patna, 242 B.C, begins at thousands of the +missionaries the geographical separation of the church, which results +in Southern and Northern Buddhism.[60] + +It is at this period that the monastic bodies become influential. The +original Sangha, congregation, is defined as consisting of three or +more brethren. The later monastery is a business corporation as well +as a religious body. The great emperors that now ruled India (not the +petty clan-kings of the centuries before) were no longer of pure +birth, and some heresy was the only religion that would receive them +with due honor. They affected Buddhism, endowed the monasteries, in +every was enriched the church, built for it great temples, and in turn +were upheld by their thankful co-religionists. Among the six[61] rival +heresies that of Buddha was predominant, and chiefly because of royal +influence. The Buddhist head of the Ceylon church was Açoka's own son. +Still more important for Buddhism was its adoption by the migratory +Turanians in the centuries following. Tibet and China were opened up +to it through the influence of these foreign kings, who at least +pretended to adopt the faith of Buddha.[62] But as it was adopted by +them, and as it extended beyond the limits of India, just so much +weaker it became at home, where its strongest antagonists were the +sectarian pantheistic parties not so heterodox as itself. + +Buddhism lingered in India till the twelfth or thirteenth century, +although in the seventh it was already decadent, as appears from the +account of Hiouen-Thsang, the Chinese pilgrim. It is found to-day in +Tibet, Ceylon, China, Japan, and other outlying regions, but it is +quite vanished from its old home. The cause of its extinction is +obvious. The Buddhist victorious was not the modest and devout +mendicant of the early church. The fire of hate, lighted if at all by +Buddhism,[63] smouldered till Brahmanism, in the form of Hinduism, had +begotten a religion as popular as Buddhism, or rather far more +popular, and for two reasons. Buddhism had no such picturesque tales +as those that enveloped with poetry the history of the man-god +Krishna, Again, Buddhism in its monastic development had separated +itself more and more from the people. Not mendicant monks, urging to a +pure life, but opulent churches with fat priests; not simple +discourses calculated to awaken the moral and religious consciousness, +but subtle arguments on discipline and metaphysics were now what +Buddhism represented. This religion was become, indeed, as much a +skeleton as was the Brahmanism of the sixth century. As the Brahmanic +belief had decomposed into spiritless rites, so Buddhism, +changed into dialectic and idolatry (for in lieu of a god the later +church worshipped Buddha), had lost now all hold upon the people. The +love of man, the spirit of Buddhism, was dead, and Buddhism crumbled +into the dust. Vital and energetic was the sectarian 'love of God' +alone (Hinduism), and this now became triumphant. Where Buddhism has +succeeded is not where the man-gods, objects of love and fear, have +entered; but where, without rivalry from more sympathetic beliefs, it +has itself evolved a system of idolatry and superstition; where all +that was scorned by the Master is regarded as holiest, and all that he +insisted upon as vital is disregarded.[64] One speaks of the millions +of Buddhists in the world as one speaks of the millions of Christians; +but while there are some Christians that have renounced the bigotry +and idolatry of the church, and hold to the truth as it is in the +words of Christ, there are still fewer Buddhists who know that their +Buddhism would have been rebuked scornfully by its founder. + +The geographical growth of formal Buddhism is easily sketched. After +the first entrance into Kashmeer and Ceylon, in the third century +B.C., the progress of the cult, as it now may be called, was steadily +away from India proper. In the fifth century A.D., it was adopted in +Burmah,[65] and in the seventh in Siam. The Northern school kept in +general to the 'void' doctrine of N[=a]g[=a]rjuna, whose chief texts +are the Lotus and the Lalita Vistara, standard works of the Great +Vehicle.[66] In Tibet Lamaism is the last result of this hierarchical +state-church.[67] We have thought it much more important to give a +fuller account of early Buddhism, that of Buddha, than a full account +of a later growth in regions that, for the most part, are not Indic, +in the belief that the P[=a]li books of Ceylon give a truer picture of +the early church than do those of Kashmeer and Nep[=a]l, with their +Çivaite and Brahmanic admixture. For in truth the Buddhism of China +and Tibet has no place in the history of Indic religions. It may have +been introduced by Hindu missionaries, but it has been re-made to suit +a foreign people. This does not apply, of course, to the canonical +books, the Great Vehicle, of the North, which is essentially native, +if not Buddhistic. Yet of the simple narrative and the adulterated +mystery-play, if one has to choose, the former must take precedence. +From the point of view of history, Northern Buddhism, however old its +elements, can be regarded only as an admixture of Buddhistic and +Brahmanic ideas. For this reason we take a little more space, not to +cite from the Lotus or the grotesque Lalita Vistara,[68] but to +illustrate Buddhism at its best. Fausböll, who has translated the +dialogue that follows, thinks that in the Suttas of the +Sutta-nip[=a]ta there is a reminiscence of a stage of Buddhism before +the institution of monasteries, while as yet the disciples lived as +hermits. The collection is at least very primitive, although we doubt +whether the Buddhist disciples ever lived formally as individual +hermits. All the Samanas are in groups, little 'congregations,' which +afterwards grew into monasteries. + +This is a poetical (amoebic) contest between the herdsman Dhaniya and +Buddha, with which Fausböll[69] compares St. Luke, xii. 16, but which, +on the other hand reminds one of a spiritualized Theocritus, with whom +its author was, perhaps, contemporary. + + I have boiled the rice, I have milked the kine--so said the + herdsman Dhaniya--I am living with my comrades near the + banks of the (great) Mah[=i] river; the house is roofed, the + fire is lit--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + I am free from anger, free from stubbornness--so said the + Blessed One--I am abiding for one night near the banks of + the (great) Mah[=i] river; my house has no cover, the fire + (of passion) is extinguished--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + Here are no gad-files--so said the herdsman Dhaniya--The + cows are roaming in meadows full of grass, and they can + endure the rain--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + 1 have made a well-built raft--so said the Blessed One--I + have crossed over, I have reached the further bank, I have + overcome the torrent (of passions); I need the raft no + more--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + My wife is obedient, she is not wanton--so said the herdsman + Dhaniya--she has lived with me long and is winning; no + wickedless have I heard of her--then rain if thou wilt, O + sky! + + My mind is obedient, delivered (from evil)--so said the + Blessed One--it has been cultivated long and is + well-subdued; there is no longer anything wicked in me--then + rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + I support myself by my own earnings--so said the herdsman + Dhaniya--and my children are around me and healthy; I hear + no wickedness of them--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + I am the servant of none--so said the Blessed One--with what + I have gained I wander about in all the world; I have no + need to serve--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + I have cows, I have calves--so said the herdsman + Dhaniya--cows in calf and heifers also; and I have a bull as + lord over the cows--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + I have no cows, I have no calves--so said the Blessed + One--no cows in calf, and no heifers; and I have no bull as + a lord over the cows--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + The stakes are driven in and cannot be shaken--so said the + herdsman Dhaniya--the ropes are made of holy-grass, new and + well-made; the cows will not be able to break them--then + rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + Like a bull I have rent the bonds--so said the Blessed + One--like an elephant I have broken through the ropes, I + shall not be born again--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + Then the rain poured down and filled both sea and land. And + hearing the sky raining, Dhaniya said: Not small to us the + gain in that we have seen the Blessed Lord; in thee we take + refuge, thou endowed with (wisdom's) eye; be thou our + master, O great sage! My wife and myself are obedient + to thee. If we lead a pure life we shall overcome birth and + death, and put an end to pain. + + He that has sons has delight in sons--so said the Evil + One--he that has cows has delight in cows, for substance is + the delight of man, but he that has no substance has no + delight. + + He that has sons has care with his sons--so said the Blessed + One--he that has cows has likewise care with his cows, for + substance is (the cause of) care, but he that has no + substance has no care. + +From Buddha's sermons choice extracts were gathered at an early date, +which, as well as the few longer discourses, that have been preserved +in their entirety, do more to tell us what was the original Buddha, +before he was enwrapped in the scholastic mysticism of a later age, +than pages of general critique. + +Thus in the _Mah[=a]parinibb[=a]na_ casual allusion is made to +assemblies of men and of angels (divine beings), of the great +thirty-three gods, Death the Evil One and Brahm[=a] (iii. 21). Buddha, +as we have said, does not deny the existence of spiritual beings; he +denies only their power to affect the perfect man and their +controlling part in the universe. In the same sermon the refuge of the +disciple is declared to be truth and himself (ii. 33): "Be ye lamps +unto yourselves. Betake yourselves to no external refuge. Hold fast to +the truth as to a lamp." + +And from the famous 'Path of Duty' or 'Collection of truths':[70] + + All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is + founded on our thoughts; it is made up of our thoughts. If a + man speaks or acts with an evil thought pain follows him as + the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the + carriage, (but) if a man speaks or acts with a pure thought + happiness follows him like a shadow that never leaves him. + + Earnestness is the path that leads to escape from death, + thoughtlessness is the path that leads to death. Those who + are in earnest do not die;[71] + + those who are thoughtless are as if dead already. Long is + the night to him who is awake; long is a mile to him who is + tired; long is life to the foolish. + + There is no suffering for him who has finished his journey + and abandoned grief, who has freed himself on all sides and + thrown off the fetters. + + Some people are born again; evil-doers go to hell; righteous + people go to heaven; those who are free from all worldly + desires attain Nirv[=a]na. + + He who, seeking his own happiness, punishes or kills beings + that also long for happiness, will not find happiness after + death. + + Looking for the maker of this tabernacle I shall have to run + through a course of many births, so long as I do not find; + and painful is birth again and again. But now, maker of the + tabernacle, thou hast been seen; thou shalt not make up this + tabernacle again. All thy rafters are broken, thy ridge-pole + is sundered; thy mind, approaching Nirv[=a]na, has attained + to extinction of all desires.[72] + + Better than going to heaven, better than lordship over all + worlds, is the reward of entering the stream of holiness. + + Not to commit any sin, to do good, and to purify one's mind, + that is the teaching of the Buddhas. + + Let us live happily, not hating them that hate us. Let us + live happily, though we call nothing our own. We shall be + like bright gods, feeding on happiness. + + From lust comes grief, from lust comes fear; he that is free + from lust knows neither grief nor fear. + + The best of ways is the eightfold (path); this is the way, + there is no other that leads to the purifying of + intelligence. Go on this way! Everything else is the deceit + of Death. You yourself must make the effort. Buddhas are + only preachers. The thoughtful who enter the way are freed + from the bondage of Death.[73] + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Compare Colebrooke's _Essays_, vol. ii. 460; + and Muir, OST. iv. 296] + + [Footnote 2: Compare Oldenberg. _Buddha_, p. 155.] + + [Footnote 3: Especially Köppen views Buddha as a democratic + reformer and liberator.] + + [Footnote 4: Emile Senart, _Essai sur la légende du Buddha_. + 1875.] + + [Footnote 5: _Buddha_ (1881), p.73 ff.] + + [Footnote 6: The exact position of Kapilavastu, the capital + of the Ç[=a]kyas, is not known, although it must have been + near to the position assigned to it on Kiepert's map of + India (just north of Gorakhpur). The town is unknown in + Brahmanic literature.] + + [Footnote 7: This is Oldenberg's opinion, for the reason + here stated. On the other hand it may be questioned whether + this negative evidence be conclusive, and whether it be not + more probable that a young nobleman would have been well + educated.] + + [Footnote 8: Siddhartha, the boy, Gautama by his family + cognomen, the Ç[=a]kya-son by his clan-name, was known also + as the Ç[=a]kya-sage, the hermit, Samana (Çrama[n.]a); the + venerable, Arhat (a general title of perfected saints); + Tath[=a]gata 'who is arrived like' (the preceding Buddhas, + at perfection); and also by many other names common to other + sects, Buddha, Jina, The Blessed One (Bhagavat), The Great + Hero, etc. The Buddhist disciple may be a layman, _çravaka_; + a monk, _bhikshu_; a perfected saint, _arhat_; a saintly + doctor of the law, _bodhisattva_; etc.] + + [Footnote 9: South of the present Patna. Less correct is the + _Buddha_ Gay[=a] form.] + + [Footnote 10: The famous _bo_ or Bodhi-tree, ficus + religiosa, _pippala_, at Bodhi Gay[=a], said to be the most + venerable and certainly the most venerated tree in the + world.] + + [Footnote 11: A _pacceka_ Buddha (Oldenberg. _Buddha_, + p.122).] + + [Footnote 12: + + "Then be the door of salvation opened! + He that hath ears to hear let him hear. + I thought of my own sorrow only, and, therefore, + Have not revealed the Word to the world."] + + [Footnote 13: He sometimes, however, quite prosaically + 'makes' or 'manufactures' it.] + + [Footnote 14: _Dhammacakkappavattana_. Rhys Davids in his + introduction to this _sutta_ gives and explains the eight as + follows (SBE. XI. p.144): 1, Right views; freedom from + superstition or delusion. 2, Right aims, high and worthy of + the intelligent, earnest man. 3, Right speech, kindly, open, + truthful. 4, Right conduct, peaceful, honest, pure. 5, Right + livelihood, bringing hurt to no living thing. 6, Right + effort in self-training and in self-control. 7, Right + mindfulness, the active watchful mind. 8, Right + contemplation, earnest thought on the deep mysteries of + life.] + + [Footnote 15: Hardy, _Manual,_, p.496.] + + [Footnote 16: "A decided predilection for the aristocracy + appears to have lingered as an heirloom of the past in the + older Buddhism," Oldenberg, _Buddha_, p.157.] + + [Footnote 17: _Mah[=a]vagga,_ 1.24. On the name (Gautama) + Gotama, see Weber, _IS_. L 180.] + + [Footnote 18: The parks of Venuvana and Jetavana were + especially affected by Buddha. Compare Oldenberg, _Buddha_, + p.145.] + + [Footnote 19: Like the Jains the Buddhists postulate + twenty-four (five) precedent Buddhas.] + + [Footnote 20: Buddha's general discipline as compared with + that of the Jains was much more lax, for instance, in the + eating of meat. Buddha himself died of dysentery brought on + by eating pork. The later Buddhism interprets much more + strictly the rule of 'non-injury'; and as we have shown, + Buddha entirely renounced austerities, choosing the mean + between laxity and asceticism.] + + [Footnote 21: Or 'take care of yourself'; + _Mah[=a]parinibb[=a]na_, v. 23.] + + [Footnote 22: The chief Buddhistic dates are given by Müller + (introduction to _Dhammapada_, SBE. vol. X.) as follows: + 557, Buddha's birth; 477, Buddha's death and the First + Council at R[=a]jagriha; 377, the Second Council at + V[=a]iç[=a]l[=i]; 259, Açoka's coronation; 242, Third + Council at P[=a]taliputta; 222, Açoka's death. These dates + are only tentative, but they give the time nearly enough to + serve as a guide. From the Buddhists (Ceylon account) it is + known that the Council at V[=a]iç[=a]li was held one hundred + years after Buddha's death (one hundred and eighteen years + before the coronation of Açoka, whose grandfather, + Candragupta, was Alexander's contemporary). The interval + between Nirvana and Açoka, two hundred and eighteen years, + is the only certain date according to Köppen, p.208, and + despite much argument since he wrote, the remark still + holds.] + + [Footnote 23: Englished by Rhys Davids, + _Mah[=a]parinibb[=a]na-sutta_ (SBE. XI. 95 ff.).] + + [Footnote 24: _Ecclesiastes_.] + + [Footnote 25: The common view is thus expressed by + Oldenberg: "In dem schwülen, feuchten, von der Natur mit + Reichthümern üppig gesegneten Tropenlande des Ganges hat das + Volk, das in frischer Jugendkraft steht, als es vom Norden + her eindringt, bald aufgehört jung und stark zu sein. + Menschen und Völker reifen in jenem Lande ... schnell heran, + um ebenso schnell an Leib und Seele zu erschlaffen" (_loc. + cit_. p. 11).] + + [Footnote 26: Rhys Davids, _Buddhism_, pp. 160,139.] + + [Footnote 27: Buddha taught, of course, nothing related to + the thaumaturgy of that folly which calls itself today + 'Esoteric Buddhism.'] + + [Footnote 28: That is a sacrifice where no cattle are slain, + and no injury is done to living beings.] + + [Footnote 29: _K[=u]tadanta-sutta_ Oldenberg, _Buddha_, p. + 175.] + + [Footnote 30: Sometimes distinguished from + _pari-nirv[=a][n.]a_ as absolute annihilation.] + + [Footnote 31: Some scholars think that the doctrine of + Buddha resembles closely that of the S[=a]nkhya philosophy + (so Barth, p. 116), but Müller, Oldenberg, and others, + appear to be right in denying this. The Sankhyan 'spirit' + has, for instance, nothing corresponding to it in Buddha's + system.] + + [Footnote 32: The twelve Nid[=a]nas are dogmatic, and withal + not very logical. "From ignorance arise forms, from forms + arises consciousness, from consciousness arise name and + bodiness; from name and bodiness arise the six senses + (including understanding as the sixth) and their objects; + from these arises contact; from this, feeling; from this, + thirst; from this, clinging; from clinging arises becoming; + from becoming arises birth; from birth arise age and + sorrow." One must gradually free himself from the ten + fetters that bind to life, and so do away with the first of + these twelve Nid[=a]nas, ignorance.] + + [Footnote 33: _Mah[=a]vagga_, X. 3 (SBE. XVII. 306).] + + [Footnote 34 36 1: Compare Kern, the _Lotus_, III. 21, and + Fausböll, _P[=a]r[=a]yana-sutta_, 9 (1131), the "deep and + lovely voice of Buddha." (SBE. XXI. 64, and X. 210.)] + + [Footnote 35: As Southern Buddhists are reckoned those of + Ceylon, Burmah, Siam, etc.] + + [Footnote 36: As Northern Buddhists are reckoned those of + Nep[=a]l, Tibet, China, Corea, Japan, Java, Sumatra, Annam, + and Cambodia.] + + [Footnote 37: "Let your light so shine before the world, + that you, having embraced the religious life according to so + well-taught a doctrine and discipline, may be seen to be + forbearing and mild." (SBE. XVII. 305, David's and + Oldenberg's translation.)] + + [Footnote 38: 'Removing pieces from a pile without moving + the remainder' must, we presume, be jackstraws.] + + [Footnote 39: For instance, rules for eating, drinking + (liquor), and for bathing. The Buddhist monk, except in + summer, bathed once a fortnight only.] + + [Footnote 40: No one is so holy that sin does not hurt him, + according to Buddhistic belief. The Brahman, on the + contrary, was liable to become so holy that he could commit + any sin and it did not affect his virtue, which he stored up + in a heap by cumulative asceticism.] + + [Footnote 41: The offering and reception of gifts is always + accompanied with water, both in Buddhistic and Brahmanic + circles. Whether this was a religious act or a legal sign of + surrender we have not been able to discover. Perhaps it + arose simply from water always being offered as refreshment + to a guest (with fruit), as a sign of guest-friendship.] + + [Footnote 42: Sakyaputtiya Samanas, _i.e_., Buddhists.] + + [Footnote 43: In the case of a monk having carnal connection + with a nun the penalty was instant expulsion(_ib_. 60). The + nuns were subject to the monks and kept strictly in hand, + obliged always to greet the monks first, to go to lessons + once a fortnight, and so forth.] + + [Footnote 44: Mah[=a]sudassana, the great King of Glory + whose city is described with its four gates, one of gold, + one of silver, one of Jade and one of crystal, etc. The + earlier Buddha had as 'king of glory' 84,000 wives and other + comforts quite as remarkable.] + + [Footnote 45: Translated by Davids, _Buddhist Suttas_ and + _Hibbert Lectures_.] + + [Footnote 46: What we have several times had to call + attention to is shown again by the side light of Buddhism to + be the case in Brahmanic circles, namely, that even in + Buddha's day while Brahm[=a] is the god of the thinkers + Indra is the god of the people (together with Vishnu and + Çiva, if the texts are as old as they pretend to be).] + + [Footnote 47: _Mah[=a]parinibb[=a]na_ iii, to which Rhys + Davids refers, is scarcely a fair parallel.] + + [Footnote 48: The imitation of the original play on words is + Rhys Davids', who has translated these Suttas in SBE. vol. + XI. For the following see Fausböll, _ib_. vol. X.] + + [Footnote 49: After one enters on the stream of holiness + there are only seven more possible births on earth, with one + in heaven; then he becomes _arhat_, venerable, perfected, + and enters Nirv[=a]na.] + + [Footnote 50: Compare the fairies and spirits in _ib_. v. + 10; and in i. 31, 'give gifts to the gods.'] + + [Footnote 51: We agree with Rhys Davids, _Buddhism_, pp. + 111, 207, that Buddha himself was an atheist; but to the + statement that Nirv[=a]na was the "extinction of that + sinful, grasping condition of mind and heart which would + otherwise be the cause of renewed individual existences" + should in our opinion be added "and therewith the extinction + of individuality." Compare Rhys Davids' _Hibbert Lectures_, + p. 253.] + + [Footnote 52: Compare the definition of an 'outcast' in the + _Vasala-sutta_: "He that gets angry and feels hatred, a + wicked man, a hypocrite, he that embraces wrong views and is + deceitful, such an one is an outcast, and he that has no + compassion for living things."] + + [Footnote 53: Compare _ib_. 5. 36: "In due course he spoke, + of charity, morality, heaven, pleasure, and the advantage of + renunciation."] + + [Footnote 54: See especially the _Nandaman., Paramatthaka, + M[=a]gandiya_, and _Suddhatthaka Suttas_, translated by + Fausböll, SBE. vol. X.] + + [Footnote 55: Fausböll, in SBE. vol. X, Suttanip[=a]ta.] + + [Footnote 56: The distinction between the Northern and + Southern doctrine is indicated by the terms 'Great Vehicle' + and 'Little Vehicle' respectively, the former the works of + N[=a]g[=a]rjuna's school (see below).] + + [Footnote 57: As M[=a]itrakanyaka Buddha came once to earth + "to redeem the sins of men."] + + [Footnote 58: Of historic interest is the rapport between + Brahmanic, Jain. and Buddhist tales. A case of this sort has + been carefully worked out by Leumann, _Die Legende von Citta + und Sambh[=u]ta_, WZKM. v. III; vi. 1.] + + [Footnote 59: "The gods who were worshipped as true + divinities in India have been rendered false ... by my + zeal"; inscription cited by Barth, p. 135. But Açoka was a + very tolerant prince. Barth's notion of Buddhistic + persecution can hardly be correct.] + + [Footnote 60: Köppen, _Die Religion des Buddha_, p. 198.] + + [Footnote 61: Not to be confused with the seventeen heresies + and sixty-three different philosophical systems in the + church itself.] + + [Footnote 62: For more details see Barth, _loc. cit_., p. + 130 ff. According to tradition Buddhism was introduced into + Tibet in the fourth century, A.D., the first missionaries + coming from Nep[=a]l (Rockhill, p. 210).] + + [Footnote 63: Barth justly discredits the tale of Buddhism + having been persecuted out of India. In this sketch of later + Buddhism we can but follow this author's admirable summary + of the causes of Buddhistic decline, especially agreeing + with him in assigning the first place to the torpidity of + the later church in matters of religion. It was become a + great machine, its spiritual enthusiasm had been exhausted; + it had nothing poetical or beautiful save the legend of + Buddha, and this had lost its freshness; for Buddha was now, + in fact, only a grinning idol.] + + [Footnote 64: Here are developed fully the stories of hells, + angels, and all supernatural paraphernalia, together with + theism, idolatry, and the completed monastic system; magic, + fable, absurd calculations in regard to nothings, and + spiritual emptiness.] + + [Footnote 65: At the same time the Ceylon canon was fixed by + the commentary of Buddhaghosha.] + + [Footnote 66: Later it follows the mystical school. Both + schools have been affected by Brahmanism. The Great Vehicle, + founded by N[=a]g[=a]rjuna, was recognized at a fourth + council in Kashmeer about the time of the Christian era. + Compare Köppen, p. 199.] + + [Footnote 67: On the Lamaistic hierarchy and system of + succession see Mayers, JRAS. IV. 284.] + + [Footnote 68: For the same reason we do not enter upon the + outer form of Buddhism as expressed in demonology, + snake-worship (JRAS. xii. 286) and symbolism (_ib_. OS. + xiii. 71, 114).] + + [Footnote 69: SBE. vol. x, part ii, p. 3.] + + [Footnote 70: Dhammapada (Franke, ZDMG. xlvi, 731). In + Sanskrit one has _dharmapatha_ with the same sense. The text + in the main is as translated by Müller, separately, 1872, + and in SBE., voL x. It was translated by Weber, _Streifen_. + i. 112, in 1860.] + + [Footnote 71: That is, they die no more; they are free from + the chain; they enter Nirv[=a]na.] + + [Footnote 72: Buddha's words on becoming Buddha.] + + [Footnote 73: It is to be observed that transmigration into + animal forms is scarcely recognized by Buddha. He assumes + only men and superior beings as subjects of _Karma_. Compare + Rhys Davids' _Lectures_, pp. 105,107. To the same scholar is + due the statement that he was the first to recognize the + true meaning of Nirv[=a]na, 'extinction (not of soul but) of + lust, anger, and ignorance.' For divisions of Buddhist + literature other than the Tripitaka the same author's + _Hibbert Lectures_ may be consulted (see also Müller, SBE. + X, Introduction, p. i).] + + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +EARLY HINDUISM. + + +While the great heresies that we have been describing were agitating +the eastern part of India,[1] the old home of Brahmanism in the West +remained true, in name if not in fact, to the ancient faith. But in +reality changes almost as great as those of the formal heresies were +taking place at the core of Brahmanism itself, which, no longer able +to be the religion of a few clans, was now engaged in the gigantic +task of remodelling and assimilating the indigenous beliefs and +religious practices of its new environment. This was not a conscious +act on the part of Brahmanism. At first it was undertaken almost +unwittingly, and it was accomplished later not without repugnance. But +to perform this task was the condition of continued existence. +Brahmanism had to expand, or shrink, wither, and die. + +For a thousand years almost the only source of information in regard +to this new growth is contained in the epic poetry of the time, with +the help of a few additional facts from the law, and some side light +from inscriptions. It is here that Vishnuism and Çivaism are found as +fully developed sectarian beliefs, accepted by Brahmanism with more or +less distrust, and in more or less fulness of faith. It is to the epic +that one must turn to study the budding and gradual flowering of the +modern religions, which have cast strict orthodoxy into the shade. + +Of the two epics, one, the R[=a]m[=a]yana,[2] has become the Old +Testament of the Ramaite Vishnuites of the present day. The +Bh[=a]rata,[3] on the other hand, is scriptural for all sects, because +it is more universal. The former epic, in its present form, is what +the Hindus call an 'art-poem,' and in its finish, its exclusively +romantic style, and its total lack of nervous dramatic power, it is +probably, as the Hindus claim, the work of one man, V[=a]lm[=i]ki, who +took the ancient legends of Eastern India and moulded them into a +stupid sectarian poem. On the other hand, the Bh[=a]rata is of no one +hand, either in origin or in final redaction; nor is it of one sect; +nor has it apparently been thoroughly affected, as has the +R[=a]m[=a]yana, by Buddhistic influences. Moreover, in the huge +conglomeration of stirring adventure, legend, myth, history, and +superstition which goes to make up the great epic there is contained a +far truer picture of the vulgar custom, belief, and religion of the +time than the too polished composition of V[=a]lm[=i]ki is able to +afford, despite the fact that the latter also has many popular +elements welded into it. There are, in fact, only two national works +in India, only two works which, withal, not in their entirety, but in +their nucleus, after one has stripped each of its priestly toggery, +reflect dimly the heart of the people, not the cleverness of one man, +or the pedantry of schools. For a few Vedic hymns and a few Bh[=a]rata +scenes make all the literature, with perhaps the exception of some +fables, that is not markedly dogmatic, pedantic, or 'artificial.'[4] +So true is this that even in the case of the R[=a]m[=a]yana one never +feels that he is getting from it the genuine belief of the people, but +only that form of popular belief which V[=a]lm[=i]ki has chosen to let +stand in his version of the old tale. The great epic is heroic, +V[=a]lm[=i]ki's poem is romantic; the former is real, the latter is +artificial; and the religious gleaning from each corresponds to this +distinction.[5] + +Ths Bh[=a]rata, like other Hindu works, is of uncertain date, but it +was completed as a 'Great Bh[=a]rata' by the end of the sixth century +A.D., and the characters of the story are mentioned, as well known, by +P[=a]nini, whose work probably belongs to the fourth century B.C. +Furthermore, Dio Chrysostomos, probably citing from Megasthenes, +refers to it; and the latter authority describes the worship of the +chief gods of the epic; while the work is named in one of the domestic +S[=u]tras, and a verse is cited from it in the legal Sutra of +B[=a]udh[=a]yana.[6] On the other hand, in its latest growth it is on +a par with the earlier Pur[=a]nas, but it is not quite so advanced in +sectarianism as even the oldest of these writings. It may, then, be +reckoned as tolerably certain that the beginnings of the epic date +from the fourth or fifth century before the Christian era, and that it +was quite a respectable work by the time that era began; after which +it continued to grow for five centuries more.[7] Its religious +importance can scarcely be overestimated. In 600 A.D., far away from +its native home, in Cambodia, it was encircled with a temple, and an +endowment was made by the king providing for the daily recitation of +the poem. Its legal verses are authoritative; its religion is to-day +that of India as a whole. The latest large additions to it were, as we +think, the Book of Laws, the Book of Peace, and the genealogy of +Vishnu, which together form a sort of pseudo-epic. But portions of +other books, notably the first, fourth, and seventh, are probably +almost as recent as are the more palpable interpolations. + +The Bh[=a]rata (or the epic [Greek: _kat exochên_] gives us our first +view of Hinduism in its sectarian developments. But no less does it +show us a changing Brahmanism. The most typical change in the +Brahmanism of this period, which covers all that time called by Müller +the era of the Renaissance, and ends with the pedantically piquant +literature of the drama,[8] is the abnormal growth of the ascetic +religious exercise. Older Brahmanism, like the sects, admitted Yogis +and ascetics of various kinds, but their aim was to attain oneness +with God; and 'union' (with God) is the _yoga_ (Latin _jugum_ has the +same origin) which they sought. But it was not long before the starved +ascetic, with his wild appearance and great reputation for sanctity, +inspired an awe which, in the unscrupulous, was easily turned to +advantage. The Yogi became more or less of a charlatan, more or less +of a juggler. Nor was this all. Yoga-practices began to take +precedence before other religious practices. In the Br[=a]hmanas it is +the sacrifice that is god-compelling; but in the epic, although +sacrifice has its place, yet when miraculous power is exerted, it is +due chiefly to Yoga concentration, or to the equally general use of +formulae; not formulae as part of a sacrifice, but as in themselves +potent; and mysterious _mantras_, used by priest and warrior alike, +serve every end of magic.[9] Apart from acquisition of power, this +Yoga-training is, moreover, all that is needful from the point of view +of righteousness. Physical prowess here is the one thing admirable. To +stand for years on one leg, to be eaten by ants, to be in every way an +ascetic of the most stoical sort, is the truest religion. Such an +ascetic has no ordinary rules of morality. In fact, his practices are +most peculiar, for to seduce young women is one of his commonest +occupations; and in his anger to cause an injury to his foes is one of +the ends for which he toils. The gods are nothing to him. They are +puppets whom he makes shake and tremble at will. As portrayed in the +epic, in terms of common sense, the Muni (silent saint) is a +morose[10] and very vulgar-minded old man, who seeks to intimidate +others by a show of miraculous power. In the matter of penances those +of the law are extended beyond all bounds. The caste-restrictions are +of the closest, and the most heinous crime is to commit an offence +against caste-order. On the other hand, the greatest merit is to give +gifts to priests. This had already proceeded far enough, as was +indicated by a passage cited above from Manu. But in the epic the +greed and capacity of the priest exceeds all imaginable limits. He +takes whatever he can get and asks for more. He has, by his own +showing, scarcely one estimable trait. Avarice, cupidity, sensuality, +gluttony, love of finery, effeminacy, meanness, and pride--everything +charged against him by the Buddhist--are his most marked +characteristics. He appears, however, to be worse than he always was. +For nothing is plainer, from this very epic, than that the priests, +although united as a caste, were sharply distinguished in their lives. +The ascetic described above represents the fourth period of the +priestly life. Below these stood (apart from students)[11] hermits and +householders. The householders, or such of them as the epic +unfortunately is busied with, the royal priests, seem to be those that +are in reality priests only in name. In the king's palace, his +constant advisors, his most unscrupulous upholders in wickedness, they +gave themselves up to quest of wealth and power. But one would err if +he thus dismissed them all. There were others that had no preferment, +who lived in quiet content in their own houses, and deserved none of +the opprobrium rightly bestowed upon their hypocritical brothers. The +hermits, too, appear to have been a mild and inoffensive race, not +presuming too much on their caste-privileges. + +To offset rapaciousness there are tomes of morality of the purest +sort. Even in the later additions to the epic one reads: "Away with +gifts; receiving gifts is sinful. The silkworm dies of its wealth" +(xii. 330. 29). One should compare, again, the exalted verse +(Buddhistic in tone) of _ib_. 321. 47: "The red garment, the vow of +silence, the three-fold staff, the water-pot--these only lead astray; +they do not make for salvation." There were doubtless good and bad +priests, but the peculiarity of the epic priest, rapacious and +lustful, is that he glories in his sins. + +The chief objects of worship (except for the influence of the +sectarian religions) were priests, Manes, and, for form's sake, the +Vedic gods. These gods, with the addition of the Hindu Plutus (Kubera, +the god of riches), are now called the eight 'world-guardians,' viz., +Indra, Yama, Varuna, Kubera, Agni, S[=u]rya, V[=a]yu, Soma, and are +usually simple and shadowy subordinates of the greater new gods. + +In the shifting of religious opinion and in the development of +theological conceptions what difference can be traced between the same +gods as worshipped in the Veda and as worshipped in the epic? Although +the Vedic divinities have been twice superseded, once by the +Father-god and again by the _[=a]tm[=a]_, Lord, they still remain +adorable and adored, active in many ways, though passive before the +great All-god. It is, indeed, extremely difficult, owing to the +superstruction of sectarian belief, to get down to the +foundation-religion of the epic. The best one can do is to see in what +way the old gods differ, as represented in the poem, from their older +selves of the Rig Veda. From this point of view alone, and entirely +irrespective of the sects, manifold changes will be seen to have taken +place. Great Soma is no more. Soma is there, the moon, but the glory +of the Vedic Soma has departed. His lunar representative is of little +importance. Agni, too, is changed. As Fire in the Rig Veda is not only +the altar-fire, but also common, every-day fire, so, too, in the epic +this god is the material flame, and as such even performs his greatest +deeds for his worshippers. He takes on every form, even becoming a +priest, and a dove. He remains the priest of the gods, but his day of +action in war is over. He no longer wins battles. But he burns down a +forest to aid his party. For the Vedic gods are now but weak partizans +of the combatants. In the sectarian parts of the epic Agni is only a +puppet. His new representative, Skanda, is the chief battle-god, a +name almost unknown before. He himself is either the son of Vishnu or +a form of Çiva. He is the All-god, the _[=a]tm[=a]_. It is he who +burns the world when the time shall have come for the general +destruction. + +The high and mighty Varuna of the Rig Veda is no longer great. He is +no longer serene. He descends and fights on earth. Indra, too, battles +with Vritra as of old, but he is quite anthropomorphic, and of no +marked value in the contest of heroes. Not only this, but all the gods +together are represented as weaker than a good hero, not to speak of a +priestly ascetic. In a word, the gods are believed in, but with what a +belief! They no longer, as natural powers, inspire special respect. +Their nature-origin is for the most part lost. They are thoroughly +anthropomorphic. Even S[=u]rya, the sun, in action if not in +laudation, is often more man than god. This gives a strange effect to +the epic battle-scenes as compared with those of Homer. Unless Vishnu +is active on the field the action is essentially human. No great god +or goddess stands ready to save the fainting warrior. He fights and +falls alone. Save for the caresses and plaudits of the half-gods, the +most that the Vedic gods can do is to wipe away the sweat from the +hero's brow.[12] The All-god does not take the place of the band of +watchful and helpful gods pictured by Homer. Vishnu fights on the +field; he saves only his protégés, and much as a mortal warrior would +do it. But the Vedic gods hang like a mist upon the edge of battle, +and are all but idle spectators of the scene. Abstractions, as well as +the All-god, have routed them, and Dharma or Duty is a greater god +than Indra. But there is an older side to this, as we shall presently +show. On the moral side the heroes of the epic profess great belief in +the power and awfulness of this god Duty. And so far as go rules of +chivalry, they are theoretically moral. Practically they are savage, +and their religion does not interfere with their brutal barbarity. The +tendency to cite divine instances of sin as excuse for committing it +is, however, rebuked: "One should neither practice nor blame the +(wrong) acts of gods and seers," xii. 292. 17-18. + +From an eschatological point of view it is most difficult to get back +of the statements made by the priestly composers,[13] who, in their +various reëditings of the epic, uniformly have given the pantheistic +goal as that in which the characters believe. But it is evident that +the warriors were not much affected by this doctrine. To them there +was one law of righteousness exceeding all others--to die on the field +of battle. And for such as did so, over and over again is the +assurance given that 'happiness in Indra's heaven' is their reward. +And probably a true note is struck in this reiterated promise. To the +mass of the vulgar, union with _brahma_ would have been no attractive +end. + +It is interesting to see the remains of the older belief still +flourishing in midst of epic pantheism. Although Indra has no such +hymn as has S[=u]rya, yet is he still lauded, and he is a very real +person to the knight who seeks his heaven.[14] In fact, so long as +natural phenomena were regarded as divine, so long as thunder was +godly, it was but a secondary question which name the god bore; +whether he was the 'chief and king of gods,' or Vishnu manifesting +himself in a special form. This form, at any rate, was to endure as +such till the end of the cycle. There are other Indras. Each cycle has +its own (i. 197. 29). But sufficient unto the age is the god thereof. +If, relinquishing the higher bliss of absorption, the knight sought +only Indra's heaven, and believed he was to find it, then his belief +practically does not differ much from that of his ancestor, who +accepts Indra as an ultimate, natural power. The question arises +whether, after all, the Indra-worship of the epic is not rather +popular than merely old and preserved. Certainly the reality of the +belief seems quite as strong as that of the ever-newly converted +sectary. It may be doubted whether the distribution of theological +belief is very different in the epic and Vedic ages. Philosophical +pantheism is very old in India. The priest believes one thing; the +vulgar, another. The priest of the Vedic age, like the philosopher of +the next age, and like the later sectarian, has a belief which runs +ahead of the popular religion. But the popular religion in its salient +features still remains about the same. Arjuna, the epic hero, the pet +of Krishna, visits Indra's heaven and stays there five years. It is +the old Vedic gods to whom he turns for weapons, till the Çivaite +makes Indra send the knight further, to Çiva himself. The old name, +king of the Vasus, is still retained for Indra; and though the 'divine +weapons,' which are winged with sacred formulae, are said to be more +than a match for the gods; though in many a passage the knight and the +saint make Indra tremble, yet still appear, through the mists of +ascetic and sectarian novelties, Indra's heaven and his grandeur, +shining with something of their old glory. Vishnu still shows his +solar origin. Of him and of the sun is it said in identical words: +"The sun protects and devours all," and " Vishnu protects and devours +" (of Vishnu, passim; of the sun, iii. 33. 71). A good deal of old +stuff is left in the Forest Book amongst the absurd tales of holy +watering places. One finds repeated several times the Vedic account of +Indra's fight with Vritra, the former's thunderbolt, however, being +now made of a saint's bones (ii. ch. 100-105). Agni is lauded (_ib_. +ch. 123). To the Açvins[15] there is one old hymn which contains Vedic +forms (i. 3). Varuna is still lord of the West, and goes accompanied +with the rivers, 'male and female,' with snakes, and demons, and +half-gods _(d[=a]ityas, s[=a]dhyas, d[=a]ivatas_). Later, but earlier +than the pseudo-epic, there stands with these gods Kubera, the god of +wealth, the 'jewel-giver,' who is the guardian of travellers, the king +of those demons called Yakshas, which the later sect makes servants of +Çiva. He is variously named;[16] he is a dwarf; he dwells in the +North, in Mt. K[=a]il[=a]sa, and has a demoniac gate-keeper, +Macakruka. Another newer god is the one already referred to, Dharma +V[=a]ivasvata, or Justice (Virtue, Right), the son of the sun, a title +of Yama older than the Vedas. He is also the father of the new +love-god, K[=a]ma. It is necessary to indicate the names of the gods +and their functions, lest one imagine that with pantheism the Vedic +religion expired. Even that old, impious Brahmanic fable crops out +again: "The devils were the older brothers of the gods, and were +conquered by the gods only with trickery" (in. 33. 60), an interesting +reminiscence of the fact that the later name for evil spirit was +originally the one applied to the great and good spirit (Asura the +same with Ahura).[17] According to a rather late chapter in the second +book each of the great Vedic gods has a special paradise of his own, +the most remarkable feature of the account being that Indra's heaven +is filled with saints, having only one king in it--a view quite +foreign to the teaching that is current elsewhere in the epic. Where +the sectarian doctrine would oppose the old belief it set above +Indra's heaven another, of Brahm[=a], and above that a third, of +Vishnu (i. 89. 16 ff.). According to one passage Mt. Mandara[18] is a +sort of Indian Olympus. Another account speaks of the Him[=a]layas, +Himavat, as 'the divine mountain, beloved of the gods,' though the +knight goes thence to Gandham[=a]dana, and thence to Indrak[=i]la, to +find the gods' habitat (III. 37. 41). Personified powers lie all +around the religious Hindu. And this is especially true of the epic +character. He prays to Mt. Mandara, and to rivers, above all to the +Ganges. Mt. Kol[=a]hala is divine, and begets divine offspring on a +river (I. 63). The Vindhya range of mountains rivals the fabled Meru +(around which course the sun and all the heavenly bodies), and this, +too, is the object of devotion and prayer.[19] In one passage it is +said that in Beh[=a]r (M[=a]gadha) there was a peak which was +continuously 'worshipped with offerings of flowers and perfumes,' +exactly as if it were a god. The reason why flowers are given and worn +is that they bring good luck, it is said in the same chapter (II. 21. +15, 20, 51). + +What is, perhaps, the most striking feature of Hindu religious +thought, as a whole, is the steadfastness with which survive, even in +the epic and in Buddhism, the forms and formulae of the older faith. +At a time when pantheism or nihilism is the avowed creed the ancient +gods still exist, weak, indeed, yet infused with a true immortality. +This is noticeable even more in unnoticeable ways, in the turns of +speech, in little comparisons, in the hymns, in short, in the by-play +of the epic. 'Withered are the garlands of the gods, and their glory +is departed,'[20] but they still receive homage in time of need. And +in that homage is to be seen, and from the same cause, the revived or +surviving worship of the Veda. Each god in turn is mighty, though Agni +is the mightiest of the old divinities. In an epic hymn to him it is +said: "Thou art the mouth of the worlds; the poets declare thee to be +one and three-fold; as carrier of the sacrifice they arrange thee +eight-fold. By thee was all created, say the highest seers. Priests +that have made reverence to thee attain the eternal course their acts +have won, together with their wives and sons. They call thee the +water-giver in the air, together with lightning. On thee first depends +water. Thou art the creator and Brihaspati, thou art the two Horsemen, +the two Yamas, Mitra, Soma, Wind" (i. 229. 23 ff.).[21] And yet this +is in a pantheistic environment! The Rig Veda is directly invoked, +though, of course, not directly cited, in the old hymn to the +Horsemen, who are, however, elsewhere put with low animals and +Guhyakas, demons (i. 66).[22] They are the "physicians of the gods," +the "first-born" the golden birds which weave the white and black of +time, create the wheel of time with all its seasons, and make the sun +and sky (i. 3. 55 ff., "_v[=a]gbhir [r.]gbhis_"). Indra himself is +extolled in Kadr[=u]'s hymn; he is the slayer of Namuci, the lord of +Çac[=i]; he is the great cloud, cloud and its thunder, creator and +destroyer; he is Vishnu, 'Soma, greatly praised,' as well as fire, +air, time in all its divisions, earth and ocean; when lauded he drinks +the _soma_, and he is sung in the Ved[=a]ngas (i. 25. 7 ff.). Praised +with this hymn in time of need of rain, Indra "commanded the clouds, +saying, 'rain down the ambrosia'" (26. 2); where there is still the +rain as synonymous with ambrosia, and Indra not very differently +conceived from his Vedic self. Thus in comparisons: "As Indra standing +in heaven brings bliss to the world of the living, so Vidura ever +brought bliss to the Pandus" (i. 61. 15). But at the same time what +changes! The gods assemble and sing a hymn to Garuda, the epic form of +Garutman, the heavenly bird, who here steals the _soma_ vainly guarded +by the gods. Garuda, too, is Praj[=a]pati, Indra, and so forth.[23] +The gods are no longer divinities distinct from the dead Fathers, for +they are "identical in being." So Agni says when the latter is cursed +by Bhrigu: "The divinities and the Manes are satisfied by the oblation +in fire. The hosts of gods are waters, so, too, are the Manes. The +feasts of the new and full moon belong to the gods with the Manes; +hence the Manes are divinities and the divinities are Manes. They are +of one being (_ek[i]bh[=u]t[=a]s_). I (Fire) am the mouth of both, for +both eat the oblation poured upon me. The Manes at the new moon, the +gods at the full, are fed by my mouth" (i. 7. 7 ff.).[24] Such gods +the epic hero fears not (i. 227. 38 ff.). Hymns to them are paralleled +by hymns to snakes, as in i. 3. 134 ff., against whom is made the +"_sarpasattram_ (snake sacrifice) of the Pur[=a]nas" (i. 51. 6). +Divinity is universal. Knights are as divine as the divinest god, the +All-god. Arjuna, the god-born man, to whom Krishna reveals the Divine +Song, is himself god.[25] In this case whether god becomes human, or +_vice versa_, no one knows. + +Under the all embracing cloak of pantheism the heart of the epic +conceals many an ancient rite and superstition. Here is the covenant +of blood, the covenant of death (represented by the modern +'sitting'[26]), and the covenant of water, which symbolizes both +friendship and the solemnity of the curse. The former are illustrated +by Bhima's drinking blood as a sign that he will fulfil his vow,[27] +and by R[=a]ma lying by Ocean to die unless Ocean grants his wish. Of +the water-rite that of offering water in hospitality and as a form in +reception of gifts is general; that of cursing by 'touching water' +(_v[=a]ry upasp[r.]çya_), occurs in iii. 10. 32. For this purpose +holy-grass and other symbols are known also,[28] and formulae yield +only in potency to love-philters and magic drugs. Another covenant +besides those just noticed seems to lie concealed in the avoidance of +the door when injury is intended. If one goes in by the door he is a +guest who has anticipated hospitality, and then he dares not refuse +the respect and offering of water, etc, which makes the formal pact of +friendship. If, on the contrary, he does not go in by the door he is +not obliged to receive the offering, and may remain as a foe in the +house (or in the city) of his enemy, with intent to kill, but without +moral wrong. This may be implied in the end of the epic, where +Açvatth[=a]man, intent on secret murder of his foe, is prevented by +god Çiva from entering in at the gate, but going in by stealth, and +'not by the door' of the camp, gets to his foe, who lies asleep, and +kills him (x. 8. 10). This might be thought, indeed, to be merely +strategic, but it is in accordance with the strict law of all the +law-books that one, in ordinary circumstances, shall avoid to enter a +town or a house in any other way than through the door (Manu, iv. 73; +Gaut. 9. 32, etc.), and we think it has a moral significance, for this +_a-dv[=a]ra_ (non-door) rule occurs again in the epic in just the +circumstances we have described. The heroes in this case are not +afraid of their foe, who is in his town. They insult every one as they +approach, but they find some other way of getting in than by passing +through the gate, for the express purpose of being morally able to +make the king fight with them after they have entered his city. And +they cite the rule 'according to law,' which is that one may enter his +foe's house by _a-dv[=a]ra,_ 'not by door,' but his friend's house +only 'by door.' As they have not entered 'by door' they say they may +refuse the hospitality which the king urges them to accept, and so +they kill him (ii. 21. 14, 53). Stepping in through the door seems, +therefore, to be a tacit agreement that one will not injure the +resident.[29] + +In the epic, again, fetishism is found. The student of the 'science of +war,' in order to obtain his teacher's knowledge when the latter is +away, makes a clay image of the preceptor and worships this clay idol, +practicing arms before it (i. 132. 33). Here too is embalmed the +belief that man's life may be bound up with that of some inanimate +thing, and the man perishes with the destruction of his psychic +prototype (iii. 135). The old ordeals of fire and water are +recognized. "Fire does not burn the house of good men." "If (as this +man asserts) he is Varuna's son, then let him enter water and let us +see if he will drown" (iii. 134. 27 ff.). A human sacrifice is +performed (iii. 127); although the priest who performs it is cast into +hell (_ib_. 128).[30] The teaching in regard to hells is about the +same with that already explained in connection with the law-books, but +the more definite physical interpretation of hell as a hole in the +ground (_garta_, just as in the Rig Veda) is retained. Agastya sees +his ancestors 'in a hole,' which they call 'a hell' (_n[=i]ray[=a]_). +This is evidently the hell known to the law-punsters and epic (i. 74. +39) as _puttra_, 'the _put_ hell' from which the son (_putra_) +delivers (_tra_). For these ancestors are in the 'hole' because +Agastya, their descendant, has not done his duty and begotten sons (i. +45. 13; iii. 96. 15); one son being 'no son' according to law and epic +(i. 100. 68), and all the merit of sacrifice being equal to only +one-sixteenth of that obtained by having a son. The teaching, again, +in regard to the Fathers themselves (the Manes), while not differing +materially from the older view, offers novelties which show how little +the absorption-theory had taken hold of the religious consciousness. +The very fact that the son is still considered to be as necessary as +ever (that he may offer food to his ancestors) shows that the +believer, whatever his professed faith, expects to depend for bliss +hereafter upon his _post mortem_ meals, as much as did his fathers +upon theirs. In the matter of the burial of the dead, one finds, what +is antique, that although according to the formal law only infants are +buried, and adults are burned, yet was burial known, as in the Vedic +age. And the still older exposure of the body, after the Iranian +fashion, is not only hinted at as occurring here and there even before +the epic, but in the epic these forms are all recognized as equally +approved: "When a man dies he is burned or buried or exposed" +(_nik[r.][s.]yate_)[31] it is said in i. 90. 17; and the narrator goes +on to explain that the "hell on earth," of which the auditor "has +never heard" (vs. 6) is re-birth in low bodies, speaking of it as a +new doctrine. "As if in a dream remaining conscious the spirit enters +another form"; the bad becoming insects and worms; the good going to +heaven by means of the "seven gates," viz., penance, liberality, +quietism, self-control, modesty, rectitude, and mercy. This is a union +of two views, and it is evidently the popular view, that, namely, the +good go to heaven while the bad go to new existence in a low form, as +opposed to the more logical conception that both alike enter new +forms, one good, the other bad. Then the established stadia, the +pupil, the old teaching (_upanishad_) of the householders, and the +wood-dwellers are described, with the remark that there is no +uniformity of opinion in regard to them; but the ancient view crops +out again in the statement that one who dies as a forest-hermit +"establishes in bliss" ten ancestors and ten descendants. In this part +of the epic the Punj[=a]b is still near the theatre of events, the +'centre region' being between the Ganges and Jumna (I. 87. 5); +although the later additions to the poems show acquaintance with all +countries, known and unknown, and with peoples from all the world. +Significant in xii. 61. 1, 2 is the name of the third order +_bh[=a]ikshyacaryam_ 'beggarhood' (before the forest-hermit and after +the householder). + +It was said above that the departed Fathers could assume a mortal +form. In the formal classification of these demigods seven kinds of +Manes are enumerated, the title of one subdivision being 'those +embodied.' Brahm[=a] is identified with the Father-god in connection +with the Manes: "All the Manes worship Praj[=a]pati Brahm[=a]," in the +paradise of Praj[=a]pati, where, by the way, are Çiva and Vishnu (II. +11. 45, 50, 52; 8. 30). According to this description 'kings and +sinners,' together with the Manes, are found in Yama's home, as well +as "those that die at the solstice" (II. 7 ff.; 8. 31). Constantly the +reader is impressed with the fact that the characters of the epic are +acting and thinking in a way not conformable to the idea one might +form of the Hindu from the law. We have animadverted upon this point +elsewhere in connection with another matter. It is this factor that +makes the study of the epic so invaluable as an offset to the +verisimilitude of belief, even as belief is taught (not practiced) in +the law. There is a very old rule, for instance, against slaughtering +animals and eating meat; while to eat beef is a monstrous crime. Yet +is it plain from the epic that meat-eating was customary, and Vedic +texts are cited (_ iti çrutis_) to prove that this is permissible; +while a king is extolled for slaughtering cattle (III. 208. 6-11). It +is said out and out in iii. 313. 86 that 'beef is food,' _g[=a]ur +annam_. Deer are constantly eaten. There is an amusing protest against +this practice, which was felt to be irreconcilable with +the _ahims[=a]_ (non-injury) doctrine, in III. 258, where the remnant +of deer left in the forest come in a vision and beg to be spared. A +dispute between gods and seers over vegetable sacrifices is recorded, +XII. 338. Again, asceticism is not the duty of a warrior, but the epic +hero practices asceticism exactly as if he were a priest, or a Jain, +although the warning is given that a warrior 'obtains a better lot' +(_loka_) by dying in battle than by asceticism. The asceticism is, of +course, exaggerated, but an instance or two of what the Hindu expects +in this regard may not be without interest. The warrior who becomes an +ascetic eats leaves, and is clothed in grass. For one month he eats +fruits every third day (night); for another month every sixth day; for +another month every fortnight; and for the fourth month he lives on +air, standing on tiptoe with arms stretched up. Another account says +that the knight eats fruit for one month; water for one month; and for +the third month, nothing (III. 33. 73; 38. 22-26; 167). One may +compare with these ascetic practices, which are not so exaggerated, in +fact, as might be supposed,[32] the 'one-leg' practice of virtue, +consisting in standing on one leg, _ekap[=a]dena_, for six months or +longer, as one is able (I. 170. 46; III. 12. 13-16). Since learning +the Vedas is a tiresome task, and ascetic practice makes it possible +to acquire anything, one is not surprised to find that a devotee +undertakes penance with this in view, and is only surprised when +Indra, who, to be sure has a personal interest in the Vedas, breaks in +on the scene and rebukes the ascetic with the words: "Asceticism +cannot teach the Vedas; go and be tutored by a teacher" (III. 135. +22). + +One finds in the epic the old belief that the stars are the souls of +the departed,[33] and this occurs so often that it is another sign of +the comparative newness of the pantheistic doctrine. When the hero, +Arjuna, goes to heaven he approaches the stars, "which seen from earth +look small on account of their distance," and finds them to be +self-luminous refulgent saints, royal seers, and heroes slain in +battle, some of them also being nymphs and celestial singers. All of +this is in contradiction both to the older and to the newer systems of +eschatology; but it is an ancient belief, and therefore it is +preserved. Indra's heaven,[34] Amar[=a]vati, lies above these +stars[35]] No less than five distinct beliefs are thus enunciated in +regard to the fate of 'good men after death. If they believe in the +All-god they unite with him at once. Or they have a higher course, +becoming gradually more elevated, as gods, etc, and ultimately 'enter' +the All-god. Again they go to the world of Brahm[=a]. Again they go to +Indra's heaven. Again they become stars. The two last beliefs are the +oldest, the _brahmaloka_ belief is the next in order of time, and the +first-mentioned are the latest to be adopted. The hero of the epic +just walks up to heaven, but his case is exceptional. + +While angels and spirits swarm about the world in every shape from +mischievous or helpful fairies to R[=a]hu, whose head still swallows +the sun, causing eclipses (I. 19. 9), there are a few that are +especially conspicuous. Chief of the good spirits, attendants of +Indra, are the Siddhas[36] 'saints,' who occasionally appear to bless +a hero in conjunction with 'beings invisible' (III. 37. 21). Their +name means literally 'blessed' or 'successful,' and probably, like the +seers, Rishis, they are the departed fathers in spiritual form. These +latter form various classes. There are not only the 'great seers,' and +the still greater '_brahma_-seers,' and the 'god-seers,' but there are +even 'devil-seers,' and 'king-seers,' these being spirits of priests +of royal lineages.[37] The evil spirits, like the gods, are sometimes +grouped in threes. In a blessing one cries out: "Farewell (_svasti +gacchahy an[=a]mayam_); I entreat the Vasus, Rudras, [=A]dityas, +Marut-hosts and the All-gods to protect thee, together with the +S[=a]dhyas; safety be to thee from all the evil beings that live in +air, earth, and heaven, and from all others that dog thy path."[38] In +XII. 166. 61 ff. the devils fall to earth, mountains, water, and other +places. According to I. 19. 29. it is not long since the Asuras were +driven to take refuge in earth and salt water.[39] + +These creatures have every kind of miraculous power, whether they be +good or bad. Hanuman, famed in both epics, the divine monkey, with +whom is associated the divine 'king of bears' J[=a]mbavan (III. 280. +23), can grow greater than mortal eye can see (III. 150. 9). He is +still worshipped as a great god in South India. As an illustration of +epic spiritism the case of Ilvala may be taken. This devil, +_d[=a]iteya_, had a trick of cooking his embodied younger brother, and +giving him to saints to eat. One saint, supposing the flesh to be +mutton (here is saintly meat-eating!), devours the dainty viand; upon +which the devil 'calls' his brother, who is obliged to come, whether +eaten or not, and in coming bursts the saint that has eaten him (iii. +96). This is folk-lore; but what religion does not folk-lore contain! +So, personified Fate holds its own as an inscrutable power, mightier +than others.[40] There is another touch of primitive religious feeling +which reminds one of the usage in Iceland, where, if a stranger knocks +at the door and the one within asks 'who is there?' the guest answers, +'God.' So in the epic it is said that 'every guest is god Indra' +(_Parjanyo nn[=a]nusa[.m]caran_, iii. 200. 123. In the epic Parjanya, +the rain-god, and Indra are the same). Of popular old tales of +religious bearing may be mentioned the retention and elaboration of +the Brahmanic deluge-story, with Manu as Noah (iii. 187); the Açvins' +feats in rejuvenating (iii. 123); the combats of the gods with the +demons (Namuci, Çambara, Vala, Vritra, Prahl[=a]da, Naraka), etc. +(iii. 168). + +Turning now to some of the newer traits in the epic, one notices first +that, while the old sacrifices still obtain, especially the +horse-sacrifice, the _r[=a]jas[=u]ya_ and the less meritorious +_v[=a]japeya,_ together with the monthly and seasonal sacrifices, +there is in practice a leaning rather to new sacrifices, and a new +cult. The _soma_ is scarce, and the _p[=u]tika_ plant is accepted as +its substitute (iii. 35. 33) in a matter-of-course way, as if this +substitution, permitted of old by law, were now common. The sacrifice +of the widow is recognized, in the case of the wives of kings, as a +means of obtaining bliss for a woman,[41] for the religion of the epic +is not entirely careless of woman. Somewhat new, however, is the +self-immolation of a man upon the pyre of his son. Such a case is +recorded in iii. 137. 19. where a father burns his son's body, and +then himself enters the fire. New also, of course, are the sectarian +festivals and sacrifices; and pronounced is the gain in the godhead of +priests, king, parents, elder brother, and husband. The priest has +long been regarded as a god, but in the epic he is god of gods, +although one can trace even here a growth in adulation.[42] The king, +too, has been identified before this period with the gods. But in the +epic he is to his people an absolute divinity,[43] and so are the +parents to the son;[44] while, since the elder brother is the same +with a father, when the father is dead the younger brother worships +the elder. So also the wife's god is her husband; for higher even than +that of the priest is the husband's divinity (III. 206). The wife's +religious service is not concerned with feasts to the Manes, with +sacrifice to the gods, nor with studying the Veda. In all these she +has no part. Her religion is to serve her husband (III. 205. 23), and +to die, if worthy of the honor, on his funeral pyre. Otherwise the +epic woman has religious practices only in visiting the holy +watering-places, which now abound, and in reading the epic itself. For +it is said of both practices: "Whether man or woman read this book (or +'visit this holy pool') he or she is freed from sin" (so in III. 82. +33: "Every sin committed since birth by man or woman is absolved by +bathing in 'holy Pushkara"). It may be remarked that as a general +thing the deities invoked by women are, by predilection, female +divinities, some of them being mere abstractions, while 'the Creator' +is often the only god in the woman's list, except, of course, the +priests: "Reverence to priests, and to the Creator ... May Hr[=i], +Çr[=i] (Modesty and Beauty), Fame, Glory, Prosperity, Um[=a] (Çiva's +wife), Lakshmi (Vishnu's wife), and also Sarasvat[=i], (may all these +female divinities) guard thy path, because thou reverest thy elder +brother," is a woman's prayer (III. 37. 26-33).[45] + +Of the sectarian cults just mentioned the _brahmamaha_, I. 164. 20, +elsewhere referred to, is the all-caste[46] feast in honor of +Brahm[=a] (or of the Brahmans); as _ib_. 143. 3 one finds a +_sam[=a]ja_ in honor of Çiva; and distinctly in honor of the same god +of horror is the sacrifice, _i.e._, immolation, of one hundred kings, +who are collected "in the temple of Çiva," to be slaughtered like +cattle in M[=a]gadha (II. 15. 23); an act which the heroes of the epic +prevent, and look upon with scorn.[47] As a substitute for the +_r[=a]jas[=u]ya_, which may be connected with the human sacrifice +(_Ind. Streifen_, I. 61), but is the best sacrifice because it has the +best largesse (III. 255. 12), the Vaishnava is suggested to +Duryodhana. It is a great _sattram_ or long sacrifice to Vishnu (_ib_. +15 and 19); longer than a Vishnuprabodha (26 Oct.). There is a Smriti +rite described in III. 198. 13 as a _svastiv[=a]canam_, a ceremony to +obtain a heavenly chariot which brings prosperity, the priests being +invoked for blessings (_svasti_). Quite modern, comparatively +speaking, is the cult of holy pools; but it is to be observed that the +blessings expected are rarely more than the acquirement of +_brahma_-worlds, so that the institution seems to be at least older +than the sectarian religions, although naturally among the holy pools +is intruded a Vishnu-pool. This religious rite cannot be passed over +in silence. The custom is late Brahmanic (as above), and still +survives. It has been an aspect of Hindu religion for centuries, not +only in the view taken of the pools, but even occasionally in the +place itself. Thus the Ganges, Gay[=a], Pray[=a]ga, and Kuru-Plain are +to-day most holy, and they are mentioned as among the holiest in the +epic catalogue.[48] Soma is now revamped by a bath in a holy pool (IX. +35. 75). As in every antithesis of act and thought there are not +lacking passages in the epic which decry the pools in comparison with +holy life as a means of salvation. Thus in III. 82. 9 ff., the poet +says: "The fruit of pilgrimage (to holy pools)--he whose hands, feet, +and mind are controlled;[49] he who has knowledge, asceticism, and +fame, he gets all the fruit that holy pools can give. If one is averse +from receiving gifts, content, freed from egoism, if one injures not, +and acts disinterestedly, if one is not gluttonous, or carnal-minded, +he is freed from sin. Let one (not bathe in pools but) be without +wrath, truthful, firm in his vows, seeing his self in all beings." +This is, however, a protest little heeded.[50] Pilgrimage is made to +pool and plain, to mountain, tree, and river. Even then, as now, of +all pilgrimages that to Ganges was most esteemed: "Originally all were +holy; in the second age Pushkara[51] was holy; in the third age the +Plain of the Kurus was holy; and in this age Ganges is holy" (III. 85. +90).[52] Besides Ganges, the Plain of the Kurus and Pray[=a]ga, the +junction of Ganges and Jumna, get the highest laudation. Other rivers, +such as the Gomal and Sarasvat[=i], are also extolled, and the list is +very long of places which to see or to bathe in releases from sin. "He +who bathes in Ganges purifies seven descendants.[53] As long as the +bones of a man touch Ganges-water so long that man is magnified in +heaven." Again: "No place of pilgrimage is better than Ganges; no god +is better than Vishnu; nothing is better than _brahma_--so said the +sire of the gods" (iii. 85. 94-96). The very dust of Kuru-Plain makes +one holy, the sight of it purifies; he that lives south of the +Sarasvat[=i], north of the Drishadvat[=i] (_i.e_., in Kuru-Plain), he +lives in the third heaven (iii. 83. 1-3=203-205[54]). This sort of +expiation for sin is implied in a more general way by the remark that +there are three kinds of purity, one of speech, one of act, and one of +water (iii. 200. 82). But in the epic there is still another means of +expiating sin, one that is indicated in the Brahmanic rule that if a +woman is an adulteress she destroys half her sin by confessing it (as +above), where, however, repentance is rather implied than commanded. +But in the epic Pur[=a]na it is distinctly stated as a Çruti, or trite +saying, that if one repents he is freed from his sin; _na tat +kury[=a]m punar_ is the formula he must use, 'I will not do so again,' +and then he is released from even the sin that he is going to commit a +second time, as if by a ceremony--so is the Çruti in the laws, +_dharmas_ (iii. 207. 51, 52).[55] Confession to the family priest is +enjoined, in xii. 268. 14, to escape punishment. + +Two other religious practices in the epic are noteworthy. The first is +the extension of idolatry in pictures. The amiable 'goddess of the +house' is represented, to be sure, as a R[=a]kshas[=i], or demoniac +power, whose name is Jar[=a]. But she was created by the +Self-existent, and is really very friendly, under certain conditions: +"Whoever delineates me with faith in his house, he increases in +children; otherwise he would be destroyed." She is worshipped, _i.e_., +her painted image is worshipped, with perfumes, flowers, incense, +food, and other enjoyable things (II. 18).[56] Another practice that +is very common is the worship of holy trees. One may compare the +banyan at Bodhi Gay[=a] with the 'worshipful' village-tree of II. 24. +23. Seldom and late is the use of a rosary mentioned (_e.g_., III. +112. 5, _aksham[=a]l[=a]_, elsewhere _aksha_), although the word is +employed to make an epithet of Çiva, Aksham[=a]lin.[57] + +As has been said already, an extraordinary power is ascribed to the +mere repetition of a holy text, _mantra_. These are applied on all +occasions without the slightest reference to the subject. By means of +_mantra_ one exorcises; recovers weapons; calls gods and demons, +etc.[58] When misfortune or disease arrives it is invariably ascribed +to the malignant action of a devil, although the _karma_ teaching +should suggest that it was the result of a former misdeed on the +victim's part. But the very iteration, the insistence on new +explanations of this doctrine, show that the popular mind still clung +to the old idea of demoniac interference. Occasionally the naïveté +with which the effect of a _mantra_ is narrated is somewhat amusing, +as, for instance, when the heroine Krishn[=a] faints, and the +by-standers "slowly" revive her "by the use of demon-dispelling +_mantras_, rubbing, water, and fanning" (iii. 144. 17). All the +weapons of the heroes are inspired with and impelled by _mantras_. + +Sufficient insight into the formal rules of morality has been given in +the extracts above, nor does the epic in this regard differ much from +the law-books. Every man's first duty is to act; inactivity is sinful. +The man that fails to win a good reputation by his acts, a warrior, +for example, that is devoid of fame, a 'man of no account,' is a +_bh[=u]mivardhana, [Greek: achthos arourês]_ a cumberer of earth (iii. +35. 7). A proverb says that man should seek virtue, gain, and +pleasure; "virtue in the morning; gain at noon; pleasure at night," +or, according to another version, "pleasure when young, gain in +middle-age, and virtue in the end of life" (iii. 33. 40, 41). "Virtue +is better than immortality and life. Kingdom, sons, glory, wealth, all +this does not equal one-sixteenth part of the value of truth" (_ib_. +34. 22).[59] One very strong summing up of a discourse on virtuous +behavior ends thus: "Truth, self-control, asceticism, generosity, +non-injury, constancy in virtue--these are the means of success, not +caste nor family" (_j[=a]ti, kula_, iii. 181. 42). + +A doctrine practiced, if not preached, is that of blood-revenge. "The +unavenged shed tears, which are wiped away by the avenger" (iii. 11. +66); and in accordance with this feeling is the statement: "I shall +satiate my brother with his murderer's blood, and thus, becoming free +of debt in respect of my brother, I shall win the highest place in +heaven" (_ib_. 34, 35). + +As of old, despite the new faith, as a matter of priestly, formal +belief, all depends on the sacrifice: "Law comes from usage; in law +are the Vedas established; by means of the Vedas arise sacrifices; by +sacrifice are the gods established; according to the rule of Vedas, +and usage, sacrifices being performed support the divinities, just as +the rules of Brihaspati and Uçanas support men" (iii. 150. 28, 29). +The pernicious doctrine of atonement for sin follows as a matter of +course: "Whatever sin a king commits in conquering the earth is atoned +for by sacrifices, if they are accompanied with large gifts to +priests, such as cows and villages." Even gifts to a sacred bull have +the same effect (iii. 33. 78, 79; _ib_. 35. 34; iii. 2. 57), the +occasion in hand being a king's violation of his oath.[60] Of these +sacrifices a great snake-sacrifice forms the occasion for narrating +the whole epic, the plot of which turns on the national vice of +gambling.[61] For divine snakes are now even grouped with other +celestial powers, disputing the victory of earthly combatants as do +Indra and S[=u]rya: "The great snakes were on Arjuna's side; the +little snakes were for Karna" (viii. 87. 44, 45).[62] They were +(perhaps) the local gods of the Nagas (Snakes), a tribe living between +the Ganges and Jumna. + +The religion of the epic is multiform. But it stands, in a certain +sense, as one religion, and from two points of view it is worthy of +special regard. One may look upon it either as the summing up of +Brahmanism in the new Hinduism, as the final expression of a religion +which forgets nothing and absorbs everything; or one may study it as a +belief composed of historical strata, endeavoring to divide it into +its different layers, as they have been super-imposed one upon another +in the course of ages. From the latter point of view the Vedic +divinities claim the attention first. There are still traces of the +original power of Agni and S[=u]rya, as we have shown, and Wind still +makes with these two a notable triad,[63] whereas Indra, impotent as +he is, hymnless as he is,--save in the oldest portions of the +work,--still leads the gods, now godkins, of the ancient pantheon, and +still, in theory, at least, off a paradise to the knight that dies +nobly on the field.[64] But one sees at once that the preservation of +the dignity of these deities is due to different causes. Indra cannot +even save a snake that grasps his hand for safety; he wages war +against the demons' 'triple town,' and signally fails of his purpose, +for the demons are as strong as the gods, and there are D[=a]navendras +as well as D[=a]navarshis.[65] But Indra is the figure-head of the +whole ancient pantheon, and for this reason he plays so constant, if +so weak, a rôle, in the epic. The only important thing in connection +with him is his heaven. As an individual deity Indra lives, on the +whole, only in the tales of old, for example, in that of his cheating +Namuci (ix. 43. 32 ff.). Nothing new and clever is told of him which +would indicate power, only a new trick or two, as when he steals from +Karna. It is quite otherwise with Agni and S[=u]rya. They are not so +vaguely identified with the one god as is 'Indra and the other Vasus.' +It is merely because these gods are prominently forms of Vishnu that +they are honored with hymns in the epic. This is seen from the nature +of the hymns, and also from the fact that it is either as fire or as +sun that Vishnu destroys at the end of the aeons. For it is, perhaps, +somewhat daring to say, and yet it seems to be the fact, that the +solar origin of Vishnu is not lost sight of. + +The pantheistic Vishnu is the _[=a]tm[=a]_, and Vishnu, after all, is +but a form of fire. Therefore is it that the epic Vishnu is +perpetually lapsing into fire; while fire and sun are doubly honored +as special forms of the highest. It is, then, not so much on account +of a survival of ancient dignity[66] that sun and fire stand so high, +but rather because they are the nearest approach to the effulgence of +the Supreme. Thus while in one place one is told that after seven suns +have appeared the supreme gods become the fire of destruction and +complete the ruin, in another he reads that it is the sun alone which, +becoming twelvefold, does all the work of the Supreme.[67] + +Indra has hymns and sacrifices, but although he has no so exalted hymn +as comes to his 'friend Agni,' yet (in an isolated passage) he has a +new feast and celebration, the account of which apparently belongs to +the first period of the epic, when the worship of Indra still had +significance. In i. 63, an _Indramaha_, or 'glorification of Indra,' +is described a festivity extending over two days, and marked by the +erection of a pole in honor of the god--a ceremony which 'even +to-day,' it is said, is practiced.[68] The old tales of the fire-cult +are retold, and new rites are known.[69] Thus in iii. 251. 20 ff., +Prince Duryodhana resolves to starve to death (oblivious of the rule +that 'a suicide goes to hell'), and since this is a religious +ceremony, he clothes himself in old clothes and holy-grass, 'touches +water,' and devotes himself with intense application to heaven. Then +the devils of Rudra called D[=a]iteyas and D[=a]navas, who live +underground ever since they were conquered by the gods, aided by +priests, make a fire-rite, and with _mantras_ "declared by Brihaspati +and Uçanas, and proclaimed in the Atharva-Veda," raise a ghost or +spirit, who is ordered to fetch Duryodhana to hell, which she +immediately does.[70] The frequent connection of Brihaspati with the +Atharva-Veda is of interest (above, p. 159). He is quite a venerable, +if not wholly orthodox, author in the epic, and his 'rules' are often +cited.[71] + +That Vedic deity who, alone of pre-Vedic powers, still holds his proud +place, Yama, the king of departed spirits, varies in the epic +according to the period represented. In old tales he is still quite +Vedic in character; he takes the dead man's soul off to his own realm. +But, of course, as pantheism prevails, and eschatology becomes +confused, Yama passes into a shadow, and at most is a bugbear for the +wicked. Even his companions are stolen from another realm, and one +hears now of "King Yama with his Rudras" (III. 237. 11),[72] while it +is only the bad[73] that go to Yama (III. 200. 24), in popular belief, +although this view, itself old, relapses occasionally into one still +older, in accordance with which (_ib_. 49) all the world is hounded on +by Yama's messengers, and comes to his abode. His home[74] in the +south is now located as being at a distance of 86,000 leagues over a +terrible road, on which passes a procession of wretched or happy +mortals, even as they have behaved during life; for example, if one +has generously given an umbrella during life he will have an umbrella +on this journey, etc. The river in Yama's abode is called Pushpodaka, +and what each drinks out of it is according to what he deserves to +drink, cool water or filth (_ib._ 46, 58).[75] In the various +descriptions it is not strange to find discordant views even in +portions belonging approximately to the same period. Thus in +contradistinction to the prevailing view one reads of Indra himself +that he is _Yamasya net[=a] Namuceçca hant[=a]_ 'Yama's leader, +Namuci's slayer' (iii. 25. 10.), _i.e._, those that die in battle go +to Yama. + +On the other hand, in the later speculative portions, Yama is not +death. "Yama is not death, as some think; he is one that gives bliss +to the good, and woe to the bad."[76] Death and life are foolishness +and lack of folly, respectively (literally, 'non-folly is +non-mortality'), while folly and mortality are counter opposites. In +pantheistic teaching there is, of course, no real death, only change. +But death is a female power, personified, and sharply distinguished +from Yama. Death as a means of change thus remains, while Yama is +relegated to the guardianship of hell. The difference in regard to the +latter subject, between earlier and later views, has been noted above. +One comparatively early passage attempts to arrange the incongruous +beliefs in regard to _sams[=a]ra_ (re-birth) and hell on a sort of +sliding scale, thus: "One that does good gets in the next life a good +birth; one that does ill gets an ill birth"; more particularly: "By +good acts one attains to the state of gods; by 'mixed' acts, to the +state of man; by acts due to confusion of mind, to the state of +animals and plants (_viyon[=i][s.]u_); by sinful acts one goes to +hell" (_adhog[=a]mi_, iii. 209. 29-32).[77] Virtue must have been, as +the epic often declares it to be, a 'subtile matter,' for often a tale +is told to illustrate the fact that one goes to hell for doing what he +thinks (mistakenly) to be right. Thus K[=a]uçika is sent to hell for +speaking the truth, whereas he ought to have lied to save life (viii. +69. 53), for he was "ignorant of virtue's subtilty."[78] A passage (i. +74. 27 ff.) that is reflected in Manu (viii. 85-86) says that Yama +V[=a]ivasvata takes away the sin of him with whom is satisfied "the +one that witnesses the act, that stands in the heart, that knows the +ground"; but Yama tortures him with whom this one (personified +conscience) is dissatisfied. For "truth is equal to a thousand +horse-sacrifices; truth is highest _brahma_" (_ib._ 103, 106). + +Following downward the course of religious development, as reflected +in the epic, one next finds traces of Brahmanic theology not only in +the few passages where (Brahm[=a]) Praj[=a]pati remains untouched by +sectarianism, but also in the harking back to old formulae. Thus the +insistence on the Brahmanical sacredness of the number seventeen is +preserved (xii. 269. 26; iii. 210. 20, etc); and Upanishadic is the +"food is Praj[=a]pati" of iii. 200. 38 (Yama in 40). There is an +interesting rehabilitation of the primitive idea of the Açvins in the +new ascription of formal divinity to the (personified) Twilights +(Sandhy[=a]) in iii. 200. 83, although this whole passage is more +Puranic than epic. From the same source is the doctrine that the fruit +of action expires at the end of one hundred thousand _kalpas_ (_ib._ +vs. 121). One of the oddest religious freaks in the epic is the sudden +exaltation of the Ribhus, the Vedic (season-gods) artisans, to the +position of highest gods. In that heaven of Brahm[=a], which is above +the Vedic gods' heaven, there are the holy seers and the Ribhus, 'the +divinities of the gods'; who do not change with the change of _kalpas_ +(as do other Vedic gods), III. 261. 19-23. One might almost imagine +that their threefoldness was causative of a trinitarian identification +with a supreme triad; but no, for still higher is the 'heaven of +Vishnu' (vs. 37). The contrast is marked between this and _[=A]it. +Br._ III. 30, where the Ribhus with some difficulty obtain the right +to drink _soma_. + +There is an aspect of the epic religion upon which it is necessary to +touch before treating of the sectarian development. In the early +philosophical period wise priests meet together to discuss theological +and philosophical questions, often aided, and often brought to grief, +by the wit of women disputants, who are freely admitted to hear and +share in the discussion. When, however, pantheism, nay, even +Vishnuism, or still more, Krishnaism, was an accepted fact upon what, +then, was the wisdom of the priest expended? Apart from the epic, the +best intellects of the day were occupied in researches, codifying +laws, and solving, in rather dogmatic fashion, philosophical +(theological) problems. The epic presents pictures of scenes which +seem to be a reflection from an earlier day. But one sees often that +the wisdom is commonplace, or even silly. In dialectics a sophistical +subtlety is shown; in codifying moral rules, a tedious triteness; in +amoebic passes of wit there are astounding exhibitions, in which the +good scholiast sees treasures of wisdom, where a modern is obliged to +take them in their literal dulness. Thus in III. 132. 18, a boy of +twelve or ten (133. 16), who is divinely precocious, defeats the wise +men in disputation at a sacrifice, and in the following section (134. +7 ff.) silences a disputant who is regarded as one of the cleverest +priests. The conversation is recorded in full. In what does it +consist? The opponent mentions a number of things which are one; the +boy replies with a verse that gives pairs of things; the other +mentions triads; the child cites groups of fours, etc., until the +opponent, having cited only one half-verse of thirteens, can remember +no more and stops, on which the child completes the verse, and is +declared winner. The conundrums which precede must have been +considered very witty, for they are repeated elsewhere: What is that +wheel which has twelve parts and three hundred and sixty spokes, etc.? +Year. What does not close its eye when asleep, what does not move when +it is born, what has no heart, what increases by moving? These +questions form one-half verse. The next half-verse gives the answers +in order: fish, egg, stone, river. This wisdom in the form of puzzles +and answers, _brahmodya_, is very old, and goes back to the Vedic +period. Another good case in the epic is the demon Yaksha and the +captured king, who is not freed till he answers certain questions +correctly.[79] But although a certain amount of theologic lore may be +gleaned from these questions, yet is it of greater interest to see how +the priests discussed when left quietly to their own devices. And a +very natural description of such a scene is extant. The priests +"having some leisure"[80] or vacation from their labors in the king's +house, sit down to argue, and the poet calls their discussion +_vita[n.][d.][=a], i.e_., tricky sophistical argumentation, the +description bearing out the justness of the phrase: "One cried, 'that +is so,' and the other, 'it is not so'; one cried, 'and that is so,' +and the other, 'it must be so'; and some by arguments made weak +arguments strong, and strong weak; while some wise ones were always +swooping down on their opponent's arguments, like hawks on meat."[81] +In III. 2. 15, the type of clever priest is 'skilled in Yoga and +S[=a][.n]khya,' who inculcates renunciation. This sage teaches that +mental diseases are cured by Yoga; bodily, by medicine; and that +desire is the root of ill. + +But by far the most interesting theological discussion in the epic, if +one except the Divine Song, is the conversation of the hero and +heroine in regard to the cause of earthly happiness. This discussion +is an old passage of the epic. The very fact that a woman is the +disputant gives an archaic effect to the narration, and reminds one of +the scenes in the Upanishads, where learned women cope successfully +with men in displays of theological acumen. Furthermore, the +theological position taken, the absence of Vishnuism, the appeal to +the 'Creator' as the highest Power, take one back to a former age. The +doctrine of special grace, which crops out in the Upanishads,[82] here +receives its exposure by a sudden claim that the converse of the +theory must also be true, viz., that to those not saved by grace and +election God is as cruel as He is kind to the elect. The situation is +as follows: The king and queen have been basely robbed of their +kingdom, and are in exile. The queen urges the king to break the vow +of exile that has been forced from him, and to take vengeance on their +oppressors. The king, in reply, sings a song of forgiveness: +"Forgiveness is virtue, sacrifice, Veda; forgiveness is holiness and +truth; in the world of Brahm[=a] are the mansions of them that +forgive." This song (III. 29. 36 ff.) only irritates the queen, who at +once launches into the following interesting tirade (30. 1 ff.): +"Reverence to the Creator and Disposer[83] who have confused thy mind! +Hast thou not worshipped with salutation and honored the priests, +gods, and manes? Hast thou not made horse-sacrifices, the +_r[=a]jas[=u]ya_-sacrifice, sacrifices of every sort +(_pu[n.][d.]arika,[84] gosava_)? Yet art thou in this miserable +plight! Verily is it an old story (_itih[=a]sa_) that 'the worlds +stand under the Lord's will.' Following the seed God gives good or ill +in the case of all beings. Men are all moved by the divinity. Like a +wooden doll, moving its limbs in the hands of a man, so do all +creatures move in the Creator's hands. Man is like a bird on a string, +like a bead on a cord. As a bull is led by the nose, so man follows +the will of the Creator; he never is a creature of free will +(_[=a]tm[=a]dhina_). Every man goes to heaven or to hell, as he is +sent by the Lord's will. God himself, occupied with noble or with +wicked acts, moves about among all created things, an unknown power +(not known as 'this one'). The blessed God, who is self-created, the +great forefather (_prapit[=a]maha_), plays with his creatures just as +a boy plays with toys, putting them together and destroying them as he +chooses. Not like a father is God to His creatures; He acts in anger. +When I see the good distressed, the ignoble happy, I blame the Creator +who permits this inequality. What reward does God get that he sends +happiness to this sinful man (thy oppressor)? If it be true that only +the individual that does the act is pursued by the fruit of that act +(_karma_ doctrine) then the Lord who has done this act is defiled by +this base act of His. If, on the other hand, the act that one has done +does not pursue and overtake the one that has done it, then the only +agency on earth is brute force (this is the only power to be +respected)--and I grieve for them that are without it!" + +To this plea, which in its acknowledgment of the Creator as the +highest god, no less than in its doubtful admission of the _karma_ +doctrine, is of peculiar interest, the king replies with a refutation +no less worthy of regard: "Thy argument is good, clear and smooth, but +it is heterodox (_n[=a]stikyam_). I have sacrificed and practiced +virtue not for the sake of reward, but because it was right. I give +what I ought to give, and sacrifice as I should. That is my only idea +in connection with religious observances. There is no virtue in trying +to milk virtue. Do not doubt. Do not be suspicious of virtue. He that +doubts God or duty goes to hell (confusion), but he that does his duty +and is free from doubt goes to heaven (becomes immortal). Doubt not +scriptural authority. Duty is the saving ship. No other gets to +heaven. Blame not the Lord Creator, who is the highest god. Through +His grace the faithful gets immortality. If religious observances were +without fruit the universe would go to destruction. People would not +have been good for so many ages if there had been no reward for it. +This is a mystery of the gods. The gods are full of mystery and +illusion." + +The queen, for all the world like that wise woman in the Upanishads, +whose argument, as we showed in a preceding chapter, is cut short not +by counter-argument, but by the threat that if she ask too much her +head will fall off, recants her errors at this rebuke, and in the +following section, which evidently is a later addition, takes back +what she has said. Her new expression of belief she cites as the +opinion of Brihaspati (32. 61, 62); but this is applicable rather to +her first creed of doubt. Perhaps in the original version this +authority was cited at the end of the first speech, and with the +interpolation the reference is made to apply to this seer. Something +like the queen's remarks is the doubtful saying of the king himself, +as quoted elsewhere (III. 273. 6): "Time and fate, and what will be, +this is the only Lord. How else could this distress have come upon my +wife? For she has been virtuous always." + +We turn now to the great sectarian gods, who eventually unite with +Brahm[=a] to form a pantheistic trinity, a conception which, as we +shall show, is not older than the fifth or sixth century after Christ. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: The rival heresies seem also to belong to the + East. There were thus more than half a dozen heretical + bodies of importance agitating the region about Benares at + the same time. Subsequently the Jains, who, as we have + shown, were less estranged from Brahmanism, drifted + westward, while the Buddhist stronghold remained in the East + (both, of course, being represented in the South as well), + and so, whereas Buddhism eventually retreated to Nep[=a]l + and Tibet, the Jains are found in the very centres of old + and new (sectarian) Brahmanism, Delhi, Mathur[=a], Jeypur, + [=A]jm[=i]r.] + + [Footnote 2: 'The wandering of R[=a]ma,' who is the + sectarian representative of Vishnu.] + + [Footnote 3: The 'Bh[=a]rata (tale)', sometimes called + Mah[=a]-Bh[=a]rata, or Great Bh[=a]rata. The Vishnuite + sectarianism here advocated is that of Krishna. But there is + as much Çivaism in the poem as there is Vishnuism.] + + [Footnote 4: Dramatic and lyric poetry is artificial even in + language.] + + [Footnote 5: Schroeder, p. 453, compares the mutual relation + of the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata and R[=a]m[=a]yana to that of the + Nibelungenlied and the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach. + Jacobi, in his 'R[=a]m[=a]yana,' has lately claimed a + considerable antiquity for the foundation legends of the + R[=a]m[=a]yana, but he does not disprove the late completed + form.] + + [Footnote 6: i. 78. 10; see Bühler's Introduction.] + + [Footnote 7: Jacobi seeks to put the completed nucleus at + the time of the Christian era, but it must have been quite a + large nucleus in view of the allusions to it in precedent + literature. Holtztmann puts the completion at about 1000 + A.D.; but in 700 A.D., it was complete, and most scholars + will agree with Bühler that the present Mah[=a]-Bh[=a]rata + was completed by the sixth or seventh century. In 533 A.D. + it contained 100,000 distichs, that is, it was about the + size it is now.] + + [Footnote 8: By the time the drama began the epic was become + a religious storehouse, and the actual epic story + represented not a fifth of the whole work, so that, with its + simple language, it must have seemed, as a literary + production, very wearisome to the minds that delighted in + the artificial compounds and romantic episodes of the drama + and lyric. But even to-day it is recited at great fêtes, and + listened to with rapt attention, as the rhapsodes with more + or less dramatic power recite its holy verses.] + + [Footnote 9: The later law-books say expressly that women + and slaves have a right to use _mantra, + mantr[=a]dhik[=a]ri[n.]as._ But the later legal Smritis are + no more than disguised sectarian Pur[=a]nas.] + + [Footnote 10: Compare the visit of the old Muni on the + prince in iii. 262. 8. He is _paramakopana_, 'extremely + irritable'; calls for food only to reject it; growls at the + service, etc. Everything must be done 'quickly' for him. "I + am hungry, give me food, _quick_," is his way of speaking, + etc. (12). The adjective is one applied to the All-gods, + _paramakrodhinas._] + + [Footnote 11: Each spiritual teacher instructed high-caste + boys, in classes of four or five at most. In xii. 328. 41 + the four students of a priest go on a strike because the + latter wants to take another pupil besides themselves and + his own son.] + + [Footnote 12: The saints in the sky praise the combatants + (vii. 188. 41; viii. 15. 27); and the gods roar approval of + prowess "with roars like a lion's" (viii. 15. 33). Indra and + S[=u]rya and the Apsarasas cool off the heroes with heavenly + fans (_ib_. 90. 18). For the last divinities, see + Holtzmann's essays, ZDMG. xxxii. 290; xxxiii. 631.] + + [Footnote 13: The original author of the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata + is reputed to be of low caste, but the writers of the text + as it is to-day were sectarian priests. It was written down, + it is said, by Ganeça, 'lord of the troops' of Çiva, i. 1. + 79, and some historic truth lies in the tale. The priests of + Çiva were the last to retouch the poem, as we think.] + + [Footnote 14: Agni-worship is partly affected by the + doctrine that the Samvartaka fire (which destroys the world + at the cycle's end) is a form of Vishnu. In Stambamitra's + hymn it is said: "Thou, O Agni, art the all, in thee rests + the universe ... Sages know thee as single yet manifold. At + the expiration of time thou burnest up the three worlds, + after having created them. Thou art the originator and + support of all beings" (i. 232. 12). Elsewhere more Vedic + epithets are given, such as 'mouth of the gods' (ii. 31. + 42), though here 'the Vedas are produced for Agni's sake.' + In this same prayer one reads, 'may Agni give me energy; + wind, give me breath; earth, give me strength; and water, + give me health' (45). Agni, as well as Çiva, is the father + of Kum[=a]ra K[=a]rtikeya, _i.e_., Skanda (_ib_. 44).] + + [Footnote 15: But the Açvins are Ç[=u]dras In the 'cast-hood + of gods' (the caste-order being Angirasas, [=A]dityas, + Maruts and AÇvins), xii. 208. 23-25; and Indra in one + passage refuses to associate with them, xiii. 157. 17 (cited + by Holtzmann, ZDMG. xxxii. 321).] + + [Footnote 16: Manibhadra, in iii. 64, is king of Yaksash; he + is the same with Kubera, _ib_. ch. 41 (V[=a]içinavana).] + + [Footnote 17: In the Cosmogony the gods are the sons of the + Manes, xii. 312. 9.] + + [Footnote 18: When the gods churn the ocean to get ambrosia, + an ancient tale of the epic, Mandara is the twirling-stick. + It is situated in modern Beh[=a]r, near Bhagalpur.] + + [Footnote 19: III. 42; 139. 14, where the Ganges and Jumna + are invoked together with the Vedic gods. So in III. 104 + (Vindhya); and Damayanti prays to mountains. Mt. Meru is + described in III. 163. 14 (compare I. 17. 5 ff.). In I. 18. + 1 ff., is related the churning of the ocean, where Indra + (vs. 12) places Mt. Mandara on Vishnu, the tortoise.] + + [Footnote 20: Mbh. I. 30. 37, _mamlur m[=a]ly[=a]ni + dev[=a]n[=a]m_, etc. The older belief was that the gods' + garlands never withered; for the gods show no mortal signs, + cast no shadows, etc.] + + [Footnote 21: Compare the four hymnlets to Agni in i. 232. 7 + ff.] + + [Footnote 22: After the mention of the thirty-three gods, + and Vishnu 'born after them,' it is said that the Açvins, + plants, and animals, are Guhyakas (vs. 40), though in vs. + 35: "Tvashtar's daughter, the wife of Savitar, as a mare + (_va[d.]av[=a]_) bore in air the two Açvins" (see above), in + Vedic style. For Çruti compare iii. 207. 47; 208. 6, 11.] + + [Footnote 23: i. 23. 15 ff. His name is explained fancifully + in 30. 7.] + + [Footnote 24: It is at the funeral feasts to the Manes that + the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata is to be recited (i. 62. 37).] + + [Footnote 25: Arjuna is an old name of Indra, and in the + epic Arjuna is Indra's son.] + + [Footnote 26: The legal _dharma_ or sitting at a debtor's + door, which still obtains in India, is, so far as we know, + not a very ancient practice. But its application in the case + of heralds (who become responsible) is epic.] + + [Footnote 27: This is the covenant (with friends) of + revenge; the covenant of mutual protection in the sacrifice + is indicated by the 'protection covenant' of the gods (see + the chapter on Brahmanism above, p. 192).] + + [Footnote 28: See an essay on the Ruling Caste in the epic, + in JAOS. xiii. 232 ff.] + + [Footnote 29: Reverend Doctor H.C. Trumbull has kindly + called our attention to Robert's _Oriental Illustrations_, + p. 148 ff., where it is said that in India today the + threshold is sacred. In reference to threshold offerings, + common in the law, Dr. Trumbull's own forthcoming book on + Covenants may be compared.] + + [Footnote 30: But these are by no means the last examples of + human sacrifices. Several of the modern Hindu sects have + caused to be performed such sacrifices, even in this + century.] + + [Footnote 31: This can hardly mean 'put out on the river' as + has been suggested as an explanation of the corpse 'thrown + aside' in accordance with the earlier text, AV. xviii. 2. 34 + (_paropta_), where the dead are 'buried, thrown aside, + burned, or set out.'] + + [Footnote 32: It is assumed in XII. 364. 2 that "leaves and + air" are food enough for a great saint. Compare below the + actual asceticism of modern devotees.] + + [Footnote 33: III. 25. 14: _saptar[s.]ayas ... divi + viprabh[=a]nti_. Compare _ib._ 261. 13, and the apocalypse + in VII. 192. 52 ff., where Drona's soul ascends to heaven, a + burning fire like a sun; In sharp contrast to the older + 'thumbkin' soul which Yama receives and carries off in the + tale of Satyavant. Compare also Arundhati in I. 233. 29.] + + [Footnote 34: Described, as above, as a place of singers and + dancers, where are the Vedic gods and sages, but no sinners + or cowards (III. 42. 34 ff.).] + + [Footnote 35: From another point of view the stars are of + interest. They are favorable or unfavorable, sentient, kind, + or cruel; influential in man's fate. Compare III. 200. 84, + 85, where the sun is included with the _grahas_ (planets) + which influence men, and ib. 209. 21, + _tulyanak[.s]atrama[.n]gala_.] + + [Footnote 36: Other of Indra's spirits are the singers, + Gandharvas and Apsarasas; also the horse-headed Kinnaras and + C[=a]ranas, who, too, are singers; while later the + Vidy[=a]dharas belong both to Indra and to Çiva. In modern + times the South Indian Sittars, 'saints,' take their name + from the Siddhas.] + + [Footnote 37: In _d[=a]nnavar[s.]i_ there is apparently the + same sort of compound as in _devar[s.]i_ and _brahmar[s.]i_, + all associated with the _siddhas_ in III. 169. 23. But + possibly 'demons and seers' may be meant.] + + [Footnote 38: III. 37. 32-35 (_prapadye viçvedev[=a]n!_).] + + [Footnote 39: Weber finds in the Asuras' artisan, Asura + Maya, a reminiscence of Ptolemaios. He is celebrated in I. + 228. 39, and II. 1, and is the generai leader of the + _d[=a]navas_, demons, perhaps originally a folk-name of + enemies.] + + [Footnote 40: See below. The formal division is, _d[=a]iva, + hatha, karma, i.e._, man's fate depends on gods, Fate, and + his own acts; although _hatha_, Fate, is often implied in + _d[=a]iva_, 'the divine power.' But they are separated, for + example, in iii. 183. 86.] + + [Footnote 41: Compare the tales and xii. 148. 9, _sat[=i]_ + (suttee). In regard to the horse-sacrifice, compare Yama's + law as expounded to Gautama: "The acts by which one gains + bliss hereafter are austerities, purity, truth, worship of + parents, and the horse-sacrifice." xii 129. 9, 10.] + + [Footnote 42: Compare III. 200. 88, even _pr[=a]k[r.]ta_ + priests are divine and terrible (much more in later books). + Here _pr[=a]k[r.]ta_, vulgar, is opposed to _samsk[r.]ta_, + refined, priests.] + + [Footnote 43: III. 185. 26-31.] + + [Footnote 44: "My father and mother are my highest idol; I + do for them what I do for Idols. As the three and thirty + gods, with Indra foremost, are revered of all the world, so + are my parents revered by me" (III. 214. 19, 20). The + speaker further calls them _paramam brahma_, absolute + godhead, and explains his first remark by saying that he + offers fruits and flowers to his parents as if they were + idols. In IV. 68. 57 a man salutes (_abhivadya_) his + father's feet on entering into his presence. For the worship + of parents compare XII. 108. 3; 128. 9, 10; 267. 31, XIII. + 75. 26: "heroes in obedience to the mother."] + + [Footnote 45: The marked Brahm[=a] Creator-worship is a bit + of feminine religious conservatism (see below).] + + [Footnote 46: Weber has shown that men of low caste took a + subordinate part even in the _r[=a]jas[=u]ya_ sacrifice.] + + [Footnote 47: In II. 18. there is a brand-new festival + appointed in honor of a female fiend, etc.] + + [Footnote 48: III. 84. 83 (87. 11). We see the first idea in + the injunction of Indra to 'wander,' as told in the tale of + Dogstail in the Brahmana (see above).] + + [Footnote 49: The usual formula (also Avestan) is 'pure in + thought, speech, and act.' The comparison of the six senses + to unrestrained wild horses is familiar (III. 211. 24).] + + [Footnote 50: There is, further, no unanimity in regard to + the comparative value of holy places. In XII. 152. 11, + Sarasvat[=i] is holier than Kurukshetra, etc.] + + [Footnote 51: At Pushkara is Brahm[=a]'s only (?) + shrine--the account is legendary, but half historical. The + modern shrine at Ajm[=i]r seems to be meant.] + + [Footnote 52: Ganges, according to epic legend, was a + goddess who sacrificed herself for men when the earth was + parched and men perished. Then Ganges alone of immortals + took pity on men, and flinging herself from heaven became + the stream divine. Her name among the gods is Alakanand[=a], + the 'Blessed Damosel.'] + + [Footnote 53: In iii. 87.10, "ten descendants and ten + ancestors." The epic, i. 170. 19, regards the Sarasvat[=i] + and Jumna as parts of the sevenfold Ganges, which descends + from the heavens as these three, and also as the Vitasth[=a] + (Rathasth[=a]), Saray[=u], Gomat[=i], and Gan[d.]ak[=i]; + being itself 'V[=a]itara[n.][=i] among the Manes.' So xii. + 322. 32.] + + [Footnote 54: According to the commentator the "(northern + altar of the Father-god) Kurukshetra-Samantapañcakam, + between Tarantuka, Arantuka, R[=a]mahrada, and Macakruka," + mentioned in iii. 83. 208, lies in Benares; but this must be + a late addition, as Kurukshetra's position is without doubt. + Compare i. 2. i ff.; ix. 53. i, 23-25.] + + [Footnote 55: + In _ib_. 47, _mah[=a] d[r.]tiriv[=a]dhm[=a]ta[h.] + p[=a]pas_, there is an interesting + reminiscence of Rig Veda, vii. 89. 2. The rules of virtue + are contained in Vedas and law-books, and the practice of + instructed men, _ib_. 83 (the 'threefold sign of + righteousness'). A Çruti cited from _dharmas_ is not + uncommon, but the latter word is not properly used in so + wide a sense. See note below, p. 378.] + + [Footnote 56: Some scholars see in the use of the verb, + _piç_, a Vedic picturing of gods; but in all instances where + this occurs it may be only the poet's mind-picture of the + god 'adorned' with various glories.] + + [Footnote 57: In VII. 201. 69, Çiva wears an + _aksham[=a]l[=a]._ In XII. 38. 23, the C[=a]rv[=a]ka wears + an _aksha_, for he is disguised as a _bhikshu_, beggar.] + + [Footnote 58: It must be remembered that the person using + the _mantra_ probably did not understand what the words + meant. The epic says, in fact, that the Vedas are + unintelligible: _brahma pracuracchalam_, XII. 329. 6. But an + older generation thought the same. In Nirukta, I. 15, + K[=a]utsa is cited as saying that the _mantras_ are + meaningless.] + + [Footnote 59: Compare xii. 174. 46: "The joy of earth and + heaven obtained by the satisfaction of desire is not worth + one-sixteenth of the bliss of dead desire."] + + [Footnote 60: By generosity the Hindu poet means 'to + priests.' In III. 200, where this is elaborated, sixteen + persons are mentioned (vs. 4) to whom to give is not + meritorious.] + + [Footnote 61: Little is known in regard to the play. The + dice are thrown on a board, 'odd and even' determine the + contest here (III. 34. 5) _ayuja and yuja_. At times speed + in counting is the way to win (Nala). Dicing is a regular + part of the _r[=a]jas[=u]ya_ sacrifice (Weber, p. 67), but + not, apparently, an ancient trait.] + + [Footnote 62: The snakes belong to Varuna and his region, as + described in v. 98. It is on the head of the earth-upholding + snake Çesha that Vishnu muses, III. 203.12. The reverence + paid to serpents begins to be ritual in the Atharva Veda. + Even in the Rig Veda there is the deification of the + cloud-snake. In later times they answered to the Nymphs, + being tutelary guardians of streams and rivers (Buhler). In + i. 36, Çesha Ananta supports earth, and it is told why he + does so.] + + [Footnote 63: These three are the witnesses for the soul at + the judgment, xii. 322. 55. V[=a]yu, Wind, is said to be + even mightier than Indra, Yama, Indra and Varuna, _ib._ 155. + 9, 10.] + + [Footnote 64: But (in a later account) not if he dies + ignobly; for if one is slain by a man of low caste he goes + to hell, xii. 298. 7.] + + [Footnote 65: Demoniac Indras (_i.e._, demon-leaders) and + seers, xii. 166. 26.] + + [Footnote 66: 'The god of gods,' who rains blood in i. 30. + 36, is declared by the commentator to be--Parjanya! The gods + are here defending Soma from the heavenly bird, Garuda, and + nearly die of fright.] + + [Footnote 67: xii. 313. 1-7, with the same watery finale as + is usual.] + + [Footnote 68: The morning prayer, etc, to the sun is, of + course, still observed, _e.g._, vii. 186. 4. Indra is + thanked for victory and invoked for rain (iii. 117. 11; i. + 25. 7; Holtzmann, _loc. cit._ p. 326) in an hymn that is + less fulsome than those to Agni and S[=u]rya.] + + [Footnote 69: 111. 222, Atharvan's rediscovery of fire. As + to Çrutis they are probably no more valuable than Smritis. + The one given in iii. 208. 11, _agnayo + in[=a]i[.n]sak[=a]m[=a]s_, seems to be adapted (_cf._ + [=A]çv. Gs. iv. 1; the adjective, by the way, is still + starred in Pw.). So [=A]çv. Gs. i. 15. 9, is repeated + Mbh[=a]; i. 74. 63, as a "Vedic _mantragr[=a]ma_ " + _(ang[=a]d ang[=a]t sambhavasi_, etc.).] + + [Footnote 70: The devils are on the Prince's side, and wish + to keep him from death. The proverb is found _ib_. 252. 2; + _[=a]tmaty[=a]g[=i] hy adho y[=a]ti_. The holy-grass is used + in much the same way when R[=a]ma lies down by Ocean, + resolved to die or persuade Ocean to aid him. The rites (vs. + 24) are "in the Upanishad."] + + [Footnote 71: According to XII. 59. 80-84, the 'treatise of + Brihaspati' comes from Çiva through Brahm[=a] and Indra.] + + [Footnote 72: In Buddhism Yama's messengers are Yakkhas. + Scherman, _loc. cit_. p. 57.] + + [Footnote 73: Compare II. 22. 26: _gaccha yamak[s.]ayam_, + 'go to Yama's destruction'; whereas of a good man it is + said, 'I will send Indra a guest' (VII, 27.8).] + + [Footnote 74: _Yamasya sadana_. III. 11. 66. He now has + hells, and he it is who will destroy the world. He is called + 'the beautiful' (III. 41. 9), so that he must, if one take + this Rudrian epithet with the citation above, be loosely + (popularly) identified with Çiva, as god of death. See the + second note below.] + + [Footnote 75: The old story of a mortal's visit to Yama to + learn about life hereafter (_Çat. Br._ xi. 6.1; Katha Up., + of N[=a]ciketas) is repeated in xiii. 71.] + + [Footnote 76: v. 42. 6: _Çiva[h.] çiv[=a]n[=a]m açivo + 'çiv[=a]n[=a]m_ (compare xii 187. 27: 'only fools say that + the man is dead'). Dharma (Justice) seems at times to be the + same with Yama. M[=a]ndavya goes to Dharma's _sadana_, home + (compare Yama's _sadana_), just as one goes to Yama's, and + interviews him on the justice of his judgments. As result of + the angry interview the god is reborn on earth as a man of + low caste, and the law is established that a child is not + morally responsible for his acts till the twelfth year of + his age (i.108. 8 ff.). When Kuru agrees to give half his + life in order to the restoration of Pramadvar[=a], his wife, + they go not to Yama but to Dharma to see if the exchange may + be made, and he agrees (i. 9. 11 ff., a masculine + S[=a]vitr[=i]i).] + + [Footnote 77: The hells are described in xii. 322. 29 ff. + The sight of 'golden trees' presages death (_ib._ 44).] + + [Footnote 78: The ordinary rule is that "no sin is greater + than untruth," xii. 162. 24, modified by "save in love and + danger of life" (Laws, _passim_).] + + [Footnote 79: The same scenes occur in Buddhistic writings, + where Yakkhas ask conundrums. For example, in the + _Hemavatasutta_ and _[=A]tavakasutta_ the Yakkha asks what + is the best possession, what brings bliss, and what is + swettest, to which the answer is: faith, law, and truth, + respectively.] + + [Footnote 80: _Karm[=a]ntaram up[=a]santas, i.e., + vir[=a]mak[=a]lam upagacchantas_.] + + [Footnote 81: II. 36. 3 ff. The phraseology of vs. 5 is + exactly that of [Greek: _ton êttô ldgon kreittô poithnsi_], + but the Pundit's arguments are 'based on the law.'] + + [Footnote 82: See above. In a later period (see below) the + question arises in regard to the part played by Creator and + individual in the workings of grace, some claiming that man + was passive; some, that he had to strive for grace.] + + [Footnote 83: Perhaps ironical. In V. 175. 32, a woman cries + out: "Fie on the Creator for this bad luck," conservative in + belief, and outspoken in word.] + + [Footnote 84: III. 30. 17. The _gosava_ is a + 'cow-sacrifice.' The _pu[n.][d.]ar[=i]ka_ is not explained + (perhaps 'elephant-sacrifice').] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +HINDUISM (CONTINUED).--VISHNU AND ÇIVA. + + +In the epic the later union of the sectarian gods is still a novelty. +The two characters remain distinct enough. Vishnu and Çiva are +different gods. But each in turn represents the All-god, and +consequently each represents the other. The Vishnu-worship which grew +about Krish[n.]a, originally a friend of one of the epic characters, +was probably at first an attempt to foist upon Vedic believers a +sectarian god, by identifying the latter with a Vedic divinity. But, +whatever the origin, Krishna as Vishnu is revered as the All-god in +the epic. And, on the other hand, Çiva of many names has kept the +marks of Rudra. Sometimes one, sometimes another, is taken as the +All-god. At times they are compared, and then each sect reduces the +god of the other to an inferior position. Again they are united and +regarded as one. The Vishnu side has left the best literary +representation of this religion, which has permeated the epic. It is +pantheism, but not an impersonal pantheism. The Blessed Lord is the +All. This is the simple base and crown of its speculation. It is like +the personal development of Vedantic philosophy, only it is here +degraded by the personality of the man-god, who is made the incarnate +All-god. The Krishna of the epic as a man is a sly, unscrupulous +fellow, continually suggesting and executing acts that are at variance +with the knightly code of honor. He is king of Dv[=a]rak[=a] and ally +of the epic heroes. But again, he is divine, the highest divinity, the +_avatar_ of the All-god Vishnu. The sectaries that see in Çiva rather +than in Vishnu the one and only god, have no such representative to +which to refer. For Çiva, as the historical descendant of the Vedic +Rudra,--although even in his case there is an intrusion of local +worship upon an older Vedic belief,--represents a terror-god, either +the lightning, the fairest of the gods, or, when he appears on earth, +a divine horror, or, again, "a very handsome young man."[1] These two +religions, of Vishnu as Krishna and of Çiva alone, are not so much +united in the epic as they are super-imposed upon the older worship of +Brahm[=a], and indeed, in such a way that Çiva-worship, in a +pantheistic sense, appears to be the latest of the three beliefs that +have influenced the story.[2] + +The personal pantheism of the older Vishnuism has in its form and +teachings so close a resemblance to the Christian religion that it has +always had a great attraction for occidental readers; while the real +power of its "Divine Song" gives the latter a charm possessed by few +of the scriptures of India. This Divine Song (or Song of the Blessed +One) is at present a Krishnaite version of an older Vishnuite poem, +and this in turn was at first an unsectarian work, perhaps a late +Upanishad. It is accepted by Vishnuites as a kind of New Testament; +and with the New Testament it has in truth much in common. It must be +pointed out at the outset that there is here the closest connection +with the later Upanishads. The verse, like that of the Katha Upanishad +(quoted above), which stands almost at the beginning of the Song, is +typical of the relation of the Song to the Upanishad. It will be +noticed how the impersonal 'That,' _i.e_., absolute being, _brahma_, +changes almost at once to the personal He (_[=a]tm[=a]_ as Lord). As +shows the whole Song, _brahma_ throughout is understood to be +personal.[3] The caste-position of the priest in the Git[=a] is owing +to the religious exaltation of the poem; and the precedence of +S[=a]man is not unusual in the latest portions of the epic (see +below).] + +To understand the religion which reaches its culmination in the epic +no better course could be pursued than to study the whole of the +Divine Song. It is, however, too long a production to be introduced +here in its entirety; but the following extracts give the chief +features of the work, than which nothing in Hindu literature is more +characteristic, in its sublimity as in its puerilities, in its logic +as in its want of it. It has shared the fate of most Hindu works in +being interpolated injudiciously, so that many of the puzzling +anomalies, which astound no less the reader than the hero to whom it +was revealed, are probably later additions. It is a medley of beliefs +as to the relation of spirit and matter, and other secondary matters; +it is uncertain in its tone in regard to the comparative efficacy of +action and inaction, and in regard to the practical man's means of +salvation; but it is at one with itself in its fundamental thesis, +that all things are each a part of One Lord, that men and gods are but +manifestations of the One Divine Spirit, which, or rather whom, the +Vishnuite re-writer identifies with Krishna, as Vishnu's present form. + +The Divine Song, as it is revealed in the epic by Vishnu (-Krishna) to +his favorite knight, Arjuna, begins thus: "Know that the 'That' in +which is comprised the 'This' is indestructible. These bodies of the +indestructible Eternal One have an end: but whoso knows Him as slayer, +and whoso thinks Him to be slain, these two have not true wisdom. He +slays not and is not slain. He is not born, he does not die at any +time; nor will He, having been born, cease to be. Unborn, everlasting, +eternal, He, the Ancient One, is not slain when the body is slain. As +one puts away an old garment and puts on another that is new, so He, +the embodied (Spirit), puts away the old body and assumes one that is +new. Everlasting, omnipresent, firm, unchanging is He, the Eternal; +indiscernible is He called, inconceivable, unchangeable."[4] + +The Song now turns into a plea that the warrior who is hearing it +should, as one born to be a soldier, be brave and fight, lest his +sorrow for the slain be taken for fear; since "nothing is better for a +warrior than a just fight," and "loss of fame is worse than death." +Then follows (with the usual inconsequential 'heaven') "If thou art +slain thou wilt obtain heaven, and if thou art victorious thou shalt +enjoy earth; therefore, careless of pleasure and pain, get ready for +the fight, and so thou wilt not incur sin. This is the knowledge +declared in the S[=a]nkhya; hear now that of the Yoga," and the Divine +Lord proceeds: + +"Some are pleased with Vedic words and think that there is nothing +else; their souls are full of desires; and they think that going to +heaven is the chief thing. Yet have the Vedas reference only to the +three qualities (of which all things partake). Be free from the three +qualities (do not care for rewards). In action, not in fruit, is the +chief thing. Do thy work, abiding by serene devotion (Yoga), rejecting +every tie; be indifferent to success and failure. Serene devotion is +called indifference (to such things). Action is lower than devotion of +mind. Devotion is happiness. Do thou, wise in devotion, abandon the +fruit that is sprung from action, and, freed from the bonds of birth, +attain a perfect state." + +S[=a]nkhya here means the philosophy of religion; Yoga is the +philosophical state of mind, serene indifference, religious +_sang-froid_ the practical result of a belief in the S[=a]nkhya +doctrine of the indestructibility of the spirit. In the following +there is Vedantic teaching, as well as Sankhyan in the stricter sense. + + +On the warrior's asking for an explanation of this state of equipoise, +the Deity gives illustrations of the balanced mind that is free from +all attachments, serene, emancipated from desires, self-controlled, +and perfectly tranquil. As the knight is astonished and confused at +the contradiction, action and inactivity both being urged upon him, +the Deity replies that there is a twofold law, that of S[=a]nkhyas +consisting in knowledge-devotion, and that of Yogis in +action-devotion. Idleness is not freedom from action. Freedom from +attachment must be united with the accomplishment of such acts as +should be performed. The deluded think that they themselves perform +acts, but acts are not done by the spirit (self); they are done only +by nature's qualities (this is S[=a]nkhya doctrine). "One should know +the relation between the individual and Supreme Spirit, and with +tranquil mind perform good acts. Let the deluded ones be, who are +erroneously attached to action. The wise man should not cause those of +imperfect knowledge to be unsettled in their faith, but he should +himself not be attached to action. Each man should perform his own +(caste) duties. One's own duty ill done is better than doing well +another man's work." + +The knight now asks what causes one to sin. The Deity answers: "Love +and hate; for from love is born hate; and from anger, ignorance in +regard to right and wrong; whence comes lack of reason, and +consequently destruction. The knowledge of a man is enwrapped with +desire as is fire with smoke. Great are the senses; greater, the mind; +greater still, the understanding; greatest of all is 'That'" +(_brahma_; as above in the _Ch[=a]ndogya)._ The Deity begins again:[5] +"This system of devotion I declared to Vivasvant (the sun); Vivasvant +declared it to Manu, and Manu to kingly seers." (The same origin is +claimed for itself in Manu's lawbook.) The knight objects, not yet +knowing that Krishna is the All-god: "How did'st thou declare it +first? thy birth is later than the sun's." To whom the Deity: "Many +are my births, and I know them all; many too are thine, but thou +knowest them not; unborn and Lord of all creatures I assume phenomena, +and am born by the illusion of the spirit. Whenever there is lack of +righteousness, and wrong arises, then I emit (create) myself.[6] I am +born age after age for the protection of the good, for the destruction +of the wicked, and for the sake of establishing righteousness. Whoso +really believes in this my divine birth and work, he, when he has +abandoned his body, enters no second birth, but enters Me. Many there +are who, from Me arising, on Me relying, purified by the penance of +knowledge, with all affections, fear, and anger gone, enter into my +being. As they approach Me so I serve them.[7] Men in all ways follow +after my path. Some desire the success that is of action, and worship +gods; for success that is born of action is speedy in the world of +men. Know Me as the maker of the four castes, know Me as the unending +one and not the maker. Action stains Me not, for in the fruit of +action I have no desire. He that thus knows Me is not bound by +acts.[8] So he that has no attachment is not bound by acts. His acts +become naught. _Brahma_ is the oblation, and with _brahma_ is it +offered; _brahma_ is in the fire, and by _brahma_ is the oblation +made. Sacrifices are of many kinds, but he that sacrifices with +knowledge offers the best sacrifice. He that has faith has knowledge; +he that has knowledge obtains peace. He that has no knowledge and no +faith, whose soul is one of doubt, is destroyed. Action does not +destroy him that has renounced action by means of indifference. Of the +two, renunciation of action and indifference, though both give bliss, +indifference in action is better than renunciation of action. +Children, not Pundits, proclaim S[=a]nkhya and Yoga to be distinct. He +that is devoted to either alone finds the reward of both. Renunciation +without Yoga is a thing hard to get; united with Yoga the seer enters +_brahma_. ... He is the renouncer and the devotee who does the acts +that ought to be done without relying on the reward of action, not he +that performs no acts and builds no sacrificial fires. Through his +self (spirit) let one raise one's self. Conquer self by self (spirit). +He is the best man who is indifferent to external things, who with +equal mind sees (his spirit) self in everything and everything in self +(God as the Spirit). Such an one obtains the highest bliss, _brahma_. +Whoso sees Me in all and all in Me I am not destroyed for him, and he +is not destroyed for Me." + +The knight now asks how it fares with a good man who is not equal to +the discipline of Yoga, and cannot free himself entirely from +attachment. Does he go to destruction like a cloud that is rent, +failing on the path that leads to _brahma_? The Deity replies: +"Neither in this world nor in the beyond is he destroyed. He that acts +virtuously does not enter an evil state. He obtains the heaven that +belongs to the doers of good, and after living there countless summers +is reborn on earth in the family of pure and renowned men, or of pious +devotees. There he receives the knowledge he had in a former body, and +then strives further for perfection. After many births he reaches +perfection and the highest course (union with _brahma_). There are but +few that strive for perfection, and of them only one here and there +truly knows Me. Earth, water, fire, air, space, mind, understanding, +and egoism (self-consciousness)--so is my nature divided into eight +parts.[9] But learn now my higher nature, for this is my lower one. My +higher nature is alive, and by it this world is supported. I am the +creator and destroyer of all the world. Higher than I is nothing. On +Me the universe is woven like pearls upon a thread. Taste am I, light +am I of moon and sun, the mystic syllable _[=O]m_ ([)a][)u]m), sound +in space, manliness in men; I am smell and radiance; I am life and +heat. Know Me as the eternal seed of all beings. I am the +understanding of them that have understanding, the radiance of the +radiant ones. Of the strong I am the force, devoid of love and +passion; and I am love, not opposed to virtue. Know all beings to be +from Me alone, whether they have the quality of goodness, of passion, +or of darkness (the three 'qualities' or conditions of all things). I +am not in them; but they are in Me. Me, the inexhaustible, beyond +them, the world knows not, for it is confused by these three qualities +(conditions); and hard to overcome is the divine illusion which +envelops Me, while it arises from the qualities. Only they pass +through this illusion who come to Me alone. Wicked men, whose +knowledge is taken away by illusion, relying on a devilish (demoniac) +condition, do not come to Me. They that have not the highest knowledge +worship various divinities; but whatever be the form that any one +worships with faith I make his faith steady. He obtains his desires in +worshipping that divinity, although they are really bestowed upon him +by Me.[10] But the fruit of these men, in that they have little +wisdom, has its end. He that sacrifices to (lesser) gods goes to those +gods; but they that worship Me come to Me. I know the things that +were, that are, and are to be; but Me no one knoweth, for I am +enveloped in illusion. I am the supreme being, the supreme godhead, +the supreme sacrifice, the Supreme Spirit, _brahma_." + +The knight asks "What is _brahma_, the Supreme Spirit, the supreme +being, the supreme sacrifice?" The Deity: "The supreme, the +indestructible, is called _brahma_. Its personal existence is Supreme +Spirit (self). Destructible existence is supreme being (all except +_[=a]tm[=a]_). The Person is the supreme godhead. I myself am the +supreme sacrifice in this body." + +Then follow statements like those in the Upanishads and in Manu, +describing a day of _brahma_ as a thousand ages; worlds are renewed; +they that go to the gods find an end of their happiness with the end +of their world; but they that go to the indestructible _brahma_, the +Deity, the entity that is not destroyed when all else is destroyed, +never again return. There are two roads (as in the Upanishads above), +one, the northern road leading to _brahma_; one, the southern road to +the moon, leading back to earth. At the end of a period of time all +beings reënter the divine nature (Prakriti[11]), and at the beginning +of the next period the Deity emits them again and again (they being +without volition) by the volition of his nature. "Through Me, who am +the superintendent, nature gives birth to all things, and for that +cause the world turns about. They of demoniac nature recognize me not; +they of god-like nature, knowing Me as the inexhaustible source, +worship Me. I am the universal Father, the Vedas, the goal, the +upholder, the Lord, the superintendent, the home, the asylum, the +friend. I am the inexhaustible seed. I am immortality and death. I am +being and not-being. I am the sacrifice and he that offers it. Even +they that, with faith, sacrifice to other gods, even they (really) +sacrifice to Me. To them that ever are devout and worship Me with love +(faith), I give the attainment of the knowledge by which they come to +Me" (again the doctrine of special grace). "I am the beginning, the +middle, and the end of all created things. I am Vishnu among sun-gods; +the moon among the stars; Indra among the (Vedic) gods; the S[=a]man +among the Vedas; among the senses, mind; among created beings, +consciousness; among the Rudras I am Çiva (Çankara); among +army-leaders I am Skanda; among the great sages I am Bhrigu (who +reveals Manu's code); among the Siddhas[12] I am Kapila the Muni.... I +am the love that begets; I am the chief (V[=a]suki and Ananta) among +the serpents; and among them that live in water I am Varuna; among the +Manes I am Aryaman; and I am Yama among controllers;[13] among demons +I am Prahl[=a]da ...; I am R[=a]ma; I am the Ganges. I am among all +sciences the highest science (that in regard to the Supreme Spirit); I +am the word of the speakers; I am the letter A among the letters, and +the compound of union among the compounds.[14] I am indestructible +time and I am the Creator. I am the death that seizes all and I am the +origin of things to be. I am glory, fortune, speech, memory, wisdom, +constancy, and mercy.... I am the punishment of the punisher and the +polity of them that would win victory. I am silence. I am knowledge. +There is no end of my divine manifestations." + +The knight now asks to see the real form of the deity, which was +revealed to him. "If in heaven the glory of a thousand suns should +appear at once, such would be his glory." + +After this comes the real animus of the Divine Song in its present +shape. The believer that has faith in this Vishnu is even better than +the devotee who finds _brahma_ by knowledge. + +The philosophy of knowledge (which here is anything but Vedantic) is +now communicated to the knight, in the course of which the distinction +between nature and spirit is explained: "Nature, Prakriti, and spirit, +Purusha (person), are both without beginning. All changes and +qualities spring from nature. Nature is said to be the cause of the +body's and the senses' activity. Spirit is the cause of enjoyment +(appreciation) of pleasure and pain; for the Spirit, standing in +nature, appreciates the nature-born qualities. The cause of the +Spirit's re-birth is its connection with the qualities, (This is +S[=a]nkhya doctrine, and the same with that propounded above in regard +to activity.) The Supreme Spirit is the Support and great Lord of all, +the _[=a]tm[=a]_, while _brahma_ (=_prakriti_) is the womb in which I +place My seed, and from that is the origin of all things. The great +_brahma_ is the womb, and I am the seed-giving father of all the forms +which come into being. The three 'qualities' (conditions, attributes), +goodness, passion, and darkness, are born of nature and bind the +inexhaustible incorporate (Spirit) in the body. The quality (or +attribute) of goodness binds the soul with pleasure and knowledge; +that of passion (activity), with desire and action; that of darkness +(dulness), with ignorance. One that has the attribute of goodness +chiefly goes after death to the highest heaven; one that has chiefly +passion is born again among men of action; one that has chiefly +darkness is born among the ignorant. One that sees that these +attributes are the only agents, one that knows what is higher than the +attributes, enters into my being. The incorporate spirit that has +passed above the three attributes (the origin of bodies), being +released from birth, death, age, and pain, obtains immortality. To +pass above these attributes one must become indifferent to all change, +be undisturbed by anything, and worship Me with devotion.... I am to +be learned from all the Vedas; I made the Ved[=a]nta; I alone know the +Vedas. There are two persons in the world, one destructible and one +indestructible; the destructible one is all created things; the +indestructible one is called the Unchanging one. But there is still a +third highest person, called the Supreme Spirit, who, pervading the +three worlds, supports them, the inexhaustible Lord. Inasmuch as I +surpass the destructible and am higher than the indestructible, +therefore am I known in the world and in the Veda as the Highest +Person." + +The references to the S[=a]nkhyas, or S[=a]nkhya-Yogas, are not yet +exhausted. There is another in a following chapter (vi. 18. 13) which +some scholiasts say refers to the Ved[=a]nta-system, though this is in +direct contradiction to the text. But the extracts already given +suffice to show how vague and uncertain are, on the whole, the +philosophical views on which depends the Divine Song. Until the end of +these citations one hears only of nature and spirit, the two that have +no beginning, but here one finds the Supreme Spirit, which is as +distinct from the indestructible one as from the destructible. +Moreover, 'nature' is in one place represented as from the beginning +distinct from spirit and entirely apart from it, and in another it is +only a transient phase. The delusion (illusion) which in one passage +is all that exists apart from the Supreme Spirit is itself given up in +favor of the S[=a]nkhya Prakriti, with which one must imagine it to be +identified, although from the text itself it cannot be identical. In a +word, exactly as in Manu, there are different philosophical +conceptions, united without any logical basis for their union. The +'system' is in general that of the S[=a]nkhya-Yogas, but there is much +which is purely Ved[=a]nta. The S[=a]nkhya system is taught elsewhere +as a means of salvation, perhaps always as the deistic Yoga (i. 75. 7: +"He taught them the Sankhya-knowledge as salvation"). It is further +noticeable that although Krishna (Vishnu) is the ostensible speaker, +there is scarcely anything to indicate that the poem was originally +composed even for Vishnu. The Divine Song was probably, as we have +said, a late Upanishad, which afterwards was expanded and put into +Vishnu's mouth. The S[=a]nkhya portions have been redressed as far as +possible and to the illusion doctrine is given the chief place. But +the Song remains, like the Upanishads themselves, and like Manu, an +ill-assorted cabinet of primitive philosophical opinions. On the +religious side it is a matter of comparative indifference whether that +which is not the spirit is a delusive output of the spirit or +indestructible matter. In either case the Spirit is the goal of the +spirit. In this personal pantheism absorption is taught but not death. +Immortality is still the reward that is offered to the believer that +is wise, to the wise that believes. Knowledge and faith are the means +of obtaining this immortality; but, whereas in the older Upanishads +only wisdom is necessary (wisdom that implies morality), here as much +stress, if not more, is laid upon faith, the natural mark of all +sectarian pantheism. + +Despite its occasional power and mystic exaltation, the Divine Song in +its present state as a poetical production is unsatisfactory. The same +thing is said over and over again, and the contradictions in +phraseology and in meaning are as numerous as the repetitions, so that +one is not surprised to find it described as "the wonderful song, +which causes the hair to stand on end." The different meanings given +to the same words are indicative of its patchwork origin, which again +would help to explain its philosophical inconsistencies. It was +probably composed, as it stands, before there was any formal +Ved[=a]nta system; and in its original shape without doubt it precedes +the formal S[=a]nkhya; though both philosophies existed long before +they were systematized or reduced to Sutra form. One has not to +imagine them as systems originally distinct and opposed. They rather +grew out of a gradual intensification of the opposition involved in +the conception of Prakriti (nature) and M[=a]y[=a] (illusion), some +regarding these as identical, others insisting that the latter was not +sufficient to explain nature. The first philosophy (and philosophical +religion) concerned itself less with the relation of matter to mind +(in modern parlance) than with the relation of the individual self +(spirit) to the Supreme Spirit. Different explanations of the relation +of matter to this Supreme Spirit were long held tentatively by +philosophers, who would probably have said that either the S[=a]nkhya +or Ved[=a]nta might be true, but that this was not the chief question. +Later came the differentiation of the schools, based mainly on a +question that was at first one of secondary importance. In another +part of the epic Krishna himself is represented as the victim of +'illusion' (iii. 21. 30) on the field of battle. + +The doctrine of the Bhagavad G[=i]t[=a], the Divine Song, is by no +means isolated. It is found in many other passages of the epic, +besides being imitated in the Anug[=i]t[=a] of the pseudo-epic. To one +of these passages it is worth while to turn, because of the form in +which this wisdom is enunciated. The passage immediately following +this teaching is also of great interest. Of the few Vedic deities that +receive hymnal homage chief is the sun, or, in his other form, Agni. +The special form of Agni has been spoken of above. He is identified +with the All in some late passages, and gives aid to his followers, +although not in battle. It will have been noticed in the Divine Song +that Vishnu asserts that the Song was proclaimed to the sun, who in +turn delivers it through Manu to the king-seers, the sun being +especially the kingly god.[15] In the third book there is an hymn to +the sun, in which this god is addressed almost in the terms of the +Divine Song, and immediately preceding is the doctrine just alluded +to. After the explanation is given that re-birth affects creatures and +causes them to be born in earth, air, or water, the changes of +metempsychosis here including the vegetable world as well as the +animal and divine worlds,[16] the very essence of the Divine Song is +given as "Vedic word," viz., _kuru karma tyajeti ca_, "Perform and +quit acts," _i.e._, do what you ought to do, but without regard to the +reward of action (iii. 2. 72, 74). There is an eightfold path of duty, +as in Buddhism, but here it consists in sacrifice, study, liberality, +and penance; truth, mercy, self-control, and lack of greed. As the +result of practicing the first four, one goes on the course that leads +to the Manes; as the result of practicing the last four, one goes on +the course that leads to the gods. But in practicing any virtues one +should practice them without expectation of reward (_abhim[=a]na_, +arrière pensée). The Yogi, the devotee, who renounces the fruit of +everything, is the greatest man; his powers are miraculous. + +There follows (with the same light inconsistency to be found in the +Divine Song) the appeal for action and the exhortation to pray to the +sun for success in what is desired. For it is explained that the sun +is the father of all creation. The sun draws up clouds with his heat, +and his energy, being transmuted into water, with the help of the +moon, is distilled into plants as rain, and in this way the food that +man eats is full of solar energy, and man and all that live by food +must regard the sun as their father. Preliminary to the hymn to the +sun is given a list of his hundred and eight names,[17] among which +are to be noticed: Aryaman, Soma, Indra, Yama, Brahm[=a], Vishnu, +Çiva, Death, Time, Creator, the Endless One, Kapila, the Unborn One, +the Person (Purusha; with which are to be compared the names of Vishnu +in the Divine Song), the All-maker, Varuna, the Grandfather, the Door +of Heaven, etc. And then the Hymn to the Sun (iii. 3. 36 ff.):[18] +"Thou, O Sun, of creatures art the eye; the spirit of all that have +embodied form; thou art the source of all created things; thou art the +custom of them that make sacrifice; thou art the goal of the +S[=a]nkhyas and the hope of the Yogis; the course of all that seek +deliverance ... Thou art worshipped by all; the three and thirty +gods(!) worship thee, etc.... I think that in all the seven worlds[19] +and all the _brahma_-worlds there is nothing which is superior to the +sun. Other beings there are, both powerful and great, but they have no +such glory as the sun's. Father of light, all beings rest in thee; O +Lord of light, all things, all elements are in thee. The disc of +Vishnu was fashioned by the All-maker (one of the sun's names!) with +thy glory. Over all the earth, with its thirteen islands, thou shinest +with thy kine (rays)....[20] Thou art the beginning and the end of a +day of Brahm[=a].... They call thee Indra; thou art Rudra, Vishnu, the +Father-god, Fire, the subtile mind; thou art the Lord, and thou, +eternal _brahma_." + +There is here also a very significant admixture of Vedic and +Upanishadic religion. + +In Krishna, who in the Upanishads is known already by his own and his +mother's name, pantheism is made personal according to the teaching of +one sect. But while the whole epic is in evidence for the spuriousness +of the claim of Krishna to be regarded as incarnate Vishnu (God), +there is scarcely a trace in the original epic of the older view in +regard to Vishnu himself. Thus in one passage he is called "the +younger brother of Indra" (iii. 12. 25). But, since Indra is at no +time the chief god of the epic, and the chapter in which occurs this +expression is devoted to extolling Krishna-Vishnu as the All-god, the +words appear to be intended rather to identify Krishna with Vishnu, +who in the Rig Veda is inferior to Indra, than to detract from +Vishnu's glory. The passage is cited below. + +What now is the relation of Vishnu-Krishna to the other divinities? +Vishnuite and Çivaite, each cries out that his god includes the other, +but there is no current identity of Brahm[=a], Vishnu, Çiva as three +co-equal representations of one God. For example, in iii. 189. 5, one +reads: "I am Vishnu, I am Brahm[=a], and I am Çiva," but one cannot +read into this any trinitarian doctrine whatever, for in context the +passage reads as a whole: "I am N[=a]r[=a]yana, I am Creator and +Destroyer, + +I am Vishnu, I am Brahm[=a], I am Indra, the master-god, I am king +Kubera, Yama, Çiva, Soma, Kaçyapa, and also the Father-god." Again, +Vishnu says that the Father-god, or grandparent of the gods, is +'one-half of my body," and does not mention Çiva (iii. 189. 39). Thus, +also, the hymn to Çiva in iii. 39. 76 ff. is addressed "to Çiva having +the form of Vishnu, to Vishnu having the form of Çiva, to the +three-eyed god, to Çarva, the trident-holder, the sun, Ganeça," but +with no mention of Brahm[=a]. The three gods, Brahm[=a], Vishnu, Çiva, +however, are sometimes grouped together (but not as a trinity) in late +passages, in contrast to Indra, _e.g._, ix. 53. 26. There are many +hymns to Vishnu and Çiva, where each is without beginning, the God, +the uncreated Creator. It is only when the later period, looking back +on the respective claims of the sects, identifies each god with the +other, and both with their predecessor, that one gets even the notion +of a trinity. Even for this later view of the pseudo-epic only one +passage will be found (cited below). + +The part of Brahm[=a] in the epic is most distinctly in process of +subordination to the sectarian gods. He is holy and eternal, but not +omniscient, though wise. As was shown above, he works at the will of +Vishnu. He is one with Vishnu only in the sense that all is one with +the All-god. When Vishnu 'raises the earth' as a boar, Brahm[=a] tells +the gods to go to him.[21] He councils the gods. His heaven is above +Indra's, but he is really only an intermediary divinity, a passive +activity, if the paradox may be allowed. Not like Indra (to whom he is +superior) does he fight with All-gods, or do any great act of his own +will. He is a shadowy, fatherly, beneficent advisor to the gods, his +children; but all his activity is due to Vishnu. This, of course, is +from the point of view of the Vishnuite. + +But there is no Brahm[=a]ite to modify the impression. There existed +no strong Brahm[=a] sect as there were Vishnu and Çiva sects. +Brahm[=a] is in his place merely because to the preceding age he was +the highest god; for the epic regards Creator, Praj[=a]pati, +Pit[=a]maha, Brahm[=a] as synonymous.[22] The abstract _brahma_, which +in the Upanishads is the same with the Supreme Spirit, was called +personally Brahm[=a], and this Brahm[=a] is now the Brahmanic +Father-god. The sects could never get rid of a god whose being was +rooted alike in the preceding philosophy and in the popular conception +of a Father-god. Each age of thought takes the most advanced views of +the preceding age as its axioms. The Veda taught gods; the +Br[=a]hmanas taught a Father-god above the gods; the Upanishads taught +a Supreme Godhead of which this Father-god was the active +manifestation. The sects taught that their heroes were incarnations of +this Supreme, but they carried with them the older pantheon as well, +and, with the pantheon, its earlier and later heads, Indra and +Brahm[=a]. Consequently each sect admits that Brahm[=a] is greater +than the older Vedic gods, but, while naturally it identifies its +special incarnation first with its most powerful opponent, and thus, +so to speak, absorbs its rival, it identifies this incarnation with +Brahm[=a] only as being chief of lesser divinities, not as being a +rival. One may represent the attitude of a Krishna-worshipper in the +epic somewhat in this way: "Krishna is a modern incarnation of Vishnu, +the form which is taken in this age by the Supreme Lord. You who +worship Çiva should know that your Çiva is really my Krishna, and +the chief point is to recognize my Krishna as the Supreme Lord. The +man Krishna is the Supreme Lord in human form. Of course, as such, +being the One God in whom are all things and beings, he is also all +the gods known by names which designate his special functions. Thus he +is the head of the gods, the Father-god, as our ancestors called him, +Brahm[=a]; and he is all the gods known by still older names, who are +the children of the secondary creator, Brahm[=a], viz., Agni, Indra, +S[=u]rya, etc. All gods are active manifestations of the Supreme God +called Vishnu, who is born on earth to-day as Krishna." And the +Çivaite says: "Çiva is the manifestation of the All-god," and repeats +what the Vishnuite says, substituting Çiva for Vishnu,[23] but with +the difference already explained, namely, that the Çiva-sect has no +incarnation to which to point, as has the Vishnuite. Çiva is modified +Rudra, and both are old god-names. Later, however, the Çivaite has +also his incarnate god. As an example of later Çiva-worship may be +taken Vishnu's own hymn to this god in vii. 80. 54 ff.: "Reverence to +Bhava, Çarva, Rudra (Çiva), the bestower of gifts, the lord of cattle, +the terrible, great, fearful, god of three wives;[24] to him who is +peace, the Lord, the slayer of sacrifices (_makhaghna_)[25] ... to the +blue-necked god; to the inventor (or author) ... to truth; to the red +god, to the snake, to the unconquerable one, to the blue-haired one, +to the trident-holder; ... to the inconceivable one ... to him whose +sign is the bull; ... to the creator of all, who pervades all, who is +worshipped by all, Lord of all, Çarva, Çankara, Çiva, ... who has a +thousand heads a thousand arms, and death, a thousand eyes and legs, +whose acts are innumerable." In vii. 201. 71, Çiva is the unborn Lord, +inconceivable, the soul of action, the unmoved one; and he that knows +Çiva as the self of self, as the unknowable one, goes to +_brahma_-bliss. This also is late Çivaism in pantheistic form. In +other words, everything said of Vishnu must be repeated for Çiva.[26] + +As an example of the position of the lowest member of the later +trinity and his very subordinate place, may be cited a passage from +the preceding book of the epic. According to the story in vi. 65. 42 +ff., the seers were all engaged in worshipping Brahm[=a], as the +highest divinity they knew, when he suddenly began to worship "the +Person (Spirit), the highest Lord"; and Brahm[=a] then lauds Vishnu as +such: "Thou art the god of the universe, the All-god, V[=a]sudeva +(Krishna). Therefore I worship thee as the divinity; thou, whose soul +is devotion. Victory to thee, great god of all; thou takest +satisfaction in that which benefits the world.... Lord of lords of +all, thou out of whose navel springs the lotus, and whose eyes are +large; Lord of the things that were, that are, that are to be; O dear +one, self-born of the self-born ... O great snake, O boar,[27] O thou +the first one, thou who dwellest in all, endless one, known as +_brahma_, everlasting origin of all beings ... destroyer of the +worlds! Thy feet are the earth ... heaven is thy head ... I, +Brahm[=a], am thy form ... Sun and moon are thy eyes ... Gods and all +beings were by me created on earth, but they owe their origin to thy +goodness." Then the creation of Vishnu through Pradyumna as a form of +the deity is described, "and Vishnu (Aniruddha) created me, Brahm[=a], +the upholder of the worlds; so am I made of Vishnu; I am caused only +by thee." + +While Brahm[=a] is represented here as identical with Vishnu he is at +the same time a distinctly inferior personality, created by Vishnu for +the purpose of creating worlds, a factor of inferior godliness to that +of the World-Spirit, Krishna-Vishnu. + +It had been stated by Holtzmann[28] that Brahm[=a] sometimes appears +in the epic as a god superior to Vishnu, and on the strength of this +L. von Schroeder has put the date of the early epic between the +seventh and fourth centuries B.C, because at that time Brahm[=a] was +the chief god.[29] von Schroeder rather exaggerates Holtzmann's +results, and asserts that "in the original form of the poem Brahm[=a] +appears _throughout_ as the highest and most revered god, while the +worship of Vishnu and Çiva as great gods is apparently a later +intrusion" (_loc. cit._). This asseveration will have to be taken _cum +grano_. Had von Schroeder said 'pantheistic gods' he would have been +correct in this regard, but we think that both Vishnu and Çiva were +great gods, equal, if not superior to Brahm[=a], when the epic proper +began. And, moreover, when one speaks of the original form of the poem +he cannot mean the pseudo-epic or the ancient legends which have been +woven into the epic, themselves of earlier date. No one means by the +'early epic' the tales of Agastya, of the creation of Death, of the +making of ambrosia, but the story of the war in its earliest shape; +for the epic poem must have begun with its own subject-matter. Now it +is not true that Brahm[=a] is regarded 'throughout' the early poem as +a chief god at all. If one investigate the cases where Vishnu or Çiva +appears 'below' Brahm[=a] he will see, in almost every case that +Holtzmann has registered, that this condition of affairs is recorded +not in the epic proper but in the Brahmanic portions of the +pseudo-epic, or in ancient legends alone. Thus in the story of the +winning of ambrosia, of Agastya drinking ocean, and of R[=a]ma, +Brahm[=a] appears to be above Vishnu, and also in some extracts from +the pseudo-epic. For the real epic we know of but two cases that can +be put into this category, and neither is sufficient to support the +hypothesis built upon it. + +For Krishna, when he ingeniously plots to have Bh[=i]ma slay +Jar[=a]sandha, is said to have renounced killing Jar[=a]sandha +himself, 'putting Brahm[=a]'s injunction before him' (ii. 22. 36), +_i.e._ recalling Brahm[=a]'s admonition that only Bh[=i]ima was fated +to slay the foe. And when Krishna and S[=a]tyaki salute Krishna's +elder brother they do so (for being an elder brother Baladeva is +Krishna's _Guru_) respectfully, 'just as Indra and Upendra salute +Brahm[=a] the lord of _devas_' (ix. 34. 18). Upendra is Indra's +younger brother, _i.e._, Vishnu (above). But these passages are scanty +proof for the statement that Brahm[=a] appears throughout the early +epic as the highest god;[30] nor is there even so much evidence as +this in the case of Çiva. Here, too, it is in the tale of the churning +of ocean, of Sunda and Upasunda, of the creation of the death-power, +and in late didactic (Brahmanic) passages, where Brahm[=a] makes Çiva +to destroy earth and Çiva is born of Brahm[=a], and only in such +tales, or extracts from the Book of Peace, etc, that Brahm[=a] appears +as superior. In all other cases, in the real action of the epic, he is +subordinate to Vishnu and Çiva whenever he is compared with them. When +he is not compared he appears, of course, as the great old Father-god +who creates and foresees, but even here he is not untouched by +passion, he is not all-knowing, and his rôle as Creator is one that, +with the allotment of duties among the gods, does not make him the +highest god. All the old gods are great till greater appear on the +scene. There is scarcely a supreme Brahm[=a] in the epic itself, but +there is a great Brahm[=a], and a greater (older) than the sectarian +gods in the old Brahmanic legends, while the old Brahmanhood reasserts +itself sporadically in the Ç[=a]nti, etc, and tells how the sectarian +gods became supreme, how they quarrelled and laid the strife. + +Since the adjustment of the relations between the persons of the later +trinity is one of the most important questions in the theology of the +completed epic, it will be necessary to go a little further afield and +see what the latest books, which hitherto we have refrained as much as +possible from citing, have to say on the subject. As it seems to be +true that it was felt necessary by the Çivaite to offset the laud of +Vishnu by antithetic laud of Çiva,[31] so after the completion of the +Book of Peace, itself a late addition to the epic, and one that is +markedly Vishnuitic, there was, before the Genealogy of Vishnu, an +antithetic Book of Law, which is as markedly Çivaitic. In these books +one finds the climax of sectarianism, in so far as it is represented +by the epic; although in earlier books isolated passages of late +addition are sporadically to be found which have much the same nature. +Everywhere in these last additions Brahm[=a] is on a plane which is as +much lower than that of the Supreme God as it is higher than that of +Indra. Thus in viii. 33. 45, Indra takes refuge with Brahm[=a], but +Brahm[=a] turns for help to Çiva (Bhava, Sth[=a]nu, Jishnu, etc.) with +a hymn sung by the gods and seers. Then comes a description of +Çankara's[32] (Çiva's) war-car, with its metaphorical arms, where +Vishnu is the point of Civa's arrow (which consists of Vishnu, Soma, +Agni), and of this war-car Brahm[=a] himself is the charioteer (_ib._ +34. 76). With customary inconsistency, however, when Çiva wishes his +son to be exalted he prostrates himself before Brahm[=a], who then +gives this youth (_kum[=a]ra_), called K[=a]rtikeya, the 'generalship' +over all beings _(s[=a]in[=a]patyam_, ix. 44. 43-49). There is even a +'celebration of Brahm[=a],' a sort of harvest festival, shared, as the +text tells, by all the castes; and it must have been something like +the religious games of the Greeks, for it was celebrated by athletic +contests.[33] Brahm[=a], as the old independent creator, sometimes +keeps his place, transmitting posterity through his 'seven mind-born +sons,' the great seers (iii. 133; xii. 166. 11 ff.). But Brahm[=a] +himself is born either in the golden egg, as a secondary growth (as in +xii. 312. 1-7), or, as is usually the case, he is born in the lotus +which springs from the navel of musing[34] Vishnu (iii. 203. 14). In +this passage Brahm[=a] has four faces (Vedas) and four forms, +_caturm[=u]rtis_ (15), and this epithet in other sections is transferred +to Vishnu. Thus in vii. 29. 26, Vishnu(Vishu in the original) says +_caturm[=u]rtir aham_, "I have four forms," but he never says +_trim[=u]rtir aham_ ('I have three forms'). There is one passage, +however, that makes for a belief in a trinity. It stands in contrast +to the various Vishnuite hymns, one of which may well be reviewed as +an example of the regular Vishnuite laudation affected by the Krishna +sect (iii. 12. 21 ff.): "Krishna is Vishnu, Brahm[=a], Soma, the Sun, +Right, the Creator ('founder'), Yama, Fire, Wind, Çiva, Time, Space, +Earth, and the cardinal points. Thou, Krishna, art the Creator +('emitter'); thou, chief of gods, didst worship the highest; thou, +Vishnu called, becamest Indra's younger brother, entering into sonship +with Aditi; as a child with three steps thou didst fill the sky, +space, and earth, and pass in glory.... At the end of the age thou +returnest all things into thyself. At the beginning of the age +Brahm[=a] was born from thy lotus-navel as the venerable preceptor of +all things (the same epithet is in vs. 22 applied to Vishnu himself); +and Çiva sprang from thy angry forehead when the demons would kill him +(Brahm[=a]); both are born of thee, in whom is the universe." The +following verses (45 ff.) are like those of the Divine Song: "Thou, +Knight Arjuna, art the soul of Krishna; thou art mine alone and thine +alone am I; they that are mine are thine; he that hates thee hates Me, +and he that is for thee, is for Me; thou art Nara ('man') and I am +N[=a]r[=a]yana ('whose home is on the waters,' god);[35] we are the +same, there is no difference between us." Again, like the Divine Song +in the following verses (51-54) is the expression 'the sacrifice and +he that sacrifices,' etc, together with the statement that Vishnu +plays 'like a boy with playthings,' with the crowds of gods, +Brahm[=a], Çiva, Indra, etc. The passage opposed to this, and to other +identifications of Vishnu with many gods, is one of the most flagrant +interpolations in the epic. If there be anything that the Supreme God +in Çivaite or Vishnuite form does not do it is to extol at length, +without obvious reason, his rivals' acts and incarnations, Yet in this +clumsy passage just such an extended laudation of Vishnu is put into +the mouth of Çiva. In fact, iii. 272, from 30 to 76, is an +interpretation of the most naïve sort, and it is here that we find the +approach to the later _trim[=u]rti_ (trinity): "Having the form of +Brahm[=a] he creates; having a human body (as Krishna) he protects, in +the nature of Çiva he would destroy--these are the three appearances +or conditions (_avasth[=a]s_) of the Father-god". (Praj[=a]pati).[36] +This comes after an account of the four-faced lotus-born Brahm[=a], +who, seeing the world a void, emitted his sons, the seers, mind-born, +like to himself (now nine in number), who in turn begot all beings, +including men (vss. 44-47). If, on the other hand, one take the later +sectarian account of Vishnu (for the above is more in honor of Krishna +the man-god than of Vishnu, the form of the Supreme God), he will see +that even in the pseudo-epic the summit of the theological conceptions +is the emphasis not of trinity or of multifariousness but of unity. +According to the text the P[=a]ñcak[=a]lajñas are the same with the +Vishnuite sect called P[=a]ñcar[=a]tras, and these are most +emphatically _ek[=a]ntinas, i.e_., Unitarians (xii. 336; 337. 46; 339. +66-67).[37] In this same passage 341. 106, Vishnu is again +_caturm[=u]rtidh[r.]t_, 'the bearer of four forms,' an entirely +different conception of him (below). So that even in this most +advanced sectarian literature there is no real threefoldness of the +Supreme as one in three. In the following chapter (xii. 335. 1 ff.) +there is a passage like the great Ka hymn of the Rig Veda, 'whom as +god shall one worship?' The sages say to Vishnu: "All men worship +thee; to whom dost thou offer worship?" and he says, 'to the Eternal +Spirit.' The conception of the functions of Brahm[=a] and Çiva in +relation to Vishnu is plainly shown in xii. 342. 19: "Brahm[=a] and +Çiva create and destroy at the will of Vishnu; they are born of his +grace and his anger." In regard to Çiva himself, his nature and place +in Vishnuism have been sufficiently explained. The worship of this god +is referred to 'Vedic texts' (the _çata-rudriyam_, vii. 202. 120);[38] +Vishnu is made to adore the terrible god (_ib_. 201. 69) who appears +as a mad ascetic, a wild rover, a monster, a satire on man and gods, +though he piously carries a rosary, and has other late traits in his +personal appearance.[39] The strength of Çivaism lay in the eumenidean +(Çiva is 'prospering,' 'kindly') euphemism and fear alike, which +shrank in speech and mind from the object of fear. But this religion +in the epic had a firmer hold than that of fear. It was essentially +phallic in its outward form (VII. 201. 93-96), and as such was deeply +rooted in the religious conscience of a people to whom one may venture +perhaps to ascribe such a form of worship even in the time of the Rig +Veda, although the signs thereof in great part have been suppressed. +This may be doubted,[40] indeed, for the earlier age; but there is no +question that epic Çivaism, like Çivaism to-day, is dependent wholly +on phallic worship (XIII. 14. 230 ff.). It is the parallel of Bacchic +rites and orgies, as well as of the worship of the demons in +distinction from that of good powers. Çiva represents the ascetic, +dark, awful, bloody side of religion: Vishnu, the gracious, calm, +hopeful, loving side; the former is fearful, mysterious, demoniac; the +latter is joyful, erotic, divine. In their later developments it is +not surprising to see that Vishnuism, in the form of Krishnaism, +becomes more and more erotic, while Çivaism becomes more and more +ghastly and ghoulish. Wild and varied as are the beliefs of the epic, +there is space but to show a few more characteristic sides of its +theology--a phase that may seem questionable, yet, since the devout +Hindu believes the teachings of the epic, they must all to him +constitute one theology, although it was gradually amalgamated out of +different creeds. + +In connection with Çiva stands, closely united, his son, Ganeça, +"leader of troops," still worshipped as one of the popular gods, and +the battle-god, Skanda, the son first of Agni then of Çiva, the +conqueror of the demons, _d[=a]navas_, and later representative of +Indra, with whom the epic identifies him. For it is Skanda that is the +real battle-god of the later epic; though in its original form Indra +was still the warrior's refuge, as attests the stereotyped +phraseology. In III. 225-232 honor and praise are ascribed to Skanda +in much the same language with that used to portray his father, Çiva. +"The god of a thousand arms, the Lord of all, the creator of gods and +demons" are phrases used in his eulogy. He too has a list of names; +his nurse is the "maiden of the red (bloody) sea," called +Loh[=i]t[=a]yan[=i]. His terrible appearance and fearful acts make him +the equal of Çiva.[41] His sign is a _kukku[t.]a_, cock; _ib_. 229. +33. + +Associated, again, with Skanda are the spirits or 'mothers,' which +afflict people. The belief in mother-gods is old, but its epic form is +new. The exactness and detail in regard to these beautiful monsters +show at least a real belief, which, as one on a lower plane besides +the higher religion, cannot be passed over without notice. As in other +lands, people are 'possessed' by evil spirits, called possessors or +seizers (_grahas_). These are Skanda's demons,[42] and are both male +and female. Until one reaches the age of sixteen he is liable to be +possessed by one group of 'seizers,' who must be worshipped in proper +form that their wrath may be averted. Others menace mortals from the +age of sixteen to seventy. After that only the fever-demon is to be +feared. Imps of this sort are of three kinds. One kind indulge only in +mischievous sport: another kind lead one to gluttony; the third kind +are devoted to lust. They are known as Piç[=a]cas, Yakshas, etc., and +when they seize a person he goes mad. They are to be kept at bay by +self-restraint and moderation (III. 230. 43-56). In IX. 46 and III. +226 the 'mothers' are described. They are witches, and live in +cross-roads, cemeteries, and mountains. They may be of Dravidian +origin, and in their epic form, at any rate, are a late intrusion.[43] + +Just before the Divine Song begins, the knight who is about to become, +illuminated or 'disillusioned' offers a prayer to the terrible goddess +Durg[=a], also one of the new, popular, and horrible forms of divine +manifestation. In this hymn, VI. 23, Durg[=a] (Um[=a], P[=a]rvat[=i], +K[=a]li, etc.) is addressed as "leader of the armies of the blessed, +the dweller in Mandara, the youthful woman, K[=a]li, wife of Çiva, she +who is red, black, variegated; the savior, the giver of gifts, +K[=a]ty[=a]yan[=i], the great benefactress, the terrible one, the +victorious one, victory itself ... Um[=a], the slayer of demons,"[44] +and the usual identification and theft of epithets then follows: "O +thou who art the Vedas, who art Revelation, who art virtue, +J[=a]tavedasi, ... thou art _brahma_ among the sciences, thou art the +sleep of incorporate beings, the mother of Skanda, the blessed one, +Durg[=a] ... thou art the mother of the Vedas and Ved[=a]nta ... thou +art sleep, illusion, modesty, happiness ... thou art satisfaction, +growth, contentment, light, the increaser of moon and sun." + +Turning from these later parasites,[45] which live on their parent +gods and yet tend to reduce them, we now revert to that happiness +hereafter to which looks forward the epic knight that has not been +tempted to 'renounce' desire. In pantheistic passages he is what the +later remodeller makes him. But enough of old belief remains to show +that the warrior really cared a great deal more for heaven than he did +for absorption. As to the cause of events, as was said above, it is +Fate. Repeatedly is heard the lament, "Fate (impersonal) is the +highest thing, fie on vain human effort." The knight confesses with +his lips to a belief in the new doctrine of absorption, but at heart +he is a fatalist. And his aim is to die on the field of battle, that +he may go thence directly to the heaven that awaits the good and the +brave.[46] Out of a long description of this heaven a few extracts +here selected will show what the good knight anticipates: + + "Upward goes the path that leads to gods; it is inhabited by + them that have sacrificed and have done penance. Unbelieving + persons and untruthful persons do not enter there; only they + that have duteous souls, that have conquered self, and + heroes that bear the marks of battle. There sit the seers + and gods, there are shining, self-illumined worlds, made of + light, resplendent. And in this heaven there is neither + hunger, nor thirst, nor weariness, nor cold, nor heat, nor + fear; nothing that is terrible is there, nothing unclean; + but pleasing sights, and sounds, and smells. There is no + care there, nor age, nor work, nor sorrow. Such is the + heaven that is the reward of good acts. Above this is + Brahm[=a]'s world, where sit the seers and the three and + thirty gods," etc. + +Over against this array of advantages stands the one great "fault of +heaven," which is stated almost in the words of "nessun maggior +dolore," "the thought (when one lives again on the lower plane) of +former happiness in the higher life is terrible grief" (vs. 30), +_i.e_., this heaven will pass away at the end of the world-period, +when the Eternal draws all in to himself again (iii. 261); and the +thought that one has been in heaven, while now he is (re-born) on +earth, is a sorrow greater than the joy given by heaven.[47] +One is reminded by the epic description of heaven of that poet of the +Upanishads who describes his heavenly bliss as consisting in the fact +that in that world "there is neither snow nor sorrow." The later +version is only an amplification. Even with the assurance that the +"fault of heaven" is the disappointment of being dropped to earth +again in a new birth, the ordinary mortal is more averse from the +bliss of absorption than from the pleasure of heaven. And in truth, +except to one very weary of his lot in life, it must be confessed that +the religion here shown in all its bearings is one eminently pleasant +to believe. Its gist, in a word, is this: "If you feel able to endure +it, the best thing to do is to study the plan of the universe, and +then conform to it. By severe mental discipline you can attain to this +knowledge, and for reward you will be immortally united with God." To +this the sectarian adds: "Or believe in my god and the result will be +the same." But both philosopher and sectarian continue: "If, however, +you do not want to be united with the Supreme Spirit so soon as this, +then be virtuous and devout, or simply be brave if you are a warrior; +do whatever the rules of morality and caste-custom bid you do, and you +will go to heaven for thousands of ages; at the end of which time you +will be re-born in a fine family on earth, and may again decide +whether to repeat the process of gaining heaven or to join God and +become absorbed into the World-Spirit at once." There were probably +many that chose rather to repeat their agreeable earthly experience, +with an interlude of heaven after each death, than to make the +renunciation of earth and heaven, and be absorbed once for all into +the All-god. + +The doctrine of 'the ages'[48] is so necessary to a true understanding +of the rotative immortality offered as a substitute for the higher +bliss of absorption (that is, genuine immortality), that an account of +the teaching in this regard will not be out of place. The somewhat +puzzling distinction between the happy life of them that fail to +desire absorption, and yet are religious men, and the blissful life of +those people that do attain absorption, is at once explained by a +clear understanding of the duration of the time of the gods' own life +and of the divine heaven. Whereas the Greek notion of four ages +includes within the four all time, all the four ages of the Hindu are +only a fraction of time. Starting at any one point of eternity, there +is, according to the Hindu belief, a preliminary 'dawn' of a new cycle +of ages. This dawn lasts four hundred years, and is then followed by +the real age (the first of four), which lasts four thousand years, and +has again a twilight ending of four hundred years in addition. This +first is the Krita age, corresponding to the classical Golden Age. Its +characteristics are, that in it everything is perfect; right eternal +now exists in full power. In this age there are neither gods nor +demons (D[=a]navas, Gandharvas, Yakshas, R[=a]kshas, Serpents), +neither buying nor selling. By a _lucus a non_ the derivation of the +name Krita is _k[r.]tam eva na kartavyam, i.e_., with a pun, it is +called the '_sacred_ age' because there are no _sacrifices_ in that +age. No S[=a]ma Veda, Rig Yeda, or Yajur Veda exist as distinct +Vedas.[49] There is no mortal work. Fruit comes by meditation; the +only duty is renunciation. Disease, lack of mental power, moral +defects (such as pride and hate) do not exist; the highest course of +the ascetic Yogis is universally _brahma (paramakam_). In this age +come into existence the Brahman, Kshatriya, V[=a]içya, Ç[=u]dra, +_i.e_., the distinct castes of priest, warrior, husbandman, and slave; +all with their special marks, and all delighted with their proper +occupations. Yet have all the castes like occupations, like refuge, +practice, and knowledge. They are joined to the one god (_eka deva_), +and have but one _mantra_ in their religious rites. Their duties are +distinct, but they follow only one Veda and one rule. The four orders +(of the time of life) are duly observed; men do not desire the fruit +of their action, and so they obtain the highest course, _i.e_., +salvation by absorption into _brahma_. In this age the 'three +attributes' (or qualities) are unknown. After this age follows the +dawn of the second age, called Tret[=a], lasting three hundred years, +then the real age of Tret[=a], three thousand years, followed by the +twilight of three hundred years. The characteristics of this age are, +that men are devout; that great sacrifices begin (_sattram +pravartate_); that Virtue decreases by one quarter; that all the +various rites are produced, together with the attainment of salvation +through working for that end, by means of sacrifice and generosity; +that every one does his duty and performs asceticism. The next age, +Dv[=a]para, is introduced by a dawn of two hundred years, being itself +two thousand years in duration, and it closes with a twilight of two +hundred years. Half of Virtue fails to appear in this age, that is, +the general virtue of the world is diminished by a half ('the Bull of +Justice stands on two legs'). The Veda is now subdivided into four. +Instead of every one having one Veda, four Vedas exist, but some +people know only three, or two, or one, or are even Veda-less +(_an[r.]cas_). Ceremonies become manifold, because the treatises on +duty are subdivided(!). The attribute of passion influences people, +and it is with this that they perform asceticism and are generous (not +with disinterestedness). Few (_kaçcit_) are settled in truth; +ignorance of the one Veda causes a multiplication of Vedas (_i.e_., as +Veda means 'knowledge,' the Vedas result from ignorance of the +essential knowledge). Disease and sin make penance necessary. People +sacrifice only to gain heaven. After this age and its twilight +are past begins the Kali, last of the four ages, with a dawn of one +hundred, a course of one thousand, and a subsequent twilight of one +hundred years. This is the present sinful age, when there is no real +religion, when the Vedas are ignored, and the castes are confused, +when _itis_ (distresses of every form) are rife; when Virtue has only +one leg left to stand upon. The believer in Krishna as Vishnu, besides +this universal description, says that the Supreme Lord in the Krita +age is 'white' (pure); in the Tret[=a] age, 'red'; in the Dv[=a]para +age, 'yellow'; in the Kali age, 'black, _i.e_., Vishnu is Krishna, +which means 'black.'[50] This cycle of ages always repeats itself +anew. Now, since the twelve thousand years of these ages, with their +dawns and twilights, are but one of countless cycles, when the Kali +age and its twilight have brought all things into a miserable state, +the universe is re-absorbed into the Supreme Spirit. There is then a +universal (apparent) destruction, _pralaya_, of everything, first by +fire and then by a general flood. Seven suns appear in heaven, and +what they fail to burn is consumed by the great fire called Samvartaka +(really a manifestation of Vishnu), which sweeps the world and leaves +only ashes; then follows a flood which completes the annihilation. +Thereafter follows a period equal to one thousand cycles (of twelve +thousand years each), which is called 'Brahm[=a]'s night,' for during +these twelve million years Brahm[=a] sleeps; and the new Krita age +begins again "when Brahm[=a] wakes up" (iii. 188. 29, 69; 189. +42).[51] All the gods are destroyed in the universal destruction, that +is, re-absorbed into the All-god, for there is no such thing as +annihilation, either of spirit or of matter (which is illusion). +Consequently the gods' heaven and the spirits of good men in that +heaven are also re-absorbed into that Supreme, to be re-born in the +new age. This is what is meant by the constant harping on +quasi-immortality. Righteousness, sacrifice, bravery, will bring man +to heaven, but, though he joins the gods, with them he is destroyed. +They and he, after millions of years, will be re-born in the new +heaven and the new earth. To escape this eventual re-birth one must +desire absorption into the Supreme, not annihilation, but unity with +God, so that one remains untouched by the new order at the end of +Brahm[=a]'s 'day.' There are, of course, not lacking views of them +that, taking the precept grossly, give a less dignified appearance to +the teaching, and, in fact, upset its real intent. Thus, in the very +same Puranic passage from which is taken the description above (III. +188), it is said that a seer, who miraculously outlived the universal +destruction of one cycle, was kindly swallowed by Vishnu, and that, on +entering his stomach (the absorption idea in Puranic coarseness), he +saw everything which had been destroyed, mountains, rivers, cities, +the four castes engaged in their duties, etc. In other words, only +transference of locality has taken place. But this account reads +almost like a satire. + +One of the most striking features of the Hindu religions, as they have +been traced thus far, is the identification of right with light, and +wrong with darkness. We have referred to it several times already. In +the Vedic age the deities are luminous, while the demons and the abode +of the wicked generally are of darkness. This view, usually considered +Iranian and Zoroastrian, is as radically, if not so emphatically, +Indic. It might be said, indeed, that it is more deeply implanted in +the worship of the Hindus than in that of the Iranians, inasmuch as +the latter religion enunciates and promulgates the doctrine, while the +former assumes it. All deeds of sin are deeds of darkness, _tamas_. +The devils live underground in darkness; the hells are below earth and +are gloom lighted only by torture-flames. + +The development of devil-worship (the side-scenes in the theatre of +Çivaism) introduces devils of another sort, but the general effect +remains. The fire-priest Bhrigu says: "Untruth is a form of darkness, +and by darkness one is brought to hell (downwards); veiled in darkness +one sees not the light. Light is heaven, they say, and darkness is +hell," xii. 190. 2-3. This antithesis of evil as darkness, good as +light, is too native to India to admit of the suggestion that it might +have been borrowed. But an isolated and curious Puranic chapter of the +epic appears to have direct reference to the Persian religion. All +Hindu gods have sacrifices, even Çiva the 'destroyer of sacrifice.' +Now in iii. 220, after a preliminary account of the _p[a]ñcajanya_ +fire (vs. 5 ff.) there is given a list of 'gods that destroy +sacrifice,' _dev[=a]s yajñamu[s.]as,_ fifteen in number, who 'stand +here' on earth and 'steal' the sacrifice. They extend over the five +peoples in three divisions of five each. The first and third group +contain names compounded with Bh[=i]ma and S[=u]ra respectively; while +the third group is that of Sumitra, Mitravan, Mitrajña, Mitravardhana, +Mitradharman. There are others without the _mitra_ (vs. 10). The +appellation _dev[=a]s_ seems to take them out of connection with +Çiva's demoniac troops, and the persistency of _mitra_ would look as +if these 'gods' were of Iranian origin. There may have been (as are +possibly the modern S[=a]uras) believers in the Persian religion +already long established among the Hindus. + +The question will naturally present itself whether in the religious +_olla podrida_ known as the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata there are distinct +allusions to Buddhism, and, if so, in how far the doctrines of this +sect may have influenced the orthodox religion. Buddhism does not +appear to have attacked or to have attracted the 'holy land,' whence, +indeed, according to law, heretics are 'banished.' But its influence +of course must have embraced this country, and it is only a question +of in how far epic Brahmanism has accepted it. At a later period +Hinduism, as has been observed, calmly accepts Buddha as an _avatar_ +of Vishnu. Holtzmann, who is inclined to attribute a good deal to +Buddhism, sees signs of it even in the personal characteristics of the +epic heroes, and believes the whole poem to have been more or less +affected by anti-Buddhistic feeling. If this were so one would have to +give over to Buddhism much also of the humanitarianism to be found in +the moral precepts that are so thickly strewn through the various +books. In our opinion these signs-manual of Buddhism are not +sufficiently evident to support Holtzmann's opinion for the whole +poem, and it is to be noted that the most taking evidence is drawn +from the latest parts of the work. It is just here that we think it +necessary to draw the line, for while much of late date has been added +in earlier books, yet in the books which one may call wholly late +additions appear the strongest indications of Buddhistic +influence.[52] A great deal of the Book of Peace is Puranic, the book +as a whole is a Vishnuite addition further enlarged by Çivaite +interpolation. The following book is, again, an offset to the Book of +Peace, and is as distinctly Çivaite in its conception as is the Book +of Peace Vishnuite.[53] It is here, in these latest additions, which +scarcely deserve to be ranked with the real epic, that are found the +most palpable touches of Buddhism. They stand to the epic proper as +stands to them the Genealogy of Vishnu, a further addition which has +almost as much claim to be called 'part of the epic' as have the books +just mentioned, only that it is more evidently the product of a later +age, and represents the Krishna-Vishnu sect in its glory after the +epic was completed. Nevertheless, even in these books much that is +suspected of being Buddhistic may be Brahmanic; and in any concrete +case a decision, one way or the other, is scarcely to be made on +objective grounds. Still more is this the case in earlier books. Thus, +for instance, Holtzmann is sure that a conversation of a slave and a +priest in the third book is Buddhistic because the man of low caste +would not venture to instruct a Brahman.[54] But it is a command +emphasized throughout the later Brahmanism that one must take refuge +in the ship that saves; and in passages not suspected of Buddhistic +tendency Bh[=i]shma takes up this point, and lays down the rule that, +no matter to which caste a man belongs, his teaching if salutary is to +be accepted. It is even said in one passage of the Book of Peace that +one ought to learn of a slave, and in another that all the four castes +ought to hear the Veda read:[55] "Let him get instruction even from a +Ç[=u]dra if he can thereby attain to salvation"; and again: "Putting +the Brahman first, let the four castes hear (the Veda); for this +(giving first place to the priest) is (the rule in) reading the +Veda."[56] And in many places are found instructions given by +low-caste men. It may be claimed that every case which resembles +Buddhistic teaching is drawn from Buddhism, but this would be to claim +more than could be established. Moreover, just as the non-injury +doctrine is prior to Buddhism and yet is a mark of Buddhistic +teaching, so between the two religions there are many points of +similarity which may be admitted without compromising the genuineness +of the Brahmanic teaching. For Buddhism in its morality is anything +but original.[57] + +Another bit of instruction from the Book of Peace illustrates the +attitude of the slave just referred to. In sharp contrast to what one +would expect from a Buddhist, this slave, who is a hunter, claims that +he is justified in keeping on with his murderous occupation because it +is his caste-occupation; whereas, as a Buddhist he ought to have +renounced it if he thought it sinful, without regard to the +caste-rule. The Book of Peace lays it down as a rule that the giving +up of caste-occupation is meritorious if the occupation in itself is +iniquitous, but it hedges on the question to the extent of saying +that, no matter whether the occupation be sinful or not, if it is an +inherited occupation a man does not do wrong to adhere to it. This is +liberal Brahmanism. The rule reads as follows: "Actors, +liquor-dealers, butchers, and other such sinners are not justified in +following such occupations, _if they are not born to the profession +(i.e_., if they are born to it they are justified in following their +inherited occupation). Yet if one has inherited such a profession it +is a noble thing to renounce it."[58] + +The marks of Buddhistic influence on which we would lay greater stress +are found not in the fact that Mudgala refuses heaven (iii. 261. 43), +or other incidents that may be due as well to Brahmanism as to +Buddhism, but in such passages of the pseudo-epical Book of Peace as +for example the _dharmyas panth[=a]s_ of xii. 322. 10-13; the +conversation of the female beggar, _bhikshuk[=i]_, with the king in +321. 7, 168; the _buddha_ of 289. 45; the Buddhistic phraseology of +167. 46; the remark of the harlot Pingal[=a] in 174. 60: +_pratibuddh[=a] 'smi j[=a]g[r.]mi_ (I am 'awakened' to a sense of sin +and knowledge of holiness), and the like phrase in 177. 22: +_pratibuddho 'smi_.[59] Of especial importance is the shibboleth +Nirv[=a]na which is often used in the epic. There seems, indeed, to be +a subtile connection between Çivaism and Buddhism. Buddhism rejects +pantheism, Çivaism is essentially monotheism. Both were really +religions of the lower classes. It is true that the latter was +affected and practiced by those of high rank, but its strength lay +with the masses. Thus while Vishnuism appealed to the contemplative +and philosophical (R[=a]maism), as well as to the easy-going middle +classes (Krishinaism), Çivaism with its dirty asceticism, its orgies +and Bacchanalian revels, its devils and horrors generally, although +combined with a more ancient philosophy, appealed chiefly to the +magic-monger and the vulgar. So it is that one finds, as one of his +titles in the thirteenth book, that Çiva is 'the giver of Nirv[=a]na,' +(xiii. 16. 15). But if one examines the use of this word in other +parts of the epic he will see that it has not the true Buddhistic +sense except in its literal physical application as when the +_nirv[=a][n.]a_ (extinguishing) of a lamp, iv. 22. 22, is spoken of; +or the _nirv[=a][n.]a_ of duties (in the Pañcar[=a]tra 'Upanishad,' +xii. 340. 67). On the other hand, in sections where the context shows +that this must be the case, Nirv[=a]na is the equivalent of 'highest +bliss' or 'highest _brahma_,' the same with the felicity thus named in +older works. This, for instance, is the case in xii. 21. 17; 26. 16, +where Nirv[=a]na cannot mean extinction but absorption, _i.e_., the +'blowing out' of the individual flame (spirit) of life, only that it +may become one with the universal spirit. In another passage it is +directly equated with _sukham brahma_ in the same way (_ib_. 189. 17). +If now one turn to the employment of this word in the third book he +will find the case to be the same. When the king reproaches his queen +for her atheistic opinions in iii. 31. 26 he says that if there were +no reward for good deeds hereafter "people would not seek Nirv[=a]na," +just as he speaks of heaven ('immortality') and hell, _ib_. 20 and 19, +not meaning thereby extinction but absorption. So after a description +of that third heaven wherein is Vishnu, when one reads that Mudgala +"attained that highest eternal bliss the sign of which is Nirv[=a]na" +(iii. 261. 47), he can only suppose that the word means here +absorption into _brahma_ or union with Vishnu. In fact Nirv[=a]na is +already a word of which the sense has been subjected to attrition +enough to make it synonymous with 'bliss.' Thus "the gods attained +Nirv[=a]na by means of Vishnu's greatness" (iii. 201. 22); and a +thirsty man "after drinking water attained Nirv[=a]na," _i.e_., the +drink made him happy (_ib_. 126. 16). One may best compare the Jain +Nirv[=a]na of happiness. + +While, therefore, Buddhism seems to have left many manifest traces[60] +in the later epic the weight of its influence on the early epic may +well be questioned. The moral harangues of the earlier books show +nothing more than is consistent with that Brahmanism which has made +its way unaided through the greater humanitarianism of the earlier +Upanishads. At the same time it is right to say that since the poem is +composed after Buddha's time there is no historical certainty in +regard to the inner connection of belief and morality (as expounded in +the epic) with Buddhism. Buddhism, though at a distance, environed +epic Brahmanism, and may well have influenced it. The objective proofs +for or against this are not, however, decisive. + +Whether Christianity has affected the epic is another question that +can be answered (and then doubtfully) only by drawing a line between +epic and pseudo-epic. And in this regard the Harivança legends of +Krishna are to be grouped with the pseudo-epic, of which they are the +legitimate if late continuation. Again one must separate teaching from +legend. To the Divine Song belong sentiments and phrases that have +been ascribed to Christian influence. Definitive assurance in this +regard is an impossibility. When Vishnu says (as is said also in the +Upanishads) "I am the letter A," one may, and probably will, decide +that this is or is not an imitation of "I am alpha," strictly in +accordance with his preconceived opinions. There are absolutely no +historical data to go upon. One may say with tolerable certainty that +the Divine Song as a whole is antique, prior to Christianity. But it +is as unmistakably interpolated and altered. The doctrine of _bhakti_, +faithful love as a means of salvation, cannot be much older than the +Song, for it is found only in the latest Upanishads (as shown by +comparing them with those undoubtedly old). But on the other hand the +_pras[=a]da_ doctrine (of special grace) belongs to a much earlier +literature, and there is no reason why the whole theory with its +startling resemblance to the doctrine of grace, and its insistence on +personal affection for the Lord should not have been self-evolved. The +old omnipotence of inherited knowledge stops with the Upanishads, To +their authors the Vedas are but a means. They desired wisdom, not +knowledge. They postulated the desire for the Supreme Spirit as the +true wisdom. From this it is but a step to yearning and love for the +Supreme. That step is made in the Divine Song. It is recognized by +early Buddhism as a Brahmanic trait. Is it necessarily imported from +Christianity? The proof is certainly lacking. Nor, to one accustomed +to the middle literature of Hindu religion, is the phraseology so +strikingly unique as would appear to be the case. Taken all in all, +the teaching of Christianity certainly may be suspected, but it cannot +be shown to exist in the Divine Song. + +Quite different is the case with the miraculous matter that grew up +about the infant Krishna. But here one is out of the epic and dealing +with the latest literature in regard to the man-god. This distinction +cannot be too much insisted upon, for to point first to the teaching +of the Divine Song and then to the Krishna legends as equally +reflecting Christianity is to mix up two periods as distinct as +periods can be established in Hindu literature. And the result of the +whole investigation shows that the proofs of borrowing are as +different as these +periods. The inner Christianity thought to be copied by the re-writer +of the Divine Song is doubtful in the last degree. The outer +Christianity reflected in the Puranic legends of Krishna is as +palpable as it is shocking. Shocking, for here not only are miracles +treated grotesquely, but everything that is meant spiritually in the +Occident is interpreted physically and carnally. The love of the +Bridegroom is sensual; the brides of God are drunken dancing girls. + +The 'coincidences,' as some scholars marvellously regard them, between +the legends of Christ and Krishna are too extraordinary to be accepted +as such. They are direct importations, not accidental coincidences. +Whatever is most marvellous in the accounts of Christianity finds +itself here reproduced in Krishnaism. It is not in the doctrine of +_avatars_, which resembles the doctrine of the Incarnation,[61] it is +in the totality of legends connected with Krishna that one is forced +to see Christian influence. The scenes of the nativity, the adoration +of the magi, the miracles during the Saviour's childhood, the +transfiguration, and other stories of Christ are reproduced with +astonishing similarity. One may add to this the Christmas festival, +where Krishna is born in a stable, and the use of certain +church-utensils in the temple-service. Weber has proved by collecting +and explaining these 'coincidences,'[62] that there must be identity +of origin. It remains only to ask from which side is the borrowing? +Considering how late are these Krishna legends in India[63] there can +be no doubt that the +Hindu borrowed the tales, but not the name; for the last assumption is +quite improbable because Krishna (=Christ?) is native enough, and +Vishnu is as old as the Rig Veda. That these tales are of secondary +importance, as they are of late origin, is a matter of course. They +are excrescences upon real Vishnuism (Krishnaism) and the result of +anthropomorphizing in its fullest extent the image of the man-god, who +is represented in the epic as the incarnation of the Supreme Spirit. +The doctrine of the incarnation is thoroughly Indic. It is Buddhistic +as well as Brahmanic, and precedes Vishnuism as it does Christianity. +The legends are another matter. Here one has to assume direct contact +with the Occident.[64] But while agreeing with Weber and disagreeing +with Barth in the determination of the relation of this secondary +matter, we are unable to agree with Weber in his conclusions in regard +to the one passage in the pseudo-epic that is supposed by him[65] to +refer to a visit to a Christian church in Alexandria. This is the +famous episode of the White Island, which, to be sure, occurs in so +late a portion of the Book of Peace (xii. 337. 20 ff) that it might +well be what Weber describes it as being. But to us it appears to +contain no allusion at all to Christianity. The account in brief is as +follows: Three priests with the insignificant names "First, Second, +Third,"[66] go to the far North (_diç uttar[=a]_) where, in the "Sea +of Milk," they find an Albion called 'White Island,' perhaps regarded +as one of the seven or thirteen 'islands,' of which earth consists; +and there Vishnu is worshipped as the one god by white men of +extraordinary physical characteristics. + +The fact that the 'one god' is already a hackneyed phrase of +philosophy; that there is no resemblance to a trinitarian god; that +the hymn sung to this one god contains no trace of Christian +influence, but is on the other hand thoroughly native in tone and +phraseology, being as follows: "Victory to thee, thou god with +lotus-eyes; Reverence to thee, thou creator of all things; Reverence +be to thee, O Vishnu;[67] thou Great Person; first-born one"; all +these facts indicate that if the White-islanders are indeed to be +regarded as foreigners worshipping a strange god, that god is strictly +monotheistic and not trinitarian. Weber lays stress on the expression +'first-born,' which he thinks refers to Christ; but the epithet is old +(Vedic), and is common, and means no more than 'primal deity.' + +There is much that appears to be foreign in the epic. This passage +seems rather to be a recollection of some shrine where monotheism +without Christianity was acknowledged. On the other hand, even in the +pseudo-epic, there is much apparently borrowed which yet is altogether +native to Brahmanic land and sect. It is not in any passage which is +proved to be of foreign origin that one reads of the boy of twelve +years who entered among the wise men and confuted their reasoning +(above, p. 382). It is not of course due to Christian influence that +the great 'saint of the stake' is taken by the 'king's men,' is +crucified (or literally impaled) among thieves, and lives so long that +the guard go and tell the king of the miracle;[68] nor is it necessary +to assume that everything elevated is borrowed. "When I revile, I +revile not again," sounds indeed like an echo of Christian teaching, +but how thoroughly Hindu is the reason. "For I know that self-control +is the door of immortality." And in the same breath, with a connection +of meaning patent only when one regards the whole not as borrowed but +as native, follow the words that we have ventured to put upon the +title-page of this volume, as the highest and at the same time the +truest expression of a religion that in bringing the gods to men +raised man to equally with God--"This is a holy mystery which I +declare unto you: There is nothing nobler than humanity."[69] + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: He appears in different complete + manifestations, while Vishnu appears only in part, as a + 'descent,' _avatar, i.e_., Vishnu is incarnate, Çiva appears + whole.] + + [Footnote 2: The original story perhaps antedates the + Brahmanic Brahm[=a]. But, for all one knows, when the poem + was first written Brahm[=a] was already decadent as chief + god. In that case two strata of religious belief have been + formally super-imposed, Vishnuism and Çivaism.] + + [Footnote 3: While agreeing with Telang that the original + G[=i]t[=a] is an old poem, we cannot subscribe to his + argument (SBE. VIII. p. 19) that the priority of the + S[=a]man over the Rig Veda is evidence of antiquity; still + less to the argument, p. 21, from the castes.] + + [Footnote 4: Compare Manu, i. 7: "He the subtile, + indiscernible, eternal, inconceivable One, who makes all + creatures."] + + [Footnote 5: Possibly the original opening of another poem.] + + [Footnote 6: The _avatars_ of Vishnu are meant. The very + knight to whom he speaks is later regarded (in South India) + as incarnate god, and today is worshipped as an _avatar_ of + Vishnu. The idea of the 'birth-stories' of the Buddhists is + thought by some scholars to have been connected historically + with the _avatars_ of Vishnu.] + + [Footnote 7: This is one of the notes struck in the later + Upanishads, the doctrine of 'special grace,' originating + perhaps still earlier in the V[=a]c hymn (see above).] + + [Footnote 8: That is, one that also has no desires may act + (without desiring the fruit of action.)] + + [Footnote 9: This is a S[=a]nkhya division.] + + [Footnote 10: This cleverly contrived or profound + universality of Vishnuism is one of the greatest obstacles + to missionary effort. The Vishnuite will accept Christ, but + as a form of Vishnu, as here explained. Compare below: "Even + they that sacrifice to other gods really sacrifice to Me."] + + [Footnote 11: Prakriti (_prak[r.]t[=i]_), nature; the term + belongs to the S[=a]nkhya philosophy, which recognizes + nature as distinct from spirit, a duality, opposed to + _adv[=a]ita_, the non-duality of the Ved[=a]nta system, + where the S[=a]nkhya 'nature' is represented by + _m[=a]y[=a]_, 'illusion.' Otherwise the word Prakrit is the + 'natural,' vulgar dialect, opposed to Sanskrit, the refined, + 'put-together' language.] + + [Footnote 12: Saints, literally 'the successful ones.'] + + [Footnote 13: Alluding to the later derivation of Yama from + _yam_, control.] + + [Footnote 14: "The letter A," as in the Upanishads (see + above, p. 226).] + + [Footnote 15: Compare a parallel list of diadochoi in xii. + 349. 51.] + + [Footnote 16: One of the Jaina traits of the epic, + _brahm[=a]di[s.]u t[r.]u[=a]nte[s.]u bh[=u]te[s.]u + parivartate_, in distinction from the Buddhistic + metempsychosis, which stops short of plants. But perhaps it + is rather borrowed from the B[.r]ahman by the Jain, for + there is a formal acknowledgment that _sth[=a]var[=a]s_ + 'stationary things,' have part in metempsychosis, Manu, xii. + 42, although in the distribution that follows this is almost + ignored (vs. 58).] + + [Footnote 17: It is rather difficult to compress the list + into this number. Some of the names are perhaps later + additions.] + + [Footnote 18: In contrast one may note the frequent boast + that a king 'fears not even the gods,' _e.g._, i. 199. 1.] + + [Footnote 19: Later there are twenty-one worlds analogous lo + the twenty-one hells.] + + [Footnote 20: Elsewhere, oh the other hand, the islands are + four or seven, the earlier view.] + + [Footnote 21: iii. 142. The boar-shape of Vishnu is a + favorite one, as is the dwarf-incarnation. Compare + V[=a]mana, V[=a]manaka, Vishnupada, in the list of holy + watering-places (iii. 83). Many of Vishnu's acts are simply + transferred from Brahm[=a], to whom they belonged in older + tales. Compare above, p.215.] + + [Footnote 22: In i. 197, Praj[=a]pati the Father-god, is the + highest god, to whom Indra, as usual, runs for help. Çiva + appears as a higher god, and drives Indra into a hole, where + he sees five former Indras; and finally Vishnu comes on to + the stage as the highest of all, "the infinite, + inconceivable, eternal, the All in endless forms." Brahm[=a] + is invoked now and then in a perfunctory way, but no one + really expects him to do anything. He has done his work, + made the castes, the sacrifice, and (occasionally) + everything. And he will do this again when the new aeon + begins. But for this aeon his work is accomplished.] + + [Footnote 23: Thus in XII. 785. 165: "Neither Brahm[=a] nor + Vishnu is capable of understanding the greatness of Çiva."] + + [Footnote 24: Or "three eyes."] + + [Footnote 25: Compare III. 39. 77: "The destroyer of + Daksha's sacrifice." Compare the same epithet in the hymn to + Çiva, X. 7. 3, after which appear the devils who serve Çiva. + Such devils, in the following, feast on the dead upon the + field of battle, though, when left to themselves, 'midnight + is the hour when the demons swarm,' III. 11. 4 and 33. In X. + 18 and XIII. 161 Çiva's act is described in full.] + + [Footnote 26: Çiva, called Bhava, Çarva, the trident-holder, + the Lord ([=I]ç[=a]na), Çankara, the Great God, etc., + generally appears at his best where the epic is at its + worst, the interpolations being more flagrant than in the + case of Vishnuite eulogies. The most devout worshipper of + Vishnu is represented as an adherent of Çiva, as invoking + him for help after fighting with him. He is "invincible + before the three worlds." He is the sun; his blood is ashes. + All the gods, with Brahm[=a] at their head, revere him. He + has three heads, three faces, six arms (compare iii. 39. 74 + ff.; 83. 125); though other passages give him more.] + + [Footnote 27: Çiva has as sign the bull: Vishnu, the boar.] + + [Footnote 28: ZDMG. xxxviii. pp. 197, 200.] + + [Footnote 29: _Lit. u. Cultur_, p. 461.] + + [Footnote 30: Holtzmann now says (in _Neunzehn Bücher_, p. + 198) that the whole episode which terminates with Baladeva's + visit an addition to the original. Holtzmann's monograph on + Brahm[=a] is in ZDMG. xxxviii. 167.] + + [Footnote 31: A good example is that of the two visions of + Arjuna, first the vision of Vishnu, then another vision of + Çiva, whom Arjuna and Vishnu visit (vii. 80).] + + [Footnote 32: Çankara and Çiva mean almost the same; 'giver + of blessings' and 'prospering' (or 'kindly'), respectively.] + + [Footnote 33: _Brahma[n.]as sumahotsavas_ (compare the + commentator). The _sam[=a]ja_ of Brahm[=a] may be explained + by that of Çiva mentioned in the same place and described + elsewhere (iv. 13. 14 ff.; i. 164. 20).] + + [Footnote 34: Not _sleeping_, Vishnu, despite _svapimi_, + does not slumber; he only muses.] + + [Footnote 35: Man (divine) and god human, but N[=a]r[=a]yana + is a new name of Vishnu, and the two are reckoned as two + inseparable seers (divinities).] + + [Footnote 36: This is the only really trinitarian passage in + the epic. In i. 1. 32; xiii. 16. 15, the belief may be + indicated, but not certainly, as it is in Hariv. 10,662. See + on this point Holtzroann, ZDMG. xxxviii. p. 204. In xiv. 54. + 14 the form is V[=i]shnu, Brahm[=a], Indra.] + + [Footnote 37: Compare 339. 114, "thou art + _pañcamah[=a]kalpa_." The commentator gives the names of + five sects, S[=a]ura, Ç[=a]kta, G[=a]neça, Ç[=a]iva, + Vaishnava. The 'five times,' implied in Pañcak[=a]ta, he + says are day, night, month, seasons, and year (_ib_. 66). In + 340. 117 (which chapter is Pancar[=a]tric), Brahm[=a] "knows + that Vishnu is superior."] + + [Footnote 38: V[=a]j. S. xvi. 1-66; T[=a]itt. S. iv. 5. + 1-11.] + + [Footnote 39: Çiva has no ordinary sacrifice: he is (as + above) in general a destroyer of sacrifice, _i.e_., of Vedic + sacrifice; but as Paçupati, "Lord of beasts," he claims the + bloody sacrifice of the first beast, man.] + + [Footnote 40: The usual opinion is that phallic worship was + a trait of southern tribes foisted upon northern Çivaism. + Philosophically Çivaism is first monotheistic and then + pantheistic, To-day it is nominally pantheistic but really + it is dualistic.] + + [Footnote 41: There are indications in this passage of some + sectarian feeling, and the fear of partisan warfare (229); + in regard to which we add from Muir and Holtzmann the + passage XII. 343. 121, where is symbolized a peaceful issue + of war between Vishnuism and Çivaism.] + + [Footnote 42: Grahas are also planets, but in this cult they + are not astrological, as show their names.] + + [Footnote 43: They are possibly old, as Weber thinks, but + they seem to have nothing in common with the ancient female + divinities.] + + [Footnote 44: Compare another hymn to Durg[=a] in IV. 6. 5 + ff. (late). Durgi was probably an independent local deity, + subsequently regarded as Çiva's female side. She plays a + great rôle, under various names, in the 'revived' + literature, as do the love-god and Ganeça. In both hymns she + is 'Vishnu's sister,' and in IV. 6 a 'pure virgin.'] + + [Footnote 45: One comparatively new god deserves a passing + mention, Dharma's son, K[=a]ma, the (Grecian?) love-god, + 'the mind-shaker,' 'the limbless one,' whose arrows are like + those of Cupid (I. 66. 32; 171. 34; III. 46. 2). He is an + adventitious addition to the epic. His later name of Ananga + occurs in XII. 59. 91. In I. 71. 41 and 171. 40 he is + Manmatha. The Atharvan god also has darts, III. 25, a mark + of this latest Veda.] + + [Footnote 46: Compare ii. 22. 18: "Great holiness, great + glory, penance, death in battle, these are each respectively + productive of heaven; the last alone is a sure cause."] + + [Footnote 47: This description and the sentiments are quite + late. The same sort of heaven (without the philosophical + bitterness, with which compare above, p. 229) is, however, + found in other passages, somewhat augmented with nymphs and + facile goddesses.] + + [Footnote 48: This doctrine is supposed by some scholars to + be due to outside influence, but the doubt is not + substantiated, and even in the Rig Veda one passage appears + to refer to it. Doubtless, however, the later expanded view, + with its complicated reckonings, may have been touched by + foreign influence.] + + [Footnote 49: _Na [=a]san s[=a]ma-[r.]g-yajur-varn[=a]s_. In + xii. 342. 8 the order is Rik-Yajus-Atharvan-S[=a]man. The + habit of putting S[=a]man instead of Rik at the head of the + Vedas is still kept in the late litany to Çiva, who is "the + S[=a]man among the Vedas" meaning, of course, the first and + best. In the same place, "Çiva is the Itih[=a]sa" epic + (xiii. 14. 323; and _ib_. 17. 78, 91), for the epic + outweighs all the Vedas in its own estimation.] + + [Footnote 50: iii. 149. 14; 188. 22; 189. 32; probably with + a recollection of the colors of the four castes, white, red, + yellow, black. According to xii. 233. 32, there is no + sacrifice in the Krita age, but, beginning with the Tret[=a] + age, there is a general diffusion of sacrifice in the + Dv[=a]para age. In another passage of the same book it is + said that marriage laws arose in the Dv[=a]para age (207. 38 + ff.).] + + [Footnote 51: The teaching varies somewhat in the allotment + of years. See Manu, I. 67.] + + [Footnote 52: Weber thinks, on the other hand, that the + parties represent respectively, Çiva and Vishuu worship, + _Ind. St_. i. 206.] + + [Footnote 53: This book also is closely in touch with the + later Pur[=a]nas. For instance, Citragupta, Yama's + secretary, is known only to the books of the pseudo-epic, + the Vishnu Pur[=a]na, the Padma Pur[=a]na, etc.] + + [Footnote 54: _Neunzehn Bücher_, p. 86.] + + [Footnote 55: The epic does not care much for castes in some + passages. In one such it is said that members of all castes + become priests when they go across the Gomal, iii. 84. 48.] + + [Footnote 56: xii. 319. 87 ff. _(pr[=a]pya j[=n][=a]nam_ ... + _ç[=u]dr[=a]d api_); xii. 328. 49 (_çr[=a]vayee caturo + var[n.][=a]n_). The epic regards itself as more than + equivalent (_adhikam)_ to the four Vedas, i. 1. 272.] + + [Footnote 57: Some ascribe the _sams[=a]ra_ doctrine to + Buddhistic influence--a thesis supported only by the fact + that this occurs in late Brahmanic passages and Upanishads. + But the assumption that Upanishads do not precede Buddha is + scarcely tenable. The Katha, according to Weber (_Sits. + Berl. Ak._ 1890, p. 930), is late (Christian!): according to + Oldenberg and Whitney, early (_Buddha_, p. 56; _Proc. AOS._ + May, 1886).] + + [Footnote 58: xii. 295. 5-6.] + + [Footnote 59: Noteworthy is the fact that parts of the + Çivaite thirteenth book seem to be most Buddhistic (ch. i.; + 143. 48, etc.), and monotheistic (16. 12 ff.): though the + White Islanders are made Vishnuite in the twelfth. Compare + Holtzmann, _ad. loc_.] + + [Footnote 60: Nirv[=a]na, loosely used; termini technici; + possibly the evils of the fourth age; the mention of + (Buddhist) temples, etc.] + + [Footnote 61: On this point we agree neither with Weber, who + regards the _avatars_ as an imitation of the Incarnation + (_Ind. St._ ii. p. 169), nor with Schroeder, who (_Literatur + und Cultur_, p. 330) would derive the notion from the + birth-stories of Buddha. In our opinion the _avatar_-theory + is older than either and is often only an assimilation of + outlying totem-gods to the Brahman's god, or as in the case + of the flood-story the necessary belief that the 'fish' must + have been the god of the race. Some of these _avatars_ are + Brahmanic, presumably pre-Buddhistic.] + + [Footnote 62: Krishna's Geburtsfest (_janm[=a][s.]tam[=i]),_ + 1867.] + + [Footnote 63: Since they do not appear till after the real + epic we date them tentatively as arising after 600 A.D. Most + of them are in still later Pur[=a]nas.] + + [Footnote 64: Incidental rapport with the Greeks has been + pointed out in other instances; the _surang[=a]_, a mine, of + the late tale in i. 148. 12, etc (_Ind. St._ ii. p. 395), + has been equated with syrinx; Skanda with Alexander, etc. It + is needless to say that each of these is only a guess in + etymology. But Greek influence is perceptible in the Greek + soldiers and names of (Greek) kings that are found in the + epic.] + + [Footnote 65: _Ind. St._ i. 423; ii. 169. Weber believes + that little is native to India which resembles Christianity + in the way of theology; lore of God, special grace, + monotheism, all to him are stolen. We regret that we must + disagree with him in these instances.] + + [Footnote 66: Ekata, Dvita, Trita. A Dvita appears as early + as the Rig Veda. Ekata is an analogous formation and is old + also.] + + [Footnote 67: Hrish[=i]keça is 'lord of senses,' a common + epithet of Vishnu (Krishna).] + + [Footnote 68: i. 107. 1 ff. The spirits of the dead come to + him and comfort him in the shape of birds--an old trait, + compare B[=a]udh. Dh. Ç[=a]st. ii. 8. 14. 10; Çat. Br. vi. + 1. 1. 2.] + + [Footnote 69: xii. 300. 20.] + + * * * * * + + + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE PUR[=A]NAS.--EARLY SECTS, FESTIVALS, THE TRINITY. + + +Archaeologia, 'ancient lore,' is the meaning of Pur[=a]na +_(pur[=a]na_, 'old'). The religious period represented by the extant +writings of this class is that which immediately follows the +completion of the epic.[1] These works, although they contain no real +history, yet reflect history very plainly, and since the advent and +initial progress of Puranic Hinduism, with its various cults, is +contemporary with important political changes, it will be necessary +briefly to consider the circumstances in which arose these new creeds, +for they were destined to become in the future the controlling force +in the development of Hindu religion. + +In speaking of the extension of Buddhism we showed that its growth was +influenced in no small degree by the fact that this caste-less and, +therefore, democratic religion was adopted by post-Alexandrine rulers +in the Graeco-Bactrian period. At this time the Aryans were surrounded +with foreigners and pagans. To North and South spread savage or half +Hinduized native tribes, while soldiers of Greece and Bactria encamped +in the valley of the Ganges. Barbarians had long been active in the +North, and some scholars have even claimed that Buddha's own family +was of Turanian origin. The Brahmans then as now retained their +prestige only as being repositories of ancient wisdom; and outside of +their own 'holy land' their influence was reduced to a minimum by the +social and political tendencies that accompanied the growth of +Buddhism. After the fourth century B.C. the heart of India, the +'middle district,' between the Him[=a]laya and Vindhya mountains from +Delhi to Benares,[2] was trampled upon by one Graeco-Bactrian horde +after another. The principal effect of this rude dominion was +eventually to give political equality to the two great rival +religions. The Buddhist and the Brahman lived at last if not +harmoniously, at least pacifically, side by side. Members of the same +reigning family would profess Buddhism or Brahmanism indifferently. +One king would sometimes patronize both religions. And this continued +to be the case till Buddhism faded out, replaced by that Hinduism +which owed its origin partly to native un-Aryan influence (paganism), +partly to this century-long fusion of the two state religions. + +To review these events: In the first decades of the fourth century +(320 or 315-291 B.C.) Candragupta, Sandrocottos, had built up a +monarchy in Beh[=a]r[3] on the ruins left by the Greek invasion, +sharing his power with Seleucus in the Northwest, and had thus +prepared the way for his grandson, Açoka, the great patron of Buddhism +(264 or 259). This native power fell before the hosts of Northern +barbarians, which, after irruptions into India in the second century, +got a permanent foothold there in the first century B.C. These +Northern barbarians (their nationality is uncertain), whose greatest +king was Kanishka, 78 A.D., ruled for centuries the land they had +seized; but they were vanquished at last in the sixth century, +probably by Vikram[=a]ditya,[4] and were driven out. The +breathing-space between Northern barbarian and Mohammedan was +nominally not a long one, but since the first Moslem conquests had no +definitive result the new invaders did not quite overthrow Hindu rule +till the end of the tenth century. During this period the native +un-Aryan tribes, with their Hinduizing effect, were more destructive +as regards the maintenance of the old Brahmanic cult than were +outsiders.[5] + +When Tamerlane invaded India his was the fourth invasion after the +conquest of the Punj[=a]b by the Moslem in 664.[6] In 1525 the fifth +conqueror, Baber, fifth too in descent from Tamerlane, founded the +Mogul empire that lasted till the fall of this dynasty (nominally till +1857). But it must be remembered that each new conqueror from 997 till +1525 merely conquered old Mohammedan dynasties with new invasions. It +was all one to the Hindu. He had the Mohammedan with him all this time +only each new rival's success made his lot the harder, But Baber's +grandson, the Great Mogul, Akbar (who reigned from 1556 to 1605), gave +the land not only peace but kindness; and under him Jew, Christian, +Hindu, and Mohammedan at last forgot to fear or fight. After this +there is only the overthrow of the Mohammedan power to record; and the +rise of the Mahratta native kingdoms. A new faith resulted from the +amalgamation of Hinduism with Mohammedism (after 1500), as will be +shown hereafter. [8] In the pauses before the first Mohammedan +invasion, and between the first defeat of the Mohammedans and their +successful second conquest, the barbarians being now expelled and +Buddhism being decadent, Brahmanism rallied. In the sixth century +there was toleration for all faiths. In the seventh century +Kum[=a]rila renewed the strength of Brahmanism on the ritualistic side +with attacks on Buddhism, and in the ninth century Çankara placed the +philosophy of unsectarian pantheism on a firm basis by his commentary +on the Ved[=a]nta S[=u]tra.[7] These two men are the re-makers of +ancient Brahmanism, which from this time on continued in its +stereotyped form, adopting Hindu gods very coyly, and only as spirits +of small importance, while relying on the laws as well as the gods of +old, on holy _[=a]c[=a]ra_ or 'custom,' and the now systematized +exposition of its old (Upanishad) philosophy.[8] Its creative force +was already spent. Buddhism, on the other hand, was dying a natural +death. The time was ripe for Hinduism, which had been gathering +strength for centuries. After the sixth century, and perhaps even as +late as 1500, or later, were written the modern Pur[=a]nas, which +embody the new belief.[9] They cannot, on account of the distinct +advance in their cult, have appeared before the end of the epic age. +The breathing spell (between barbarian and complete Mohammedan +conquest) which gave opportunity to Kum[=a]rila to take a high hand +with Buddhism, was an opportunity also for the codification of the new +creeds. It is, therefore, to this era that one has probably to refer +the first of the modern sectarian Pur[=a]nas, though the ritualistic +Tantras and [=A]gamas of the lower Çivaite sects doubtless belong +rather to the end than to the beginning of the period. We are +strengthened in this belief by the fact that the oldest of these works +do not pretend to antedate Kum[=a]rila's century, though the sects +mentioned in the epic are known in the first centuries of the +Christian era. The time from the first to the seventh centuries one +may accordingly suppose to have been the era during which was +developing the Brahmanized form of the early Hindu sects, the +literature of these and subsequent sects being composed in the +centuries succeeding the latter term. These sects again divide into +many subdivisions, of which we shall speak below. At present we take +up the character of the Pur[=a]nas and their most important points of +difference as compared with the sectarian parts of the earlier +pseudo-epic, examining especially the trinitarian doctrine, which they +inculcate, and its history. + +Save in details, even the special 'faith-scriptures' called Tantras go +no further than go the Pur[=a]nas in advocating the cult of their +particular divinities. And to this advocacy of special gods all else +in this class of writings is subordinated. The ideal Pur[=a]na is +divided into five parts, cosmogony, new creations, genealogies of gods +and heroes, _manvantaras_ (descriptions of periodic 'ages,' past and +future), and dynasties of kings. But no extant Pur[=a]na is divided +thus. In the epic the doctrine of trinitarianism is barely formulated. +Even in the Harivança, or Genealogy, _va[.n]ça_, of Vishnu, there is +no more than an inverted triunity, 'one form, three gods,' where, in +reality, all that is insisted upon is the identity of Vishnu and Çiva, +Brahm[=a] being, as it were, perfunctorily added.[10] In the +Pur[=a]nas, on the other hand, while the trinity is acknowledged, +religion is resolved again into a sort of sectarian monotheism, where +the devotee seems to be in the midst of a squabbling horde of +temple-priests, each fighting for his own idol. In the calmer aspects +of religion, apart from sectarian schism, these writings offer, +indeed, much that is of second-rate interest, but little that is of +real value. The idle speculations in regard to former divinities are +here made cobweb thin. The philosophy is not new, nor is the spirit of +religion raised, even in the most inspired passages, to the level +which it has reached in the Divine Song. Some of these Pur[=a]nas, of +which eighteen chief are cited, but with an unknown number of +subordinate works,[11] may claim a respectable age; many of them are +the most wretched stuff imaginable, bearing about the same literary +and historical relation to earlier models as do the later legal +Smritis. In fact, save for their religious (sectarian) purport, the +Pur[=a]nas for sections together do not differ much in content from +legal Smritis, out of which some may have been evolved, though, +probably, they were from their inception legendary rather than +didactic. It is more probable, therefore, that they appropriated +Smriti material just as they did epic material; and though it is now +received opinion that legal Smritis are evolved out of S[=u]tras, this +yet can be the case only with the oldest, even if the statement then +can be accepted in an unqualified form. In our own opinion it is +highly probable that Pur[=a]nas and later legal Smritis are divergent +developments from the same source.[12] One gives an account of +creation, and proceeds to tell about the social side; the other sticks +to the accounts of creation, goes on to theology, takes up tales of +heroes, introduces speculation, is finally wrenched over to and +amplified by sectarian writers, and so presents a composite that +resembles epic and law, and yet is generally religious and +speculative. + +A striking instance of this may be seen in the law-book of 'Vishnu.' +Here there is an old base of legal lore, S[=u]tra, interlarded with +Puranic material, and built up with sectarianism. The writer is a +Vishnuite, and while recognizing the trinity, does not hesitate to +make his law command offerings to Krishna V[=a]sudeva, and his family +(Pradyumna, Aniruddha), along with the regular Brahmanic oblations to +older spirits.[13] Brahmanism recognized Hindu deities as subordinate +powers at an early date, at least as early as the end of the S[=u]tra +period; while Manu not only recognizes Vishnu and Çiva (Hara), but +recommends an oblation to Çr[=i] and K[=a]l[=i] (Bhadrak[=a]li, here, +as elsewhere, is Durg[=a]).[14] + +In their original form the Pur[=a]nas were probably Hesiodic in a +great extent, and doubtless contained much that was afterwards +specially developed in more prolix form in the epic itself. But the +works that are come down as Pur[=a]nas are in general of later +sectarian character, and the epic language, phraseology, and +descriptions of battles are more likely taken straight from the epic +than preserved from ante-epic times. Properly speaking one ought to +give first place to the Pur[=a]nas that are incorporated into the +epic. The epic M[=a]rkandeya Pur[=a]na, for instance, is probably a +good type of one of the earlier works that went by this name. That the +present Pur[=a]nas are imitations of the epic, in so far as they treat +of epic topics, may be presumed from the fact that although they often +have the formulae intact of the battlefield,[15] yet do they not +remain by epic descriptions but add weapons, etc., of more modern date +than are employed in the original.[16] + +The sectarian monotheism of the Pur[=a]nas never resulted in +dispensing with the pantheon. The Hindu monotheist is a pantheist, and +whether sectarian or philosophical, he kept and added to his +pantheon.[17] Indra is still for warriors, Maruts for husbandmen, +although old views shift somewhat. So for example, in the K[=u]rma +Pur[=a]na the Gandharvas are added for the Ç[=u]dras.[18] The +fourfoldness, which we have shown in the epic to be characteristic of +Vishnu, is now represented by the military epithet _caturvy[=u]has_ +(agmen quadratum), in that the god represents peace, wisdom, support, +and renunciation; though, as a matter of fact, he is _avy[=u]ha, +i.e_., without any of these.[19] Starting with the physical 'god of +the four quarters,' one gets even in the epic the 'controller of +four,' or perfect person, conceived like [Greek: anêr tetragônos]. +Tennyson's 'four-square to all the winds that blow' is a good +connecting link in the thought. The Pur[=a]nas are a mine of legend, +although most of the stories seem to be but epic tales, more or less +distorted. Nala 'the great-great-grandson of R[=a]ma' is described +after the history of R[=a]ma himself; the installation of P[=u]ru, +when his father had passed over his eldest son, and such reminiscences +of the epic are the stock in trade of the legendary writers.[20] + +The origin of the four castes;[21] the descriptions of hell, +somewhat embellished,[22] where the 'sinful are cooked in fire';[23] the +exaltation of Vishnu as Krishna or K[=a]ma in one, and that of Çiva in +another--these and similar aspects are reflections of epic matter, +spirit, tone, and language, only the faith is still fiercer in +religious matters, and the stories are fainter in historical +references. According to the Pur[=a]na last cited: "There is no +expiation for one that bows to a phallic emblem," _i.e_., Çivaite, and +"all the B[=a]uddhas are heretics";[24] and according to the K[=u]rma +Pur[=a]na: "Vishnu is the divinity of the gods; Çiva, of the devils," +although the preceding verses teach, in the spirit of the Divine Song, +that each man's divinity is that which he conceives to be the +divinity. Such is the concluding remark made by Vasistha in +adjudicating the strife between the Vishnuite and Çivaite sectaries of +the epic heroes.[25] The relation that the Puranic literature bears to +religion in the minds of its authors is illustrated by the remark of +the N[=a]rad[=i]ya to the effect that the god is to be honored "by +song, by music, by dance, and by recounting the Pur[=a]nas" (xvii. 9). + +Some of the epic religious ceremonies which there are barely alluded +to are here described with almost the detail of a technical handbook. +So the N[=a]nd[=i]ya (xix.) gives an elaborate account of the raising +of a _dhvaja_ or standard as a religious ceremony.[26] The legal rules +affecting morality and especially caste-intercourse[27] show a laxity +in regard to the rules as formerly preached. Even the old Puranic form +of the epic is reproduced, as when M[=a]rkandeya converses again with +Yudhistris, exactly as he does in the epic.[28] The duration of the +ages; the fruit of sacrifices, among which are still mentioned the +_r[=a]jas[=u]ya, açvamedha_, and other ancient rites;[29] the virtue +of holy-places;[30] the admixture of pure pantheism with the idea of a +personal creation[31]--these traits are again just those which have +been seen already in the epic, nor is the addition of sections on +temple-service, or other more minute details of the cult, of +particular importance in a history of religious ideas. + +The Pur[=a]nas for our present purpose may all be grouped with the +remark that what is ancient in them is a more or less fugitive +resemblance to the epic style and matter;[32] what is new is the more +pronounced sectarianism with its adventitious growth of subordinate +spiritualities and exaggerated miracles. Thus for instance in the +Var[=a]ha Pur[=a]na there are eleven, in the Bh[=a]gavat Pur[=a]na +twenty (instead of the older ten) _avatars_ of Vishnu. So too the god +of love--although K[=a]ma and his dart are recognized in the late +Atharvan--as a petty spirit receives homage only in the latest +S[=u]tra (as Cupid, [=A]pastamba, ii, 2. 4. 1), and in late additions +to the epic he is a little god; whereas in the drama he is prominent, +and in the Pur[=a]nas his cult is described at length (though to-day +he has no temple). The 'mother'-fiend P[=u]tan[=a], who suckles babes +to slay them, is scarcely known to the early epic, but she is a very +real personality in the late epic and Pur[=a]nas. + +The addition to the trinity of the peculiar inferior godhead that is +advocated in any one Pur[=a]na, virtually making four divinities, is +characteristic of the period. + +In proportion as sectarian ardor is heightened religious tone is +lowered. The Puranic votary clinging to his one idea of god curses all +them that believe in other aspects of the divinity. Blind bigotry +fills the worshipper's soul. Religion becomes mere fanaticism. But +there is also tolerance. Sometimes in one and the same Pur[=a]na rival +forms are honored. The modern Hindu sects are in part the direct +development of Puranic doctrine. But most of the sects of to-day are +of very recent date, though their principles are often of respectable +antiquity, as are too their sectarian signs, as well as the animals of +their gods, some of which appear to be totems of the wild tribes, +while others are merely objects of reverence among certain tribes. +Thus the ram and the elephant are respectively the ancient beasts of +Agni and Indra. Çiva has the bull; his spouse, the tiger. Earth and +Skanda have appropriated the peacock, Skanda having the cock also. +Yama has the buffalo (compare the Khond, wild-tribe, substitution of a +buffalo for a man in sacrifice). Love has the parrot, etc; while the +boar and all Vishnu's animals in _avatars_ are holy, being his chosen +beasts.[33] + + +EARLY SECTS. + +A classification of older sects (the unorthodox) than those of the +present remains to us from the works of Çankara's reputed disciple, +[=A]nanda Giri, and of M[=a]dhava [=A]c[=a]rya, the former a writer of +the ninth, the latter of the fourteenth century. According to the +statements made by these writers there were a great number of sects, +regarded as partly heterodox or wholly so, and it is interesting in +examining the list of these to see that some of the epic sects (their +names at least) are still in full force, while on the other hand the +most important factions of to-day are not known at all; and that many +sects then existed which must have been at that time of great +antiquity, although now they have wholly passed away.[34] These last +are indeed to the author of the critique of the sects not wholly +heterodox. They are only too emphatic, in worshipping their peculiar +divinity, to suit the more modern conceptions of the Hindu reviewer. +But such sects are of the highest importance, for they show that +despite all the bizarre bigotry of the Pur[=a]nas the old Vedic gods +(as in the epic) still continue to hold their own, and had their own +idols and temples apart from other newer gods. The Vedic divinities, +the later additions in the shape of the god of love, the god of +wealth, Kubera,[35] the heavenly bird, Garuda, the world-snake, Çesha, +together with countless genii, spirits, ghosts, the Manes, the +heavenly bodies, stars, etc., all these were revered, though of less +importance than the gods of Vishnuite and Çivaite sects. Among these +latter the Çivaite sects are decidedly of less interest than the +corresponding Vishnuite heresies, while the votaries of Brahm[=a] +(exclusively) are indeed mentioned, but they cannot be compared with +those of the other two great gods.[36] To-day there is scarcely any +homage paid to Brahm[=a], and it is not probable that there ever was +the same devotion or like popularity in his case as in the case of his +rivals. Other interesting sects of this period are the +Sun-worshippers, who still exist but in no such numbers as when +[=A]nand[=a] Giri counted six formal divisions of them. The votaries +of these sub-sects worshipped some, the rising sun, some, the setting +sun, while some again worshipped the noonday sun, and others, all +three as a _tri-m[=u]rti._ Another division worshipped the sun in +anthropomorphic shape, while the last awakens the wrath of the +orthodox narrator by branding themselves with hot irons.[37] + +Ganeça,[38] the lord of Çiva's hosts, had also six classes of +worshippers; but he has not now as he then had a special and peculiar +cult, though he has many temples in Benares and elsewhere. Of the +declared Çivaite sects of that day, six are mentioned, but of these +only one survives, the 'wandering' Jangamas of South India, the +Çivaite R[=a]udras, Ugras, Bh[=a]ktas, and P[=a]çupatis having yielded +to more modern sectaries. + +Some at least among the six sects of the Vishnuite sects, which are +described by the old writers, appear to have been more ancient. Here +too one finds Bh[=a]ktas, and with them the Bh[=a]gavatas, the old +P[=a]ñcar[=a]tras, the 'hermit' V[=a]ikh[=a]nasas, and Karmah[=i]nas, +the latter "having no rites." Concerning these sects one gets scanty +but direct information. They all worshipped Vishnu under one form or +another, the Bh[=a]ktas as V[=a]sudeva, the Bh[=a]gavatas[39] as +Bhagavat. The latter resembled the modern disciples of R[=a]m[=a]nuja +and revered the holy-stone, appealing for authority to the Upanishads +and to the Bhagavad Git[=a], the Divine Song. Some too worshipped +Vishnu exclusively +as N[=a]r[=a]yana, and believed in a heaven of sensual +delights. The other sects, now extinct, offer no special forms of +worship. What is historically most important is that in this list of +sects are found none that particularly worship the popular divinities +of to-day, no peculiar cult of Krishna as an infant and no +monkey-service. + +Infidel sects are numerous in this period, of which sects the worst in +the old writers' opinion is the sensual C[=a]rv[=a]ka. Then follow the +(Buddhist) Ç[=u]nyav[=a]ds, who believe in 'void,' and S[=a]ugatas, +who believe that religion consists only in kindness, the Kshapanakas, +and the Jains. The infamous 'left-hand' sectaries are also well known. + +To one side of the Puranic religions, from the earlier time of which +comes this account of heresies, reference has been made above: the +development of the fables in regard to the infant Krishna. That the +cult is well known in the later Pur[=a]nas and is not mentioned in +this list of wrong beliefs seems to show that the whole cult is of +modern growth, even if one does not follow Weber in all his signs of +modification of the older practice. + + +RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS. + +For the history of the cult there is in these works much to interest +one in the description and determination of popular festivals in honor +of the great sectarian gods. Further details of more specific nature +are given in other works which need not here be regarded. By far the +most important of these festivals are those that seem to have been +absorbed by the sectarian cults, although they were originally more +popular. Weber in the paper on the _r[=a]jas[=u]ya_, to which we have +had occasion several times to refer, has shown that a popular element +abided long in the formal celebrations of the Brahmanic ritual.[40] +is soundly beaten; that gaming creeps into the ceremony as a popular +aspect; that there was a special ceremony to care _katsenjammer_ +caused by over-drinking; and that the whole ceremony was a popular +spring festival, such as is found to-day (but without the royal part +in the play). + +Undoubtedly the original celebration was a popular one. Today the most +interesting of these popular fêtes is in all respects the New Year's +Festival and the Spring Festival. The latter has been cut up into +several parts, and to show the whole intent of the original ceremonial +it is necessary to take up the _disjecta membra_ and place them side +by side, as has been done by Wilson, whose sketch of these two +festivals, together with that by Gover of the New Year's Feast called +Pongol, we give in abstract, premising that, however close be the +comparison with European festivals of like nature, we doubt +whether there is any historical connection between them and the Hindu +celebrations. + +We begin with the more popular New Year's, the Pongol:[41] The +interesting feature of this South India festival is that the Hindus +have done their best to alter its divinities and failed. They have, +indeed, for Indra and Agni got Krishna formally accepted as the god in +whose honor it is supposed to be held, but the feast remains a native +festival, and no one really thinks of the Puranic gods in connection +with it. Europe also has seen such dynamic alterations of divinities +in cases where feasts would insist till patrons of an orthodox kind +were foisted upon them to give an air of propriety to that which +remained heathenish.[42] The Pongol is a New Year's festival lasting +for three days. The first day is for Indra; the second, for (Agni) +S[=u]rya;[43] the third (to which is added, as a wind-up, a fourth +day), for cattle. The whole feast is a harvest-home and celebration of +cattle. The chief ceremony is the cooking of rice, which is put to +boil with great solemnity, and luck for the next year is argued from +its boiling well. If it does so a universal shout arises,[44] all rush +about, congratulate, and give presents to each other, and merry-making +follows. On the cattle-days the beasts are led about with painted +horns and decorated with ribbons, and are then chased and robbed by +the boys. The image of Ganeça is the only one seen, and his worship is +rather perfunctory. On the evening of the last day the women have a +party, paying obeisance to a peacock, and indulging in a family +reunion of very simple character. On this occasion the girl-wife may +return for a few hours to her mother. It is the only general fête for +women during the year. + +Not unlike this festival of the extreme south is the New Year's +celebration at the mouth of the Ganges. Here there is a grand fair and +jewels are cast into the river as propitiation to the river-goddess. +Not long ago it was quite customary to fling children also into the +river, but this usage has now been abolished.[45] Offerings are made +to the Manes, general and particular, and to the All-gods. As with the +Pongol, the feast is one of good-fellowship where presents are +distributed, and its limit is the end of the third day. After this the +festivities have no religious character. Thousands of pilgrims +assemble for this fête. Wilson, who gives an account of this +celebration, compares the ancient Roman New Year's, with the _mutui +amoris pignora_ which were sent at that season. The gifts in India are +sweetmeats and other delicacies, ominous of good for the next +year.[46] + +On the 2d of February occurs a feast to Çr[=i], or Lakshm[=i], +Vishnu's bride, patroness of all prosperity to her worshippers. At +present it is a literary festival on which all books, inkstands, pens, +etc., are cleaned and worshipped, as adjuncts to Sarasvat[=i], the +goddess of learning. This is rather significant, for Sarasvat[=i] is +properly the wife of Brahm[=a], but the Vishnuites of Bengal have made +her the wife of Vishnu, and identified her with Çr[=i]. It is to be +noticed that in this sole celebration of abstract learning and +literature there is no recognition of Çiva, but rather of his rival. +Çiva and Ganeça are revered because they might impede, not because, as +does Sarasvat[=i], they further literary accomplishment. Sarasvat[=i] +is almost the only fair goddess. She is represented not as a horror, +but as a beautiful woman sitting on a lotus, graceful in shape, a +crescent on her brow.[47] The boys, too, celebrate the day with games, +bat and ball, prisoner's base, and others "of a very European +character." The admixture of sectarian cults is shown by the +transference to this Vishnuite feast of the Çivaite (Durg[=a]) +practice of casting into the river the images of the goddess.[48] When +applied distinctly to Sarasvat[=i] the feast is observed in +August-September; when to Lakshm[=i], in October-November, or in +February. There is, however, another feast, celebrated in the North +and South, which comes on the exact date fixed by the Romans for the +beginning of spring, and as an ending to this there is a feast to +K[=a]ma, Cupid, and his bride Rati ('Enjoyment'). This is the Vasanta, +or spring festival of prosperity and love, which probably was the +first form of the Lakshm[=i]-Sarasvat[=i] feast. + +Another traditional feast of this month is the 10th[49] (the eleventh +lunar day of the light half of M[=a]gha). The eleventh lunar day is +particularly holy with the Vishnuites, as is said in the Brahma +Pur[=a]na, and this is a Vishnuite festival. It is a day of fasting +and prayer, with presents to priests.[50] It appears to be a mixture +of Vedic prayers and domestic Vishnu-worship. On the 11th of February +the fast is continued, and in both the object is expiation of sin. The +latter is called the feast of 'six sesamum acts,' for sesamum is a +holy plant, and in each act of this rite it plays a part. Other rites +of this month are to the Manes on the 14th, 22d, and 24th of February. +Bathing and oblation are requisite, and all are of a lustral and +expiatory nature. Wilson remarks on the fact that it is the same time +of year in which the Romans gave oblations to the Manes, and +that Februus is the god of purification. "There can be no reasonable +doubt that the Feralia of the Romans and the Çr[=a]ddha (feast to the +Manes) of the Hindus, the worship of the Pitris and of the Manes, have +a common character, and had a common origin."[51] + +The 27th of February is the greatest Çivaite day in the year. It +celebrates Çiva's first manifestation of himself in phallic form. To +keep this day holy expiates from all sin, and secures bliss hereafter. +The worshipper must fast and revere the Linga. Offerings are made to +the Linga. It is, of course, a celebration formed of unmeaning +repetitions of syllables and the invocation of female Çaktis, snapping +the fingers, gesticulating, and performing all the humbug called for +by Çivaite worship. The Linga is bathed in milk, decorated, wrapped in +_bilva_ leaves, and prayed to; which ceremony is repeated at intervals +with slight changes. All castes, even the lowest, join in the +exercises. Even women may use the _mantras_.[52] Vigil and fasting are +the essentials of this worship.[53] + +The next festival closes these great spring celebrations. It bears two +names, and originally was a double feast, the first part being the +Dol[=a] Y[=a]tr[=a], or 'Swing-procession,' the second part being the +execrable Holi. They are still kept distinct in some places, and when +this occurs the Dolotsava, or Dol[=a] Y[=a]tr[=a], follows the Holi. +They are both spring festivals, and answer roughly to May-day, though +in India they come at the full moon of March. We have followed +Wilson's enumeration of all the minor spring feasts, that they may be +seen in their entirety. But in ancient times there was probably one +long Vasantotsava (spring-festival), which lasted for weeks, beginning +with a joyous celebration (2d of February) and continuing with lustral +ceremonies, as indicated by the now detached feast days already +referred to. The original cult, in Wilson's opinion, has been changed, +and the Dol[=a] Y[=a]tr[=a] is now given over to the Krishna-cult, +while the Hol[=i] divinity is a hobgoblin. The Dol[=a] Yatr[=a] begins +with fasting and ends (as Hol[=i]) with fire-worship. An image of +Krishna is sprinkled with red powder (_ab[=i]r_), and after this +(religious) ceremony a bonfire[54] is made, and an effigy, Holik[=a], +is put upon it and burned. The figure is carried to the fire in a +religious procession headed by Vishnuite or Brahman priests, of course +accompanied with music and song. After seven circumambulations of the +fire the figure is burned. This is the united observance of the first +day. At dawn on the morning of the second day the image of Krishna is +placed in a swing, _dol[=a]_, and swung back and forth a few times, +which ceremony is repeated at noon and at sunset. During the day, +wherever a swing is put up, and in the vicinity, it is the common +privilege to sprinkle one's friend with the red powder or red +rose-water. Boys and common people run about the streets sprinkling +red water or red powder over all passengers, and using abusive +(obscene) language. The cow-herd caste is conspicuous at this +ceremony. The cow-boys, collecting in parties under a koryphaios, +hold, as it were, a komos, leaping, singing, and dancing[55] through +the streets, striking together the wands which they carry. These +cow-boys not only dress (as do others) in new clothes on this +occasion,[56] but they give their cattle new equipments, and regard +the whole frolic as part of a religious rite in honor of Krishna, the +cow-herd. But all sects take part in the performance (that is to say, +in the Hol[=i] portion), both Çivaites and Vishnuites. When the moon +is full the celebration is at its height. Hol[=i] songs are sung, the +crowd throws _ab[=i]r_ the chiefs feast, and an all-night orgy ends +the long carousal.[57] In the south the Dol[=a] takes place later, and +is distinct from the Hol[=i]. The burning here is of K[=a]ma, +commemorating the love-god's death by the fire of Çiva's eye, when the +former pierced the latter's heart, and inflamed him with love. For +this reason the bonfire is made before a temple of Çiva. K[=a]ma is +gone from the northern cult, and in upper India only a hobgoblin, +Hol[=i], a foul she-devil, is associated with the rite. The whole +performance is described and prescribed in one of the late +Pur[=a]nas.[58] In some parts of the country the bonfire of the +Hol[=i] is made about a tree, to which offerings are made, and +afterwards the whole is set on fire. For a luminous account of the +Hol[=i], which is perhaps the worst open rite of Hinduism, +participated in by all sects and classes, we may cite the words of the +author of _Ante-Brahmanical Religions_: "It has been termed the +Saturnalia or Carnival of the Hindus. Verses the most obscene +imaginable are ordered to be read on the occasion. Figures of men and +women, in the most indecent and disgusting attitudes, are in many +places openly paraded through the streets; the most filthy words are +uttered by persons who, on other occasions, would think themselves +disgraced by the use of them; bands of men parade the street with +their clothes all bespattered with a reddish dye; dirt and filth are +thrown upon all that are seen passing along the road; all business is +at a stand, all gives way to license and riot."[59] + +Besides these the most brilliant festivals are the R[=a]s Y[=a]tr[=a] +in Bengal (September-October), commemorating the dance of Krishna +with the _gop[=i]s_ or milk-maids, and the 'Lamp-festival' +(D[=i]p[=a]l[=a]), also an autumnal celebration. + +The festivals that we have reviewed cover but a part of the year, but +they will suffice to show the nature of such fêtes as are enjoined in +the Pur[=a]nas. There are others, such as the eightfold[60] +temple-worship of Krishna as a child, in July or August; the marriage +of Krishna's idol to the Tulasi plant; the Awakening of Vishnu, in +October, and so forth. But no others compare in importance with the +New Year's and Spring festivals, except the Bengal idol-display of +Jagann[=a]th, the Rath Y[=a]tr[=a] of 'Juggernaut'; and some others of +local celebrity, such as the D[=u]rg[=a]-p[=u]j[=a].[61] The temples, +to which reference has often been made, have this in common with the +great Çivaite festivals, that to describe them in detail would be but +to translate into words images and wall-paintings, the obscenity of +which is better left undescribed. This, of course, is particularly +true of the Çiva temples, where the actual Linga is perhaps, as Barth +has said, the least objectionable of the sights presented to the eye +of the devout worshipper. But the Vishnu temples are as bad. +Architecturally admirable, and even wonderful, the interior is but a +display of sensual immorality.[62] + + +HISTORY OF THE HINDU TRINITY. + +In closing the Puranic period (which name we employ loosely to cover +such sects as are not clearly modern) we pause for a moment to cast a +glance backwards over the long development of the trinity, to the +units of which are devoted the individual Pur[=a]nas. We have shown +that the childhood-tales of Krishna are of late (Puranic) origin, and +that most of the cow-boy exploits are post-epic. Some are referred to +in the story of Çiçup[=a]la in the second book of the +Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata, but this scene has been touched up by a late hand. +The Vishnu Pur[=a]na, typical of the best of the Pur[=a]nas, as in +many respects it is the most important and interesting, represents +Krishnaite Vishnuism as its height. Here is described the birth of the +man-god as a black, _k[r.][s.][n.]a,_ baby, son of Nanda, and his real +title is here Govinda, the cow-boy.[63] 'Cow-boy' corresponds to the +more poetical, religious shepherd; and the milk-maids, _gopis_ with +whom Govinda dallies as he grows up, may, perhaps, better be rendered +shepherdesses for the same reason. The idyllic effect is what is aimed +at in these descriptions. Here Krishna plays his rude and rustic +tricks, upsetting wagons, overthrowing trees and washermen, +occasionally killing them he dislikes, and acting altogether much like +a cow-boy of another sort. Here he puts a stop to Indra-worship, +over-powers Çiva, rescues Aniruddha, marries sixteen thousand +princesses, burns Benares, and finally is killed himself, he the one +born of a hair of Vishnu, he that is Vishnu himself, who in 'goodness' +creates, in 'darkness' destroys,[64] under the forms of Brahm[=a] and +Çiva.[65] + +In Vishnu, as a development of the Vedic Vishnu; in Çiva, as +affiliated to Rudra; in Brahm[=a], as the Brahmanic third to these +sectarian developments, the trinity has a real if remote connection +with the triune fire of the Rig Veda, a two-thirds connection, filled +out with the addition of the later Brahmanic head of the gods. + +To ignore the fact that Vishnu and Rudra-Çiva developed inside the +Brahmanic circle and increased in glory before the rise of sectaries, +and to asseverate, as have some, that the two chief characters of the +later trinity are an unmeaning revival of decadent gods, whose names +are used craftily to veil the modernness of Krishnaism and +Çivaism,--this is to miscalculate the waxing dignity of these gods in +earlier Brahmanic literature. To say with Burnouf that the Vishnu of +the Veda is not at all the Vishnu of the mythologists, is a statement +far too sweeping. The Vishnu of the Veda is not only the same god with +the Vishnu of the next era, but in that next era he has become greatly +magnified. The Puranic All-god Vishnu stands in as close a relation to +his Vedic prototype as does Milton's Satan to the snaky slanderer of +an age more primitive. + +Çiva-worship appears to have been adapted from a local cult in the +mountainous West, and at an early date to have been amalgamated with +that of his next resemblance, the Vedic Rudra; while Krishna-worship +flourished along the Ganges. These are those Dionysos and Herakles of +whom speak the old Greek authorities. One cult is possibly as +venerable as the other, but while Çivaism became Brahmanized early, +Krishnaism was adopted much later, and it is for this reason, amongst +others, that despite its modern iniquities Çiva has appealed more to +the Brahman than has Krishna. + +Megasthenes tells us a good deal about these Hindu representatives of +Herakles and Dionysos. According to him there were Dionysiac festivals +in honor of the latter god (Çiva),[66] who belongs where flourishes +the wine, in the Açvaka district, north of the Kabul river. From this +place Çiva's worship extended into the East, M[=a]gadha (Beh[=a]r), +around Gokarna in the West, and even to the Kalinga country in the +extreme Southeast. But it was especially native to the mountainous +Northwest, about the 'Gate of Ganges' (north of Delhi, near +Saharampur), and still further north in Kashmeer. In the epic, Çiva +has his throne on K[=a]il[=a]sa,[67] the Northern mountain, in the +Him[=a]layas, and Ganges descend from the sky upon his head. + +On the other hand, Herakles, of the Ganges land, where grows no wine, +is plainly Krishna, who carries club, discus, and conch. The Greek +cities Methora and Kleisobora are Mathur[=a] and Krishna-pur, +'Krishna-town'; the latter on the Jumna, the former near it on the +same river, capital of the clan which venerated Krishna as its chief +hero and god, the Y[=a]davas. Megasthenes says, also, that Herakles' +daughter is Pandaie, and this agrees with the P[=a]ndya, a southern +development of the epic Gangetic P[=a]ndavas, who especially worship +Krishna in conjunction with the Y[=a]davas. Their South-Indic town, +Mathur[=a], still attests their origin. + +In speaking of the relative antiquity of Vishnuism and Çivaism one +must distinguish the pantheistic form of these gods from the single +forms. While Çivaism,_per se_, that is, the worship of Çiva as a great +and terrible god, preceded the same exaltation of Krishna, as is shown +by their respective literary appearance, and even by Megasthenes' +remark that the worship of Dionysos preceded that of Herakles by +fifteen generations, yet did Krishnaism, as a popular pantheism, come +before Çivaism as such. Although in the late Çvet[=a]çvatara Upanishad +Çiva is pantheistic, yet is he not so in the epic till some of the +latest passages make him the All, in imitation of Krishna as All-god. +Probably Çivaism remained by the first philosophy, Sankhyan dualism, +and was forced into Krishna's Vedantic pantheism, as this became +popular. At first neither was more than a single great god without any +philosophy.[68] + +In one of the early exegetical works, which is occupied somewhat with +philosophical matter, there is evidence that a triad existed between +the Vedic triad of fires and the Puranic triad. Fire, Wind (or Indra), +and the Sun (S[=u]rya), are stated in a famous passage to be the only +real gods, all the others being but names of these. But, although in +form this triad (Nirukta, vii. 4, 5) is like the Vedic triad,[69] it +is essentially a triad in a pantheistic system like that of the epic +and Pur[=a]nas, for it is added that "all the gods are parts of one +soul." In explanation it is said: "Fire is the earth-god, Wind, or +Indra, is the god of the atmosphere, and the sun is the god of the +sky." Now in the Rig Veda Indra is closely united not only with Agni +but with Vishnu, albeit in this period Vishnu is his subordinate. The +nearest approach of this Vishnu to his classical descendant is in one +of the latest hymns of the Rig Veda, where it is said that the seven +seeds of creation are Vishnu's, as in later times he comprises seven +males. In the philosophy of the T[=a]ittir[=i]ya Samhit[=a] the three +places of Vishnu are not, as in the Rig Veda, the two points of the +horizon (where the sun sets) and the zenith, but 'earth, air, and +sky.'[70] That is to say, in the Brahmanic period Vishnu is already a +greater god than he had been. Nay, more, he is explicitly declared to +be +"the best of the gods."[71] That best means greatest may be shown from +the same work, where in savage fable it is recited that all the gods, +including Indra, ran up to him to get his strength.[72] But especially +in the Upanishads is Vishnu the one great god left from the Rig Veda. +And it is with the philosophical (not with the ritualistic) Vishnu +that Krishna is equated. + +Of Çiva, on the other hand, the prototype is Rudra ('red'), his +constant sobriquet. In the Rig Veda he is the god of red lightning, +who is the father of the Maruts, the storm-gods. His attributes of a +fulgurant god are never lost. Even as Çiva the All-god he is still the +god of the blue neck, whose three-forked trident and home among the +mountains remind us of his physical origin. He is always the fairest +of the gods, and both early and late he is terrible, to be averted by +prayer, even where his magic 'medicines' are asked for. To him are +addressed the most suppliant cries: "O Rudra, spare us, strike not the +men, slay not the kine." In the Atharva Veda at every step one finds +characteristics which on the one hand are but exaggerations of the +type formulated in the Rig Veda, and on the other precursors of the +signs of the later god. In Çivaism, in contradistinction to Vishnuism, +there is not a trace of the euhemerism which has been suspected in the +Krishna-Vishnu cult. The Rudra of the Rig Veda already begins to be +identified with the triune fire, for he bears the standing epithet of +fire, "he of three mothers."[73] And this name he keeps, whether as +Rudra, who is "brilliant as the sun" (RV. i. 43. 5), whose weapon is +"the shining one that is emitted from the sky and passes along the +earth" (_ib_. vii. 46. 3); or again, as the "red boar of the sky," +the "holder of the bolt" (_ib._ ii. 33. 3), and, above all gods, "the +terrible" (x. 126. 5). + +Coming to the Brahmanic period one finds him a dweller in the mountain +tops, of a red color, with a blue neck, the especial lord of the +mountains, and so of robbers; while he is also the 'incantation-god,' +the 'god of low people.' Some of these are Rudra's attributes; but +here his name is already Çiva, so that one may trace the changes down +the centuries till he finds again in the epic that Çiva is the lord of +mountains, the patron of thieves (Hara, robber?), and endowed with the +trident, the blue neck,[74] and the three mothers of old. In the +middle period he has so many titles that one probably has to accept in +the subsequent Çiva not only the lineal descendant of the Vedic Rudra, +but also a combination of other local cults, where clan gods, +originally diverse, were worshipped as one in consequence of their +mutual likeness. One of the god's especial names is here Bhava, while +in the earlier period Bhava and Rudra are distinct, but they are +invoked as a pair (AV).[75] What gives Çiva his later tremendous +popularity, however, is the feature to which we have alluded in the +chapter on the epic. In the epic, all the strength of Çiva lies in the +Linga.[76] Both Bhava and Rudra, as Çarva, the archer--his local +eastern name--are represented as hurling the lightning, and it is +simply from identity of attributes that they have become identified in +person (AV. x. i. 23). Rudra's title of Paçupati, or 'lord of +cattle'[77] goes back to the Vedic age: "Be kind to the kine of him +who believes in the gods" is a prayer of the Atharva Veda (xi. 2. 28). +Agni and Rudra, in the Rig-Veda, are both called 'cattle-guarding,' +but not for the same reason. Agni represents a fire-stockade, while +Rudra in kindness does not strike with his lightning-bolt. The two +ideas, with the identification of Rudra and Agni, may have merged +together. Then too, Rudra has healing medicines (his magical side), +and Agni is kindest to men. All Agni's names are handed over in the +Br[=a]hmanas to Rudra-Çiva, just as Rudra previously had taken the +epithets of P[=u]shan (above), true to his robber-name. To ignore the +height to which at this period is raised the form of Rudra-Çiva is +surely unhistorical; so much so that we deem it doubtful whether +Çiva-invocations elsewhere, as in the S[=u]tra referred to above, +should be looked upon as interpolations. In the M[=a]itr[=a]yan[=i] +Collection, the Rudrajapas, the invocations to Rudra as the greatest +god, the highest spirit, the lord of beings (Bhava), are expressly to +Çiva Giriça, the mountain-lord (2. 9; Schroeder, p. 346). In the +[=A]itareya Br[=a]hmana it evidently is Rudra-Çiva, the god of ghastly +forms (made by the gods, it is said, as a composite of all the 'most +horrible parts' of all the gods), who is deputed to slay the +Father-god (when the latter, as a beast, commits incest with his +daughter), and chooses as his reward for the act the office of 'lord +of cattle.'[78] This is shown clearly by the fact that the fearsome +Rudra is changed to the innocuous Rudriya in the next paragraph. As an +example of how in the Br[=a]hmanas Rudra-Çiva has taken to himself +already the powers of Agni, the great god of the purely sacrificial +period, may be cited Çat. Br. vi. 1. 3. 10 and 2. 1. 12. Here Agni is +Kum[=a]ra, Rudra, Çarva (Sarva)[79], Paçupati (lord of beasts), +Bh[=a]irava (terrible), Açani (lightning), Bhava (lord of beings), +Mah[=a]deva (great god), the Lord--his 'thrice three names.' But where +the Br[=a]hmana assumes that these are names of Agni it is plain that +one has Rudra-Çiva in process of absorbing Agni's honors. + +The third element in the Pur[=a]nic trinity,[80] identified with the +Father-god, genealogically deserves his lower position. His rivals are +of older lineage. The reason for his inferior position is, +practically, that he has little to do with man. Being already created, +man takes more interest in the gods that preserve and destroy.[81] +Even Brahm[=a]'s old exploits are, as we have shown, stolen from him +and given over to Vishnu. The famous (totemistic) tortoise legend was +originally Brahm[=a]'s, and so with others of the ten 'forms' of +Vishnu, for instance the boar-shape, in which Vishnu manifests +himself, and the fish-shape of Brahm[=a] (epic) in the flood-story. +The formal _trim[=u]rti_ or _tr[=a]ipurusha_ ('three persons') is a +late figure. It would seem that a Harihara (Vishnu and Çiva as one) +preceded the trinity, though the dual name is not found till quite +late.[82] But, as we showed above, the epic practically identifies +Vishnu and Çiva as equals, before it unites with these Brahm[=a] as an +equal third. + +There arises now the further question whether sectarian Vishnuism be +the foisting of Krishnaism upon a dummy Vishnu. We think that, stated +in this way, such scarcely can have been the case. Neither of the +great sects is professedly of priestly origin, but each, like other +sects, claims Vedic authority, and finds Brahmanical support. We have +said that Vishnu is raised to his position without ictic suddenness. +He is always a god of mystic character, in short, a god for philosophy +to work upon. He is recognized as the highest god in one of the oldest +Upanishads. And it is with the philosopher's Vishnu that Krishna is +identified. Krishna, the real V[=a]sudeva (for a false V[=a]sudeva is +known also in the epic), is the god of a local cult. How did he +originate? The king of serpents is called Krishna, 'the black,' and +Vishnu reposes upon Çesha Ananta, the world-snake; but a more +historical character than this can be claimed for Krishna. This +god-man must be the same with the character mentioned in the +Ch[=a]ndogya Upanishad, 3. 17. 6. One may notice the similarities +between this Krishna and him of the epic cult. Krishna, son of +Devak[=i], was taught by his teacher, Ghora [=A]ngirasa, that +sacrifice may be performed without objective means; that generosity, +kindness, and other moral traits are the real signs of sacrifice; and +it is then said: "The priest Ghora [=A]ngirasa having said this to +Krishna, the son of Devak[=i]--and the latter was thereby freed from +(thirst) desire--said: "When a man is about to die let him resort to +this triad: 'the imperishable art thou,' 'the unmoved art thou,' +'breath's firmness art thou'; in regard to which are these two verses +in the Rig-Veda:[83] 'till they see the light of the old seed which is +kindled in the sky,' and 'perceiving above the darkness the higher +light, the sun, god among gods, we come to the highest light.'" +Krishna thus learned the abolition of sacrifice, and the worship of +the sun, the highest light (Vishnu), as true being--for this is the +meaning of the philosophical passage taken with its context. Kings and +priests discuss philosophy together in this period,[84] and it would +conform to later tradition to see in the pupil the son of a king. It +is, moreover, significant that the priest, Ghora [=A]ngirasà , is named +specially as priest of the sun-god elsewhere (K[=a]ush. Br. 30. 6), as +well as that Krishna [=A]ngirasa is also the name of a teacher. It is +said in this same Upanishad (3. 1. 1) that the sun is the honey, +delight, of the gods; and this chapter is a meditation on the sun,[85] +of which the dark (_k[r.][s.][n.]a_) form is that which comes from the +Itih[=a]sas and Pur[=a]nas, the fore-runners of the epic (3. 4. 3). +This is taught as a _brahma-upanishad_, a teaching of the absolute, +and it is interesting to see that it is handed down through Brahm[=a], +Praj[=a]pati, and Manu, exactly as Krishna says in the Divine Song +that his own doctrine has been promulgated; while (it is said further) +for him that knows the doctrine 'there is day,' his sun never sets (3. +11. 3-4). It is a doctrine to be communicated only to the eldest son +or a good student, and to no one else (_ib. 5), i.e_., it was new, +esoteric, and of vital importance. Here, too, one finds +Sanatkum[=a]ra, the 'ever young,' as Skanda,[86] yet as an earthly +student also (7. 1; 26. 2), just like Krishna. + +It cannot be imagined, however, that the cult of the Gangetic Krishna +originated with that vague personage whose pupilage is described in +the Upanishad. But this account may still be connected with the epic +Krishna. The epic describes the overthrow of an old Brahmanic Aryan +race at the hands of the P[=a]ndavas, an unknown folk, whose king's +polyandrous marriage (his wife is the spouse of his four brothers as +well as of himself) is an historical trait, connecting the tribe +closely with the polyandrous wild tribes located north of the Ganges. +This tribe attacked the stronghold of Brahmanism in the holy land +about the present Delhi; and their patron god is the Gangetic Krishna. +In the course of the narrative a very few tales are told of Krishna's +early life, but the simple original view of Krishna is that he is a +god, the son of Devak[=i]. The few other tales are late and +adventitious additions, but this is a consistent trait. Modern writers +are fain to see in the antithesis presented by the god Krishna and by +the human hero Krishna, late and early phases. They forget that the +lower side of Krishna is one especially Puranic. In short, they read +history backwards, for theirs is not the Indic way of dealing with +gods. In Krishna's case the tricky, vulgar, human side is a later +aspect, which comes to light most prominently in the Genealogy of +Vishnu and in the Vishnu Pur[=a]na, modern works which in this regard +contrast strongly with the older epic, where Krishna, however he +tricks, is always first the god. It is not till he becomes a very +great, if not the greatest, god that tales about his youthful +performances, when he condescended to be born in low life, begin to +rise. An exact parallel may be seen in the case of Çiva, who at first +is a divine character, assuming a more or less grotesque likeness to a +man; but subsequently he becomes anthropomorphized, and is fitted out +with a sheaf of legends which describe his earthly acts.[87] And so +with Krishna. As the chief god, identified with the All-god, he is +later made the object of encomiums which degrade while they are meant +to exalt him. He becomes a cow-boy and acts like one, a god in a mask. +But in the epic he is the invading tribe's chief god, in process of +becoming identified with that god in the Brahmanic pantheon who most +resembles him. For this tribe, the (Yadavas) P[=a]ndavas, succeeded in +overthrowing the Brahmanic stronghold and became absorbed into the +Brahmanic circle. Their god, who, like most of the supreme gods of +this region among the wild tribes, was the tribal hero as sun-god, +became recognized by the priests as one with Vishnu. In the Upanishad +the priest-philosopher identifies Krishna with the sun as the 'dark +side' (_k[r.][s.][n.]a_, 'dark') of Vishnu, the native name probably +being near enough to the Sanskrit word to be represented by it. The +statement that this clan-god Krishna once learned the great truth that +the sun is the All-god, at the mouth of a Brahman, is what might be +expected. 'Krishna, the son of Devaki,' is not only the god, but he is +also the progenitor of the clan, the mystic forefather, who as usual +is deified as the sun. To the priest he is merely an _avatar_ of +Vishnu. The identity of Krishna with the Gangetic god described by +Megasthenes can scarcely be disputed. The latter as represented by the +Greek is too great a god to have passed away without a sign except for +a foreigner's account. And there is no figure like his except that of +Krishna. + +The numerous _avatars_[88] of Vishnu are first given as ten, then as +twenty, then as twenty-two,[89] and at last become innumerable. The +ten, which are those usually referred to, are as follows: First come +the oldest, the beast-_avatars_, viz., as a fish; as a tortoise;[90] +as a boar (rescuing earth from a flood); and as a man-lion (slaying a +demon). Next comes the dwarf-_avatar_, where Vishnu cheats Bali of +earth by asking, as a dwarf, for three steps of it, and then stepping +out over all of it (the 'three strides' of the Rig Veda). Then come +the human _avatars_, that of Paraçu-R[=a]ma (R[=a]ma with the axe), +Krishna, R[=a]ma[91] (hero of the R[=a]m[=a]yana epic), Buddha, and +Kalki (who is still to come). + +The parallels between the latest Krishna cult and the Biblical +narrative are found only in the Pur[=a]nas and other late works, and +undoubtedly, as we have said in the last chapter, are borrowed from +Christian sources. Krishna is here born in a stable, his father, like +Joseph, going with his virgin spouse to pay taxes. His restoring of a +believing woman's son is narrated only in the modern J[=a]imini +Bh[=a]rata, These tales might have been received through the first +distant Christian mission in the South in the sixth century, but it is +more likely that they were brought directly to the North in the +seventh century; for at that time a Northern king of the V[=a]içya +caste, Çil[=a]ditya (in whose reign the Chinese pilgrim, Hiouen +Thsang, visited India), made Syrian Christians welcome to his court +(639 A.D.).[92] The date of the annual Krishna festival, which is a +reflex of Christmastide, is variously fixed by the Pur[=a]nas as +coming in July or August.[93] + +As Krishna is an _avatar_ of Vishnu[94] in the Bh[=a]rata, and as the +axe-R[=a]ma is another _avatar_ in legend (here Vishnu in the form of +Paraçu-R[=a]ma raises up the priestly caste, and destroys the +warrior-caste), so in the R[=a]m[=a]yana the hero R[=a]ma (not +Paraçu-R[=a]ma) is made an _avatar_ of Vishnu. He is a mythical prince +of Oude (hence a close connection between the R[=a]m[=a]yana +and Buddhism), who is identified with Vishnu. Vishnu wished to +rid earth of the giant R[=a]vana,[95] and to do so took the form of +R[=a]ma. As Krishnaism has given rise to a number of sects that +worship Krishna as Vishnu, so Ramaism is the modern cult of R[=a]ma as +Vishnu. Both of these sects oppose the Vishnuite that is not inclined +to be sectarian; all three oppose the Çivaite; and all four of these +oppose the orthodox Brahman, who assigns supreme godship to Çiva or +Vishnu as little as does the devotee of these gods in unsectarian form +to Krishna or R[=a]ma. + +Çiva is on all sides opposed to Vishnu. The Greek account of the third +century B.C. says that he taught the Hindus to dance the kordax, but +at this time there appears to have been no such phallic worship in his +honor as is recorded in the pseudo-epic. Çiva is known in early +Brahmanic and in Buddhistic writings, and even as the +bearer-of-the-moon, Candraçekhara, he contrasts with Vishnu, as his +lightning-form and mountain-habitat differ from the sun-form and +valley-home of his rival. This dire god is conceived of as ascetic +partly because he is gruesome, partly because he is magical in power. +Hence he is the true type of the awful magical Yogi, and as such +appealed to the Brahman. Originally he is only a fearful magical god, +great, and even all-pervading, but, as seen in the Brahmanic +Çatarudriya hymn, he is at first in no sense a pantheistic deity. In +this hymn there is a significant addition made to the earlier version. +In the first form of the hymn it is said that Rudra, who is here Çiva, +is the god of bucolic people; but the new version adds 'and of all +people.' Here Çiva appears as a wild, diabolical figure, 'the god of +incantations,' whose dart is death; and half of the hymn is taken up +with entreaties to the god to spare the speaker. He is praised, in +conjunction with trees, of which he is the lord, as the one 'clad in +skins,' the 'lord of cattle,' the 'lord of paths,' the 'cheater,' the +'deceiver.' When he is next clearly seen, in the epic, he is the god +to whom are offered human sacrifices, and his special claim to worship +is the phallus; while the intermediate literature shows glimpses of +him only in his simple Brahmanic form of terror. It has long been +known that Çivaite phallic worship was not borrowed from the +Southerners, as was once imagined, and we venture with some scholars +to believe that it was due rather to late Greek influence than to that +of any native wild tribe.[96] + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Parts of the epic are called Pur[=a]nas, as + other parts are called Upanishads. These are the forerunners + of the extant Pur[=a]nas. The name, indeed, is even older + than the epic, belonging to the late Vedic period, where are + grouped together Pur[=a]nas and Itih[=a]sas, 'Ancient + History' and 'Stories'; to which are added 'Eulogies.' Weber + has long since pointed out that even when the 'deeds of + kings' were sung at a ceremony they were wont to be so + embroidered as to be dubbed 'fiction' by the Hindus + themselves. India has neither literary history (save what + can be gleaned from genealogies of doubtful worth), nor very + early inscriptions. The 'archaeology' of the Pur[=a]nas was + probably always what it is in the extant specimens, + legendary material of no direct historical value.] + + [Footnote 2: Strictly speaking to the present + Allah[=a]b[=a]d, where is the Pray[=a]ga, or confluence of + Yamun[=a] and Gang[=a] (Jumna and Ganges).] + + [Footnote 3: M[=a]gadha; called Beh[=a]r from its many + monasteries, _vih[=a]ras_, in Açoka's time.] + + [Footnote 4: So, plausibly, Müller, _loc. cit_. below.] + + [Footnote 5: The tribes became Hinduized, their chiefs became + R[=a]jputs; their religions doubtless affected the ritual + and creed of the civilized as much as the religion of the + latter colored their own. Some of these un-Aryan peoples + were probably part native, part barbaric. There is much + doubt in regard to the dates that depend on accepted eras. + It is not certain, for instance, that, as Müller claims, + Kanishka's inauguration coincides with the Çaka era, 78 A.D. + A great Buddhist council was held under him. Some + distinguished scholars still think with Bühler that + Vikram[=a]ditya's inauguration was 57 B.C. (this date that + used to be assigned to him). From our present point of view + it is of little consequence when this king himself lived. He + is renowned as patron of arts and as a conqueror of the + barbarians. If he lived in the first century B.C. his + conquest amounted to nothing permanent. What is important, + however, is that all Vikram[=a]ditya stands for in legend + must have been in the sixth century A.D. For the drama, of + which he is said to have been patron, represents a religion + distinctly later than that of the body of the epic + (completed in the sixth or seventh century, Bühler, _Indian + Studies_, No. ii.). The dramatic and astronomical era was + but introductory to Kum[=a]rila's reassertion of Brahmanism + in the seventh century, when the Northern barbarian was + gone, and the Mohammedan was not yet rampant. In the rest of + Northern India there were several native dynasties in + different quarters, with different eras; one in Sur[=a]shtra + (Gujar[=a]t), one again in the 'middle district' or 'North + Western Provinces,' one in Kutch; overthrown by Northern + barbarians (in the fifth century) and by the Mohammedans (in + the seventh and eighth centuries), respectively. Of these + the Guptas of the 'middle district,' and the Valabh[=i]s of + Kutch, had neither of the eras just mentioned. The former + dated from 320-321 (perhaps 319), the latter from 190 + (A.D.). The word _samvat_, 'year,' indicates that the time + is dated from either the Çaka or Vikram[=a]ditya era. See + IA. xvii. 362; Fergusson, JRAS. xii. 259; Müller, _India, + What Can It Teach Us_? p. 282; Kielhorn, IA. xix. _24;_ + xxii. 111. The Northern barbarians are called Scythians, or + Huns, or Turanians, according to fancy. No one really knows + what they were.] + + [Footnote 6: The first host was expelled by the Hindus in + 750. After a period of rest Mahmud was crowned in 997, who + overran India more than a dozen times. In the following + centuries the land was conquered and the people crushed by + the second great Mohammedan, Ghori, who died in 1206, + leaving his kingdom to a vassal, Kutab, the 'slave sultan' + of Delhi. In 1294, thus slave dynasty having been recently + supplanted, the new successor to the throne was slain by his + own nephew, Allah-ud-din, who is reckoned as the third + Mohammedan conqueror of India. His successor swept even the + Dekhan of all its Hindu (temple) wealth; but his empire + finally broke down under its own size; preparing the way for + Timur (Tamerlane), who entered India in 1398.] + + [Footnote 7: Çankara himself was not a pure Brahman. Both + Vishnuites and Çivaites lay claim to him.] + + [Footnote 8: Coy as was the Brahman in the adoption of the + new gods he was wise enough to give them some place in his + pantheon, or he would have offended his laity. Thus he + recognizes K[=a]l[=i] as well as Çr[=i]; in fact he prefers + to recognize the female divinities of the sects, for they + offer less rivalry.] + + [Footnote 9: There was a general revival of letters + antedating the Brahmanic theological revival. The drama, + which reflects equally Hinduism and Brahmanism, is now the + favorite light literature of the cultured. In the sixth + century the first astronomical works are written + (Var[=a]hamihira, who wrote the _B[r.]hat Sa[.m]hit[=a]_), + and the group of writers called the Nine Gems (reckoned of + Vikram[=a]ditya's court) are to be referred to this time. + The best known among them is K[=a]lid[=a]sa, author of the + _Çakuntal[=a]_. An account of this Renaissance, as he calls + it, will be found in Müller's _India, What Can It Teach Us_? + The learned author is perhaps a little too sweeping in his + conclusions. It is, for instance, tolerably certain that the + Bh[=a]rata was completed by the time the 'Renaissance' + began; so that there is no such complete blank as he assumes + prior to Vikram[=a]ditya. But the general state of affairs + is such as is depicted in the ingenious article referred to. + The sixth and seventh centuries were eras that introduced + modern literature under liberal native princes, who were + sometimes not R[=a]jputs at all. Roughly speaking, one may + reckon from 500 B.C. to the Christian era as a period of + Buddhistic control, Graeco-Bactrian invasion, and Brahmanic + decline. The first five centuries after the Christian see + the two religions in a state of equilibrium, under Scythian + control, and the Mah[=a]-Bh[=a]rata, the expanded + Bh[=a]rata, is written. From 500 to 1000 is an era of native + rulers, Brahmanic revival in its pure form, and Hindu + growth, with little trouble from the Mohammedans. Then for + five centuries the horrors of Moslem conquest.] + + [Footnote 10: Har. 10,662. Compare the laudation of 'the two + gods' in the same section.] + + [Footnote 11: As the Jains have Angas and Up[=a]ngas, and as + the pseudo-epic distinguishes Nishads and Upanishads, so the + Brahman has Pur[=a]nas and Upapur[=a]nas (K[=u]rma + Pur[=a]na, i. p. 3). Some of the sects acknowledge only six + Pur[=a]nas as orthodox.] + + [Footnote 12: As an example of a Puranic Smriti (legal) we + may cite the trash published as the + V[r.]ddha-H[=a]rita-Sa[.m]hit[=a]. Here there is polemic + against Çiva; one must worship Jagann[=a]th with flowers, + and every one must be branded with the Vishnu disc + (_cakra_). Even women and slaves are to use _mantras_, etc.] + + [Footnote 13: The lateness of this law-book is evident from + its advocacy of _suttee_ (XXV. 14), its preference for + female ancestors (see below), etc.] + + [Footnote 14: Manu, III. 89; XII. 121.] + + [Footnote 15: As, for example, in K[=u]rma Pur[=a]na, XVI. + p. 186, where is found a common epic verse description of + battle.] + + [Footnote 16: A good instance of this is found in Brihan + N[=a]rad[=i]ya Pur[=a]na, X., where the _churik[=a]_ and + _drugha[n.]a_ (24) appear in an imitative scene of this + sort; one of these being later, the other earlier, than the + epic vocabulary.] + + [Footnote 17: Perhaps the most striking distinction between + Vedic and Puranic, or one may say, Indic Aryan and Hindu + religions, is the emphasis laid in the former upon Right; in + the latter, upon idols. The Vedic religion insists upon the + law of right (order), that is, the sacrifice; but it insists + also upon right as rectitude, truth, holiness. Puranic + Hinduism insists upon its idols; only incidentally does it + recommend rectitude, truth, abstract holiness.] + + [Footnote 18: KP. i. p. 29.] + + [Footnote 19: K[=u]rma, xii. p. 102. Contrast _ib_. xxii. p. + 245, _caturvy[=u]hadhara Vishnur avy[=u]has procyate_ + (elsewhere _navavy[=u]ha_). Philosophically, in the doctrine + of the epic P[=a]ñcar[=a]tras (still held by some + sectaries), Vishnu is to be revered as Krishna, Balar[=a]ma, + Pradymana, Aniruddha (Krishna's brother, son, and grandson), + representing, respectively, _[=a]tm[=a], j[=i]va,_ supreme + and individual spirit, perception, and consciousness. + Compare Mbh[=a]. xii. 340. 8, 72.] + + [Footnote 20: KP. xxi. p. 236; xxii. p. 238, etc.] + + [Footnote 21: _ib._ I, p. 23.] + + [Footnote 22: Compare Brihan N[=a]radiya Pur[=a]na, xiv. 10, + _bah[=u]ni k[=a][s.][t.]hay[=a]ntr[=a][n.]i_ (torture + machines) in hell. The old tale of N[=a]çiketas is retold at + great length in the Var[=a]ha Pur[a=]na. The oldest + Pur[=a]na, the M[=a]rkandeya, has but seven hells, a + conception older than Manu's twenty-one (compare on MP. x. + 80 ff., Scherman, _loc. cit_. p. 33), or the later lists of + thousands. The Padma Pur[=a]na, with celebrates R[=a]ma, has + also seven hells, and is in part old, for it especially + extols Pushkara (Brahm[=a]'s lone shrine); but it recommends + the _taptamudra_, or branding with hot iron.] + + [Footnote 23: Nar. xiv. 2.] + + [Footnote 24: xiv. 54 and 70.] + + [Footnote 25: KP. xxii. pp, 239-241.] + + [Footnote 26: As will be shown below, it is possible that + this may be a ceremony first taken from the wild tribes. See + the 'pole' rite described above in the epic.] + + [Footnote 27: Compare for instance _ib_. xxviii. 68, on the + strange connection of a Ç[=u]dr[=a] wife of a Guru.] + + [Footnote 28: KP. xxxvi. It is of course impossible to say + how much epic materials come from the literary epic and how + much is drawn from popular poetry, for the vulgar had their + own epoidic songs which may have treated of the same topics. + Thus even a wild tribe (Gonds) is credited with an 'epic.' + But such stuff was probably as worthless as are the popular + songs of today.] + + [Footnote 29: KP. xxx. p. 305; xxxvii. p. 352.] + + [Footnote 30: _ib._ p. 355.] + + [Footnote 31: Compare N[=a]rad[=i]ya, xi. 23,27,31 'the one + whom no one knows,' 'he that rests in the heart,' 'he that + seems to be far off because we do not know,' 'he whose form + is Çiva, lauded by Vishnu,' xiii. 201.] + + [Footnote 32: Even Vishnu as a part of a part of the Supreme + Spirit in VP. is indicated by Vishnu's adoration of + _[=a]tm[=a]_ in the epic (see above).] + + [Footnote 33: Compare Williams' _Brahmanism and Hinduism_.] + + [Footnote 34: Çankara's adherents are chiefly Çivaite, but + he himself was not a sectary. Williams says that at the + present day few worship Çiva exclusively, but he has more + partial adherents than has Vishnu. _Religious Thought and + Life,_ pp. 59, 62.] + + [Footnote 35: The two last are just recognized in Brahmanic + legal works.] + + [Footnote 36: See Wilson's sketch of Hindu sects. The author + says that there were in his day two shrines to Brahm[=a], + one in [=A]jm[=i]r (compare Pushkara in the epic), and one + on the Ganges at Bithur. The Brahma Pur[=a]na is known also + as S[=a]ura (sun). This is the first in the list; in its + present state it is Vishnuite.] + + [Footnote 37: Sun-worship (Iranian?) is especially + pronounced in the Bhav[=i]shya(t) Pur[=a]na. Of the other + Pur[=a]nas the L[=i]nga is especially Çivaite (_linga_ is + phallus), as are the Matsya and older V[=a]yu. Sometimes + Çiva is androgynous, _ardhan[=a]r[=i]çvara_, 'half-female.' + But most of the Pur[=a]nas are Vishnuite.] + + [Footnote 38: On the Ganeça Pur[=a]na see JRAS. 1846, p. + 319.] + + [Footnote 39: The worshippers of Bhagavat were originally + distinct from the P[=a]ñcar[=a]tras, but what was the + difference between them is unknown. The sect of this name in + the pseudo-epic is not Ç[=a]kta in expression but only + monotheistic. Probably the names of many sects are retained + with altered beliefs and practices. The Vishnu Pur[=a]na, i. + 11. 54, gives a model prayer which may be taken once for all + as the attitude of the Vishnuite: "Glory to V[=a]sudeva, him + of perfected wisdom, whose unrevealed form is (known as) + Brahm[=a], Vishnu, and Çiva" (Hira[n.]yagarbha, Purusha, + Pradh[=a]na).] + + [Footnote 40: Weber shows for instance, _loc. cit_., that + Indra takes the place of older Varuna; that the house-priest + yields to the Brahm[=a]; that in this feast in honor of the + king he] + + [Footnote 41: Gover, JRAS. v. 91; IA. xx. 430.] + + [Footnote 42: In Hinduism itself there is a striking example + of this. The Jagann[=a]th ('Juggernaut') temple was once + dedicated to Buddha as _loka-n[=a]th_ or _jagan-n[=a]th_, + 'saviour of the world' Name, temple, and idol-car are now + all Vishnu's!] + + [Footnote 43: That is, Rain and Sun, for all Indra's warlike + qualities are forgotten, absorbed into those of Çiva and his + son, the battle-god. The sun crosses the equator at noon of + the second day, the 'Mah[=a] Pongol.'] + + [Footnote 44: "Now every neck is bent, for the surface of + the waters disturbed. Then with a heave, a hiss, and a surge + of bubbles, the seething milk mounts to the top of the + vessel. Before it has had time to run down the blackened + sides, the air resounds with the sudden joyous cry of + 'Pongol, oh Pongol, S[=u]rya, S[=u]rya, oh Pongol,' The word + Pongol means "boiling," from the Tamil word _pongu_, to + boil; so that the joyous shout is, 'It boils, oh S[=u]rya, + it boils.' In a moment a convulsion of greetings animates + the assembly. Every one seizes his neighbor and asks, 'Has + it boiled?' Both faces gleam with delight as the answer + comes--'It has boiled.' Then both shout at the top of their + voices--'Oh Pongol, Pongol, oh S[=u]rya, oh Indra, Pongol, + Pongol.'" Gorer, _loc. cit_.] + + [Footnote 45: The Crocodile, _makara_, like the parrot, is + sacred to K[=a]madeva, Love. But as Ganges also is holy it + is difficult to say for which divinity the offering was + intended. Some, indeed, interpret _makara_ as dolphin.] + + [Footnote 46: A feast now neglected, though kept up by + strict Brahmans, occurs on or about the 20th January. The + orthodox adherents of the Çivaite sects and Ç[=a]ktas also + observe it. It is a Çr[=a]ddha, or funeral feast to the + Manes. Also on the 26th and 30th January there are rites + nearly obsolete, the first being signalized by offerings to + Yama; the second, a Çivaite feast (to his spouse, as 'giver + of bridegrooms'). The list is more celebrated in the South + than in the North. It is interesting chiefly as a parallel + to St. Valentine's day, or, as Wilson says, the nearer feast + of St. Agnes (21st January) on the eve of which divination + is practiced to discover future husbands. It is this time + also that the Greeks call 'marriage-month' (Gamelion); and + the fourth day from the new moon (which gives the name to + this Hindu festival, _caturth[=i]_, "fourth day") is the day + when Hesiod recommends the bringing home of the bride.] + + [Footnote 47: In case any writing has to be done on this day + it is done with chalk, not with the pens, "which have a + complete holiday" (Wilson).] + + [Footnote 48: The invocations show very well how the worship + of Brahm[=a] has been driven out in honor of his more + powerful rivals. For Sarasvat[=i] is invoked first as "Thou + without whom Brahm[=a] never lives"; but again as "Thou of + eight forms, Lakshm[=i], Medh[=a], Dhav[=a], Pusht[=i], + G[=a]ur[=i], Tusht[=i], Prabh[=a], Dhriti, O Sarasvat[=i]." + The great festivals, like the great temples, are not very + stricly sectarian. Williams says that in Çiva's temple in + Benares are kept monkeys (sacred to Vishnu).] + + [Footnote 49: Between this and the last occur minor + holidays, one to avert small-pox; one (February the 4th) + sacred to the sun (Sunday, the seventh day of each lunar + fortnight, is strictly observed); and one to the Manes.] + + [Footnote 50: Fasting is not necessarily a part of civilized + religion alone. It is found in the Brahmanic and Hindu + cults, but it obtains also among the American Indians. Thus + the Dacotahs fast for two or three days at the worship of + sun and moon. Schoolcraft, _Histor. and Statist_., iii. + 227.] + + [Footnote 51: The last clause (meaning 'common historical + origin') were better omitted.] + + [Footnote 52: Except the mystic syllable _[=O]m_, supposed + to represent the trinity (_[=O]m_ is _a, u, m_), though + probably it was originally only an exclamation.] + + [Footnote 53: A small Vishnu festival in honor of Vishnu as + 'man-lion' (one of his ten _avatars_) is celebrated on the + 13th of March; but in Bengal in honor of the same god as a + cow-boy. On the 15th of March there is another minor + festival in Bengal, but it is to Çiva, or rather to one of + his hosts, under the form of a water pot (that is to + preserve from disease).] + + [Footnote 54: The bonfire is made of fences, door posts, + furniture, etc. Nothing once seized and devoted to the fire + may be reclaimed, but the owner may defend his property if + he can. Part of the horse-play at this time consists in + leaping over the fire, which is also ritualistic with same + of the hill-tribes.] + + [Footnote 55: Compare the Nautch dances on R[=a]macandra's + birthday. Religious dances, generally indecent, are also a + prominent feature of the religions of the wild tribes (as + among American and African savages, Greeks, etc., etc.).] + + [Footnote 56: The 'Easter bonnet' in Indic form.] + + [Footnote 57: In sober contrast stands the yearly orthodox + Çráddha celebration (August-September), though Brahmans join + in sectarian fêtes.] + + [Footnote 58: Wilson draws an elaborate parallel between the + Hol[=i] and the Lupercalia, etc. (Carnival). But the points + of contact are obvious. One of the customs of the Hol[=i] + celebration is an exact reproduction of April-Fool's day. + Making "Hol[=i] fools" is to send people on useless errands, + etc. (Festum Stultorum, at the Vernal Equinos, transferred + by the Church to the first of November, "Innocents' Day").] + + [Footnote 59: Stevenson, JRAS. 1841, p. 239; Williams, + _loc. cit._; Wilkins, _Modern Hinduism_, ch. III.] + + [Footnote 60: The daily service consists in dressing, + bathing, feeding, etc It is divided into eight ridiculous + ceremonies, which prolong the worship through the day.] + + [Footnote 61: The brilliant displays attracted the notice of + the Greeks, who speak of the tame tigers and panthers, the + artificial trees carried in wagons, the singing, + instrumental music, and noise, which signalized a fête + procession. See Williams, _loc. cit_.] + + [Footnote 62: Such, for instance, is the most holy temple of + South India, the great temple of Çr[=i]rangam at + Trichinopoly. The idol car, gilded and gaudy, is carved with + obscenity; the walls and ceilings are frescoed with + bestiality. It represents Vishnu's heaven.] + + [Footnote 63: From this name or title comes the Gita + Govinda, a mystic erotic poem (in praise of the cow-boy god) + exaltedly religious as it is sensual (twelfth century).] + + [Footnote 64: VP.l. 2. 63. The 'qualities' or 'conditions' + of God's being are referred to by 'goodness' and + 'darkness.'] + + [Footnote 65: All this erotic vulgarity is typical of the + common poetry of the people, and is in marked contrast to + the chivalrous, but not love-sick, Bh[=a]rata.] + + [Footnote 66: Compare Duncker, LII^5. p. 327, More doubtful + is the identification of Nysian and Nish[=a]dan, _ib_. note. + Compare, also, Schroeder, _loc. cit._ p. 361. Arrian calls + (Çiva) Dionysos the _[Greek: oitou dotêra Iudêis]_ + (Schwanbeck, Fig. 1.).] + + [Footnote 67: This remains always as Çiva's heaven in + distinction from Goloka or V[=a]ikuntha, Vishnu's heaven. + Nowadays Benares is the chief seat of Çivaism.] + + [Footnote 68: The doctrine of the immaculate conception, + common to Vishnuism and Buddhism (above, p.431), can have no + exact parallel in Çivaism, for Çiva is not born as a child; + but it seems to be reflected in the laughable ascription of + virginity to Um[=a] (Civa's wife), when she is revered as + the emblem of motherhood.] + + [Footnote 69: In RV. v. 41. 4, the Vedic triad is Fire, + Wind, and (Tr[=i]ta of the sky) Indra; elsewhere Fire, Wind, + and Sun (above, p. 42), distinct from the triune fire.] + + [Footnote 70: In the Rig Veda the three steps are never thus + described, but in the later age this view is common. It is, + in fact, only on the 'three steps' that the identity with + the sun is established. In RV. 1. 156. 4, Vishnu is already + above Varuna.] + + [Footnote 71: Çat. Br. xiv. 1. 1. 5.] + + [Footnote 72: For other versions see Mulr, _Original + Sanskrit Texts_, iv. p. 127 ff.] + + [Footnote 73: Later interpreted as wives or eyes.] + + [Footnote 74: For an epic guess at the significance of the + title _n[=i]laka[n.][t.]ha_, 'blue-throated,' see Mbh[=a] i. + 18. 43.] + + [Footnote 75: AV. iv. 28; viii. 2; xi. 2. Thus even in the + Rig Veda pairs of gods are frequently besung as one, as if + they were divinities not only homogeneous but even + monothelous.] + + [Footnote 76: Brahm[=a]'s mark in the lotus; Vishnu's, the + discus (sun); Çiva's, the Linga, phallic emblem.] + + [Footnote 77: The grim interpretation of later times makes + the cattle (to be sacrificed) _men_. The theological + interpretation is that Çiva is the lord of the spirit, which + is bound like a beast.] + + [Footnote 78: The commenter, horrified by the murder of the + Father-god, makes Rudra kill 'the sin'; but the original + shows that it is the Father-god who was shot by this god, + who chose as his reward the lordship over kine; and such + exaltation is not improbable (moreover, it is historical!). + The hunting of the Father-god by Rudra is pictured in the + stars (Orion), Ait. Br. iii. 33.] + + [Footnote 79: See Weber. _Ind. St._ ii. 37; Muir, iv. 403. + Çarva (Çaurva) is Avestan, but at the same time it is his + 'eastern' name, while Bhava is his western name. Çat. Br. i. + 7. 3. 8.] + + [Footnote 80: The epic (_loc. cit_. above), the Pur[=a]nas, + and the very late Atharva Çiras Upanishad and M[=a]itr. Up. + (much interpolated). Compare Muir, _loc. cit_. pp. 362-3.] + + [Footnote 81: According to the epic, men honor gods that + kill, Indra, Rudra, and so forth; not gods that are passive, + such as Brahm[=a], the Creator, and P[=u]shan (xii. 15. 18), + _ya eva dev[=a] hant[=a]ras t[=a]l loko 'rcayate + bh[=r.]ça[=.m], na Brahm[=a][n.]am_.] + + [Footnote 82: Barth seems to imply that Harihara (the name) + is later than the _trim[=u]rti_ (p. 185), but he has to + reject the passage in the Hari-va[.n]ça to prove this. On + Ayen[=a]r, a southern god said to be Hari-Hara + (Vishnu-Çiva), see Williams, _loc. cit_.] + + [Footnote 83: RV. viii. 6. 30; 1. 50. 10. Weber refers + Krishna further back to a priestly Vedic poet of that name, + to whom are attributed hymns of the eighth and tenth books + of the Rig Veda (_Janm[=a][s.][t.]am[=i]_, p. 316). He + interprets Krishna's mother's name, Devak[=i], as 'player' + _(ib)_ But the change of name in a Vedic hymn has no special + significance. The name Devak[=i] is found applied to other + persons, and its etymology is rather _deva_, divine, as + Weber now admits (Berl. Ak. 1890, p. 931).] + + [Footnote 84: In the epic, also, kings become hermits, and + perform great penance just as do the ascetic priests. + Compare the heroes themselves, and i. 42. 23 _raja + mah[=a]tap[=a]s_; also ii. 19, where a king renounces his + throne, and with his two wives becomes a hermit in the + woods. In i. 41. 31 a king is said to be equal to ten + priests!] + + [Footnote 85: In fact, the daily repetition of the + S[=a]vitr[=i] is a tacit admission of the sun god as the + highest type of the divine; and Vishnu is the most + spiritualized form of the sun-god, representing even in the + Rig-Veda the goal of the departing spirit.] + + [Footnote 86: Skanda (Subrahmanya) and Ganeça are Çiva's two + sons, corresponding to Krishna and R[=a]ma. Skanda's own son + is Viç[=a]kha, a _graha_ (above, p. 415).] + + [Footnote 87: Çiva at the present day, for instance, is + represented now and then as a man, and he is incarnate as + V[=i]rabhadra. But all this is modern, and contrasts with + the older conception. It is only in recent times, in the + South, that he is provided with an earthly history. Compare + Williams, _Thought and Life,_ p. 47.] + + [Footnote 88: _Ava-t[=a]ra_, 'descent,' from _ava_, 'down,' + and _tar_, 'pass' (as in Latin in-_trare_).] + + [Footnote 89: In the _Bh[=a]gavata Pur[=a]na_.] + + [Footnote 90: The tortoise _avatar_ had a famous temple two + centuries ago, where a stone tortoise received prayer. How + much totemism lies in these _avatars_ it is guess-work to + say.] + + [Footnote 91: Balar[=a]ma (or Baladeva), Krishna's elder + brother, is to be distinguished from R[=a]ma. The former is + a late addition to the Krishna-cult, and belongs with Nanda, + his reputed father. Like Krishna, the name is also that of a + snake, Naga, and it is not impossible that Naga worship may + be the foundation of the Krishna-cult, but it would be hard + to reconcile this with tradition. In the sixth century + Var[=a]hamihira recognizes both the brothers.] + + [Footnote 92: Edkins, cited by Müller, _India_, p. 286.] + + [Footnote 93: Weber, _Janm[=a][s.][t.]am[=i]_, pp. 259, 318. + Weber describes in full the cult of the "Madonna with the + Child," according to the Pur[=a]nas.] + + [Footnote 94: On the subsequent deification of the Pandus + themselves see 1A. VII. 127.] + + [Footnote 95: Hence the similarity with Herakles, with whom + Megasthenes identifies him. The man-lion and hero-forms are + taken to rid earth of monsters.] + + [Footnote 96: Greek influence is clearly reflected in + India's architecture. Hellenic bas-reliefs representing + Bacchic scenes and the love-god are occasionally found. + Compare the description of Çiva's temple in Orissa, Weber, + _Literature_, p. 368; _Berl. Ak._, 1890, p, 912. Çiva is + here associated with the Greek cult of Eros and Aphrodite.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +MODERN HINDU SECTS.[1] + + +Although the faith of India seems to have completed a circle, landing +at last in a polytheism as gross as was that of the Vedic age, yet is +this a delusive aspect, as will appear if one survey the course of the +higher intellectual life of the people, ignoring, as is right, the +invariable factor introduced by the base imaginings of the vulgar. The +greater spirituality has always expressed itself in independent +movement, and voiced itself in terms of revolution. But in reality +each change has been one of evolution. To trace back to the Vedic +period the origin of Hindu sectarianism would, indeed, be a nice task +for a fine scholar, but it would not be temerarious to attempt it. We +have failed of our purpose if we have not already impressed upon the +reader's mind the truth that the progress of Brahmanic theology (in +distinction from demonology) has been one journey, made with rests and +halts, it is true, and even with digressions from the straight path; +but without abatement of intent, and without permanent change of +direction. Nor can one judge otherwise even when he stands before so +humiliating an exhibition of groundling bigotry as is presented by +some of the religious sects of the present day. The world of lower +organisms survives the ascent of the higher. There is always +undergrowth; but before the fall of a great tree its seeds sprout, +withal in the very soil of the weedy thicket below. So out of +the rank garden of Hindu superstitions arise, one after another, lofty +trees of an old seed, which is ever renewed, and which cultivation has +gradually improved. + +We have shown, especially in the chapters on the Atharva Veda and on +Hinduism, as revealed in epic poetry, how constant in India is the +relation between these two growths. If surprised at the height of +early Hindu thought, one is yet more astonished at the permanence of +the inferior life which flourishes beneath the shady protection of the +superior. Even here one may follow the metaphor, for the humbler life +below is often a condition of the grander growth above. + +In the Rig Veda there is an hymn of faith and doubt + + To INDRA.[2] + + He who, just born, with thought endowed, the foremost, + Himself a god hemmed in the gods with power; + Before whose breath, and at whose manhood's greatness, + The two worlds trembled; he, ye folk, is Indra. + + He who the earth made firm as it was shaking, + And made repose the forward tottering mountains; + Who measured wide the inter-space aerial, + And heaven established; he, ye folk, is Indra. + + Who slew the dragon, loosed the rivers seven, + And drove from Vala's hiding place the cattle;[3] + Who fire between the two stones[4] hath engendered, + Conqueror in conflicts; he, ye folk, is Indra. + + Who all things here, things changeable, created; + Who lowered and put to naught the barbarous color,[5] + And, like victorious gambler, took as winnings + His foe's prosperity; he, ye folk, is Indra. + + Whom, awful, they (yet) ask about: 'where is he?' + And speak thus of him, saying, 'he exists not'-- + He makes like dice[6] his foe's prosperity vanish; + Believe on him; and he, ye folk, is Indra. + + In whose direction horses are and cattle; + In whose, the hosts (of war) and all the chariots; + Who hath both S[=u]rya and the Dawn engendered, + The Waters' leader; he, ye folk, is Indra. + + Both heaven and earth do bow themselves before him, + And at his breath the mountains are affrighted; + Who bolt in arms is seen, the _soma_-drinker, + And bolt in hand; ('tis) he, ye folk, is Indra. + + Who helps the _soma_-presser, (_soma_)-cooker, + The praiser (helps), and him that active serveth; + Of whom the increase _brahma_ is and _soma_, + And his this offering; he, ye folk, is Indra. + +Here _brahma_, which word already in the Yajur Veda has taken to +itself the later philosophical signification, is merely prayer, the +meaning which in the Rig Veda is universal. + +The note struck in this hymn is not unique: + + (THE POET.) + + Eager for booty proffer your laudation + To Indra; truth (is he),[7] if truth existeth; + 'Indra is not,' so speaketh this and that one; + 'Who him hath seen? To whom shall we give praises?' + + (THE GOD.) + + I am, O singer, he; look here upon me; + All creatures born do I surpass in greatness. + Me well-directed sacrifices nourish, + Destructive I destroy existent beings.[8] + +These are not pleas in behalf of a new god. It is not the mere god of +physical phenomena who is here doubted and defended. It is the god +that in the last stage of the Rig Veda is become the Creator and +Destroyer, and, in the light of a completed pantheism, is grown too +great to retain his personality. With such a protest begins the great +revolt that is the sign of an inner evolution extending through the +Br[=a]hmanas and Upanishads. Indra, like other gods,[9] is held by the +rite; to the vulgar he is still the great god;[10] to the philosopher, +a name. The populace respect him, and sacerdotalism conserves him, +that same crafty, priestly power, which already at the close of the +Rig Vedic period dares to say that only the king who is subject to the +priest is sure of himself, and a little later that killing a priest is +the only real murder. We have shown above how the real divinity of the +gods was diminished even at the hands of the priests that needed them +for the rites and baksheesh, which was the goal of their piety. Even +Praj[=a]pati, the Father-god, their own creation, is mortal as well as +immortal.[11] We have shown, also, how difficult it must have been to +release the reason from the formal band of the rite. Socially it was +impossible to do so. He that was not initiated was excommunicated, an +outcast. But, on the other hand, the great sacrifices gradually fell +over from their own weight. Cumbersome and costly, they were replaced +by proxy works of piety; _vidh[=a]nas_ were established that obviated +the real rite; just as to-day, 'pocket altars' take the place of real +altars.[12] There was a gradual intrusion of the Hindu cult; popular +features began to obtain; the sacrifice was made to embrace in its +workings the whole family of the sacrificer (instead of its effect +being confined to him alone, as was the earlier form); and finally +village celebrations became more general than those of the individual. +Slowly Hinduism built itself a ritual,[13] which overpowered the +Brahmanic rite. Then, again, behind the geographical advance of +Brahmanism[14] lay a people more and more prone to diverge from the +true cult (from the Brahmanic point of view). In the latter part of +the great Br[=a]hmana[15] there is already a distrust of the Indus +tribes, which marks the breaking up of Aryan unity; not that breaking +up into political division which is seen even in the Rig Veda, where +Aryan fights against Aryan as well as against the barbarian, but the +more serious dismemberment caused by the hates of priests, for here +there was no reconciliation. + +The cynical scepticism of the Brahmanic ritualists, as well as the +divergence of opinions in regard to this or that sacrificial +pettiness, shows that even where there was overt union there was +covert discord, the disagreement of schools, and the difference of +faith. But all this does but reflect the greater difference in +speculation and theology which was forming above the heads of the +ritualistic bigots. For it is not without reason that the Upanishads +are more or less awkwardly laid in as the top-stone on the liturgical +edifice. They belong to the time but they are of it only in part. Yet +to dissociate the mass of Brahmanic priestlings from the Upanishad +thinkers, as if the latter were altogether members of a new era, would +be to lose the true historical perspective. The vigor of protest +against the received belief continues from the Rig Veda to Buddha, +from Buddha till to-day. + +The Vedic cult absorbed a good deal of Hinduism, for instance the +worship of Fate,[16] just as Hinduism absorbed a good deal of Vedic +cult. Nor were the popular works obnoxious to the priest. In the +Ch[=a]ndogya Upanishad[17] the Itih[=a]sas and Pur[=a]nas +(fore-runners of the epic) are already reckoned as a fifth Veda, being +recognized as a Veda almost as soon as was the Atharvan,[18] which +even in Manu is still called merely 'texts of Atharvan and Angiras' +(where texts of Bhrigu might as well have been added). Just as the +latter work is formally recognized, and the use of its magical +formulas, if employed for a good purpose, is enjoined in epic[19] and +law (_e.g._ Manu, xi. 33), so the Hinduistic rites crept gradually +into the foreground, pushing back the _soma_-cult. Idols are formally +recognized as venerable by the law-makers;[20] even before their day +the 'holy pool,' which we have shown to be so important to Hinduism, +is accepted by Brahmanism.[21] Something, too, of the former's +catholicity is apparent in the cult at an early date, only to be +suppressed afterwards. Thus in [=A]it. Br. II. 19, the slave's son +shares the sacrifice; and the slave drinks _soma_ in one of the +half-Brahmanical, half-popular festivals.[22] Whether human sacrifice, +sanctioned by some modern sects, is aught but pure Hinduism, Çivaism, +as affected by the cult of the wild-tribes, it is hard to say. At any +rate, such sacrifices in the Brahmanic world were obsolete long before +one finds them in Hinduism. Of Buddhistic, Brahmanic, and Hinduistic +reciprocity we have spoken already, but we may add one curious fact, +namely, that the Buddhism of Çivaism is marked by its holy numbers. +The Brahmanic Rudra with eight names[23] and eight forms[24] is +clearly Çivaite, and the numbers are as clearly Buddhistic[25] Thus, +as Feer has shown, Buddhist hells are eight, sixteen, etc, while the +Brahmanic hells are seven, twenty-one, etc. Again, the use of the +rosary was originally Çivaite, not Buddhisttc;[26] and Buddha in Bali, +where they live amicably side by side, is regarded as Çiva's +brother.[27] + +Two things result from this interlocking of sectarian Brahmanism with +other sects. First, it is impossible to say in how far each influenced +the other; and, again, the antiquity of special ideas is rendered +doubtful. A Brahmanic idea can pretty safely be allotted to its first +period, because the literature is large enough to permit the +assumption that it will appear in literature not much later than it +obtains. But a sectarian idea may go back centuries before it is +permanently formulated, as, for example, the doctrine of special grace +in a modern sect. + +One more point must be noticed before we proceed to review the sects +of to-day. Hindu morality, the ethical tone of the modern sects, is +older than the special forms of Hindu viciousness which have been +received into the cult. A negative altruism (beyond which Brahmanism +never got) is characteristic of the Hindu sects. But this is already +embodied in the golden rule, as it is thus formulated in the epic +'Compendium of Duty': + + Not that to others should one do + Which he himself objecteth to. + This is man's duty in one word; + All other rules may be ignored.[28] + +The same is true of the 'Ten Commandments' of one of the modern sects. +It is one of the strong proofs that Christian morals did not have much +effect upon early Hinduism, that, although the Christian Church of St. +Thomas, as is well established, was in Malabar as early as 522,[29] +and Christians were in the North in the seventh century, yet no trace +of the active Christian benevolence, in place of this abstention from +injury, finds its way into the epic or Pur[=a]nas. But an active +altruism permeates Buddhism, and one reads in the birth-stories even +of a saviour Buddha, not the Buddha of love, M[=a]itreya, who was to +be the next Buddha on earth, but of that M[=a]itrakanyaka, who left +heaven and came to earth that he might redeem the sins of others.[30] + +Whether there is any special touch between the older sects and those +of modern days[31] that have their headquarters in the same districts +is a question which we have endeavored to investigate, but we have +found nothing to substantiate such an opinion. Buddhism retired, too +early to have influence on the sects of to-day, and between Jainism +and the same sects there does not seem to be any peculiar rapport even +where the sect is seated in a Jain stronghold.[35]] The Jains occupy, +generally speaking, the Northwest (and South), while the Buddhists +were located in the Northeast and South. So Çivaism may be loosely +located as popular in the Northeast and South, while Vishnuism has its +habitat rather in the jain centres of the Northwest (and South). + +We have mentioned in the preceding chapter the sects of a few +centuries ago, as these have been described in Brahmanic +literature.[33] The importance, and even the existence of some of the +sects, described in the _Conquest of Çankara_, has been questioned, +and the opinion has been expressed that, since they are described only +to be exposed as heretical, they may have been creations of fancy, +imaginary sects; the refutation of their principles being a _tour de +force_ on the part of the Brahmanic savant, who shows his acumen by +imagining a sect and then discountenancing it. It does not, indeed, +seem to us very probable that communities were ever formed as 'Agnis' +or 'Yamas,' etc, but on the other hand, we think it is more likely +that sects have gone to pieces without leaving any trace than that +those enumerated, explained, and criticised should have been mere +fancies.[46]] Moreover, in the case of some of these sects +there are still survivors, so that _a fortiori_ one may presume the +others to have existed also, if not as sects or communities, yet as +bodies professing faith in Indra or Yama, etc. The sects with which we +have to deal now are chiefly those of this century, but many of these +can claim a definite antiquity of several centuries at least. They +have been described by Wilson in his famous _Sketch_, and, in special +cases, more recently and more fully by Williams' and other writers. + + +THE ÇIVAITES. + +While the Vishnuites have a dualistic, as well as idealistic +background, they are at present Vedantic, and may be divided to-day +simply into intelligent and unintelligent adherents of pantheism, the +former comprising the R[=a]ma sects, and the latter most of the +Krishnaites. On the other hand, in Çivaism one must distinguish quite +sharply in time between the different sects that go by Çiva's name. If +one look at the sects of modern times he will find that the most +degraded are dualistic, in so far as they may be said to have any +philosophy, and that idealistic Çivaism is a remnant of the past. But +he will not find a pronounced sectarianism in any of these old +Vedantic aspects of Çivaism. On the contrary, wherever Çivaism is +pantheistic it is a Çivaism which obtains only in certain ancient +schools of philosophy; where it is monotheistic it is among leaders +who have been influenced by the modern teaching of Islam, and regard +Çiva merely as a name for the One God. It is necessary, therefore, as +it is everywhere in India, to draw as sharp a line as possible between +the beliefs of the vulgar and the learned. For from the earliest +period the former accepted perfunctorily the teaching of the latter, +but at heart and in cult they remained true to their own lights. + +The older S[=a]nkhya form of Çivaism was still found among the +P[=a]çupatas,'adherents of the Lord' (Paçupati) and Maheçvaras +('adherents of the great Lord'), who are mentioned in the epic and in +inscriptions of the fifth century. In the ninth century there was a +purely philosophical Çivaism which is Vedantic. But neither in the +fact (which is by no means a certainty) that Çankara accepted Çiva as +the name of the All-god, nor in the scholastic Çivaite philosophy of +Kashmeer, which in the next two centuries was developed into a purely +idealistic system at the hands of Abhinavagupta and Som[=a]nanda, is +there any trace of a popular religion. Çiva is here the pantheistic +god, but he is conceived as such only by a coterie of retired +schoolmen. On the other hand, the popular religions which spring up in +the twelfth century are, if Vedantic, chiefly Vishnuite, or, if +Çivaite, only nominally Vedantic. Thus what philosophy the Jangamas +professedly have is Vedantic, but in fact they are deistic (not +pantheistic) disciples of Çiva's priest, Basava (Sanskrit Vrishabha), +who taught Çiva-worship in its grossest form, the adoration of the +Linga (phallus); while his adherents, who are spread over all India +under the name of Jangamas, 'vagrants,' or Ling[=a]yits, +'phallus-wearers,' are idolatrous deists with but a tinge of Vedantic +mysticism. So in the case of the Tridandins, the Daçan[=a]mis, and +other sects attributed to Çivaism, as well as the Sm[=a]rtas (orthodox +Brahmans) who professed Çivaism. According to Wilson the Tridandins +(whose triple, _tri_, staff, _da[n.][d.]i_, indicates control of word, +thought, and deed) are Southern Vishnuites of the R[=a]m[=a]nuja sect, +though some of them claim to be Vedantic Çivaites. Nominally Çivaite +are also the Southern 'Saints,' Sittars (Sanskrit Siddhas), but these +are a modern sect whose religion has been taught them by Islam, or +possibly by Christianity.[36] The extreme North and South are the +districts where Çivaism as a popular religion has, or had, its firmest +hold, and it is for this reason that the higher religions which obtain +in these districts are given to Çiva. But in reality they simply take +Çiva, the great god of the neighborhood, in order to have a name for +their monotheistic god, exactly as missionaries among the American +Indians pray to the Great Spirit, to adapt themselves to their +audience's comprehension. In India, as in this country, they that +proselyte would prefer to use their own terminology, but they wisely +use that of their hearers. + +We find no evidence to prove that there were ever really sectarian +Çivaites who did not from the beginning practice brutal rites, or else +soon become ascetics of the lowest and most despicable sort. For +philosophical Çivaites were never sectaries. They cared little whether +the All-god or One they argued about was called Vishnu or Çiva. But +whenever one finds a true Çivaite devotee, that is, a man that will +not worship Vishnu but holds fast to Çiva as the only manifestation of +the supreme divinity, he will notice that such an one quickly becomes +obscene, brutal, prone to bloodshed, apt for any disgusting practice, +intellectually void, and morally beneath contempt. If the Çivaite be +an ascetic his asceticism will be the result either of his lack of +intelligence (as in the case of the sects to be described immediately) +or of his cunning, for he knows that there are plenty of people who +will save him the trouble of earning a living. Now this is not the +case with the Vishnuites. To be sure there are Vishnuites that are no +better than Çivaites, but there are also strict Vishnuites, +exclusively devotees of Vishnu, who are and remain pure, not brutal, +haters of bloodshed, apt for no disgusting practices, intellectually +admirable, and morally above reproach. In other words, there are +to-day great numbers of Vishnuites who continue to be really +Vishnuites, and yet are really intelligent and moral. This has never +been the case with real Çivaites. Again, as Willams[37] has pointed +out, Çivaism is a cheap religion; Krishnaism is costly. The Çivaite +needs for his cult only a phallus pebble, _bilva_ leaves and water. +The Krishnaite is expected to pay heavily for _leitourgiai_. But +Çivaism is cheap because Çivaites are poor, the dregs of society; it +is not adopted because it is cheap. + +We think, therefore, that to describe Çivaism as indifferently +pantheistic or dualistic, and to argue that it must have been +pantheistic a few centuries after the Christian era because Çiva at +that time in scholastic philosophy and among certain intellectual +sects was regarded as the one god, tends to obscure the historical +relation of the sects. Without further argumentation on this point, we +shall explain what in our view is necessary to a true understanding of +the mutual relations between Çivaites and Vishnuites in the past. + +Monotheism[38] and pantheism are respectively the religious expression +of the S[=a]nkhya and Ved[=a]nta systems of philosophy. Çivaism, +Krishnaism, and R[=a]maism are all originally deistic. Pure Çivaism +has remained so to this day, not only in all its popular sectarian +expressions, but also in the Brahmanic Çivaism of the early epic, and +in the Çivaism which expresses itself in the adoration-formulae of the +literature of the Renaissance. But there is a pseudo-Çivaism which +starts up from the ninth to the twelfth centuries, and tries to work +Çiva's name into a pantheistic system of philosophy. Every such +attempt, however, and all of them are the reflex of the growing +importance of Vedantic ideas, fails as such to produce a religion. If +the movement becomes popular and develops into a religious system for +the masses, it at once gives up Çiva and takes up Vishnu, or, keeping +Çiva, it drops pantheism and becomes a low form of sectarian ascetism. +Çivaism is, therefore, fundamentally non-Vedantic, and Unitarian.[39] + +On the other hand, while Krishnaism and Ramaism begin as deistic +(tribal) cults, they are soon absorbed into Brahmanic Vishnuism. Now +Vishnuism is essentially Brahmanistic, and the only orthodox +(Brahmanic) system is that which holds to the completion of Vedic +pantheism. The first systematic philosophy, however, was not orthodox. +It was the S[=a]nkhya, which peeps out in the dualism of the oldest +distinctly philosophical works, and lingers in the Puranic S[=a]nkhya. +The marks of this dualism we have shown in the Divine Song of the +epic. It is by means of it that Krishnaism as an expression of this +heterodox Vishnuism became possible. Vishnuism was soon rescued from +the dualists, and became again what it was originally, an expression +of pantheism. But Vishnu carried Krishna with him as his _alter ego_, +and in the epic the two are finally one All-god. Vedantic philosopliy +continued to present Vishnu rather than Çiva as its All-god, until +to-day Vishnuism is the sectarian aspect of the Ved[=a]nta system. But +with Vishnu have risen Krishna and R[=a]ma as still further types of +the All-god. Thus it is that Vishnuism, whether as Krishnaism or as +Ramaism, is to-day a pantheistic religion. But, while R[=a]ma is the +god of the philosophical sects, and, therefore, is almost entirely a +pantheistic god; Krishna, who was always a plebeian, is continually +reverting, so to speak, to himself; that is to say, he is more +affected by the vulgar, and as the vulgar are more prone, by whatever +sectarian name they call themselves, to worship one idol, it happens +that Krishna in the eyes of his following is less of a pantheistic god +than is R[=a]ma. Here again, therefore, it is necessary to draw the +line not so much between names of sects as between intelligent and +unintelligent people. For Krishnaism, despite all that has been done +for Krishna by the philosophers of his church, in this regard +resembles Çivaism, that it represents the religion of unintelligent +(though wealthy) classes, who revere Krishna as their one pet god, +without much more thought of his being an All-god _avatar_ than is +spent by the ordinary Çivaite on the purely nominal trinitarianism +which has been foisted upon Çiva. + +But we must now give an account of the low sectaries, the +miracle-mongers, jugglers,[40] and ascetic whimsicalities, which +together stand under the phallic standard of Çivaism. Ancient and +recent observers enumerate a sad list of them. The devotees of the +'highest bird' are a low set of ascetics, who live on voluntary alms, +the result of their affectation of extreme penance. The +[=U]rdhvab[=a]hus, 'Up-arms,' raise their arms till they are unable to +lower them again. The [=A]k[=a]çamukhas, 'Sky-facers,' hold their +faces toward the sky till the muscles stiffen, and they live thus +always. The Nakhls, 'Nail' ascetics, allow their nails to grow through +their clenched hands, which unfits them for work (but they are all too +religiously lazy to work), and makes it necessary for the credulous +faithful to support them. Some of these, like the K[=a]naph[=a]ts, +'Ear-splitters,' who pierce the ear with heavy rings, have been +respectable Yogis in the past, but most of them have lost what sense +their philosophic founders attached to the sign, and keep only the +latter as their religion. Some, such as the [=U]kharas and +S[=u]kharas, appear to have no distinctive features, all of them being +the 'refuse of beggars' (Wilson). Others claim virtue on the strength +of nudity, and subdue their passions literally with lock and key. The +'Potmen,' the 'Skull-men,' G[=u]daras and K[=a]p[=a]likas, are +distinguished, as their names imply, only by their vessels. The +former, however, are the remnant of a once thoughtful sect known by +name since the sixth century, and K[=a]naph[=a]ts and K[=a]p[=a]likas +both show that very likely others among these wretches are but the +residue of ancient Çivaite sects, who began as philosophers (perhaps +Buddhists), and became only ascetic and thus degraded; for, Çiva +apparently has no power to make his worshippers better than himself, +and he is a dirty monster, now and then galvanized into the +resemblance of a decent god. + +There is a well-known verse, not in Manu, but attributed to him (and +for that reason quite a modern forgery),[41] which declares that +Çambhu (Çiva) is the god of priests; Vishnu, the god of warriors; +Brahm[=a], the god of the V[=a]içyas (farmers and traders); and +Ganeça, the god of slaves. It is, on the contrary, Çiva himself, not +his son Ganeça, who is the 'god of low people' in the early +literature. It is he who 'destroys sacrifice,' and is anything but a +god of priests till he is carefully made over by the latter. Nowadays +some Brahmans profess the Çivaite faith, but they are Vishnuite if +really sectarian. + + +No Brahman, for instance, will serve at a Çiva shrine, except possibly +at Benares, where among more than an hundred shrines to Çiva and his +family, Vishnu has but one; and though he will occasionally perform +service even in a heretic Jain temple he will not lower himself to +worship the Linga. Nor is it true that Çiva is a patron of literature. +Like Ganeça, his son, Çiva may upset everything if he be not properly +placated, and consequently there is, at the beginning of every +enterprise (among others, literary enterprises) in the Renaissance +literature, but never in the works of religion or law or in any but +modern profane literature, an invocation to Çiva. But he is no more a +patron of literature than is Ganeça, or in other words, Çivaism is not +more literary than is Ganeçaism. In a literary country no religion is +so illiterate as Çivaism, no writings are so inane as are those in his +honor. There is no poem, no religious literary monument, no Pur[=a]na +even, dedicated to Çiva, that has any literary merit. All that is +readable in sectarian literature, the best Pur[=a]nas, the Divine +Song, the sectarian R[=a]m[=a]yana, come from Vishnuism. Çivaism has +nothing to compare with this, except in the works of them that pretend +to be Çivaites but are really not sectaries, like the Sittars and the +author of the Çvet[=a]çvatara. Çiva as a 'patron of literature' takes +just the place taken by Ganeça in the present beginning of the +Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata. Vy[=a]sa has here composed the poem[42] but Ganeça +is invoked as Vighneça, 'Lord of difficulties,' to help the poet write +it out. Vy[=a]sa does the intellectual work and Ganeça performs the +manual labor. Vishnuism, in a word, is the only cultivated (native) +sectarian religion of India; and the orthodox cult, in that it is +Vedantic, lies nearer to Vishnuism than to Çivaism. Why then does one +find Çiva invoked by philosophy? Because monotheism in distinction +from pantheism was the belief of the wise in the first centuries after +the Christian era, till the genius of Çankara definitively raised +pantheism in alliance with orthodoxy to be the more esteemed; and +because Çiva alone, when the choice lay between him and Vishnu, could +be selected as the One God. For Vishnuism was now merged with +Krishnaism, a new vulgar cult, and Çiva was an old and venerated god, +long since a member of the Brahmanic pantheon. The connection between +Çivaism and the S[=a]nkhya system gave it a more respectable and +archaic appearance in the eyes of the conservative Brahman, while the +original asceticism of Çiva undoubtedly appealed much more to +Brahmanic feeling than did the sentimentalism of the Vishnuite. In the +extreme North, in the ninth century, philosophy and Çivaism are +nominally allied, but really sectarian Çivaism was the cult of the +lowest, not of the highest classes. Many of the professed Çivaites are +to-day tending to Vedantism, which is the proper philosophy of the +Vishnuite; and the Çivaite sects are waning before the Vishnuite +power, not only in the middle North, where the mass of the population +is devoted to Vishnu, but even in Çiva's later provinces in the +extreme South. The social distribution of the sectaries in the Middle +Ages was such that one may assign older Vishnuism to the middle +classes, and Çivaism to the highest on its philosophical and decently +ascetic side, but to the lowest on its phallic and magical side. + +But none of the Çivaite sects we have mentioned, imbecile as appear to +be the impostors that represent them, are equal in despicable traits +to the Ç[=a]ktas. These worshippers of the androgynous Çiva (or of +Çakti, the female principle alone), do, indeed, include some +Vishnuites among themselves, but they are originally and prevailingly +Çivaite.[43] Blood-offerings and human sacrifices are a modern and an +ancient Trait of Çiva-worship;[44] and the hill-tribes of the Vindhya +and the classical drama show that the cult of Aghor[=i] is a Çivaite +manifestation which is at once old and derived from un-Aryan sources. +Aghor[=i] and all female monsters naturally associate with Çiva, who +is their intellectual and moral counterpart. The older Aghoris exacted +human sacrifice in honor of Devi, P[=a]rvat[=i], the wife of Çiva.[2] +The adoration of the female side of a god is as old as the Rig Veda, +but Çivaism has combined this cult with features probably derived from +other independent local cults, such as that of P[=a]rvat[=i], the +'mountain goddess.' They are all united in the person of Çiva's wife +of many names, the 'great goddess,' Mah[=a]dev[=i], the 'hard' +Durg[=a], K[=a]l[=i], Um[=a], etc.[45] And it is to this ferocious +she-monster that the most abject homage of the Çivaites is paid. So +great is the terror inspired by Durg[=a] that they that are not +Çivaites at all yet join in her festival; for which purpose, +apparently, she is dubbed Vishnu's 'sister.' But it is not +blood-guiltiness alone which is laid at the door of this cult. The +sectarian religions have an exoteric and an esoteric side, the +religion of the 'right hand' and of the 'left hand.' It is the latter +(to which belong many that deny the fact) wherein centre the +abominations of Çivaism; in less degree, those of Vishnuism also. +Obscenity is the soul of this cult. Bestiality equalled only by the +orgies of the Indic savages among the hill-tribes is the form of this +'religion.'[47] It is screened by an Orphic philosophy, for is not +Nature or Illusion the female side of the Divine Male? It is screened +again by religious fervor, for it is pious profligacy that prompts the +rites. It is induced practically by an initial carousal and +drunkenness; and this is antique, for even the old _soma_-feasts were +to a great extent drunken revels, and the gods have got drunk from the +time of the Vedas[48] to do their greatest deeds. But in practice, +Çakti-worship, when unveiled, amounts to this, that men and women of +the same class and family indulge in a Bacchanalian orgy, and that, as +they proceed, they give themselves over to every excess which liquor +and lust can prompt. A description of the different rites would be to +reduplicate an account of indecencies, of which the least vile is too +esoteric to sketch faithfully. Vaguely to outline one such religious +festival will suffice. A naked woman, the wife of the chief priest, +sits in the middle of the 'holy circle.' She represents Durg[=a], the +divine female principle. The Bacchic orgy begins with hard drinking. +Çiva as Bh[=a]irava, 'the dreadful,' has his human counterpart also, +who must then and there pair with the impersonated Durg[=a]. The +worship proper consists in the repetition of meaningless _mantra_ +syllables and yells; the worship improper, in indulgence in 'wine and +women' (particularly enjoined in the rite-books called Tantras). Human +sacrifice at these rites is said to be extinct at the present day.[49] + +But blood-lust is appeased by the hacking of their own bodies. +Garments are cast in a heap. Lots are drawn for the women's +garments[50] by the men. With her whose clothes he gets each man +continues the debauch, inviting incest in addition to all other +excess.[51] + +The older Vishnuite sects (P[=a][=n]car[=a]tras, etc.) may have had +some of this filth in their make-up; but mass for mass the practices +are characteristic of Çivaism and not of Vishnuism.[52] Especially +Çivaite, however, is the 'mother worship,' to which reference was made +in the chapter on epic Hinduism. These 'mothers' are guardian +goddesses, or fiends of disease, etc. One may not claim that all +Ç[=a]ktas are Çivaites, but how small a part of Vishnuism is occupied +with Çakti-worship can be estimated only by surveying the whole body +of worshippers of that name. + +We cannot leave the lust and murder of modern Çivaism without speaking +of still another sect which hangs upon the heels of K[=a]l[=i], that +of the Thugs. It may, indeed, be questioned whether Çiva should be +responsible for the doings of his spouse, K[=a]l[=i]. But like seeks +like, and there is every historical justification in making out Çiva +to be as bad as the company he keeps. Durg[=a] and K[=a]l[=i] are not +vainly looked upon as Çiva's female side. So that a sect like the +Thugs,[53] which worshipped K[=a]li, may, it is true, be taken out of +the Çivaite sects, but only if one will split Çivaism in two and +reproduce the original condition, wherein Çiva was one monster and +K[=a]li was another; which is scarcely possible after the two have for +centuries been looked upon as identical. With this in mind it may be +granted that the Thugs payed reverence to K[=a]li, rather than to her +lord. Moreover, many of them were Mohammedans; but, for our purpose, +the significant fact is that when the Thugs were Hindus they were +K[=a]li-Çivaites. And we believe that these secret murderers, strange +as it seems, originated in a reformatory movement. As is well known, +it was a religious principle with them not to spill blood.[54] They +always throttled. They were, of course, when they first became known m +1799 (Sherwood's account), nothing but robbers and murderers. But, +like the other Çivaite monstrosities, they regarded their work as a +religious act, and always invoked K[=a]li if they were Hindus. We +think it probable, therefore, that the sect originated among the +K[=a]li-worshippers as a protest against blood-letting. Admitting that +robbery is under Çiva's protection (Çiva is 'god of robbers'), and +that K[=a]li wanted victims, a sect probably claimed that the victims +should be throttled, and not bled. Not that this was necessarily a new +reform. There is every reason to suppose that most of Çiva's females +are aboriginal wild-tribe divinities. Now among these savages one sees +at times a distinct refusal to bleed human victims. Thuggery may then +have been the claim of an old conservative party, who wished to keep +up the traditional throttling; though this is pure speculation, for, +at the time when the sect became exposed, this means of death was +merely the safest way to kill. They insisted always on being called +Thugs, and scorned the name of thief. They were suppressed by 1840. +Reynolds describes them as "mostly men of mild and unobtrusive +manners, possessing a cheerful disposition."[55] + + + +THE VISHNUITE SECTS. + +There is a formal idealistic Çivaism, as we have shown, and there was +once a dualistic Vishnuism; but in general the Vishnuite is an +idealist. To comprehend the quarrels among the sects of this religion, +however, it will be necessary to examine the radical philosophical +differences of their founders, for one passes, in going from modern +Çivaism to Vishnuism, out of ignorant superstition into philosophical +religion, of which many even of the weaker traits are but recent +Hinduistic effeminacy substituted for an older manly thinking. + +The complex of Vishnuite sects presents at first rather a confused +appearance, but we think that we can make the whole body separate +itself clearly enough into its component parts, if the reader will +pause at the threshold and before entering the edifice look at the +foundation and the outer plan of Vedantic philosophy. + +At the beginning of Colebrooke's essays on Hindu philosophy he +thus describes four of the recognized systems: "The two +M[=i]m[=a]ms[=a]s... are emphatically orthodox. The prior one, +_p[=u]rva_[56] which has J[=a]imini for its founder, teaches the art +of reasoning, with the express view of aiding the interpretation of +the Vedas. The latter, _uttara_[57] commonly called Ved[=a]nta, and +attributed to Vy[=a]sa (or B[=a]dar[=a]yana), deduces from the text of +the Indian scriptures a refined psychology, which goes to a denial of +a material world. A different philosophical system, partly heterodox, +and partly conformable to the established Hindu creed, is the +S[=a]nkhya; of which also, as of the preceding, there are two schools; +one usually known by that name,[58] the other commonly termed +Yoga."[59] + +The eldest of these systems, as we have already had occasion to state, +is the dualistic S[=a]nkhya. It was still highly esteemed in the ninth +century, the time of the great Vedantist, Çankara.[60] A theistic form +of this atheistic philosophy is called the Puranic S[=a]nkhya, and +Pata[.n]jali's Yoga is thoroughly theistic. Radically opposed to the +dualistic S[=a]nkhya stands the Ved[=a]nta,[61] based on the +Upanishads that teach the identity of spirit and matter. + +As representative of the metaphysics of the S[=a]nkhya and Ved[=a]nta +systems respectively stand in general the two great religions of +India. The former, as we have shown, is still potent in the great Song +of the epic, and its principles are essentially those of early +Çivaism. The latter, especially in its sectarian interpretation, with +which we have now to deal, has become the great religion o£ India. But +there are two sectarian interpretations of Vishnu, and two +philosophical interpretations of the All-spirit in its relation to the +individual soul or spirit.[62] Again the individual spirit of man +either enjoys after death immortal happiness, as a being distinct from +the All-spirit; or the _jiva_, individual spirit, is absorbed into the +All-spirit (losing all individuality, but still conscious of +happiness); or the individual spirit is absorbed into an All-spirit +that has no happiness or affection of any kind. + +Now the strict philosophy of the Ved[=a]nta adopts the last view _in +toto_. The individual spirit (soul, self) becomes one with the +universal Spirit, losing individuality and consciousness, for the +universal Spirit itself is not affected by any quality or condition. A +creative force without attributes, this is the All-spirit of Çankara +and of the strict Vedantist. To Çankara the Creator was but a phase of +the All-spirit, and the former's immortality ended with his creation; +in other words, there is no immortal Creator, only an immortal +creative power. + +In the twelfth century arose another great leader of thought, +R[=a]m[=a]nuja. He disputed the correctness of Çankara's +interpretation of Vedantic principles. It is maintained by some that +Çankara's interpretation is really correct, but for our purpose that +is neither here nor there.[63] Çankara's _brahma_ is the +one and only being, pure being, or pure thought. Thought is not an +attribute of _brahma_, it is _brahma_. Opposed to this pure being +(thought) stands _m[=a]y[=a]_, illusion, the material cause of the +seen world. It is neither being nor not-being; it is the cause of the +appearance of things, in that it is associated with _brahma_, and in +so far only is _brahma_ rightly the Lord. The infinite part of each +individual is _brahma_; the finite part is _m[=a]y[=a]._ Thus +B[=a]dar[=a]yana (author of the Ved[=a]nta S[=u]tras) says that the +individual is only illusion. + +R[=a]m[=a]nuja[64], on the other hand, teaches a _brahma_ that is not +only universal, but is the universal personal Lord, a supreme +conscious and willing God. Far from being devoid of attributes, like +Çankara's _brahma_, the _brahma_ of R[=a]m[=a]nuja has all attributes, +chief of which is thought or intelligence. The Lord contains in +himself the elements of that plurality which Çankara regards as +illusion. As contrasted with the dualistic S[=a]nkhya phiiosophy both +of these systems inculcate monism. But according to Çankara all +difference is illusion; while according to R[=a]m[=a]nuja _brahma_ is +not homogeneous, but in the diversity of the world about us he is +truly manifested. Çankara's _m[=a]y[=a]_ is R[=a]m[=a]nuja's body of +_(brahma)_ the Lord. Çankara's personal god exists only by collusion +with illusion, and hence is illusory. The _brahma_ of R[=a]m[=a]nuja +is a personal god, the omnipotent, omniscient, Lord of a real world. +Moreover, from an eschatological point of view, Çankara explains +salvation, the release from re-birth, _sams[=a]ra_, as complete union +with this unqualified _brahma_, consequently as loss of individuality +as well as loss of happiness. But R[=a]m[=a]nuja defines salvation as +the departure from earth forever of the individual +spirit, which enters a heaven where it will enjoy perennial bliss[65]. + +R[=a]m[=a]nuja's doctrine inspires the sectarian pantheism of the +present time. In this there is a metaphysical basis of conduct, a +personal god to be loved or feared, the hope of bliss hereafter. In +its essential features it is a very old belief, far older than the +philosophy which formulates it[66]. Thus, after the hard saying "fools +desire heaven," this desire reasserted itself, and under +R[=a]m[=a]nuja's genial interpretation of the Ved[=a]nta S[=u]tras the +pious man was enabled to build up his cheerful hope again, withal on +the basis of a logic as difficult to controvert as was that of Çankara +himself[67]. + +Thus far the product of Vedantism is deism. But now with two steps one +arrives at the inner portal of sectarianism. First, if _brahma_ is a +personal god, which of the gods is he, this personal All-spirit? As a +general thing the Vedantist answers, 'he is Vishnu'; and adds, +'Vishnu, who embraces as their superior those other gods, Çiva, and +Brahm[=a].' But the sectary is not content with making the All-god one +with Vishnu. Vishnu was manifested in the flesh, some say as Krishna, +some say as R[=a]ma[68]. The relation of sectary to Vishnuite, and to +the All-spirit deist, may be illustrated most clearly by comparison +with Occidental religions. One may not acknowledge any personal god as +the absolute Supreme Power; again, one may say that this Supreme Power +is a +personal god, Jehovah; again, Jehovah may or may not be regarded as +one with Christ. The minuter ramifications of the Christian church +then correspond to the sub-sects of Krishnaism or Ramaism.[69] + +The Occidental and Oriental conceptions of the trinity are, however, +not identical. For in India the trinity, from the Vishnuite point of +view, is an amalgamation of Çiva and Brahm[=a] with Vishnu, +irrespective of the question whether Vishnu be manifest in Krishna or +not; while the Christian trinity amalgamates the form that corresponds +to Vishnu with the one that corresponds to Krishna.[70] To the +orthodox Brahman, on the other hand, as Williams has very well put it, +Krishna is an incarnation of Vishnu, who is himself only an +incarnation, that is, a form, of God. + +Having now explained the two principal divisions of the modern sects, +we can lead the reader into the church of Vishnu. It is a church of +two great parties, each being variously subdivided. Of these two +parties the Krishnaites are intellectually the weaker, and hence +numerically the stronger. All Krishnaites, of course, identify the +man-god Krishna with Vishnu, and their sub-sects revert to various +teachers, of whom the larger number are of comparatively recent date, +although as a body the Krishnaites may claim an antiquity as great, if +not greater, than that of the Ramaites. + +But the latter party, in their various sub-sects, all claim as +their founder either R[=a]m[=a]nuja himself or one of his followers; +and since, if the claim be granted, the R[=a]ma sects do but continue +his work, we shall begin by following out the result of his teaching +as it was interpreted by his disciples; especially since the +Krishnaites have left to the Ramaites most of the philosophizing of +the church, and devoted themselves more exclusively to the moralities +and immoralities of their more practical religion. As a matter of +fact, the Ramaites to-day are less religious than philosophical, while +in the case of the Krishnaites, with some reservations, the contrary +may be said to be the case. + + +THE RAMAITES. + +Since the chief characteristic of growth among Hindu sectaries is a +sort of segmentation, like that which conditions the development of +amoebas and other lower organisms, it is a forgone conclusion that the +Ramaites, having formed one body apart from the Krishnaites, will +immediately split up again into smaller segments. It is also a +foregone conclusion, since one is really dealing here with human +types, that these smaller segments will mutually hate and despise each +other much more than they hate their common adversaries. Just as, in +old times, a Calvinist hated a Lutheran more than he did a Russian +Christian (for he understood his quarrel better), so a 'cat-doctrine' +Ramaite hates a 'monkey-doctrine' Ramaite far more than he hates a +Krishnaite, while with a Çivaite he often has an amicable union; +although the Krishnaite belittles the Ramaite's manifestation of +Vishnu, and the Çivaite belittles Vishnu himself.[71] + +The chief point of difference theologically between the Ramaites is +the one just mentioned. The adherents of the 'cat-doctrine' teach that +God saves man as a cat takes up its kitten, without free-will on the +part of the latter. The monkey-doctrinaires teach that man, in order +to be saved, must reach out to their God (R[=a]ma, who is Vishnu, who, +again, is All-god, that is, _brahma_), and embrace their God as a +monkey does its mother.[72] The resemblance to the Occidental sects +here becomes still more interesting. But we have given an earlier +example of the doctrine of free grace from the epic, and can now only +locate the modern sects that still argue the question. The 'monkey' +Ramaites are a sect of the North (_vada_), and hence are called +Vada-galais;[73] the 'cat' or Calvinistic Ramaites of the South +(_ten_), are called Ten-galais. Outwardly these sects differ in having +diverse _mantras_, greetings, dress, and especially in the +forehead-signs, which show whether the 'mark of Vishnu' shall +represent (Vadagal belief) one or (Tengal) two feet of the god +(expressed by vertical lines[74] painted fresh daily on the forehead). +The Ten-galais, according to a recent account, are the more numerous +and the more materialistic.[75] + +All the Ramaites, on the other hand, hold that (1) the deity is not +devoid of qualities; (2) Vishnu is the deity and should be worshipped +with Lakshm[=i], his wife; (3) R[=a]ma is the human _avatar_ of +Vishnu; (4) R[=a]m[=a]nuja and all the great teachers since his day +are also _avatars_ of Vishnu. + +In upper India, about the Ganges, R[=a]m[=a]nuja's disciple, +R[=a]m[=a]nand (fifth in descent), who lived in the fourteenth +century, has more followers than has the founder. His disciples +worship the divine ape, Hanuman[76] (conspicuous in both epics), as +well as R[=a]ma. They are called 'the liberated,' Avadh[=u]tas, but +whether because they are freed from caste-restrictions,[77] or from +the strict rules of eating enjoined by R[=a]m[=a]nuja, is doubtful. +R[=a]m[=a]nand himself had in turn twelve disciples. Of these the most +famaous is Kab[=i]r, whose followers, the Kab[=i]r Panth[=i]s (sect), +are widely spread, and of whom no less a person than N[=a]nak, the +Sikh, claimed to be a successor. But it will be more convenient to +describe the Sikhs hereafter. Of R[=a]m[=a]nand's other disciples that +founded sects may be mentioned Kil, whose sectaries, the Kh[=a]kis, of +Oude, unite successfully R[=a]ma-worship, Hanuman-worship, and Çivaite +fashions (thus presenting a mixture like that of the southern +M[=a]dhvas, who unite the images of Çiva and Vishnu). The R[=a]s +D[=a]sa sect, again, owes to its founder the black Ç[=a]lagr[=a]ma +pebble, an object of reverent awe, which gives rise to a sort of +sub-cult subsequently imitated by others.[78] Another widely-spread +sect which claim R[=a]m[=a]nand as their founder's teacher is that of +the D[=a]d[=u] Panth[=i]s. This branch also of the Ramaites we shall +more appropriately discuss under the head of deism (below). Finally, +we have to mention, as an outcome of the R[=a]m[=a]nand faith, the +modern R[=a]m[=a]yana, Ramcaritmanas, the new bible of the sect, +composed in the sixteenth century by Tulas[=i]d[=a]sa ('slave of +Vishnu'),the greatest of modern Hindu poets. What the Divine Song and +the Bh[=a]gavata Pur[=a]na are to the Krishnaite, the older (epic) +R[=a]m[=a]yana of V[=a]lm[=i]ki and Tulas[=i]d[=a]sa's new poem (of +the same name) are to the Ramaite.[79] + + +THE KRISHNAITES. + +There are two great sects that worship Vishnu as especially manifested +in the human form of Krishna. But, as distinguished from the +philosophical Ramaite, the Krishnaite is not satisfied with a +declaration of faith in the man-god, and in fact his chief cult is of +the child-god Krishna, the B[=a]la Gop[=a]la or Infant Shepherd. This +recalls the older Krishna (of the Harivança), whose sporting with the +milk-maids is a favorite topic in later Krishnaite literature. As a +formulated cult, consisting for the most part of observances based on +the mystic side of affection for the personal saver of man (the +_bhakti_ principle of 'devotion,' erotically expanded[80]), this +worship obtains both among C[=a]itanyas and Vallabhas, sects that +arose in the sixteenth century.[81] + +C[=a]itanya, born in Bengal in 1485, of whom it is fabled that wise +men came and gave homage to him while he was yet a child, was active +in Bengal and Orissa, where his sect (named after him) is one of the +most important at the present day. C[=a]itanya preached a practical as +well as a theoretical reform. He taught the equality of all +worshippers of whatever caste, and the religious virtue of marriage. +At the present day caste-feeling and religious profession are somewhat +at variance. But a compromise is affected. While in the temple the +high-caste C[=a]itanyas regard their lowly co-religionists as equals; +when out of it they become again arrogantly high-caste, Making a +virtue of marriage instead of celibacy caused the sect to become +popular with the middle and lower classes, but its adherents are +usually drawn from the dregs of the populace.[82] The principle of +love for God (that is, for Krishna) is especially dwelt upon by +C[=a]itanya. The devotee should feel such affection as is felt by a +young man for a girl. To exercise or inspire this rapt and mystic +devotion, recourse is had to singing, dancing. and other familiar +means of arousing religious fervor. If the dancing devotee swoons it +is a sign that God accepts his love. At the present day C[=a]itanya +himself is regarded as the incarnate deity. He and his two chief +disciples, who (like all Gosains, religious Teachers) are divine, form +a little sub-trinity for the sect.[83] This sect, like so many others, +began as a reform, only to become worse than its rivals. + +Vallabha or Vallabh[=a]e[=a]rya, 'Teacher Vallabha,' was also of the +sixteenth century, but his sect belongs especially to the Northwest, +while the sphere of C[=a]itanya's influence was in the Northeast. He +lived near the Ganges, is said to have been a scholar, and wrote a +commentary on the early life of Krishna in the tenth book of the +Bh[=a]gavata Pur[=a]na, and on the Divine +Song. In Bombay and Kutch his disciples are most numerous, the +Epicureans of Vishnuism. For their precept is 'eat and enjoy.' No +mortification of the senses is allowed. Human love typifies divine +love.[84] The teachers acquired great renown and power, assuming and +maintaining the haughty title of _mah[=a] r[=a]jas_ ('great kings'). +They are as gods, and command absolutely their devotees.[85] Here the +worship of the Infant Krishna reaches its greatest height (or depth). +The image of the infant god is daily clothed, bathed, anointed, and +worshipped. Religious exercises have more or less of an erotic +tendency, and here, if anywhere, as one may learn from Wilson, +Williams, and other modern writers on this sect, there are almost as +great excesses as are committed among the Çivaite sects. As a sect it +is an odd combination of sensual worship and theological speculation, +for they have considerable sectarian literature. The most renowned +festival of the Infant Krishna is the celebration of the stable-birth +of Krishna and of the Madonna (bearing him on her breast), but this we +have discussed already. Besides this the Jagann[=a]th procession in +Bengal and Orissa, and the great autumnal picnic called the R[=a]s +Y[=a]tra, are famous occasions for displaying Krishnaite, or, indeed, +general Vishnuite zeal. At the R[=a]s Y[=a]tra assemble musicians, +dancers, jugglers, and other joy-creating additions to the religious +feast, the ostensible reason for which is the commemoration of +Krishna's dances with the milk-maids. The devotees belong chiefly to +the wealthy middle classes. These low sects worship Krishna +with R[=a]dh[=a] (his mistress, instead of Lakshm[=i], Vishnu's wife). +Here, too, as Krishnaites rather than as Vishnuites, are found the +'left-hand' worshippers of the female power.[86] + +This sensual corruption of Vishnuism, which is really not Vishnuism +but simple Krishnaism, led to two prominent reforms within the fold. +Among the Vallabhas arose in protest the Caran D[=a]s[=i]s, who have +taken from the M[=a]dhvas of the South their Ten Commandments (against +lying, reviling, harsh speech, idle talk, theft, adultery, injury to +life, imagining evil, hate, and pride); and evolved for themselves the +tenet that faith without works is dead. The same protest was made +against the Vallabhas by Sv[=a]mi N[=a]r[=a]yana. He was born about +1780 near Lucknow, and advocated a return to Vallabha's purer faith, +which had been corrupted. Probably most of the older reformers have +had much the same career as had Sv[=a]mi N[=a]r[=a]yana. Exalted by +the people, who were persuaded by his mesmeric eloquence, he soon +became a political figure, a martyr of persecution, a triumphant +victor, and then an ascetic, living in seclusion; whence he emerged +occasionally to go on tours "like a bishop visiting his diocese" +(Williams). He is worshipped as a god.[87] The sect numbers to-day a +quarter of a million, some being celibate clergy, some householders. + +In contrast to Vishnuism the following points are characteristic of +orthodox Brahmanism (Çankara's Vedantism): The orthodox believe that +there is one spirit in three forms, co-eternal impersonal +essences--being, knowledge, and joy. When it wills it becomes +personal, exists in the object, knows, rejoices, associating itself +with illusion. In this state it has three corporeal forms, causal, +subtile, gross. With the causal body (identified with illusion, +ignorance) it becomes the Supreme Lord, that is, the totality of +dreamless human spirits. With the subtile form it becomes the golden +seed, or thread-spirit (dreaming spirits); with the gross form it +becomes V[=i]r[=a]j, V[=a]içv[=a]nara, the waking spirit. The lowest +state is that of being wide awake. The personal god (Brahm[=a], +Vishnu, Çiva, of the sectaries) is this it as influenced by the three +qualities, _rajas, sattva, tamas_ (passion, truth, and ignorance), +respectively. Three essences, three corporeal forms, and three +qualities constitute, therefore, the threefold trinity of the +orthodox, who are called Sm[=a]rtas, they that 'hold to +tradition.'[88] What the sectary rejects, namely, the scriptures (Veda +and Upanishads, etc.) and the caste system, that the orthodox retains; +what the sectary holds, namely, R[=a]m[=a]nuja's qualified +non-duality, and absolute godhead in Çiva or Krishna, that the +orthodox rejects (although he may receive the sectary's god into his +pantheon). Some of the sects still keep respect for caste, excusing +their respect on the ground that "it is well enough for God to ignore +social distinctions, but not for man." But caste-distinctions are +generally ignored, or there is positive hate of the Brahman. In +antithesis to the orthodox, the sectaries all hold one other important +tenet. From the idea of _bhakti_, faith or devotion, was developed +that of love for Krishna, and then (as an indication of devotion) the +confession of the name of the Lord as a means of grace. Hence, on the +one hand, the meaningless repetition of the sect's special _kirttan_ +or liturgies, and _mantra,_ or religious formula; the devotion, +demanded by the priest, of _man, tan, dhan_ (mind, body,[89] and +property); and finally, the whole theory of death-bed confessions. +Sinner or heretic, if one die at last with Krishna's name upon the +lips he will be saved.[90] + +Of the sub-divisions of the sub-sects that we have described, the +numbers often run into scores. But either their differences are based +on indifferent matters of detail in the cult and religious practice; +or the new sect is distinguished from the old simply by its endeavor +to make for greater holiness or purity as sub-reformers of older +sects. For all the sects appear to begin as reformers, and later to +split up in the process of re-reformation. + +Two general classes of devotees, besides these, remain to be spoken +of. The Sanny[=a]sin, 'renouncer,' was of old a Brahman ascetic. +Nowadays, according to Wilson, he is generally a Çivaite mendicant. +But any sect may have its Sanny[=a]sins, as it may have its +V[=a]ir[=a]gins, 'passionless ones'; although the latter name +generally applies to the Vishnuite ascetics of the South. + +Apart from all these sects, and in many ways most remarkable, are the +sun-worshippers. All over India the sun was (and is) worshipped, +either directly (as to-day by the Sauras),[91] or as an incarnate +deity in the form of the priest Nimba-[=a]ditya, who is said to have +arrested the sun's course at one time and to be the sun's +representative on earth. Both Puranic authority and inscriptional +evidence attest this more direct[92] continuance of the old Vedic +cult. Some of the finest old temples of India, both North and South, +were dedicated to the sun. + + +DEISTIC REFORMING SECTS. + +We have just referred to one or two reforming sects that still hold to +the sectarian deity. Among these the M[=a]dhvas, founded by (Madhva) +[=A]nandat[=i]rtha, are less Krishnaite or R[=a]maite than +Vishnuite,[93] and less Vishnuite than deist in general; so much so +that Williams declares they must have got their precepts from +Christianity, though this is open to Barth's objection that the +reforming deistic sects are so located as to make it more probable +that they derive from Mohammedanism. Madhva was born about 1200 on the +western coast, and opposed Çankara's pantheistic doctrine of +non-duality. He taught that the supreme spirit is essentially +different to matter and to the individual spirit.[94] He of course +denied absorption, and, though a Vishnuite, clearly belonged in spirit +to the older school before Vishnuism became so closely connected with +Ved[=a]nta doctrines. It is the same Sankhyan Vishnuism that one sees +in the Divine Song, that is, duality, and a continuation of +Ç[=a]ndilya's ancient heresy.[95] + +Here ends the course of India's native religions. From a thousand +years B.C. to as many years after she is practically uninfluenced by +foreign doctrine, save in externals. + +It is of course permissible to separate the reforming sects of +the last few decades from the older reformers; but since we see both +in their aim and in their foreign sources (amalgamation with cis-Indic +belief) only a logical if not an historical continuance of the older +deists, we prefer to treat of them all as factors of one whole; and, +from a broader point of view, as successors to the still older +pantheistic and unitarian reformers who first predicated a supreme +spirit as _ens realissimum_, when still surrounded by the clouds of +primitive polytheism. Kab[=i]r and D[=a]d[=u], the two most important +of the more modern reformers, we have named above as nominal adherents +of the R[=a]m[=a]nand sect. But neither was really a sectarian +Vishnuite.[96] Kab[=i]r, probably of the beginning of the fifteenth +century, the most famous of R[=a]m[=a]nand's disciples, has as +religious descendants the sect of the Kab[=i]r Panth[=i]s. But no less +an organization than that of the Sikhs look back to him, pretending to +be his followers. The religious tenets of the Kab[=i]r Panth[=i]s may +be described as those of unsectarian Unitarians. They conform to no +rites or _mantras_. Kab[=i]r assailed all idolatry, ridiculed the +authority of all scriptures, broke with Pundit and with Mohammedan, +taught that outer form is of no consequence, and that only the 'inner +man' is of importance. These Panth[=i]s are found in the South, but +are located chiefly in and about Benares, in Bengal in the East, and +in Bombay in the West. There are said to be twelve divisions of them. +Kab[=i]r assailed idolatry, but alas! Discipline requires +subordination. The Guru, Teacher, must be obeyed. It was not long +before he who rejected idolatry became himself a deity. And in fact, +every Teacher, Guru, of the sect was an absolute master of thought, +and was revered as a god.[97] + +In the fifteenth century, near Laho[.r]e, was born N[=a]nak (1469), +who is the nominal founder of the Sikhs, a body which, as N[=a]nak +claimed, was a sect embodying the religion of Kab[=i]r himself, of +whom he claimed to be a follower. The Granth, or bible of the Sikhs, +was first compiled by the pontiff Arjun, in the sixteenth century. +Besides the portions written by N[=a]nak and Arjun himself, there were +collected into it extracts from the works of 'twelve and a half' other +contributors to the volume, Kab[=i]r, R[=a]m[=a]nand, etc.[98] This +Granth was subsequently called the [=A]digranth, or First Book, to +distinguish it from the later, enlarged, collection of several books, +one of which was written by Guru Govind, the tenth Sikh pontiff. The +change from a religious body to a church militant and political body +was made by this Govind in the eighteenth century.[99] The religious +sect settled in the Punj[=a]b, became wealthy, excited the greed of +the government, was persecuted, rose in revolt, triumphed, and +eventually ruled the province. One of the first to precipitate the +uprising was the above-mentioned Arjun (fourth pontiff after +N[=a]nak). He played the king, was accused of rebellion, imprisoned, +and probably killed by the Mohammedans. The Sikhs flew to arms, and +from this time on they were perforce little more than robbers and +plunderers. Govind made the final change in organization, and, +so to speak, at one blow created a nation, for the church at his hands +was converted into the united militant body called Kh[=a]ls[=a] under +the Guru as pontiff-king, with a 'council of chiefs.' They were vowed +to hate the Mohammedan and Hindu. All caste-distinctions were +abrogated. Govind instituted the worship of Steel and Book (sword and +bible). His orders were: "If you meet a Mohammedan, kill him; if you +meet a Hindu, beat and plunder him." The Sikhs invoked the 'Creator' +as 'highest lord,' either in the form of Vishnu or R[=a]ma. Their +founder, N[=a]nak, kept, however, the Hindu traditions in regard to +rites. He was a travelled merchant, and is said to have been in +Arabia. As an example of the Sikh bible may serve the following +extracts, translated from the original dialect by Trumpp and Prinsep +respectively: + + _From Trumpp_: + + True is the Lord, of a true name, + But the import of (this) language is Infinite. + They say and beg, give, give! + The Liberal gives presents. + What may again be put before (him) + By which his court may be seen? + What word may be spoken by the mouth, + Which having heard he may bestow love? + Early reflect on the greatness of the True Name.[100] + From his beneficence comes clothing, + From his look the gate of salvation. + N[=a]nak (says): Thus it is known, + That he himself is altogether truthful. + + _From Prinsep_: + + Thou art the Lord, to thee be praise; + All life is with thee. + Thou art my parents; I, thy child. + All happiness is from thy mercy. + No one knows God. + + Highest Lord among the highest, + Of all that is thou art the regulator, + And all that is from thee obeys thy will, + Thy movements, thy pleasure; thou alone knowest. + N[=a]nak, thy slave is a free-will offering unto thee.[101] + +The religious side of this organization remained under the name of +Ud[=a]sis,[102] or Nirmalas ('spotless ones'). The [=A]digranth was +extended by other additions, such as that of Govind (above), and now +constitutes a large heterogeneous collection of hymns and moral rules. +Seven sub-sects of the religious body were developed in course of +time. The military body has a well-known history. They were complete +masters of the Punj[=a]b in 1764, and remained there as an independent +race till that province was occupied by the British in 1848. Both +Kab[=i]r and his follower N[=a]nak were essentially reformers. They +sought for a religion which should rest on the common truths of +Hinduism and Mohammedanism.[103] As a matter of form the political +party of Govind, the Govind Singhs, or Simhis, worshipped the Hindu +gods, and they showed respect for the Brahman priests for a long +while; but they rejected the Vedas and caste--the two most essential +features of orthodoxy.[104] + +D[=a]d[=u], the second great reformer, who shows Mohammedan influence +quite as plainly as does Kab[=i]r, also claimed R[=a]m[=a]nand as his +teacher. The sects that revert to D[=a]d[=u], D[=a]d[=u] Panth[=i]s, +now number more than half an hundred. Some of the votaries are +soldiers; some are mendicants. The founder lived about the end of the +sixteenth century. The outward +practices of the sects differ somewhat from those of other sects. Like +Persians, they expose their dead. They are found about [=A]jm[=i]r and +other districts of the North, in the seats of the Jains. Their faith +and reformatory tendency may be illustrated by the following extract, +as translated by Wilson:[105] + +"He is my God who maketh all things perfect. O foolish one, God is not +far from you. He is near you. God's power is always with you. Whatever +is to be is God's will. What will be will be. Therefore, long not for +grief or joy, because by seeking the one you may find the other. All +things are sweet to them that love God. I am satisfied with this, that +happiness is in proportion to devotion. O God, Thou who art truth, +grant me contentment, love, devotion, and faith.... Sit ye with +humility at the feet of God, and rid yourselves of the sickness of +your bodies. From the wickedness of the body there is much to fear, +because all sins enter into it. Therefore, let your dwelling be with +the fearless, and direct yourselves toward the light of God. For there +neither sword nor poison have power to destroy, and sin cannot enter. +The greatest wisdom is in preventing your minds from being influenced +by bad passions, and in meditating upon the One God. Afford help also +to the poor stranger. Meditate on Him by whom all things were +made."[106] + +This tradition of reform is maintained by others without intermission +down to the present century, and the M[=a]dhvas and Sv[=a]mi +N[=a]r[=a]yana, of whom we have spoken above as being more directly +connected with sectarian bodies, are, in fact, scarcely more concerned +with the tenets of the latter than were Kab[=i]r and D[=a]d[=u]. Thus +the seventeenth century sees the rising of the B[=a]b[=a]l[=a]ls and +S[=a]dhus; and the eighteenth, of the Satn[=a]mis, 'worshippers of the +true name,' who, with other minor bodies, such as the N[=a]ngi +Panthis, founded by Dedr[=a]j in this century, are really pure +deists, although some of them, like the Vi[t.]h[t.]hals, claim to be +followers of Kab[=i]r. And so they are, in spirit at least. + + +THE DEISM OF TO-DAY.[107] + +And thus one arrives at modern deism, not as the result of new +influences emanating from Christian teaching, but rather as the +legitimate successor of that deism which became almost monotheistic in +the first centuries after our era, and has ever since varied with +various reformers between two beliefs, inclining now to the +pantheistic, now to the unitarian conception, as the respective +reformers were influenced by Ved[=a]nta or S[=a]nkhya (later +Mohammedan) doctrine. + +The first of the great modern reformers is R[=a]mmohun Roy, who was +born in 1772, the son of a high-caste Krishnaite Brahman. He studied +Persian and Arabic literature at Patna, the centre of Indic Mohammedan +learning. When a mere boy, he composed a tract against idolatry which +caused him to be banished from home. He lived at Benares, the +stronghold of Brahmanism, and afterwards in Tibet, the centre of +Buddhism. "From his earliest years," says Williams, "he displayed an +eagerness to become an unbiassed student of all the religions of the +globe." He read the Vedas, the P[=a]li Buddhist works, the Kur[=a]n, +and the Old Testament in the original; and in later years even studied +Greek that he might properly understand the New Testament. The +scholastic philosophy of the Hindus appeared to him, however, as +something superior to what he found elsewhere, and his efforts were +directed mainly to purifying the national faith, especially from +idolatry. It was at his instigation that the practice of widow-burning +was abolished (in 1829) by the British. He was finally ostracized from +home as a schismatic, and retired to Calcutta, uniting about him a +small body of Hindus and Jains, and there established a sort of church +or sect, the [=A]tm[=i]ya Sabh[=a],'spiritual society' (1816), which +met at his house, but eventually was crushed by the hostility of the +orthodox priests. He finally adopted a kind of Broad-church +Christianity or Unitarianism, and in 1820, in his 'Precepts of Jesus' +and in one of his later works, admits that the simple moral code of +the New Testament and the doctrines of Christ were the best that he +knew. He never, however, abjured caste; and his adoption of +Christianity, of course, did not include the dogma of the trinity: +"Whatever excuse may be pleaded in favor of a plurality of persons of +the Deity can be offered with equal propriety in defence of +polytheism" (Final Appeal). Founded by him, the first theistic church +was organized in 1828 at Calcutta, and formally opened in 1830 as the +Br[=a]hma Sam[=a]j; ('the Congregation of God'). In doing this he +wished it to be understood that he was not founding a new sect, but a +pure monotheistic worship. The only creed was a confession of faith in +the unity of God. For himself, he abandoned pantheism, adopted the +belief in a final judgment, in miracles, and in Christ as the 'Founder +of true religion.' He died in 1833 in England. His successor, +Debendran[=a]th T[=a]gore,[108] was not appointed leader of the +Br[=a]hma Sam[=a]j; till much later; after he had founded a church of +his own ('the Truth-teaching Society'), which lasted for twenty years +(1839-1859), before it was united with the Br[=a]hma Sam[=a]j. In the +meantime Debendran[=a]th become a member of the latter society (1841). +He established the covenant of the Sam[=a]j, a vow taken by every +member to lead holy lives, to abstain from idolatry, to worship no +created object, but only God, the One without a second,[109] the +Creator, Preserver, Destroyer, the Giver of Emancipation. + +The church was newly organized in 1844 with a regularly appointed +president and minister, and with the administration of the oath to +each believer. This is the [=A]di Br[=a]hma Sam[=a]j, the First +Congregation, in distinction from the schism which soon took place. +The first quarrel in this church was due to a difference of opinion in +regard to the authority of the Vedas. Some members rejected them, +others maintained their infallibility; while between these extremes +lay various other opinions, some members questioning the infallibility +of the Vedas but maintaining their authority. By a majority vote it +was eventually decided that the Vedas (and Upanishads) were not +infallible. + +In the meantime in other provinces rival Sam[=a]jas had been formed, +and by 1850 there were several of these broad-minded Congregations, +all trammelled by their environment, but doing their best to be +liberal. + +We pause here in the compilation of the data recorded in this +paragraph to assert, independently of Professor Williams, who has +given us the historical facts, but would doubtless not wish to have +imputed to himself the following judgment which we are led to pass, +that the next step of the Sam[=a]j; placed it upon the only ground +where the objects of this church can be attained, and that in the +subsequent reform of this reform, which we shall have to record below, +a backward step has been taken. For Debendran[=a]th changed the +essential character of the Sam[=a]j from pantheistic theism to pure +deism. The inner circle of the society had a narrower declaration of +faith, but in his Br[=a]hma Dharma, published about 1850, +Debendran[=a]th formulated four articles of faith, to subscribe to +which admitted any one into the Sam[=a]j. These articles read as +follows: (t) Brahma (neuter) alone existed in the beginning before the +universe; naught else existed; It [He] created all the universe. (2) +It [He] is eternal, intelligent, infinite, blissful, self-governed +(independent), without parts, just one (neuter) without a second, +all-pervading, the ruler (masculine noun) of all, refuge of all, +omniscient, omnipotent, immovable, perfect, without parallel (all +these adjectives are neuter). (3) By worship of this One alone can +bliss be obtained in the next world and in this. (4) The worship of +this (neuter) One consists in love toward this (One) and in performing +works pleasant (to this One). + +This deism denies an incarnate God, scriptural authority, and the good +of rites and penance; but it teaches the efficacy of prayer and +repentance, and the belief in God as a personal Creator and Heavenly +Father.[110] Intellectual--anything but emotional--it failed to +satisfy many worshippers. And as a church it was conservative in +regard to social reforms. + +In 1858 Keshub Chunder Sen, a Vishnuite by family, then but twenty, +joined the Sam[=a]j, and being clever, young, eloquent, and +cultivated, he, after the manner of the Hindus, undertook to reform +the church he had just entered, first of all by urging the abolition +of caste-restrictions. Debendran[=a]th was liberal enough to be +willing to dispense with his own thread (the caste-mark), but too +wisely conservative to demand of his co-religionists so complete a +break with tradition and social condition. For the sacred thread to +the Hindu is the sign of social respectability. Without it, he is out +of society. It binds him to all that is dearest to him. The leader of +the older Sam[=a]j; never gave up caste; the younger members in +doing so mix religion with social etiquette, and so hinder the advance +they aim at. Sen urged this and other reforms, all repugnant to the +society in which he lived, changes in the rite at the worship of +ancestors, alterations in the established ritual at birth-ceremonies +and funerals, abolition of polyandry and of child-marriages, and, +worst of all, granting permission to marry to those of different +castes. His zeal was directed especially against caste-restrictions +and child-marriages. Naturally he failed to persuade the old Sam[=a]j +to join him in these revolutionary views, to insist on which, however +sensible they seem, cannot be regarded otherwise than as indiscreet +from the point of view of one who considers men and passions. For the +Sam[=a]j, in the face of tremendous obstacles, had just secured a +foot-hold in India. Sen's headlong reforms would have smashed to +pieces the whole congregation, and left India more deeply prejudiced +than ever against free thought. Sen failed to reform the old church, +so in 1865 he, with some ardent young enthusiasts, reformed themselves +into a new church, ceremoniously organized in 1866 as the Br[=a]hma +Sam[=a]j; of India, in distinction from the Calcutta Sam[=a]j, or +[=A]di Sam[=a]j. A futile effort was made to get all the other local +congregations to join the new Sam[=a]j, the last, of course, to be the +first and head of the organization. + +The new Sam[=a]j renounced caste-restrictions and Brahmanism +altogether, but it was tainted with the hysterical _bhakti_ fervor +which Sen inherited from his childhood's religion, and which (if one +may credit Williams' words) "brought the latest development of Indian +Theism into closer harmony with Christian ideas." The chief leader of +this Sam[=a]j besides Sen was his cousin Prot[=a]p Chunder Mozoomdar, +official secretary of the society. Its literary organ is the _Indian +Mirror_. + +The reform of this reform of course followed before long. The new +Sam[=a]j was accused of making religion too much a matter of emotion +and excitement. Religious fervor, _bhakti_, had led to "rapturous +singing of hymns in the streets"; and to the establishment of a kind +of love-feasts ('Brahma-feasts' they were called) of prayer and +rejoicing; and, on the other hand, to undue asceticism and +self-mortification.[111] Sen himself was revered too much. One of the +most brilliant, eloquent, and fascinating of men, he was adored by his +followers--as a god! He denied that he had accepted divine honors, but +there is no doubt, as Williams insists, that his Vishnuite tendency +led him to believe himself peculiarly the recipient of divine favors. +It was charged against him that he asserted that all he did was at +God's command, and that he believed himself perennially inspired.[112] +If one add to this that he was not only divinely inspired, but that he +had the complete control of his society, it would appear to be easy to +foresee where the next reformer might strike. For Sen "was not only +bishop, priest, and deacon all in one," says Williams, "he was a Pope, +from whose decision there was no appeal." But it was not this that +caused the rupture. In 1877 this reformer, "who had denounced early +marriages as the curse of India," yielded to natural social ambition +and engaged his own young daughter to a Koch (R[=a]jbanshi) prince, +who in turn was a mere boy. The Sam[=a]j protested with all its might, +but the marriage was performed the next year, withal to the +accompaniment of idolatrous rites.[113] After this Sen became somewhat +theatrical. In 1879 he recognized (in a proclamation) God's +Motherhood--the old dogma of the female divine. In 1880 he announced, +in fervid language, that Christianity was the only true religion: "It +is Christ who rules British India, and not the British Government. +England has sent out a tremendous moral force in the life and +character of that mighty prophet to conquer and hold this vast empire. +None but Jesus, none but Jesus, none but Jesus, ever deserved this +bright, this precious diadem, India, and Jesus shall have it.... +Christ is a true Yogi." He accepts Christ, but not as God, only as +inspired saint (as says Williams). More recently, Sen proposed an +amalgamation of Hinduism, Mohammedanism, and Christianity as the true +religion. + +Meanwhile the Sam[=a]j was rent by discord. Sen's opponents, the new +reformers, were unable, however, to oust the brilliant leader from the +presidency. Consequently they established a new church, intended to be +a General Congregation, the fourth development (1878) of the Br[=a]hma +Sam[=a]j. And so the fight has gone on ever since. At the present day +there are more than a hundred deistic churches, in which the +devotional exercises consist in part of readings from the Vedas, +Bible, Kur[=a]n, and Avesta. The [=A]rya Sam[=a]j is one of the most +important of the later churches, some of which endeavor to obtain +undefiled religion by uniting into one faith what seems best in all; +others, by returning to the Vedas and clearing them of what they think +to be later corruptions of those originally pure scriptures. Of the +latter sort is the [=A]rya Sam[=a]j. Its leader, Day[=a]nanda, claims +that the Vedas are a true revelation. The last reformer of which we +have knowledge is a bright young high-caste Hindu of upper India, who +is about to found a 'world-religion,' for which task he is now making +preliminary studies. He has visited this country, and recently told us +that, if he had time, he could easily convert America. But his first +duty lies, of course, in the reformation of India's reformations, +especially of the Sam[=a]jas! + +The difficulty with which all these reformers and re-reformers have to +contend is pitifully clear. Their broad ideas have no fitting +environment. Their leaders and thinkers may continue to preach deism, +and among their equals they will be heard and understood. They are, +however, not content with this. They must form churches. But a church +implies in every case an unnatural and therefore dangerous growth, +caused by the union either of inferior minds (attracted by eloquence, +but unable to think) with those that are not on the same plane, or of +ambitious zealots with reluctant conservatists. Many join the church +who are not qualified to appreciate the leader's work. They overload +the founder's deism with the sectarian theism from which they have not +really freed themselves. On the other hand, younger men, who have been +educated in English colleges and are imbued with the spirit of +practical reform, enter the church to use it as an instrument for +social progress. So the church is divided, theists and reformers both +being at odds with the original deists; and the founder is lucky if he +escapes being deified by one party and being looked upon by the other +as too dull.[114] + +India is no more prepared as a whole for the reception of the liberal +views of the Sam[=a]j; than was the negro for the right to vote. +Centuries of higher preliminary education are needed before the people +at large renounce their ancestral, their natural faith. A few earnest +men may preach deism; the people will remain polytheists and +pantheists for many generations. Then, again, the Sam[=a]jas have to +contend not only with the national predisposition, but with every +heretical sect, and, besides these, with the orthodox church. But thus +far their chief foe is, after all, their own heart as opposed to their +head. As long as deistic leaders are deified by their followers, and +regard themselves as peculiarly inspired, they will preach in vain. +Nor can they with impunity favor the substitution of emotion for ideas +in a land where religious emotion leads downwards as surely as falls a +stone that is thrown. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: In the following we keep to the practice we + have adopted in the early part of the work, giving + anglicized words without distinction of vowel-length, and + anglicizing as far as possible, writing thus S[=a]nkhya but + Sankhyan, Ved[=a]nta but Vedantist. In modern proper names + we have adopted in each case the most familiar form.] + + [Footnote 2: Rig Veda, II. 12. Compare X. 121. We omit some + of the verses.] + + [Footnote 3: See note, p. 20, above.] + + [Footnote 4: Metaphor from earthly fire-making; cloud and + cliff (Ludwig); or, perhaps, heaven and earth.] + + [Footnote 5: 'Made low and put in concealment' the D[=a]sa + color, _i.e._ the black barbarians, the negroes. 'Color' + might be translated 'race' (subsequently 'caste').] + + [Footnote 6: D[=i]ce, _vijas_, literally 'hoppers' (and so + sometimes, interpreted as birds). The same figure occurs not + infrequently. Compare AV. iv. 16. 5, _ak[s.][=a]n iva_. + 'Believe,' _çr['a]d-dhatta, i.e_., cred-(d)[=i]te, literally + 'put trust.'] + + [Footnote 7: Sometimes rendered, "a true (laudation) if any + is true."] + + [Footnote 8: viii. 100. 3-4. The penultimate verse is + literally 'the direction(s) of the order magnify me,' the + order being that of the seasons and of seasonable rites.] + + [Footnote 9: Compare the 'devil-worship of Uçanas,' and the + scoffs at P[=u]shan. The next step in infidelity is denial + of a future life and of the worth of the Vedas.] + + [Footnote 10: In the Buddhistic writings Indra appears as + the great popular god of the Brahmans (with Brahm[=a] as the + philosophical god).] + + [Footnote 11: His body is mortal; his breaths immortal, Çat. + Br. x. 1. 4. 1; xi. 1. 2. 12.] + + [Footnote 12: On these curious pocket-altars, double + triangles representing the three gods and their wives, with + Linga and Yon[=i], see JRAS. 1851, p. 71.] + + [Footnote 13: In the Tantras and late Pur[=a]nas. In the + earlier Pur[=a]nas there is as yet no such formal cult.] + + [Footnote 14: Embodied in the tale of Agni's advance, IS. i. + 170.] + + [Footnote 15: Çat Br. ix. 3.1. 18.] + + [Footnote 16: On this _quasi_ deity in modern belief compare + IA. XVIII. 46. It has happened here that a fate Providence + has become supreme. Thus, too, the Mogul Buddha is realty + nothing more or less than Providence.] + + [Footnote 17: 7. I. 2.] + + [Footnote 18: In RV. X. 90. 9, _chandas_, songs, + incantations, imply a work of this nature.] + + [Footnote 19: Unless it be distinctly _good_ magic the epic + heroes are ashamed to use magical rites. They insist on the + intent being unimpeachable.] + + [Footnote 20: [=A]p. I. II. 30, 20, etc. Compare Weber, + _Omina_ p. 337, and see the Bibliography.] + + [Footnote 21: T[=a]itt. S. VI. I. 1, 2, 3, + _t[=i]rthesn[=a]li._] + + [Footnote 22: Compare Weber's account of the R[=a]jas[=u]ya, + p. 98; and, apropos of the Daçapeya, _ib._ 78, note; where + it is stated that _soma_-drinking for the warrior-caste is + still reflected in this (originally independent) ceremony.] + + [Footnote 23: The list given above (p. 464) of the 'thrice + three names' is made eight by suppressing Kum[=a]ra, and the + 'eight names' are to-day the usual number.] + + [Footnote 24: Ç[=a]nkh. (K[=a]nsh.) Br. vi. 1.] + + [Footnote 25: The Brahmanic multiple by preference is (three + and) seven (7,21,28,35), that of the Buddhist, eight. Feer, + JA., 1893, p. 113 ff., holds the Svargaparva of the epic to + be Buddhistic on account of the hells. More probably it is a + Çivaite addition. The rule does not always hold good, for + groups of seven and eight are sometimes Buddhistic and + Brahmanic, respectively.] + + [Footnote 26: Leumann, _Rosaries_.] + + [Footnote 27: Friederich,; JRAS. viii. 157; ix. 59. The only + established reference to Buddha on the part of Brahmanism, + with the exception of late Pur[=a]nas of uncertain date, is + after Kshemendra (1066 A.D.). Compare Holtzmann, s. + _Geschichte_, p. 103.] + + [Footnote 28: _Na tat parasya sandadhy[=a]t pratik[=u]la[.m] + yad [=a]tmanas_. This is a favorite stanza in the epic, and + is imitated in later literature (Sprüche, 3253, 6578, + 6593).] + + [Footnote 29: Burnell in the _Indian Antiquary_, second and + following volumes; Swanston, JRAS. 1834; 1835; Germann, _Die + Kirche der Thomaschristen_.] + + [Footnote 30: Above, cited from Hardy.] + + [Footnote 31: Some of the multitudinous subcastes + occasionally focus about a religious principle to such an + extent as to give them almost the appearance of religious + devotees. Thus the Bhats and Ch[=a]rans are heralds and + bards with the mixed faith of so many low-caste Hindus. But + in their office of herald they have a religious pride, and, + since in the present day they are less heralds than + expressmen, they carry property with religious reverence, + and are respected in their office even by robbers; for it + this caste that do not hesitate to commit _traga_, that is, + if an agreement which they have caused to be made between + two parties is not carried out they will kill themselves and + their families, with such religious effect that the guilt + lies upon the offending party in the agreement, who expiates + it by his own life. They are regarded as a sort of divine + representative, and fed themselves to be so. A case reported + from India in this year, 1894, shows that the feeling still + exists. The herald slew his own mother in the presence of + the defaulting debtor, who thereupon slew himself as his + only expiation.] + + [Footnote 32: As, for example, between the D[=a]d[=u] + Panth[=i]s and the Jains in Ajmir and Jeypur. The last was a + chief Digambara town, while Mathur[=a] (on the Jumna) was a + Çret[=a]mbara station. For a possible survival of Buddhism, + see below, p. 485, note.] + + [Footnote 33: The _Sarcadarça[n.]asa[=n.]graha_ of S[=a]yana + (fourteenth century) and the _Ça[=n.]kara-vijaya,_ or + 'Conquest of Çankara.'] + + [Footnote 34: Thus the Dabist[=a]n enumerates as actual + sects of the seventeenth century, 'moon-worshippers,' + 'star-worshippers,' 'Agni-worshippers,' 'wind-worshippers,' + 'water-worshippers,' 'earth-worshippers,' '_trip[=u]jas_' + (or worshippers of all the three kingdoms of nature), and + 'worshippers of man' (_manu[s.]yabhakt[=a]s_), "who + recognise the being of God in man, and know nothing more + perfect than mankind" (ii. 12), a faith which, as we have + shown, is professed in the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata.] + + [Footnote 35: _Religious Thought and Life_.] + + [Footnote 36: The Kashmeer Çivaites claim Çankara as their + teacher. The sect of Basava started in the south, Mysore. + They have some trashy literature (legends, etc.) which they + dignify by the name of Pur[=a]nas. Bühler has given an + account of the Kashmeer school. For further details see + Barth, pp. 184, 206.] + + [Footnote 37: _Brahmanism and Hinduism_, p.62 ff. To this + and to the same author's _Thought and Life_, we are indebted + for many facts concerning the sects as they appear to-day, + though much in these books is said after Wilson or other + scholars, whose work is now common property, and calls for + no further acknowledgment.] + + [Footnote 38: It is, perhaps, necessary to keep repeating + that Hindu monotheism does not exclude other gods which, at + the hands of the one god, are reduced to sprites, angels, + demons, etc. But it ought not to be necessary to insist on + this, for an American monotheist that believes in angels and + devils is the same sort of monotheist. The Hindu calls the + angels 'gods' or 'divinities,' but they are only attendant + hosts of the One.] + + [Footnote 39: Some of the Çivaite sects are, indeed, + Buddhistic in origin, a fact which raises the question + whether Buddhism, instead of disappearing from India, was + not simply absorbed; much as Unitarianism in New England has + spent its vitality in modifying the orthodox creed. Thus the + _karma_ of Buddhism may still be working in the person of + some modern Hindu sects. See the next note below.] + + [Footnote 40: Most of the Yogi jugglers are Çivaites (when + they are not Buddhistic), and to-day they share with the + (Mohammedan) fakirs the honor of being not only ascetics but + knaves. The juggler Yogi is, however, a figure of + respectable antiquity. The magical tricks practiced on the + epic heroes are doubtless a reflex of the current mesmerism, + which deceives so cleverly to-day. We have shown above a + Buddhistic strain of Mah[=a]tmaism in an early Buddhistic + tract, and Barth, p. 213, suggests a Buddhistic origin for + the K[=a]naph[=a]ts. See also Holtzmann, _loc. cit._ The + deistic Yogis of Gorakhn[=a]th's sect are respectable enough + (see an account of some of this sort in the Dabist[=a]n, II. + 6), but they are of Buddhistic origin. The K[=a]naph[=a]ts + of Kutch (Danodhar) were once a celibate brotherhood. JRAS. + 1839, p. 268.] + + [Footnote 41: See JAOS. xi. 272. To ascribe this verse to + the 'older Manu' would be a grave slip on the part of a + Sanskrit scholar.] + + [Footnote 42: i. 1. 76.] + + [Footnote 43: The Dabist[=a]n, without any animus, reports + of the Ç[=a]ktas of the seventeenth century that "Çiva is, + in their opinion, _with little exception_, the highest of + the deities" (II. 7). Williams calls Ç[=a]ktaism "a mere + offshoot of Çivaism" _Religious Thought and Life_, p. 184.] + + [Footnote 44: The Dabist[=a]n rather assumes as a matter of + course that a body of Yogis would kill and eat a boy of the + Mohammedan faith (II. 12); but here the author may be + prejudiced.] + + [Footnote 45: The present sect of this name consists only of + a few miserable mendicants, particularly savage and filthy + (Wilson).] + + [Footnote 46: All of them now represent Çakti, the female + principle. Linga-worship has also its counterpart, + Bhaga-worship (here Yoni), perhaps represented by the altar + itself. Compare the Dabist[=a]n, II. 7, on the Çivaite + interpretation of the Mohammedan altar. To Durga human + beings were always sacrificed. After mentioning a gold idol + of Durg[=a] (to whom men were sacrificed yearly), the author + adds: "Even now they sacrifice in every village of the + Kohistan of Nandapur and the country adjacent, a man of + good family" (_ib._). Durg[=a] {above, p. 416) is Vishnu's + sister.] + + [Footnote 47: The sexual antithesis, so unimportant in the + earliest Aryan nature-hymns, becomes more and more + pronounced in the liturgical hymns of the Rig Veda, and may + be especially a trait of the older fire-cult in opposition + to _soma_-cult (compare RV. X. 18. 7). At any rate it is + significant that Yoni means the altar itself, and that in + the fire-cult the production of fire is represented as + resulting from the union of the male and female organs.] + + [Footnote 48: Nevertheless the Brahmanic, and even the + Hinduistic, law-codes condemn all intoxicating liquors + except in religious service. To offer such drink to a man of + the lower castes, even to a Ç[=u]dra, is punishable with a + fine; but to offer intoxicating liquor to a priest is + punishable with death (Vishnu, V. 100).] + + [Footnote 49: Formerly performed by the Kar[=a]ris. "The + Ç[=a]ktas hold the killing of a man to be permitted," + Dabist[=a]n, II. 7. "Among them it is a meritorious act to + sacrifice a man," _ib_.] + + [Footnote 50: Hence the name of K[=a][=n]culiyas + _[ka[=n]culi_, a woman's garment).] + + [Footnote 51: This has no parallel in Vishnuism except among + some of the R[=a]dh[=a] devotees. Among the R[=a]dh[=a] + Vallabh[=i]s the vulgarities of the Çivaites are quite + equalled; and the assumption of women's attire by the + Sakh[=i] Bh[=a]vas of Benares and Bengal ushers in rites as + coarse if less bloody than those of the Çivaites.] + + [Footnote 52: Of course each god of the male trinity has his + Çakti, female principle. Thus Brahm[=a]'s Çakt[=i] is + S[=a]vitr[=i] (in the epic), or Sarasvat[=i], or V[=a]c; + that of Vishnu is Çr[=i], or Lakshm[=i], or R[=a]dh[=a]; + that of Çiva is Um[=a], Durg[=a], K[=a]l[=i], etc. Together + they make a female trinity (Barth, p. 199); So even the + Vedic gods had their (later) wives, who, as in the case of + S[=u]ry[=a], were probably only the female side of a god + conceived of as androgynous, like Praj[=a]pat[=i] in the + Brahmanic period.] + + [Footnote 53: Historically, Thags, like Panj[=a]b, + Santh[=a]ls, etc, is the more correct form, but phonetically + the forms Thugs, Punj[=a]b, Sunth[=a]ls or Sonth[=a]ls, are + correct, and [=a], the indeterminate vowel (like o in + London), is generally transcribed by u or o (in Punj[=a]b, + Nep[=a]l, the [=a] is pronounced very like au, and is + sometimes written so, Punjaub, etc).] + + [Footnote 54: The Jemidar, captain, gives the order to the + Buttoat, strangler, who takes the _rumal_ (yard of cotton) + with a knot tied in the left end, and, holding his right + hand a few inches further up, passes it from behind over the + victim's head. As the latter falls the strangler's hands are + crossed, and if done properly the Thugs say that "the eyes + stand out of the head and life becomes extinct, before the + body falls to the ground" (Notes on the 'Thags, Thugs, or + Thegs,' by Lieutenant Reynolds; of whom Lieutenant-Colonel + Smythe says that he knew more than any other European about + the Thugs, 1836). The Buttoat received eight annas extra for + his share. Each actor in the scene had a title; the victim + was called Rosy. For their argot see the R[=a]maseeana.] + + [Footnote 55: Thugs (defined as 'knaves' by Sherwood, more + probably 'throttlers') must be distinguished from Decoits. + The latter (Elphinstone, i. 384) are irreligious gangs, + secretly bound together to sack villages. Peaceable citizens + by day, the Decoits rise at night, attack a village, slay, + torture, rob, and disappear before morning, 'melting into + the population' and resuming honest toil. When the police + are weak enough they may remain banded together; otherwise + they are ephemerally honest and nocturnally assassins. The + Thugs or Ph[=a]ns[=i]gars (_ph[=a]ns[=i]_, noose) killed no + women, invoked K[=a]li (as Jay[=i]), and attacked + individuals only, whom the decoys, called Tillais, lured + very cleverly to destruction. They never robbed without + strangling first, and always buried the victim. They used to + send a good deal of what they got to K[=a]li's temple, in a + village near Mirz[=a]pur, where the establishment of priests + was entirely supported by them. K[=a]li (or Bhav[=a]n[=i]) + herself directed that victims should be strangled, not bled + (so the Thug legend). Their symbol was a pick, emblem of the + goddess, unto whom a religious ceremony was performed before + and after the murder was committed. Local small bankers + often acted as fence for them.] + + [Footnote 56: This is called either + P[=u]rva-m[=i]m[=a]ms[=a] (Karma-m[=i]m[=a]ms[=a]) or simply + M[=i]m[=a]ms[=a].] + + [Footnote 57: Or Ç[=a]r[=i]raka-m[=i]m[=a]msa, or + Brahma-m[=i]m[=a]ms[=a] (_m[=i]m[=a][=m.]sa,_ reflexion, + philosophy).] + + [Footnote 58: Kapila's system, usually known as the + S[=a]nkhya.] + + [Footnote 59: And attributed to Pata[=n.]jali. Compare + Deussen, _System des Ved[=a]nta,_ p. 20.] + + [Footnote 60: Born In 788. But some scholars refer him to + the seventh century. See IA. xiii. 95; xvi. 41. His name, a + title of Çiva, indicates his nominal sect.] + + [Footnote 61: For the meaning of Ved[=a]nta (whether 'end of + Veda,' or 'goal of Veda') compare Deussen, _loc. cit._ p. 3, + note (above, p. 253, note).] + + [Footnote 62: The Supreme Spirit or All-Spirit is either + purely non-dualistic or qualifiedly non-dualistic; in the + latter event he is, says the sectary, identical with Vishnu, + who may be represented either by Krishna or R[=a]ma + (sub-sects). Pure non-duality (unconditioned _[=a]tm[=a]_) + was taught by Çankara.] + + [Footnote 63: Gough, _Philosophy of the Upanishads_.. + Compare Williams, _loc. cit_. In our own view the + unsystematic Upanishads teach both doctrines (above, p. 228, + note).] + + [Footnote 64: Before K[=a]m[=a]nuja it was taught by + Ç[=a]ndilya that _brahma_ (and the individual spirit) was + conditioned, a doctrine supposed to be that of the old + Bh[=a]gavatas or P[=a][.n]car[=a]tras; but this is quite + uncertain. The Ç[=a]ndilyan chapter of the Ch[=a]ndogya + Upanishad (above, p. 221) may be thus interpreted, _vis_, + that the (conditioned) individual spirit is identical with + _brahma_.] + + [Footnote 65: Thibaut, _Introduction to the Ved[=a]nta + S[=u]tras_, SBE. XXXIV. p. XXXI; Deussen, _System des + Ved[=a]nta_, p.469.] + + [Footnote 66: Philosophical illusion, _m[=a]n[=a]_, appears + first in late Upanishads.] + + [Footnote 67: The author of the Dabist[=a]n (seventeenth + century) tells a Berkeleyan story in regard to Çankara's + doctrine of illusion. His enemies wished to test his belief + in his own philosophy; so they drove an elephant at him, on + which the philosopher ran away. "Ho!" they jeered, "Did you + not maintain that all was a mere illusion? Then an elephant + is illusion. Yet you take to flight before it." "Yes," + replied the philosopher, "all is illusion; there was no + elephant, and there was no flight" (II. 4).] + + [Footnote 68: The Sm[=a]rta (orthodox) Brahman believes, on + the other hand, that Vishnu, Çiva, and Brahm[=a] are all + mere forms of the Supreme [=A]lm[=a].] + + [Footnote 69: If Mohammed were regarded as one with Allah + there would be an Occidental parallel to the Krishna and + R[=a]ma sects.] + + [Footnote 70: Whether the Hindu trinitarianism derives from + the Occident or not (the former view being historically + probable, but not possible to prove) the importance of the + dogma and its place in Hindu theology is very different to + the condition of things in the Christian church. In India + trinitarianism is merely a convenience in adjusting the + claims of two heterodox sects and orthodoxy, each believer + being willing to admit that the god of the other is his own + god, only with the understanding that the last is a superior + manifestation. In late Çivaism both Vishnu and Brahm[=a] are + indeed called the 'sons of God' (Çiva). but in the sense + that they are distinctly subordinate creatures of Çiva + (JAOS. iv. 147).] + + [Footnote 71: But some Hindus worship both Vishnu and Çiva + without insisting that one is higher than the other. + Moreover, there is a Mahratta sect of Vishnuites who + complacently worship Buddha (Vishnu's ninth _avatar_) as + Vi[t.]h[t.]hala or P[=a]ndura[.n]ga. These are simply + eclectic, and their god is without or with quality. Buddha + is here not a deceiver, but an instructor (JRAS. 1842, p. + 66; IA. XI. 56, 149).] + + [Footnote 72: The Çivaites, too, are divided on the + questions both of predestination and of free grace. The + greater body of them hold to the 'monkey doctrine'; the + Paçupatas, to the 'cat.'] + + [Footnote 73: Sanskrit _kal[=a]_, school + (_marka[t.]a-ny[=a]ya_ and _m rj[=a]ra-ny[=a]ya_). The + Southern school has its own Veda written in Tamil. Williams, + JRAS. xiv. 301. According to the same writer the Ten-galais + hold that Vishnu's wife is finite, created, and a mediator; + the Vada-galais, that she is infinite, and uncreated.] + + [Footnote 74: All Vishnuites have the vertical sign; + Çivaites have a horizontal sign (on the forehead).] + + [Footnote 75: _Proceed. AOS_. 1894, p. iii. The Vada-school + may be affected by Çivaism.] + + [Footnote 76: A divine monkey appears in the Rig Veda, but + not as an object of devotion.] + + [Footnote 77: The teachers of the Ramaites are generally + Brahmans, but no disciples are excluded because of their + caste. R[=a]m[=a]nuja adopted the monastic system, which + Çankara is said to have taken from the Buddhists and to have + introduced into Brahmanic priestly life. Both family priests + and cenobites are admitted into his order.] + + [Footnote 78: What the Linga is to Çivaite the + Ç[=a]lagr[=a]ma is to the Vishnuite (who also reveres the + _tulas[=i]_ wood). The Ç[=a]lagr[=a]ma is a black pebble; + the L[=i]nga is a white pebble or glass (Williams). The + Çivaites have appropriated the _d[=u]rv[=a]_ grass as sacred + to Ganeça. Sesamum seeds and _d[=u]rv[=a]_ are, however, + Brahmanically holy. Compare Çat. Br. iv. 5-10, where + _d[=u]rv[=a]_ grass is even holier than _kuça_-grass. The + rosaries used by the sects have been the subject of a paper + by Leumann, and are described by Williams. Thirty-two or + sixty-four berries of _eleocapus ganitrus (rudr[=a]ksha_) + make the Çivaite rosary. That of the Vishnuite is made of + lotus-seeds or of _tuls[=a]_ wood in one hundred and eight + pieces.] + + [Footnote 79: For an account and list of the works of + Tulas[=i]d[=a]s[=a] (Tuls[=i]d[=a]s), compare IA. xxii. 89, + 122, 227. Jayadeva (twelfth century), the author of the + G[=i]ta Govinda (translated by Jones, Lassen, and Ruckert), + is sometimes reckoned falsely to the adherents of + R[=a]m[=a]nand, but he is really a Krishnaite.] + + [Footnote 80: The _bhakti_ doctrine is that of the extant + Ç[=a]ndilya S[=u]tras, which make faith and not works or + knowledge a condition of salvation. They are modern, as + Cowell, in his preface to the work, has shown. Cowell here + identifies K[=a]çyapa with Ka[n.][=a]da, the V[=a]içeshika + philosopher, his school holding that the individual spirits + are infinite in number, distinct from the Supreme Spirit.] + + [Footnote 81: The infant-cult is of course older than these + sects. For an account of the ritual, as well as its + intrusion into the earlier cult of the Pur[=a]nas, with the + accompanying resemblances to Madonna-cult, and the new + features (the massacre of the innocents, the birth in the + stable, the three wise men, etc.) that show borrowing from + Christianity, compare Weber's exhaustive treatise referred + to above, the _K[=r.][=s.][n.]ajanm[=a][=s.][=t.]am[=i], + Krishna's Geburtsfest_.] + + [Footnote 82: Williams, _loc. cit._] + + [Footnote 83: 'Gosain' means shepherd, like Gop[=a]la. Some + of the sects, like the Kart[=a]bh[=a]js, recognize only the + Teacher as God. Williams states that in Bengal a fourth + member has been added to this sect-trinity. On Dancing-girls + see IA. XIII-165.] + + [Footnote 84: The philosophical tenet of this sect 'pure + _adv[=a]ita_' (non-duality) distinguishes it from the + qualified duality taught by R[=a]m[=a]nuja. This is a + reversion to Çankara. The C[=a]itanya sect teaches not + absorption but individual existence in a heaven of sensuous + (sensual) pleasure.] + + [Footnote 85: "In the temples where the Mah[=a]r[=a]jas + (priests) do homage to the idols men and women do homage to + the Mah[=a]r[=a]jas.... The best mode of propitiating the + god Krishna is by ministering to the sensual appetites of + his vicars upon earth. Body and soul are literally made over + to them, and women are taught to deliver up their persons to + Krishna's representatives," Williams, _loc. cit_. p. 309.] + + [Footnote 86: On these sects see Wilson, Hunter (Statistical + Account), Williams, JRAS. xiv. 289. The festival verses in + honor of the Madonna are: "Honor to thee, Devak[=i], who + hast borne Krishna; may the goddess who destroys sin be + satisfied, revered by me. Mother of God art thou, Adit[=i], + destroying sin. I will honor thee as the gods honor thee," + _etc_. (Weber, _Janm[=a][s.][t.]am[=i]_, p. 286). The + birth-day celebration is not confined to Krishnaites; but in + the R[=a]ma sect, though they celebrate the birth, they do + not represent the man-god as a suckling. In other respects + this feast is imitated from that of Krishna (Weber, p. 310, + note). The R[=a]macandra celebration takes place in the + spring. The birth-day of Ganeça is also celebrated by the + Çivaites (in August-September).] + + [Footnote 87: He himself claimed to be an incarnate god. He + adopted the qualified non-duality of R[=a]m[=a]nuja. See + Williams' account of him and of the two great temples of the + sect, _loc. cit_.] + + [Footnote 88: From Williams, _loc. cit_. p. 291 ff. The + three qualities (sometimes interpreted as activity, purity, + and indifference) are met with for the first time in the + Atharva Veda, where are found the Vedantic 'name' and 'form' + also; Muir, v. p. 309. The three qualities that condition + the idealist Vedantist's personal Lord in his causal body + are identical with those that constitute the 'nature,' + _prak[=r.]ti_, of the S[=a]nkhya dualist.] + + [Footnote 89: Among the Vallabhas (above, p. 505). The + Teacher is the chief god of most of the Vallabhas (Barth, p. + 235}. For the Vi[t.]h[t.]hal view of caste see 1A. XI.152.] + + [Footnote 90: It is true of other sectaries also, Ramaites + and Çivaites, that the mere repetition of their god's name + is a means of salvation.] + + [Footnote 91: Now chiefly in the South. The Dabist[=a]n + gives several divisions of sun-worshippers. For more details + see Barth, p. 258. Apollonius of Tyana saw a sun-temple at + Taxila, JRAS. 1859, p. 77.] + + [Footnote 92: More direct than in the form of Vishnu, who at + first is merely the sun. Of the relation with Iranian + sun-worship we have spoken above.] + + [Footnote 93: They brand themselves with the Vishnu-mark, + are generally high-caste, live in monasteries, and profess + celibacy. They are at most unknown in the North. They are + generally known by their founder's name, but are also called + Brahma-Samprad[=a]yins, 'Brahma-adherents.'] + + [Footnote 94: So the P[=a]çupata doctrine is that the + individual spirit is different to the supreme lord and also + to matter (_p[=a]ça_, the fetter that binds the individual + spirit, _paçu_, and keeps it from its Lord, _paçupat[=i]_). + The fact is that every sectary is more a monotheist than a + pantheist. Especially is this true of the Çivaite. The + supreme is to him Çiva.] + + [Footnote 95: Wilson gives a full account of this sect in + the _As[=i]atick Researches_, xvi, p. 100.] + + [Footnote 96: Of the Kab[=i]r Panth[=i]s Wilson says: "It is + no part of their faith to worship any Hindu deity." A glance + at the Dabist[=a]n will preclude the possibility of claiming + much originality for the modern deism of India. This work + was written in 1645, and its Persian author describes, as a + matter of every-day occurrence, religious debates between + 'Jews, Nazarines, Mussulmen, and Hindus,' who meet more to + criticise than to examine, but yet to hear explained in full + the doctrines of their opponents, in just such tourneys of + argument as we showed to be popular among the priests of the + Upanishads and epic. Speaking of the Vedas, the author says + that every one derives from them arguments in favor of his + own creed, whether it be philosophical, mystical, unitarian, + atheistic, Judaic, or Christian. Dabist[=a]n, vol. II, p. + 45.] + + [Footnote 97: Before election the Guru must be examined. If + the faithful are not satisfied, they may reject him. but, + having elected him, they are bound to obey him implicitly. + He can excommunicate, but he may not punish corporally. This + deification of the Guru was retained by the Sikhs, and the + office was made hereditary among them (by Arjun), till + Govind, the tenth pontiff, who left no successor, declared + that after his death the Granth (bible) should be the sole + authority of the church.] + + [Footnote 98: The 'half' contributor was a woman, and hence + was not reckoned as a complete unit.] + + [Footnote 99: The word Sikh means 'disciple' (of N[=a]nak). + The name the Sikhs assumed as a nation was Singhs + (_si[.m]has_), 'Lions of the Punj[=a]b.'] + + [Footnote 100: The 'true name,' _sat n[=a]m_, is the + appellation of God.] + + [Footnote 101: JRAS. 1846, p. 43, Prinsep's compilation + (Wilson). Compare Trumpp, ib. V. 197 (1871); and + [=A]digranth, 1877.] + + [Footnote 102: This sect was founded by a descendant of + N[=a]nak.] + + [Footnote 103: It was not till Mohammedan persecution + influenced them that the religious Sikhs of N[=a]nak became + the political haters and fighters of Govind.] + + [Footnote 104: It is said that Govind sacrificed to Durg[=a] + the life of one of his own disciples to prepare himself for + his ministry. Trumpp, [=A]digranth; Barth, p. 204. The lives + of the later Gurus will be found in Elphinstone's history + and Prinsep's sketch (a _résumé_ by Barth, p. 248 ff.).] + + [Footnote 105: With some small verbal alterations.] + + [Footnote 106: The conclusion of this extract shows the + narrower polemic spirit: "Pundits and Q[=a]z[=i]s are fools. + What avails it to collect a heap of books? Let your minds + freely meditate on the spirit of God. Wear not away your + lives by studying the Vedas."] + + [Footnote 107: For the data of the following paragraphs on + the deistic reformers of to-day we are indebted to an + article of Professor Williams, which first appeared in the + thirteenth volume of the _Journal of the Royal Asiatic + Society,_ and has since been published in the same author's + _Brahmanism and Hinduism._] + + [Footnote 108: Born in 1818.] + + [Footnote 109: _ekam[=a]tr[=a]dvit[=i]ya_ (masculine); with + this form contrast below, in the Br[=a]hma Dharma (religion) + of Debendran[=a]th, the neuter _ekam ev[=a]dvit[=i]yam_. The + only God of the first Sam[=a]j; is a person; that of the + reform is exoterically Nature.] + + [Footnote 110: But, as will be noticed in the four articles + (which are in part a compilation of phrases from the + Upanishads) the personality of Brahm[=a] is not insisted on + for the outer church. For this reason, although the inner + church doubtless understands It as He, yet this neuter + should be preserved in the translation. The articles are so + drawn up as to enable any deist to subscribe (without + Vedantic belief as a condition of acceptance) to the + essential creed of the Congregation. One or two sentences in + the original will reveal at a glance the origin of the + phraseology: _brahma_ (being) _v[=a] ekam idam-agra + [=a]s[=i]t; tad ida[.m] sarvam as[r.]jal; tad eva nityam, + ekam ev[=a]dvit[=i]yam; tasmia pr[=i]tis ... + tadup[=a]sanam_. Compare Ch[=a]ndogya Upanishad: _sad_ + (being) _idam agra [=a]s[=i]d ekam ev[=a]dvit[=i]yam_; and + the V[=a]jasaney[=i]-Br[=a]hmana Upanishad: _brahma v[=a] + idam-agra [=a]s[=i]t_, etc.] + + [Footnote 111: It is interesting to see this fervor, or + ecstatic delirium, surviving from the time of the Rig Veda, + where already (albeit only in the latest hymns, which are + quite Brahmanic) flourishes the mad _muni:_ and fervid + ascetism ('heat,'_tapas_) begins to appear as a means of + salvation. RV. x. 109, 136.] + + [Footnote 112: "I regard myself as Christ and C[=a]itanya," + reported by Sen's own missionary as the words of the former. + Sen's disciples deny some of these assertions, but they seem + to be substantiated, and Sen's own language shows that he + claimed miraculous powers. Compare the discussions on this + point, JRAS. xiii. 281 ff.] + + [Footnote 113: This was afterwards excused on the ground + that the marriage would not have been legal without these + rites. But Sen presumably was aware of this in advance. From + the performance of the rites he had the decency to absent + himself. It should be said, however, in Sen's behalf, that + the marriage itself had nothing revolting about it, and + though in consenting to it Sen violated his faith, as is + evident from the protest of the Sam[=a]j, yet was the + marriage not an extreme case of child-marriage, for both the + 'children' were sixteen. Sen's own excuse (he thought excuse + necessary) was that he was inspired when he consented to the + nuptials.] + + [Footnote 114: The theistic tendency in the Hindu mind is so + exaggerated that even now it is with the greatest difficulty + that the vulgar can be restrained from new idolatry. Not + only priests, but even poets are regarded as gods. + Jñ[=a]ndev and Tuk[=a]r[=a]m, the hymn-makers of the + Mahratta Vi[t.]h[t.]hals, are demi-gods to-day (IA. xi. 56. + 149). A few striking examples are almost requisite to make + an Occidental reader understand against what odds the deism + of India has to contend. In 1830 an impudent boy, who could + train snakes, announced that he could also work miracles. + The boy was soon accepted as Vishnu's last _avatar_; hymns, + _abhangs_, were sung to him, and he was worshipped as a god + even after his early demise (from a snake-bite). A weaver + came soon after to the temple, where stood the boy's now + vacant shrine, and fell asleep there at night. In the + morning he was perplexed to find himself a god. The people + had accepted him as their snake-conquering god in a new + form. The poor weaver denied his divinity, but that made no + difference. In 1834 the dead boy-god was still receiving + flowers and prayers. Another case: In the eighties some + Englishmen on entering a temple were amazed to see revered + as an _avatar_ of Vishnu the brass castings of the arms of + the old India Co. This god was washed and anointed daily. + Even a statue of Buddha (with the inscription still upon it) + was revered as Vishnu. In 1880 a meteorite fell in Beh[=a]r. + In 1882 its cult was fully established, and it was + worshipped as the 'miraculous god.' A Mohammedan inscription + has also been found deified and regularly worshipped as a + god, JRAS. 1842, p. 109; 1884, pt. III, pp. I, LIX.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +RELIGIOUS TRAITS OF THE WILD TRIBES. + + +Besides the phases of pure Aryan and modified Aryan religions which +have already been examined, there are represented in India several +other aspects of civilized religion; for, apart from Brahmanic and +sectarian worships, and apart from Tamil (southern) imitations of +these, there are at present in the country believers of the Jewish +religion to the number of seventeen thousand; of Zoroastrianism, +eighty-seven thousand; of Christianity, two and a quarter millions; of +Mohammedanism, more than fifty-seven millions. But none of these +faiths, however popular, comes into an historical account of India's +religions in a greater extent than we have brought them into it +already, that is, as factors of minor influence in the development of +native faiths till, within the last few centuries, Mohammedanism, +which has been the most important of them all in transfiguring the +native theistic sects, draws a broad line across the progress of +India's religious thought. + +All these religions, however, whether aboriginal or imported, must +again be separated from the more general phenomena of superstition +which are preserved in the beliefs of the native wild tribes. One +descends here to that lowest of rank undergrowth which represents a +type of religious life so base that its undifferentiated form can be +mated with like growths from all over the world. These secondary +religions are, therefore, important from two points of view, that of +their universal aspect, and, again, that of their historical +connection with the upper Indic growth above them;[1] for it is almost +certain that some +of their features have conditioned the development of the latter. + +The native wild tribes of India (excluding the extreme Northern +Tibeto-Burman group) fall into two great classes, that of the +Kolarians and that of the Dravidians, sometimes distinguished as the +Yellow and the Black races respectively. The former, again, are called +Indo-Chinese by some writers, and the geographical location of this +class seems, indeed, to show that they have generally displaced the +earlier blacks, and represent historically a yellow wave of +immigration from the Northeast (through Tibet) prior to the Aryan +white wave (from the Northwest), which latter eventually treated them +just as they had treated the aboriginal black Dravidians.[2] Of the +Kolarians the foremost representatives are the Koles, the Koches, the +Sunth[=a]ls, and the Sav[=a]ras (Sauras), who are all regarded by +Johnston as the yellow Dasyus, barbarians, of the earliest period; +while he sees in the V[=a]içyas, or third caste of the Hindu political +divisions, the result of a union of the Northwest and Northeast +conquerors. But, although the V[=a]içyas are called 'yellow,' yet, +since they make the most important numerical factor of the Aryans, +this suggestion can scarcely be accepted, for there is no evidence to +show that the yellow Mongoloid barbarians were amalgamated so early +with the body politic of the Aryans. The chief representatives of the +Dravidians, +on the other hand, are the Khonds and Gonds of the middle of +the peninsula, together with the Or[=a]ons and the Todas of the +extreme South.[3] All of these tribes are of course sub-divided, and +in some degree their religious practices have followed the bent of +their political inclinations. We shall examine first the religions of +the older tribes, the Dravidians, selecting the chief features or such +traits as have peculiar interest. + + +THE DRAVIDIANS. + +Gonds: These savages, mentioned in early literature, are the most +numerous and powerful of the wild tribes, and appear to have been less +affected by outside belief than were any other, except the related +Khonds. Their religion used to consist in adoring a representation of +the sun, to which were offered human sacrifices.[4] As among the +Or[=a]ons, a man of straw (literally) is at the present day +substituted for the human victim. Besides the sun, the moon and stars +are worshipped by them. They have stones for idols, but no temples.[5] +Devils, witchcraft, and the evil eye also are feared. They sacrifice +animals, +and, with the exception of the R[=a]j Gonds,[6] have been so little +affected by Hindu respect for that holiest of animals, that they +slaughter cows at their wedding-feasts, on which occasion the +bacchanalian revels in which they indulge are accompanied with such +excess as quite to put them upon the level of Çivaite bestiality. The +pure Gonds are junglemen, and have the virtues usually found among the +lowest savages, truth, honesty, and courage. Murder is no crime, but +lying and stealing are sinful; for cowardice is the greatest crime, +and lying and stealing (instead of straightforward and courageous +robbery and murder) are regarded as indications of lack of courage. +But the 'impure,' that is the mixed Gonds that have been corrupted by +mingling with Hindus and other tribes, lie and steal like civilized +people. In fact, the mixed Gonds are particularly noted for servility +and dishonesty. The uncivilized Gonds of the table-lands are said +still to cut up and eat their aged relatives and friends, not to speak +of strangers unfortunate enough to fall into their hands. Among the +pure Gonds is found the practice of carrying an axe, which is the sign +of their religious devotion to the sacrifice-god.[7] The favorite +religious practice used to be to take a prisoner alive, force him to +bow before the god-stone, and at the moment when he bent his head, to +cut it off. To this and to self-defence against other gods (wild +beasts) the hatchet is devoted, while for war are used the bow and +knife. One particular celebration of the Gonds deserves special +notice. They have an annual feast and worship of the snake. The +service is entirely secret, and all that is known +of it is that it is of esoteric, perhaps phallic character. Both at +the sun-feast and snake-feast[8] licentious and bacchanalian worship +are combined, and the latter trait is also the chief feature of +wedding and funeral sports. In the former case (the natives of the +same tribe intermarry, but with the same pretence of running off with +the bride that is found in the Hindu ritual)[9] there is given a +wedding feast by the bridegroom's father, and the feast ends with a +_causerie de lundi_ (the favorite drink of the Gonds is called +_lundi_); while on the latter occasion there is a mourning feast, or +wake, which also ends in general drunkenness. + +The Khonds: Even more striking is the religion of the Khonds. Their +chief rite is human sacrifice to the earth-goddess,[10] Tari; but, +like the Gonds, they worship the sun as chief divinity. Other gods +among them are the river-god, rain-god, spring, wealth, hill-god, and +smallpox-god. All their religious feasts are excuses for excess both +in drinking and otherwise. One of their beliefs is that there is a +river of hell, which flows around a slippery rock, up which climbs the +one that would escape torment. Their method of sacrificing a human +victim is to put him into the cleft of a tree, where he is squashed, +or into fire. They seem to have an odd objection to shedding blood for +this purpose, and in this respect may be compared with the Thugs. +Another very interesting trait is the religion which is intertwined +with business, and its peculiar features. Victims offered either to +the sun or to the war-god serve to mark boundary lines. Great is the +patience with which +these victims, called _merias_, are waited for. The sacrificer +captures fit specimens when they are young, and treats them with +particular kindness till they are almost grown up. Indeed, they are +treated thus by the whole village. At the appointed time they are +slowly crushed to death or smothered in a mud bath, and bits of their +flesh are then cut out and strewn along the boundary lines. Boys are +preferred, but either boys or girls may be used. This sacrifice is +sometimes made directly to the 'Boundary-god,'[11] an abstraction +which is not unique; for, besides the divinities recorded above, +mention is made also of a 'Judgment-god.' Over each village and house +preside the Manes of good men gone; while the 'father is god on earth' +to every one. They used to destroy all their female children, and +this, together with their national custom of offering human +sacrifices, has been put down with the greatest difficulty by the +British, who confess that there is every probability that in reality +the crime still *obtains among the remoter clans. These Khonds are +situate in the Madras presidency, and are aborigines of the Eastern +Gh[=a]ts. The most extraordinary views about them have been published. +Despite their acknowledged barbarity, savageness, and polytheism, they +have been soberly credited with a belief in One Supreme God, 'a theism +embracing polytheism,' and other notions which have been abstracted +from their worship of the sun as 'great god.' + +Since these are by far the most original savages of India, a completer +sketch than will be necessary in the case of others may not be +unwelcome. The chief god is the light-or sun-god. "In the beginning +the god of light created a wife, the goddess of earth, the source of +evil." On the other hand, the +sun-god is a good god. Tari, the earth-divinity, tried to prevent +Bella[12] Pennu (sun-god) from creating man. But he cast behind him a +handful of earth, which became man. The first creation was free of +evil; earth gave fruit without labor (the Golden Age); but the dark +goddess sowed in man the seed of sin. A few were sinless still, and +these became gods, but the corrupt no longer found favor in Bella (or +Boora) Pennu's eyes. He guarded them no more. So death came to man. +Meanwhile Bella and Tari contended for superiority, with comets, +whirlwinds, and mountains, as weapons. According to one belief, Bella +won; but others hold that Tari still maintains the struggle. The +sun-god created all inferior deities, of rain, fruit, *hunt, +boundaries, etc., as well as all tutelary local divinities.[13] Men +have four kinds of fates. The soul goes to the sun, or remains in the +tribe (each child is declared by the priest to be N.N. deceased and +returned), or is re-born and suffers punishments, or is +annihilated.[14] The god of judgment lives on Grippa Valli, the +'leaping rock,' round which flows a black river, and up the rock climb +the souls with great effort. The Judgment-god +decides the fate of the soul); sending it to the sun (the +sun-soul), or annihilating it, etc. The chief sins are, to be +inhospitable, to break an oath, to lie except to save a guest, to +break an old custom, to commit incest, to contract debts (for which +the tribe has to pay), to be a coward, to betray council. The chief +virtues are, to kill in battle, to die in battle, to be a priest, to +be the victim of a sacrifice. Some of the Khonds worship the sun-god; +some the earth-goddess, and ascribe to her all success and power, +while they hold particularly to human sacrifice in her honor. They +admit (theoretically) that Bella is superior, but they make Tari the +chief object of devotion, and in her honor are held great village +festivals. They that do not worship Tari do not practice human +sacrifice. Thus the Çivaite sacrifice of man to the god's consort is +very well paralleled by the usage that obtains among them. The Khond +priests may indulge in any occupation except war; but some exercise +only their priestcraft and do nothing else. The chief feast to the +sun-god is Salo Kallo (the former word means 'cow-pen'; the latter, a +liquor), somewhat like a _soma_-feast. It is celebrated at harvest +time with dancing, and drinking, "and every kind of licentious +enjoyment." Other festivals of less importance celebrate the +substitution of a buffalo for human sacrifice (not celebrated, of +course, by the Tari worshippers). The invocation at the harvest is +quite Brahmanic: "O gods, remember that our increase of rice is your +increase of worship; if we get little Rice we worship little." Among +lesser gods the 'Fountain-god' is especially worshipped, with a sheep +or a hog as sacrifice. Female infanticide springs from a feeling that +intermarriage in the same tribe is incest (this is the meaning of the +incest-law above; it might be rendered 'to marry in the tribe'). + +Of the Or[=a]ons, or Dhangars,[15] we shall mention but one or +two good parallels to what is found in other religions. These +Dravidians live in Bengal, and have two annual festivals, a harvest +feast and one celebrating the marriage of heaven and earth. Like the +Khonds, they recognize a supreme god in the sun, but, just as we +showed was the case with the Hindus, who ignore Brahm[=a] because they +do not fear him, so here, the Or[=a]ons do not pray to the sun, on the +ground that he does them no harm; but they sacrifice to evil spirits +because the latter are evil-doers. These savages, like the Burmese +Mishmis, have no idea of a future life in heaven; but in the case of +people killed in a certain way they believe in a sort of +metempsychosis; thus, for instance, a man eaten by a tiger becomes a +tiger. In the case of unfortunates they believe that they will live as +unhappy ghosts; in the case of other men they assume only annihilation +as their fate.[16] It is among this tribe that the mouse-totem is +found, which is Çiva's beast and the sign of Ganeça.[17] + +THE KOLARIANS. + +The Sunth[=a]ls: These are immigrants into the West Bengal jungles, +and have descended from the North to their present site. They are +called the finest specimens of the native savage. The guardian of the +tribe is its deceased ancestor, and his ghost is consulted as an +oracle. Their race-god is the 'Great Mountain,' but the sun represents +the highest spirit; though they +worship spirits of every sort, and regard beasts as divine; the men +revering the tiger, and the women, elephants. The particularly nasty +festival called the _bandana_, which is celebrated annually by this +tribe, is exactly like the 'left-hand' cult of the Çaktas, only that +in this case it is a preliminary to marriage. All unmarried men and +women indulge together in an indescribable orgie, at the end of which +each man selects the woman he prefers.[18] + +The Koles ('pig-stickers'): Like the last, this tribe worship the sun, +but with the moon as his wife, and the stars as their children. +Besides these they revere Manes, and countless local and sylvan +deities. Like Druids, they sacrifice only in a grove, but without +images.[19] + +All these tribes worship snakes and trees,[25]] and often the only +oath binding upon them is taken under a tree.[21] The +sun-worship, which is found alike in Kolarian and Dravidian tribes, +may be traced through all the ramifications of either. In most of the +tribes the only form of worship is sacrifice, but oaths are taken on +rice, beasts, ants, water, earth, etc. (among some P[=a]h[=a]riahs on +the arrow). Some have a sort of belief in the divinity of the chief, +and among the Lurka Koles this dignity is of so much importance that +at a chief's death the divine dignity goes to his eldest son, while +the youngest son gets the property. In regard to funeral rites, the +Koles first burn and then bury the remains, placing a stone over the +grave. + +Besides the Or[=a]ons' totem of the mouse, the Sunth[=a]ls have a +goose-totem, and the Garos and Kassos (perhaps not to be included in +either of the two groups), together with many other tribes, have +totems, some of them _avatars_, as in the case of the tortoise. The +Garos, a tribe between Assam and Bengal, are in many respects +noteworthy. They believe that their vessels are immortal; and, like +the Bh[=a]rs, set up the bamboo pole, a religious rite which has crept +into Hinduism (above, p. 378). They eat everything but their totem, +immolate human victims, and are divided into 'motherhoods,' +M[=a]h[=a]ris, particular M[=a]h[=a]ris intermarrying. A man's sister +marries into the family from which comes his wife, and that sister's +daughter may marry his son, and, as male heirs do not inherit, the +son-in-law succeeds his father-in-law in right of his wife, and gets +his wife's mother (that is, his father's sister) as an additional +wife.[22] The advances are always made by the girl. She and her party +select the groom, go to his house, and carry him off, though he +modestly pretends to run away. The sacrifice for the +wedding is that of a cock and hen, offered to the sun. The god they +worship most is a monster (very much like Çiva), but he has no local +habitation. + +Of the Sav[=a]ras or Sauras of the Dekhan the most interesting deity +is the malevolent female called Th[=a]kur[=a]n[=i], wife of Th[=a]kur. +She was doubtless the first patroness of the throttling Thugs (_thags_ +are _[t.]haks_, assassins), and the prototype of their Hindu +K[=a]l[=i]. Human sacrifices are offered to Th[=a]kur[=a]n[=i], while +her votaries, as in the case of the Thugs, are noted for the secrecy +of their crimes. + +Birth-rites, marriage-rites, funeral rites (all of blood), human +sacrifice, _tab[=u]_ (especially among the Burmese), witchcraft, +worship of ancestors, divination, and demonology are almost universal +throughout the wild tribes. In most of the rites the holy stone[23] +plays an important part, and in many of the tribes dances are a +religious exercise. + +Descendants of the great Serpent-race that once ruled M[=a]gadha +(Beh[=a]r), the Bh[=a]rs, and Ch[=i]rus (Cheeroos) are historically of +the greatest importance, though now but minor tribes of Bengal. The +Bh[=a]rs, and Koles, and Ch[=i]rus may once have formed one body, and, +at any rate, like the last, the Bh[=a]rs are Kolarian and not +Dravidian. This is not the place to argue a thesis which might well be +supported at length, but in view of the sudden admixture of foreign +elements with the Brahmanism that begins to expand at the end of the +Vedic period it is almost imperative to raise the question whether the +Bh[=a]rs, of all the northern wild tribes the most cultivated, whose +habitat +extended from Oude (Gorakhpur) on both sides of the Ganges over all +the district between Benares and Allah[=a]b[=a]d, and whose name is +found in the form Bh[=a]rats as well as Bh[=a]rs, is not one with that +great tribe the history of whose war has been handed down to us in a +distorted form under the name of Bh[=a]rata (Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata). The +Bh[=a]ratas, indeed, claim to be Aryans. But is it likely that a race +would have come from the Northeast and another from the Northwest, and +both have the same name? Carnegy believed, so striking was the +coincidence, that the Bh[=a]rats were a R[=a]jput (Hindu) tribe that +had become barbaric. But against this speaks the type, which is not +Aryan but Kolarian.[24] Some influence one may suppose to have come +from the more intelligent tribes, and to have worked on Hindu belief. +We believe traces of it may still be found in the classics. For +instance, the famous Frog-maiden, whose tale is told in the +Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata, reminds one rather forcibly of the fact that in +Oude and Nep[=a]l frog-worship (not as totem) was an established cult. +The time for this worship to Begin is October; it is different to +thunder-worship (July, the _n[=a]ga_-feast), and the frog is +subordinate to the snake. And, again, the snake-worship that grows so +rapidly into the Hindu cult can scarcely have been uninfluenced by the +fact that there are no less than thirty snake-tribes.[2] + +But despite some interesting points of view besides those + + +touched upon here, details are of little added value, since it is +manifest that, whether Kolarian or Dravidian, or, for the matter of +that, American or African, the same rites will obtain with the same +superstition, for they belong to every land, to the Aryan ancestor of +the Hindu as well as to the Hindu himself. Even totemism as a survival +may be suspected in the 'fish' and 'dog' people of the Rig Veda, as +has recently been suggested by Oldenberg. In the Northeast of India +many tribes worship only mountains, rivers, and Manes, again a trait +both Vedic and Hinduistic, but not necessarily borrowed. Some of these +tribes, like the Kh[=a]s[=i]as of Oude, may be of R[=a]jput descent +(the Khasas of Manu, X. 22), but it is more likely that more tribes +claim this descent than possess it. We omit many of the tribal customs +lest one think they are not original; for example, the symbol of the +cross among the [=A]bors, who worship only diseases, and whose symbol +is also found among the American Indians; the sun-worship of the +Katties, who may have been influenced by Hinduism; together with the +cult of Burmese tribes too overspread with Buddhism. But often there +is a parallel so surprising as to make it certain that there has been +influence. The Niadis (of the South), for example, worship only the +female principle. Many other tribes worship _çakti_ almost +exclusively. The Todas worship stone images, buffaloes, and even +cow-bells, but they have a celibate priesthood! We do not hesitate to +express our own belief that the _çakti_-worship is native and drawn +from similar cults, and that the celibate priesthood, on the other +hand, is taken from civilization. + +Such a fate appears to have happened in modern times to several +deities, now half Brahmanized. For example, Vet[=a]la (worshipped in +many places) is said in the Dekhan to be an _avatar_, or, properly +speaking, a manifestation of Çiva. What is he in reality? A native +wild god, without a temple, worshipped in the open air under the shade +of a tree, and in an +enclosure of stones. Just such a deity, in other words, as we have +shown is worshipped in just such a way by the wild tribes. A +monolith[26] in the middle of twelve stones represents this primitive +Druidic deity. The stones are painted red in flame-shape for a certain +distance from the ground, with the upper portion painted white. +Apparently there is here a sun-god of the aborigines. He is worshipped +in sickness, as is Çiva, and propitiated with the sacrifice of a cock, +without the intervention of any priest. The cock to Aesculapius +("_huic gallinae immolabantur_") may have had the same function +originally, for the cock is always the sun-bird. Seldom is Vet[=a]la +personified. When he has an image (and in the North he sometimes has +temples) it is that of an armless and legless man; but again he is +occasionally represented as a giant 'perfect in all his parts.'[27] To +the Brahman, Vet[=a]la is still a mere fiend, and presides over +fiends; nor will they admit that the red on his stones means aught but +blood. In such a god, one has a clue to the gradual intrusion of Çiva +himself into Brahmanic worship. At first a mountain lightning fiend, +then identified with Rudra, a recognized deity, then made +anthropomorphic. There are, especially in the South, a host of minor +Hindu deities, half-acknowledged, all more or less of a fiendish +nature in the eyes of the orthodox or even of the Çivaite. Seen +through such eyes they are no longer recognizable, but doubtless in +many instances they represent a crude form of nature-worship or +demonology, which has been taken from the cult of the wild +tribes, and is now more or less thoroughly engrafted upon that of +their civilized neighbors.[28] + +One of the most interesting, though not remarkable, cases of +similarity between savage and civilized religions is found in the +worship of snakes and trees.[29] In the N[=a]ga or dragon form the +latter cult may have been aided by the dragon-worshipping barbarians +in the period of the northern conquest. But in essentials not only is +the snake and dragon worship of the wild tribes one with that of +Hinduism, but, as has been seen, the tatter has a root in the cult of +Brahmanism also, and this in that of the Rig Veda itself. The +poisonous snake is feared, but his beautiful wave-like motion and the +water-habitat of many of the species cause him to be associated as a +divinity with Varuna, the water-god. Thus in early Hinduism one finds +snake-sacrifices of two sorts. One is to cause the extirpation of +snakes, one is to propitiate them, Apart from the real snake, there is +revered also the N[=a]ga, a beautiful chimerical creature, human, +divine, and snake-like all in one. These are worshipped by sectaries +and by many wild tribes alike. The N[=a]ga tribe of Chota N[=a]gpur, +for instance, not only had three snakes as its battle-ensign, but +built a serpent-temple.[30] + +Tree and plant worship is quite as antique as is snake-worship. For +not only is _soma_ a divine plant, and not only does Yama sit in +heaven under his 'fair tree' (above, p. 129), but 'trees and plants' +are the direct object of invocation in the Rig Veda (V. 41. 8); and +the Brahmanic law enjoins upon the faithful to fling an offering, +_bali_, to the great gods, to the waters, and 'to the trees';[31] as +is the case in the house-ritual. We shall seek, therefore, for the +origin of tree-worship not in the character of the tree, but in that +of the primitive mind which deifies mountains, waters, and trees, +irrespective of their nature. It is true, however, that the greater +veneration due to some trees and plants has a special reason. Thus +_soma_ intoxicates: and the _tulas[=i]_, 'holy basil,' has medicinal +properties, which make it sacred not only in the Krishna-cult, but in +Sicily.[32] This plant is a goddess, and is wed annually to the +Ç[=a]lagr[=a]ma stone with a great feast.[33] So the _çam[=i]_ plant +is herself divine, the goddess Çam[=i]. Again, the mysterious rustle +of the _bo_ tree, _pipal_ may be the reason for its especial +veneration; as its seeming immortality is certainly the cause of the +reverence given to the banian. It is not necessary, however, that any +mystery should hang about a tree. The palm is tall, (Çiva's) _açoka_ +is beautiful, and no trees are more revered. But trees are holy _per +se_. Every 'village-tree' (above, p. 374, and Mbh[=a]. ii. 5. 100) is +sacred to the Hindu. And this is just what is found among the wild +tribes, who revere their hut-trees and village-trees as divine, +without demanding a special show of divinity. The birth-tree (as in +Grecian mythology) is also known, both to Hindu sect and to wild +tribe. But here also +there is no basis of Aryan ideas, but of common human experience. The +ancestor-tree (totem) has been noticed above in the case of the Gonds, +who claim descent from trees. The Bh[=a]rs revere the (Çivaite!) +_bilva_ or _bel_, but this is a medicinal tree. The marriage-tree is +universal in the South (the tree is the male or female ancestor), and +even the Brahmanic wedding, among its secondary after-rites, is not +without the tree, which is adorned as part of the ceremony. + +Two points of view remain to be taken before the wild tribes are +dismissed. The first is that Hindu law is primitive. Maine and Leist +both cite laws as if any Hindu law were an oracle of primitive Aryan +belief. This method is ripe in wrong conclusions. Most of the matter +is legal, but enough grazes religion to make the point important. Even +with the sketch we have given it becomes evident that Hindu law cannot +be unreservedly taken as an exponent of early Brahmanic law, still +less of Aryan law. For instance, Maine regards matriarchy as a late +Brahmanic intrusion on patriarchy, an inner growth.[34] To prove this, +he cites two late books, one being Vishnu, the Hindu law-giver of the +South. But it is from the Southern wild tribes that matriarchy has +crept into Hinduism, and thence into Brahmanism. Here prevails the +matriarchal marriage*rite, with the first espousal to the +snake-guarded tree that represents the mother's family. In many cases +geographical limitations of this sort preclude the idea that the +custom or law of a law-book is Aryan.[35] + +The second point of view is that of the Akkadists. It is claimed by +the late Lacouperie, by Hewitt, and by other well-known writers that a +primitive race overran India, China, and the rest of the world, +leaving behind it traces of advanced religious ideas and other marks +of a higher civilization. Such a cult may have existed, but in so far +as this theory rests, as in a marked degree it does rest, on +etymology, the results are worthless. These scholars identify +Gandharva with Gan-Eden, K[=a]çi (Benares) with the land of the sons +of Kush; Gautama with Chinese ('Akkadian') _gut_, 'a bull,' etc. All +this is as fruitful of unwisdom as was the guess-work of European +savants two centuries ago. We know that the Dasyus had some religion +and some civilization. Of what sort was their barbaric cult, whether +Finnish (also 'Akkadian')[36] or aboriginal with themselves, really +makes but little difference, so far as the interpretation of Aryanism +is concerned; for what the Aryans got from the wild tribes of that day +is insignificant if established as existent at all. A few legends, the +Deluge and the Cosmic Tree, are claimed as Akkadian, but it is +remarkable that one may grant all that the Akkadian scholars claim, +and still deny that Aryan belief has been essentially affected by +it.[37] The Akkadian theory will please them that cannot reconcile the +Rig Veda with their theory of Brahmanic influence, but the fault lies +with the theory. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: The Dasyus, heathen, or pagans, are by no means + a wholly uncivilized mass to the poets of the Rig Veda. They + have wealth, build forts, and are recognized as living in + towns or forts. We learn little about them in Brahmanic + literature, except that they bury their dead and with them + their trinkets. Their graves and dolmen gray-stones are + still found.] + + [Footnote 2: Some scholars think that the Dravidians entered + from the Northwest later than the Kolarians, and, pushing + them to either side of the peninsula, descended through them + to the South. The fact that some Kolarian tribes closely + related by language are separated (to East and West) by + hundreds of miles, and have lost all remembrance of their + former union, favors this view of a Dravidian wedge + splitting and passing through the Kolarian mass. But all + here is guess-work. The Dravidians may have been pushed on + by Kolarians that entered later, while the latter may have + been split by the Aryan invasion; and this seems to us more + probable because the other theory does not explain why the + Kolarians did not go South instead of taking to the hills of + the East and West.] + + [Footnote 3: The whole list of these tribes as given by + Cust, _Sketch of the Modern Languages of the East Indies_, + is as follows: The Kolarians include the Sunth[=a]ls, + Mund[=a]ri Koles (Koches), Kh[=a]rians, Juangs, Korwas, + Kurs, Sav[=a]ras, Mehtos, Gadabas, P[=a]h[=a]rias; the + Dravidians include the tribes called Tamil, Telugu, + Kanarese, Malay[=a]lim, Tulu, Kudagu, Toda, Kota, Khond, + Gond, Or[=a]on, R[=a]jmah[=a]li, Keik[=a]di, Yeruk[=a]la.] + + [Footnote 4: The sacrifices of the wild tribes all appear to + have the object of pleasing or placating the god with food, + animal or vegetable; just as the Brahmanic sacrifice is made + to please, with the secondary thought that the god will + return the favor with interest; then that he is bound to do + so. Sin is carried away by the sacrifice, but this seems to + be merely an extension of the simpler idea; the god condones + a fault after an expression of repentance and good-will. + What lies further back is not revealed in the early texts, + though it is easy to make them fruitful in "theories of + sacrifice."] + + [Footnote 5: Of course no tribe has what civilization would + call a temple, but some have what answer to it, namely, a + filthy hut where live the god and his priest. Yet the Gonds + used to build roads and irrigate very well.] + + [Footnote 6: The (R[=a]j) Gonds were first subdued by the + R[=a]jputs, and where the Hindus and Gonds have intermarried + they are known as R[=a]j Gonds. Others have become the + 'Mohammedan Gonds.' Otherwise, in the case of the pure or + '[=A]ssul' (the greater number), neither Hindu nor + Mohammedan has had much influence over them, either socially + or religiously. The Gonds whipped the British in 1818; but + since then they have become 'pacified.'] + + [Footnote 7: It is often no more than a small hatchet stuck + in the belt, if they wear the latter, which in the jungle is + more raiment than they are wont to put on.] + + [Footnote 8: The snake in the tree is common to many tribes, + both being tutelary. The Gonds are 'sons of the forest + Trees,' and of the northern bull.] + + [Footnote 9: It seems to us that this feature need not be + reckoned as a sign of exogamy. It is often, so far as we + have observed, only a stereotyped form to express + bashfulness.] + + [Footnote 10: Some say earth-_god._ Thus the account given + in JRAS. 1842, p. 172, says 'male earth-god as ancestor,' + but most modern writers describe the divinity as a female. + Some of the Khonds worship only earth (as a peacock). This + is the peacock revered at the Pongol.] + + [Footnote 11: The Gonds also have a boundary-god. Graves as + boundaries are known among the Anglo-Saxons. Possibly Hermes + as boundary-god may be connected with the Hermes that + conducts souls; or is it simply as thief-god that he guards + from theft? The Khond practice would indicate that the + corpse (as something sacred) made the boundary, not that the + boundary was made by running a line to a barrow, as is the + case in the Anglo-Saxon connection between barrow and + bound.] + + [Footnote 12: Some may compare Bellerophon !] + + [Footnote 13: Tutelary deities are of house, village, + groves, etc. The 'House-god' is, of course, older than this + or than Hinduism. The Rig Veda recognizes V[=a]stoshpati, + the 'Lord of the House,' to whom the law (Manu, III. 89, + etc.) orders oblations to be made. But Hinduism prefers a + female house-goddess (see above, p. 374). Windisch connects + this Vedic divinity, V[=a]stos-pati, with Vesta and Hestia. + The same scholar compares Keltic _vassus, vassallus_, + originally 'house-man'; and very ingeniously equates + Vassorix with Vedic _vas[=a][.m] r[=a]j[=a]--viç[=a][.m] + r[=a]j[=a]_, 'king of the house-men' (clan), like + _h[.u]skarlar_,'house-fellows,' in Scandinavian (domesticus, + *_ouk(tes)_). Windisch, _Vassus und Vassallus_, in the + _Bericht. d. k. Sächs. Gesell_. 1892, p. 174.] + + [Footnote 14: That is to say, a dead man's spirit goes to + heaven, or is re-born whole in the tribe, or is re-born + diseased (anywhere, this is penal discipline), or finally is + annihilated. Justly may one compare the Brahmanic division + of the Manes into several classes, according to their + destination as conditioned by their manner of living and + exit from life. It is the same idea ramifying a little + differently; not a case of borrowing, but the growth of two + similar seeds. On the other hand, the un-Aryan doctrine of + transmigration may be due to the belief of native wild + tribes. It appears first in the Çatapatha, but is hinted at + in the 'plant-souls' of the RV. (above, pp. 145,204,432), + possibly in RV. I. 164. 30,38; Bötlingk, _loc. cit_., 1893, + p. 88.] + + [Footnote 15: This tribe now divides with the Lurka Koles + the possession of Chota Nagpur, which the latter tribe used + to command entire. The Or[=a]ons regard the Lurka Koles as + inferiors. Compare JRAS. 1861, p. 370 ff. They are sometimes + erroneously grouped with the Koles, ethnographically as well + as geographically. Risley, _Tribes and Castes of Bengal_, p. + XXXII.] + + [Footnote 16: Something like this is recorded by Brinton, + _Myths of the New World_, p. 243, as the belief of an + American tribe, which holds that the fate of the dead + depends on the manner of death, the funeral rites, or "some + such arbitrary circumstance" (as in Greece).] + + [Footnote 17: Compare the epic 'Mouse-people,' M[=u]shikas, + as well as Apollo's mouse. Possibly another Hindu mark of + sectarianism may be traced to the wild tribes, the use of + vermilion markings. This is the most important element in + the Bengal wedding rite (Risley).] + + [Footnote 18: Above the Sunth[=a]ls, who inhabit the jungle + and lower slopes of the R[=a]jmah[=a]l hills, live the + P[=a]h[=a]r[=i]as, who never tell a lie (it is said), and + whose religion in some aspects is worth noticing. They + believe in one god (over each village god), who created + seven brothers to rule earth. The P[=a]h[=a]r[=i]as descend + from the eldest of these brothers. They believe in + transmigration, a future state, and oracles. But it is + questionable whether they have not been exposed to + Buddhistic influence, as 'Budo Gosain' is the name of the + supreme (sun-)god.] + + [Footnote 19: In the ninth century Orissa was formed of the + territories of Khonds, Koles, and Sav[=a]ras. In the old + grouping of tribes these, together with the Gonds and Bhils, + were the "five children of the soil" between the Vindhya + mountains, the east chain of the Gh[=a]ts, and the mouth of + the God[=a]var[=i] to the centre of the valley of the + Nerbudda. The last mentioned tribe of Bhils (Bheels) is + almost devoid of native religion, but is particularly noted + for truth, honesty, and fidelity. JRAS. 1844, pp. 181, 189, + 192; 1852, p. 216 ff. It is an ancient race, but its origin + is not certain.] + + [Footnote 20: Trees are revered by the Brahmans also, as by + the American Indians. Schoolcraft, i. 368. The tree-spirit + is an advance on this (Brahmanic and Hinduistic).] + + [Footnote 21: Thus the Bhils' wedding is simply a mutual + promise under the _sing[=a]_ tree. These savages, however, + live together only so long as they choose. When the family + separates, the father takes the elder children, and the + mother takes the younger ones. They are polygamous. It is + from this tribe that the worship of Aghor[=i], the Vindhya + fiend, accepted as a form of K[=a]l[=i], was introduced into + Çivaite worship. At present their religion is a mixture of + Hindu and native superstition. Thus, like the Gonds, they + worship stone images of gods placed in a circle, but they + recognize among these gods several of the Hindu divinities.] + + [Footnote 22: Rowney, _Wild Tribes_, p. 194. The goose-totem + of the Sunth[=a]ls is also Brahm[=a]'s sign. As Vishnu is + carried on an eagle, and Çiva on a bull, so Brahm[=a] rides + a goose (or flamingo). The 'ten ancestors' demanded of the + Brahman priest were originally on the mother's side as well + as on the father's. Weber, _R[=a]jas[=u]ya_, p. 78. The + matriarchal theory is, however, southern. (Compare the + oblations to the ancestresses in Vishnu's law-book, 74.)] + + [Footnote 23: The marriage-stone, as in the Hindu rite is + quite common. Of lesser superstitions the _tab[=u]_, + analogous to the avoidance of unlucky names among the + Hindus, may be mentioned. Friendship among girls is cemented + by a religious ceremony. After this, among the Or[=a]ons, + the two avoid each other's name, calling each other only 'my + flower' or 'my meet-to-smile' (Rowney). In this tribe + exogamy is 'more respectable,' but not necessary. The girls + are generally bought, and have fixed prices, but we have + seen the customary price (twenty-five pigs) cited only for + Assam among the Meeris. If one man cannot pay so much, + several unite, for polyandry prevails all through the + northern tribes (JRAS. XI. 38), and even in the Punj[=a]b.] + + [Footnote 24: Sherring (JRAS. V. 376) says decidedly that + Bh[=a]rs, or Bh[=a]rats, and Ch[=i]rus cannot be Aryans. + This article is one full of interesting details in regard to + the high cultivation of the Bh[=a]rat tribe. They built + large stone forts, immense subterranean caverns, and made + enormous bricks for tanks and fortifications (19 X 11 X + 2-1/2 inches), the former being built regularly to east and + west (_surajbedi_). One of their chief cities lay five miles + west of Mirz[=a]pur, and covered several miles, entirely + surrounding the Puranic city of Vindhyacal, built in the + midst of it. Six or seven hundred years ago the Bh[=a]rs + held Oude and Benares. Carnegy's opinion is given in his + _Races, Tribes, and Castes of the Province of Oude_ (Oudh). + The Bh[=a]rs, says Elliot, _Chronicles of Oonayo_, built all + the towns not ending in _pur_, _mow_, or _[=a]b[=a]d_ + (Hindu, Mongol, Mohammedan). Their sacra (totems?) are the + bamboo, _bel_-tree, tortoise, and peacock.] + + [Footnote 25: JRAS. XII. 229; IA. XXII. 293.] + + [Footnote 26: Among the southern Koders the dolmen form + grave-stones; perhaps the religious employment of them in + this wise led to the idea of the god-stone in many cases; + but it is difficult to say in monolith-worship whether the + stone itself be not a god; not a fetish, for (as has been + said by others) a fetish is a god only so long as he is + regarded as being useful, and when shown to be useless he is + flung away; but a god-stone is always divine, whether it + grants prayers or not.] + + [Footnote 27: Wilson's note to Stevenson's description, + JRAS. 1838, p. 197. The epic disease-gods are not unique. + The only god known to the Andaman Islanders (Bay of Bengal) + was a disease-devil, and this is found as a subordinate + deity in many of the wild tribes.] + + [Footnote 28: In the current _Indian Antiquary_ there is an + exceedingly interesting series of papers by the late Judge + Burnell on Devil-worship, with illustrations that show well + the character of these lower objects of worship.] + + [Footnote 29: The standard work on this subject is + Fergusson's _Tree and Serpent Worship_, which abounds in + interesting facts and dangerously captivating fancies.] + + [Footnote 30: JRAS. 1846, p. 407. The ensign here may be + totemistic. In Hinduism the epic shows that the standards of + battle were often surmounted with signa and effigies of + various animals, as was the case, for example, in ancient + Germany. We have collected the material on this point in a + paper in JAOS. XIII. 244. It appears that on top of the + flag-staff images were placed. One of these is the + Ape-standard; another, the Bull standard; another, the + Hoar-standard. Arjuna's sign was the Ape (with a lion's + tail); other heroes had peacocks, elephants, and fabulous + monsters like the _çarabha_. The Ape is of course the god + Hanuman; the Boar, Vishnu; the Bull, Çiva; so that they have + a religious bearing for the most part, and are not + totemistic. Some are purely fanciful, a bow, a swan with + bells, a lily; or, again, they are significant of the + heroe's origin (Drona's 'pot'). Trees and flowers are used + as standards just like beasts. Especially is the palm a + favorite emblem. These signa are in addition to the + battle-flags (one of which is blue, carried with an ensign + of five stars). On the plants compare Williams, _Brahmanism + and Hinduism_, p. 338.] + + [Footnote 31: [=A]pastambo, 2. 2. 3. 22; Manu, III. 88.] + + [Footnote 32: Vule _apud_ Williams.] + + [Footnote 33: _ib_. The Rig Veda, X. 81. 4, knows also a + 'tree of creation.'] + + [Footnote 34: _Early Law and Custom_, p. 73 ff.] + + [Footnote 35: Thus it is common Aryan law that, on the birth + of a child, the mother becomes impure for ten days, either + alone or with the father. But the latter's impurity is only + nominal, and is removed by bathing (Manu, V. 62, and + others). B[=a]udh[=a]yana alone states that "according to + some" only the father becomes impure (1. 5. 11. 21). This is + the custom of a land described by Apollonius Rhodius (II. + 1010}, "where, when women bear children, the men groan, go + to bed, and tie up the head; but the women care for them." + Yet B[=a]udh[=a]yana is a Southerner and a late writer. The + custom is legalized only in this writer's laws. Hence it + cannot be cited as Brahmanic or even as Aryan law. It was + probably the custom of the Southern half-Hinduized + environment.] + + [Footnote 36: American Indians are also Dravidian, because + both have totems![* unknown symbol]] + + [Footnote 37: For the Akkadist theory may be consulted + Lacouperie in the _Babylonian and Oriental Record_, i. 1, + 25, 58; iii. 62 ff.; v. 44, 97; vi. 1 ff.; Hewitt, in + reviewing Risley's _Tribes and Castes of Bengal_, JRAS. + 1893, p. 238 ff. See also Sayce's _Hibbert Lectures_. On the + Deluge and Tree of Life, compare the _Babylonian and + Oriental Record_, iv. 15 and 217.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +INDIA AND THE WEST. + + +If in Hinduism, and even in Brahmanism, there are certain traits +which, with some verisimilitude, may be referred to the immediate +environment of these religions, how stands it in respect of that wider +circle of influence which is represented by the peoples of the West? +With Egypt and Phoenicia, India had intercourse at an early date, but +this appears to have been restricted to mercantile exchange; for India +till very late was affected neither by the literature nor by the +religion of Egyptians or Syrians.[1] Of a more direct sort seem to +have been the relations between India and Babylon, and the former may +owe to the latter her later astronomy, but no definitive proof exists +(or even any great historical probability) that Babylon gave India +even legendary additions to her native wealth of myths.[2] From the +Iranians the Hindus parted too early to receive from Zoroastrianism +any influence. On the contrary, in our opinion the religion of +Zoroaster budded from a branch taken from Indic soil. Even where +Persian influence may, with propriety, be suspected, in the later +Indic worship of the sun, India took no new religion from Persia; but +it is very possible that her own antique and preserved heliolatry was +aided, and acquired new strength from more modern contact with the +sun-worshippers of the West. Of Iranian influence in early times, +along the line of Hindu religious development, there is scarcely a +trace, although in 509 B.C. Darius's general conquered the land about +the Indus.[3] But the most zealous advocate of Persia's prestige can +find little to support his claims in pre-Buddhistic Brahmanic +literature, though such claims have been made, not only in respect of +the position of secondary divinities, but even as regards +eschatological conceptions. It is not so easy to refute an improbable +historical theory as it is to propound it, but, on the other hand, the +_onus probandi_ rests upon him that propounds it, and till now all +arguments on this point have resulted only in increasing the number of +unproved hypotheses, which the historian should mention and may then +dismiss. + +The Northern dynasty that ruled in India in the sixth century seems to +have had a hand in spreading Iranian sun-worship beyond the Indus, but +we doubt whether the radical effect of this dominion and its belief +(it is described by Kosmas, an Egyptian traveller of the time) is as +great as has been claimed.[4] + +From Greece, the Hindus received architectural designs, numismatic, +and perhaps a few literary hints, but they got thence neither +religious myths, nor, with the possible exception of the cult of the +later Love-god and fresh encouragement to phallic +-worship, new rites;[5] though they may have borrowed some fables, and +one even hears of a Buddhistic king endeavoring to buy a sophist of +Antiochus. But there is no ground for assuming philosophical influence +on Brahmanism. + +Christianity came late into the religious life of India, and as a +doctrine made upon her no deep or lasting impression. Certain details +of Christian story have been woven into the legends of Krishna, and +some scholars believe that the monotheistic worshippers depicted in +the pseudo-epic were Christians. But in respect of the latter point it +is enough to say that this account of foreign belief had no new +monotheizing effect upon the pantheism of India; the strange +(unbrahmanic) god was simply accepted as Vishnu. Nor do we believe +that the faith-doctrine of Hindu sectarianism and the trinitarianism +of India were derived from Christian sources. But it must be admitted +to be historically possible that the creed of the Christians, known to +the Hindus of the sixth and seventh centuries, may have suggested to +the latter the idea of the trinity as a means of adjusting the claims +of Brahmanism, Krishnaism, and Çivaism.[6] + +But from the Mohammedan India has taken much, albeit +only in the last few centuries. When Alexander entered India there +were still two bodies of Indic people west of the Indus. But the trend +was eastward, as it had been for centuries, and the first inroad of +the Mohammedan had little further effect than to seize a land forsaken +by Aryans and given over to the hordes of the North. The foundation of +the new empire was not laid till the permanent occupation of the +Punj[=a]b and annexation of Lahore in 1022-23. In the thirteenth +century all Hindustan acknowledged the authority of the slave sultan +of Delhi.[7] Akbar died in 1605. By the end of the century the Mogul +rule was broken; the Mahratta princes became imperial. It is now just +in this period of Mohammedan power when arise the deistic reforming +sects, which, as we have shown, were surrounded with deists and +trinitarians. Here, then, we draw the line across the inner +development of India's religions, with +Kab[=i]r, N[=a]nak, D[=a]du, and perhaps even Basava. In the +philosophy of the age that succeeds the epic there are but two phases +of religion, pantheism for the wise, a more or less deistic polytheism +for the vulgar[8] (in isolated cases may be added the monotheism of +certain scholastic philosophers); and so Indic religion continued till +the advent of Islamism. Nevertheless, though under Mohammedan +influence,[9] the most thoughtful spirits of India received monotheism +and gave up pantheism, yet was the religious attitude of these +thinkers not averse from that taken by the Sankyan philosophers and by +the earlier pantheists. From a philosophical point of view one must, +indeed, separate the two. But all these, the Unitarian Hariharaist, +the real pantheist of the Upanishads, who completed the work of the +Vedic quasi-pantheist, and the circle that comprises Kab[=i]r, +N[=a]nak, and D[=a]du, were united in that they stood against +encircling polytheism. They were religiously at one in that they gave +up the cult of many divinities, which represented respectively +nature-worship and fiend-worship (with beast-worship), for the worship +of one god. Therefore it is that, while native advance stops with the +Mohammedan conquest, one may yet claim an uninterrupted progress for +the higher Indic religion, a continual elevation of the thoughts of +the wise; although at the same time, beside and below this, there is +the circle of lower beliefs that continually revolves upon itself. For +in the zoölatry[10] and polytheism that adores monsters to-day +it is difficult to see a form of religion higher in any respect than +that more simple nature-polytheism which first obtained.[11] + +This lower aspect of Indic religions hinges historically on the +relation between the accepted cults of Hinduism[12] and those of the +wild tribes. We cannot venture to make any statements that will cast +upon this question more light than has been thrown by the above +account of the latter cults and of their points of contact with +Hinduism. It may be taken for granted that with the entrance into the +body politic of a class composed of vanquished[13] or vanquishing +natives, some of the religion of the latter may have been received +also. Such, there is every reason to believe, was the original worship +of Çiva as Çarva, Bhava, and of Krishna; in other words, of the first +features of modern sectarian Hinduism, though this has been so +influenced by Aryan civilization that it has become an integral part +of Hindu religion.[14] + +But, again, for a further question here presents itself, how much in +India to-day is Aryan? We are inclined to answer that very little of +blood or of religion is Aryan. Some priestly families keep perhaps a +strain of Aryan blood. But Hindu literature is not afraid to state how +many of its authors are of low caste, how many of its priests were +begotten of mixed marriages, how many formed low connections; while +both legendary and prophetic (_ex post facto_) history speak too often +of slave-kings and the evil times when low castes will reign, for any +unprejudiced person to doubt that the Hindu population, excluding many +pure priests but including many of the priests and the R[=a]jputs +('sons of kings'), represents Aryanhood even less than the belief of +the Rig Veda represents the primitive religion; and how little of +aboriginal Aryan faith is reflected in that work has been shown +already. + +As one reviews the post-Vedic religions of civilized India he is +impressed with the fact that, heterogeneous as they are, they yet in +some regards are so alike as to present, when contrasted with other +beliefs, a homogeneous whole. A certain uniqueness of religious style, +so to speak, differentiates every expression of India's theosophy from +that of her Western neighbors. What is common and world-wide in the +forms of Indic faith we have shown in a previous chapter. But on this +universal foundation India has erected many individual temples, +temples built after designs which are not uniform, but are all +self-sketched, and therefore peculiar to herself. In each of these +mental houses of God there is revealed the same disposition, and that +disposition is necessarily identical with that expressed in her +profane artistry,[15] for the form of religion is as much a matter of +national taste as is that which is embodied in literature, +architecture, and painting. And this taste, as expressed in religion, +isolates Brahmanic and Hinduistic India, +placing her apart, both from the gloom of Egypt and the grace of +Greece; even as in her earliest records she shows herself individual, +as contrasted with her Aryan kinsfolk. Like Egypt, she feels her dead +ever around her, and her cult is tinged with darkness; but she is fond +of pleasure, and seeks it deliriously. Like Greece, she loves beauty, +but she loves more to decorate it; and again, she rejoices in her +gods, but she rejoices with fear; fear that overcomes reason, and +pictures such horrors as are conjured up by the wild leaps of an +uncurbed fancy. For an imagination that knows no let has run away with +every form of her intellectual productivity, theosophy as well as art. +This is perceptible even in her ritualistic, scientific, and +philosophical systems; for though it is an element that at first seems +incongruous with such systems, it is yet in reality the factor that +has produced them. Complex, varied, minute, exact, as are the details +which she loves to elaborate in all her work, they are the result of +this same unfettered imagination, which follows out every fancy, +pleased with them all, exaggerating every present interest, unconfined +by especial regard for what is essential.[16] This is a heavy charge +to bring, nor can it be passed over with the usual remark that one +must accept India's canon as authoritative for herself, for the taste +of cosmopolitan civilization is the only norm of judgment, a norm +accepted even by the Hindus of the present day when they have learned +what it is. But we do not bring the charge of extravagance for the +sake of comparing India unfavorably with the Occident. Confining +ourselves to the historical method of treatment which we have +endeavored heretofore to maintain, we wish to point out the important +bearings which this intellectual trait has had upon the lesser +products of India's religious activity. + +Through the whole extent of religious literature one finds what are +apparently rare and valuable bits of historical information. It is +these which, from the point of view to which we have just referred, +one must learn to estimate at their real worth. In nine cases out of +ten, these seeming truths are due only to the light imagination of a +subsequent age, playing at will over the records of the past, and +seeking by a mental caper to leap over what it fails to understand. To +the Oriental of an age still later all the facts deducible from such +statements as are embodied in the hoary literature of antiquity appear +to be historical data, and, if mystic in tone, these statements are to +him an old revelation of profoundest truth. But the Occidental, who +recognizes no hidden wisdom in palpable mystification, should hesitate +also to accept at their face value such historical notes as have been +drafted by the same priestly hand. + +Nor would we confine the application of this principle to the output +of extant Brahmanic works. The same truth cuts right and left among +many utterances of the Vedic seers and all the theories built upon +them. To pick out here and there an _ipse dixit_ of one of the later +fanciful Vedic poets, who lived in a period as Brahmanic (that is, as +ritualistic) as is that which is represented by the actual +ritual-texts, and attempt to reconstruct the original form of +divinities on the basis of such vagaries is useless, for it is an +unhistorical method which ignores ancient conditions. + +In less degree, because here the conditions are more obvious, does +this apply to the religious interpretation of the great body of +literature which has conserved for posterity the beginnings of +Hinduism. But upon this we have already animadverted, and now need +only range this literature in line with its predecessors. Not because +the epic pictures Krishna as making obeisance to Çiva is Krishna here +the undeveloped man-god, who represents but the beginning of his +(later) greatness, and is still subject to the older Çiva. On the +contrary, it is the +epic's last extravagance in regard to Çiva (who has already bowed +before the great image of Krishna-Vishnu) that demands a furious +counter-blast against the rival god. It is the Çivaite who says that +Krishna-Vishnu bows; and because it is the Çivaite, and because this +is the national mode of expression of every sectary, therefore what +the Çivaite says is in all probability historically false, and the +sober historian will at least not discover 'the earlier Krishna' in +the Krishna portrayed by his rival's satellites. + +But when one comes to the modern sects, then he has to deplore not so +much the lack of historical data as the grotesque form into which this +same over-vivid imagination of the Hindu has builded his gods. As the +scientific systems grow more and more fancifully, detailed, and as the +liturgy flowers out into the most extraordinary bloom of weird legend, +so the images of the gods, to the eye in their temples, to the mind in +the descriptions of them, take to themselves the most uncouth details +imagined by a curious fancy. This god is an ascetic; he must be +portrayed with the ascetic's hair, the ascetic's wild appearance. He +kills; he must be depicted as a monster, every trait exaggerated, +every conceivable horror detailed. This god sported with the +shepherdesses; he must have love-adventures related in full, and be +worshipped as a darling god of love; and in this worship all must be +pictured in excess, that weaker mortal power may strive to appreciate +the magnitude of the divine in every fine detail. + +These traits are those of late Vedism, Brahmanism, and Hinduism. But +how marked is the contrast with the earlier Vedic age! The grotesque +fancy, the love of minutiae, in a word, the extravagance of +imagination and unreason are here absent, or present only in hymns +that contrast vividly with those of the older tone. This older tone is +Aryan, the later is Hindu, and it is another proof of what we have +already emphasized, that the Hinduizing influence was felt in the +later Vedic +or Brahmanic period. There is, indeed, almost as great a gulf between +the Dawn-hymns and the Çatapatha as there is between the latter and +the Pur[=a]nas. One may rest assured that the perverted later taste +reproduces the advance of Hindu influence upon the Aryan mind exactly +in proportion to the enormity displayed. + +On the other hand, from the point of view of morality, Brahmanic +religion is not in any way individual. The race, whether Aryan or +Hinduistic, had as fragile virtue as have other folks, and shows the +same tentative efforts to become purer as those which characterize +every national advance. There is, perhaps, a little too much formal +insistence on veraciousness, and one is rather inclined to suspect, +despite Müllers brave defence of the Hindu in this regard, that lying +came very naturally to a people whose law-givers were so continuously +harping on the beauty of truth. The vicious caste-system necessarily +scheduled immorality in accordance with the caste order, as certain +crimes in other countries are estimated according to the race of the +sinner rather than according to any abstract standard. In the matter +of precept we know no better moral laws than those promulgated by the +Brahmans, but they are the laws that every people evolves for itself. +Religious immorality, the excess of Çakti worship, is also not +peculiar to the Hindu. If one ask how the morality of India as a whole +compares with that of other countries, we reply that, including +religious excesses, it stands level with the personal morality of +Greece in her best days,[17] +and that without the religiously sensual (Hindu) element, it is +_nominally_ on a par with that of London or New York. There are good +and bad men, and these make good and bad coteries, which stand inside +the pale of a religious profession. There is not much theoretical +difference. Few of the older gods are virtuous, and Right, even in the +Rig Veda, is the moral power, that is, Right as Order, correct +behavior, the prototype both of ritual and of _[=a]c[=a]ra,_ custom, +which rules the gods. In the law-court the gods are a moral group, and +two of them, Varuna and Agni, hate respectively the sins of adultery +and untruth. In the law it is, however, Dharma and the Father-god or +his diadochos, who, handing down heavenly precepts, gives all moral +laws, though it must be confessed that the Father-god is almost the +last to care for morality. And pure Brahmanism stops with Brahm[=a]. +In modern Hinduism, to kill, lust, steal, drink, so far from +offending, may please a god that is amorous, or bloodthirsty, or, like +Çiva, is 'the lord of thieves.' Morality here has God himself against +it. In the Rig Veda, to sin is merely to displease a god. But even in +Brahmanism, as in Buddhism, there is not that intimate connection +between goodness and godness that obtains in Christianity. The +Brahman, like the Buddhist, was self-controlled, in order to exert +control upon the gods and the course of his own future life. He not +only, as is perhaps the case elsewhere, was moral with an ulterior +motive, but his moral code lacked the divine hand. It was felt as a +system which he applied to himself for his own good. He did not assume +that he offended a god by not following it, except in two special +cases, as in sins against Agni and Varuna. Ulterior motives are +deprecated, but because he that seeks absorption into God must quit +desires.[18] + +We have said that the moral code of the Hindus at its best seems to be +on a par with the best as found elsewhere. Not to lie, not to steal, +not to injure another illegally,[19] to be brave, to be loyal, to be +hospitable,--these are the factors of its early and late law. In +certain late cases may be added 'to be self-restrained.' But if these +laws be compared with those of the savage races it will be found that +most of them are also factors of primitive ethics. Therefore we say +that the Hindu code as a whole is savage and antique, and that, +excluding religious excess and debauchery, it is on a par with the +modern ethical code only nominally. In reality, however, this savage +and ancient code is not on a level with that of to-day. And the reason +is that the ideal of each is different. In the savage and old-world +conception of morality it is the ideal virtue that is represented by +the code. It was distinct laudation to say of a man that he did not +lie, or steal, and that he was hospitable.[20] But to-day, while these +factors remain to formulate the code, they no longer represent ideal +virtue. Nay rather, they are but the assumed base of virtue, and so +thoroughly is this assumed that to say of a gentleman that he does not +lie or steal is not praise, but rather an insult, since the imputation +to him of what is but the virtue of children is no longer an encomium +when applied to the adult, who is supposed to have passed the point +where theft and lying are moral temptations, and to have reached a +point where, on the basis of these savage, antique, and now childish +virtues, he strives for a higher moral ideal. And this ideal of +to-day, which makes fair-mindedness, liberality of thought, and +altruism the respective representatives of the savage virtues of +manual honesty, truth-speaking, and hospitality, is just what +is lacking in the more primitive ideal formulated in the code of +savages and of the Brahman alike.[21] It is not found at all among +savages, and they may be left on one side. In India all the factors of +the modern code are entirely lacking at the time when the old code was +first completely formulated. Liberality of thought comes in with the +era of the Upanishads, but it is a restricted freedom. Altruism is +unknown to pure Brahmanism. But it obtains among the Buddhists, who +also have liberality of thought and fair-mindedness. Hence, from the +point of view of the higher morality, one must confess that Buddhism +offers the best parallel to the best of to-day. On the other hand, +Buddhistic altruism exceeds all other. + +We have sketched the sphere of influence exerted by the West upon +India, and found it on the whole inconsiderable. The Indic religions +till the twelfth century assimilated what little they drew from +foreign sources, and stand before the world as a peculiar growth, +native to the soil in all their essential characteristics.[22] + +But to the other side of India's contact with the West we have as yet +barely alluded. India has given as she has received. What influence +has she had upon Western cults and beliefs? The worship that +substituted idols for ideal forms we have traced back to the end of +the Vedic period. It is not, however, a mark of early Brahmanism, nor +is it a pronounced feature before the age of Buddhism. But in Buddha's +time, or soon after, flourished the worship of images, and with it the +respect for relics. The latter feature of the new religion made +necessary shrines to keep the holy objects, sacred museums, which soon +became the formal _st[=u]pas,_ above-ground +and under-ground, and these made the first temples of India.[23] Fully +developed, they became the great religious buildings affected by +Buddhism, with their idol service, prostrations, repetitions of +prayers, dim religious light (lamp-service), offerings of flowers, +fruits, etc. From this source may have been derived many of the +details in the Roman Catholic worship, which appears to have taken +from Buddhism the rosary, originally a mark of the Çivaite.[24] By +what is, to say the least, an extraordinary coincidence, each of these +churches is conspicuous for its use of holy water, choirs, sacred +pictures, tonsure, vestments, the bell in religious service, the +orders of nuns, monks, and the vows of the monastic system.[25] The +most curious loan made by the Roman and Greek churches is, however, +the quasi-worship of Gotama Buddha himself (in so far as a Romanist +worships his saints), for, under cover of the Barlaam and Josaphat +story, Buddha has found a niche as a saint in the row of canonized +Catholic worthies, and has his saint-day in the calendar of the Greek +and Roman churches.[26] But it is not his mother who is the Virgin of +Lamaism, which has made of Buddha the Supreme God. + +Besides external phases of the religious cult, India has given +to the West a certain class of literary works and certain +philosophical ideas. The former consists, of course, in the +fable-literature, which spread from India to Eastern Europe (Babrius) +and has preserved in many tales of to-day nothing more than Buddhistic +Birth-stories or other Indic tales (the Pa[.n]catantra) and +legends.[27] Of these we can make only passing mention here, to turn +at once to the more important question of philosophical and religious +borrowing. + +It has been claimed, as we have incidentally stated, that the Logos +doctrine was imported from India. Were this so, it would, indeed, be a +fact of great historical importance, but, interesting as would be such +a loan, we cannot see that the suggestion is based on data of cogent +character. The history of the doctrine in India and Greece is simply +this: V[=a]c, Speech or Word, appears in the Rig Veda (in the hymn +cited above, p. 143) as an active female divine power, showing grace +to mortals. In the Brahmanic period V[=a]c becomes more and more like +the Greek Logos, and it may truthfuly be said that in this period "the +Word was God." In Greece, on the other hand, the conception of Logos +begins with Heraclitus, passes on to the Stoics; is adopted by Philo; +becomes a prominent feature of Neo-Platonism; and reappears in the +Gospel of St. John. It is certainly legitimate to suppose that +Heraclitus might have received the idea indirectly, if not directly, +from contemporary Eastern philosophers; but the fact that he did so +remains unproved; nor is there any foundation for the assumption of +borrowing other than the resemblance between the Grecian and Indic +conceptions. But this resemblance is scarcely marked enough in +essential features to prejudice one in favor of Weber's theory +(amplified by Garbe), as it is not detailed enough to be striking, for +V[=a]c is never more than one of many female abstractions. + +With the exception of the one case to be mentioned immediately, we are +forced to take the same position in regard to the similarity between +other forms of early Greek and Hindu philosophy. Both Thales and +Parmenides were indeed anticipated by Hindu sages, and the Eleatic +school seems to be but a reflexion of the Upanishads. The doctrines of +Anaximander and Heraclitus are, perhaps, not known first in Greece, +but there is no evidence that they were not original to Greece, or +that they were borrowed from India, however much older may be the +parallel trains of thought on Indic soil. + +Quite as decidedly, however, as we deny all appearance of borrowing on +the part of the founders of other early Grecian schools, must we claim +the thought of India to be the archetype of Pythagorean philosophy. +After a careful review of the points of contact, and weighing as +dispassionately as possible the historical evidence for and against +the originality of Pythagoras, we are unable to come to any other +conclusion than that the Greek philosopher took his whole system +indirectly from India. His 'numbers,' indeed, are the S[=a]nkhya only +in appearances.[28] But his theory of metempsychosis is the Indic +_sams[=a]ra_, and Plato is full of Sankhyan thought, worked out by him +but taken from Pythagoras. Before the sixth century B.C. all the +religious-philosophical ideas of Pythagoras are current in India (L. +von Schroeder, _Pythagoras_). If there were but one or two of these +cases, they might be set aside as accidental coincidences, but such +coincidences are too numerous to be the result of chance. Even in +details the transmigration theory of Pythagoras harmonizes with that +of India. Further (after Schroeder und Garbe) may be mentioned the +curious prohibition against eating beans; the Hesiodic-Pythagorean +[Greek: _pros êlion mê omichein_]; the vow of silence, like that taken +by the Hindu _muni_; the doctrine of _five_ elements (aether as +fifth); above all, the so-called Pythagorean Theorem, developed in the +mathematical +Çulvas[=u]tras[29] of India; the irrrational number [square root +symbol]2; then the whole character of the religious-philosophical +fraternity, which is exactly analogous to the Indic orders of the +time; and finally the mystic speculation, which is peculiar to the +Pythagorean school, and bears a striking resemblance to the +fantastical notions affected by the authors of the Br[=a]hmana.[30] +Greek legend is full of the Samian's travels to Egypt, Chaldaea, +Phoenicia, and India. The fire beneath this smoke is hidden. One knows +not how much to believe of such tales. But they only strengthen the +inference, drawn from 'the Pythagorean school,' the man's work itself, +that the mysticism and numbers with which he is surrounded are taken +from that system of numbers and from that mysticism which are so +astonishingly like his own. All subsequent philosophies borrowed from +Pythagoreanism, and in so far has India helped to form the mind of +Europe.[31] + +But we cannot omit a yet more important religious influence exerted by +India upon the West. As is well known, Neo-Platonism and Christian +Gnosticism owe much to India. The Gnostic ideas in regard to a +plurality of heavens and spiritual worlds go back directly to Hindu +sources. Soul and light are one in the S[=a]nkhya system before they +become so in Greece, and when they appear united in Greece it is by +means of the thought which is borrowed from India. The famous 'three +qualities' of the S[=a]nkhya reappear as the Gnostic 'three classes,' +[Greek: pneumagikoi], [Greek: psuchikoi], [Greek: ulikoi].[32] In +regard to Neo-Platonism, Garbe +says: "The views of Plotinus are in perfect agreement with those of +the S[=a]nkhya system."[33] Porphyry, the disciple of Plotinus, has +the Yoga doctrine of immediate perception of truth leading to union +with the deity. As is well known and undisputed, this Porphyry copies +directly from the treatise of Bardesanes, which contains an account of +the Brahmatis;[34] while in many instances he simply repeats the +tenets of the S[=a]nkhya philosophy. The means of communication may +have been Alexandria, where met the trades of the East and West. +Perhaps the philosophers of India as well as of Greece were brought +together there. But, if the East and West had a mutual meeting-ground, +the ideas common to both occupy no common place in their respective +homes. In Greece, Pythagoreanism and Gnosticism are strange, and are +felt as such by the natives. In India these traits are founded on +ancient beliefs, long current, universal, nationally recognized. The +question of giver and receiver, then, admitting the identity of +thought, can scarcely be raised. If two men meet, one a Methodist and +one a Baptist, and after they have conversed the Methodist be found +totally immersed, he will not be credited with having invented +independently his new mode of baptism. + +India's influence as an intellectual factor in modern European thought +has thus far been of the slightest. Her modern deism is borrowed, and +her pantheism is not scientific. Sanskrit scholars are rather fond of +citing the pathetic words of Schopenhauer, who, speaking of the +Upanishads, says that the study of these works "has been the solace of +my life; it will be the solace of my death"; but Schopenbauer knew the +Upanishads only in a very free form of translation, and it can +scarcely have been the loose philosophy so much as the elevated spirit +of +these works that solaced the unphilosophical bitterness of his life. +This general impression will doubtless continue to be felt by all that +study the best works of Brahmanism. The sincerity, the fearless search +of the Indic sages for truth, their loftiness of thinking, all these +will affect the religious student of every clime and age, though the +fancied result of their thinking may pass without effect over a modern +mind. For a philosophy that must be orthodox can never be definitive. +But, if one turn from the orthodox completed systems to the tentative +beginnings of the Ved[=a]nta (in the Upanishads), he finds as the +basis of this earlier speculation only an _a priori_ meta-physical +assumption.[35] + +Apart from philosophical influence there is at present more or less +interest in Europe and America in Indic superstition and spiritualism, +and half-educated people will doubtless be influenced for some time to +come by Mah[=a]tmaism and Yogism, just as they are moved by native +séance-spirits and mesmerism. Blavatskyism (which represents no phase +of Buddhism) will always find disciples among the ignorant classes, +especially in an agnostic or atheistic environment, so that one should +attribute the mental attitude of such minds to their lack of culture +rather than to India; for if Mah[=a]tmaism had not been discovered, +they would still profess it under another name. Buddhism, too, apart +from Hartmann, may be said to have some influence on popular thought, +yet it is a very unreal Buddhism, which amounts only to the adoption +of an altruistic creed. But we know of none among the many that +profess themselves 'Buddhists' who has really adopted Buddhistic +principles, and but few who even understand those principles. A bar to +the adoption of Buddhism lies in the implicit necessity +of renunciation for all who would become perfected, and in the +explicit doctrine of _karma_ in its native form. The true Buddhist is +not satisfied to be a third-class Buddhist, that is, simply a man that +seeks to avoid lust, anger, and ignorance. He will become a +second-class Buddhist and renounce the world, give up all family ties +and earthly affections, and enter the Order. But he will not do this, +thinking that he is thereby to become perfect. For, to be a +first-class Buddhist, he must get wisdom. He must believe in the +impermanence of everything, and in the awful continuation of his own +_karma_ as a resultant group, which, as such, will continue to exist +if, to the purity and peace of the lower classes of Buddhists, he fail +to add in his own case the wisdom that understands the truth of this +_karma_ doctrine.[36] Now no modern mind will believe this hypothesis +of _karma_ and no modern will even enter the Order. Nevertheless, +while one may not become a true Buddhist in the native sense, it is +possible to be a Buddhist in a higher sense, and in its new form this +is a religion that will doubtless attract many Occidentals, though it +is almost too chaste to win adherents where marriage is not regarded +as detrimental to high thinking. But if one substitute for the +Buddhistic _karma_ the _karma_ of to-day, he may well believe that his +acts are to have effect hereafter, not as a complex but as individual +factors in determining the goodness of his descendants and indirectly +of his environment. Then there remains the attainment of purity, +kindness,[37] and wisdom, which last may be interpreted, in accordance +with the spirit of the Master, as seeing things in their +true relations, and the abandonment of whatever prevents such +attainment, namely, of lust, anger, and ignorance. But to be a true +Buddhist one must renounce, as lust, all desire of evil, of future +life, which brings evil; and must live without other hope than that of +extinguishing all desire and passion, believing that in so doing he +will at death be annihilated, that is, that he will have caused his +acts to cease to work for good or ill, and that, since being without a +soul he exists only in his acts, he will in their cessation also cease +to be. + +At least one thing may be learned from Buddhism. It is possible to be +religious without being devout. True Buddhism is the only religion +which, discarding all animism, consists in character and wisdom. But +neither in sacrificial works, nor in kindness alone, nor in wisdom +alone, lies the highest. One must renounce all selfish desires and +live to build up a character of which the signs are purity, love for +all, and that courageous wisdom which is calm insight into truth. The +Buddhist worked out his own salvation without fear or trembling. To +these characteristics may be added that tolerance and freedom of +thought which are so dissimilar to the traits of many other religions. + +So much may be learned from Buddhism, and it were much only to know +that such a religion existed twenty-four centuries ago. But in what, +from a wider point of view, lies the importance of the study of Hindu +religions? Not, we venture to think, in their face value for the +religious or philosophical life of the Occident, but in the +revelation, which is made by this study, of the origin and growth of +theistic ideas in one land; in the light these cast by analogy on the +origin of such ideas elsewhere; in the prodigious significance of the +religious factor +in the development of a race, as exhibited in this instance; in the +inspiring review of that development as it is seen through successive +ages in the loftiest aspirations of a great people; and finally in the +lesson taught by the intellectual and religious fate of them among +that people that have substituted, like the Brahman ritualist, form +for spirit; like the Vedantist, ideas for ideals; like the sectary, +emotion for morality. But greatest, if woeful, is the lesson taught by +that phase of Buddhism, which has developed into Lamaism and its +kindred cults. For here one learns how few are they that can endure to +be wise, how inaccessible to the masses is the height on which sits +the sage, how unpalatable to the vulgar is a religion without +credulity. + +Ever since Cotton Mather took up a collection to convert the +Hindus,[38] Americans have felt a great interest in missionary labor +in India. Under the just and beneficent rule of the British the Hindus +to-day are no longer plundered and murdered in the way they once were; +nor is there now so striking a contrast between the invader's precept +and example as obtained when India first made the acquaintance of +Christian militants. + +The slight progress of the missionaries, who for centuries have been +working among the Hindus, is, perhaps, justified in view of this +painful contrast. In its earlier stages there can be no doubt that all +such progress was thereby impeded. But it is cause for encouragement, +rather than for dismay, that the slowness of Christian advance is in +part historically explicable, sad as is the explanation. For against +what odds had not the early missionaries to struggle! Not the heathen, +but the Christian, barred the way against Christianity. Four hundred +years ago the Portuguese descended upon the Hindus, cross and sword in +hand. For a whole century these victorious immigrants, with unheard-of +cruelty and tyranny, cheated, stripped, and slaughtered the natives. +After them came the Dutch, but, Dutch or Portuguese, it was the same. +For it was merely another century, during which a new band of +Christians hesitated at no crime or outrage, at no meanness or +barbarity, which should win them power in India. In 1758 the Dutch +were conquered by the English, who, becoming now the chief +standard-bearers of the Christian church, committed, Under +Varisittart, more offences against decency, honor, honesty, and +humanity than is pleasant for believer or unbeliever to record; and, +when their own theft had brought revolt, knew no better way to impress +the Hindu with the power of Christianity than to revive the Mogul +horror and slay. (in their victims' fearful belief) both soul and body +alike by shooting their captives from the cannon's mouth. Such was +Christian example. It is no wonder that the Christian precept ('thou +shalt love thy neighbor as thyself') was uttered in vain, or that the +faith it epitomized was rejected. The hand stole and killed; the mouth +said, 'I love you.' The Hindu understood theft and murder, but it took +him some time to learn English. One may hope that this is now +forgotten, for the Hindu has not the historical mind. But all this +must be remembered when the expenditures of Christianity are weighed +with its receipts.[39] + +In coming to the end of the long course of Hindu religious thought, it +is almost inevitable that one should ask what is the present effect of +missionary effort upon this people, and what, again, will eventually +be the direction which the native religious sense, so strongly +implanted in this folk, will take, whether aided or not by influence +from without. + +Although it is no part of our purpose to examine into the workings of +that honest zeal which has succeeded in planting so many stations up +the Indic coast, there are yet some obvious truths which, in the light +of religious history, should be an assistance to all whose work lies +in making Hindu converts. To compile these truths from this history +will not be otiose. In the first place, Christian dogma was formally +introduced into South India in the sixth century; it was known in the +North in the seventh, and possibly long before this; it was the topic +of debate by educated Hindus in the sixteenth and seventeenth. It has +helped to mould the Hindus' own most intellectual sects; and, either +through the influence of Christian or native teaching, or that of +both, have been created not only the Northern monotheistic schools, +but also the strict unitarianism of the later Southern sects, whose +scriptures, for at least some centuries, have inculcated the purest +morality and simplest monotheistic creed in language of the most +elevated character.[40] In the second place, the Hindu sectary has +interwoven with +his doctrine of pantheism that of the trinity. In the third place, the +orthodox Brahman recognizes in the cult of Christianity, as that cult +is expressed, for instance, in Christmas festivities, one that is +characteristic, in outward form and inner belief, of a native +heterodox sect. In the fourth place, the Hindu sectary believes that +the native expression of trinitarian dogma, faith-doctrine, child-god +worship, and madonna-worship takes historical precedence over that of +Christianity; and the orthodox Hindu believes the same of his +completed code of lofty moral teachings. Vishnuism is, again, so +catholic that it will accept Christ as an _avatar_ of Vishnu, but not +as an exclusive manifestation of God. In the fifth place, the Hindu +doctors are very well educated, and often very clever, both delighting +in debate and acute in argument It follows, if we may draw the obvious +inference, that, to attack orthodox Brahmanism, or even heterodox +Hinduism, requires much logical ability as well as learning, and that +the best thing a missionary can do in India, if he be not conscious of +possessing both these requisites, is to let the native scholars alone. + +But native scholars make but a small part of the population, and among +the uneducated and 'depressed' classes there is plenty for the +missionary to do. Here, too, where caste is hated because these +classes suffer from it, there is more effect in preaching equality and +the brotherly love of Christianity, doctrines abhorrent to the social +aristocrats, and not favored even by the middle classes. But what here +opposes Christian efforts is the splendid system of devotion, the +magnificent fêtes, the gorgeous shows, and the tickling ritualism, +which please and overawe the fancy of the native, who is apt to desire +for himself a pageant of religion, not to speak of a visible god in +idol form; while from his religious teacher he demands either an +asceticism which is no part of the Christian faith, or a leadership in +sensuous and sensual worship. + +What will be the result of proselytizing zeal among these variegated +masses?[41] Evidently this depends on where and how it is exercised. +The orthodox theologian will not give up his inherited faith for one +that to him is on a par with a schismatic heresy, or take dogmatic +instruction from a level which he regards as intellectually below his +own. From the Sam[=a]jas no present help will come to the missionary; +for, while they have already accepted the spirit of Christianity, +liberal Hindus reject the Christian creed.[42] At a later day they +will join hands with the missionary, perhaps, but not before the +latter is prepared to say: There is but one God, and many are his +prophets. + +There remain such of the higher classes as can be induced to prefer +undogmatic Christianity to polytheism, and the lowest class, which may +be persuaded by acts of kindness to accept the dogmas with which these +are accompanied. It is with this class that the missionary has +succeeded best. In other cases his success has been in inverse ratio +to the amount of his dogmatic teaching. And this we believe to be the +key to the second problem. For, if one examine the maze of India's +tangled creeds, he will be surprised to find that, though dogmatic +Christianity has its Indic representative, there yet is no indigenous +representative of undogmatic Christianity. For a +god in human form is worshipped, and a trinity is revered; but this is +not Christianity. Love of man is preached; but this is not +Christianity. Love of God and faith in his earthly incarnation is +taught; but this, again, is not Christianity. No sect has ever +formulated as an original doctrine Christ's two indissoluble +commandments, on which hang all the law and the prophets. + +It would seem, therefore, that to inculcate active kindness, simple +morality, and the simplest creed were the most persuasive means of +converting the Hindu, if the teacher unite with this a practical +affection, without venturing upon ratiocination, and without seeking +to attract by display, which at best cannot compete with native +pageants.[43] Moreover, on the basis of undogmatic teaching, the +missionary even now can unite with the Sam[=a]j and Sittar church, +neither of which is of indigenous origin, though both are native in +their secondary growth. For it is significant that it is the Christian +union of morality and altruism which has appealed to each of these +religious bodies, and which each of them has made its own. In +insisting upon a strict morality the Christian missionary will be +supported by the purest creeds of India itself, by Brahmanism, +unsectarian Hinduism, the Jain heretics, and many others, all of whom +either taught the same morality before Christianity existed, or +developed it without Christian aid. The strength of Christian teaching +lies in uniting with this the practical altruism which was taught by +Christ. In her own religions there is no hope for India, and her best +minds have renounced them. The +body of Hinduism is corrupt, its soul is evil. As for Brahmanism--the +Brahmanism that produced the Upanishads--the spirit is departed, and +the form that remains is dead. But a new spirit, the spirit of +progress and of education, will prevail at last. When it rules it will +undo the bonds of caste and do away with low superstition. Then India +also will be free to accept, as the creed of her new religion, +Christ's words, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and thy neighbor as +thyself.' But to educate India up to this point will take many +centuries, even more, perhaps, than will be needed to educate in the +same degree Europe and America.[44] + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Lassen interprets _ophir_ as Abh[=i]ras, at the + mouth of the Indus. The biblical _koph_ is Sanskrit _kapi_, + ape. Other doubtful equivalents are discussed by Weber, + _Indische Skizzen_, p. 74.] + + [Footnote 2: The legend of the Flood and the fancy of the + Four Ages has been attributed to Babylon by some writers. + Ecstein claims Chaldean influence in Indic atomic + philosophy, _Indische Studien_, ii. 369, which is doubtful; + but the Indic alphabet probably derived thence, possibly + from Greece. The conquests of Semiramis (Serimamis in + the original) may have + included a part of India, but only Brunnhofer finds trace of + this in Vedic literature, and the character of his work we + have already described.] + + [Footnote 3: Senart attributes to the Achaemenides certain + Indic formulae of administration. IA. xx. 256.] + + [Footnote 4: Certain Hindu names, like those to which we + called attention in the epic, containing Mihira, _i.e.,_ + Mithra; the Magas; _i.e.,_ Magi; and recommendations of + sun-worship in the Pur[=a]nas are the facts on which Weber + bases a theory of great influence of Persia at this later + period. Weber claims, in fact, that the native sun-worship + was quite replaced by this importation (_Indische Skizzen_, + p. 104). This we do not believe. Even the great number of + Persians who, driven out by Arabians, settled in Gujar[=a]t + (the name of Bombay is the same with Pumbadita, a Jewish + settlement in Mesopotamia) had no other effect on the + Brahmanic world that absorbed them (_ib._ p. 109) than to + intensify the fervor of a native cult.] + + [Footnote 5: Weber ascribes to Greek influence the Hindus + first acquaintance with the planets. On a possible dramatic + loan see above, p. 2, note. The Greeks were first to get + into the heart of India (as far as Patna), and between the + court of Antiochus the Great and the king S[=a]ubhagasena + there was formal exchange of ambassadors in the third + century B.C. The name of Demetrius appears as Datt[.a]mitra + in the Hindu epic. He had "extended his rule over the Indus + as far as the Hydaspes and perhaps over M[=a]lava and + Gujarat" (about 200 B.C.; Weber, _Skizzen_). In the second + century Menandros (the Buddhists' 'Milinda') got as far as + the Jumna; but his successors retreated to the Punj[=a]b and + eventually to Kabul (_ib_.) Compare also Weber, _Sitz. d. + könig. Preuss. Akad_., 1890, p. 901 ff., _Die Griechien in + Indien_. The period of Greek influence coincides with that + of Buddhist supremacy in its first vigor, and it is for this + reason that Brahmanic literature and religion were so + untouched by it. There is to our mind no great probability + that the Hindu epic owes anything to that of Greece, + although Weber has put in a strong plea for this view in his + essay _Ueber das R[=a]m[=a]ya[n.]a_.] + + [Footnote 6: The romance of a Russian traveller's late + 'discovery,' which Sanskrit scholars estimate at its true + value, but which may seem to others worthy of regard, is + perhaps, in view of the interest taken in it, one that + should be told correctly. Nicholas Notovitch asserts that he + discovered seven years ago in the Tibetan monastery of + Himis, a work which purports to give a life of Christ from + birth to death, including sixteen years spent in India. This + life of 'Issa' (Jesus) is declared to have been written in + the first century of the Christian era. Unfortunately for + the reputation of the finder, he made a mistake in + exploiting his discovery, and stated that his manuscript had + been translated for him by the monks of Himis 'out of the + original P[=a]li,' a dialect that these monks could not + understand if they had specimens of it before them. This + settled Notovitch's case, and since of course he did not + transcribe a word of the MS. thus freely put at his + disposal, but published the forgery in a French + 'translation,' he may be added to the list of other + imposters of his ilk. The humbug has been exposed for some + time, and we know of no one who, having a right to express + an opinion, believes Notovitch's tale, though some ignorant + people have been hoaxed by it. If the blank sixteen years in + Christ's life ever be explained, it may be found that they + were passed in a Zoroastrian environment; but until real + evidence be brought to show that Christ was in India, the + wise will continue to doubt it. As little proof exists, it + may be added, of Buddhistic influence in the making of the + Gospels. But this point is nowadays scarcely worth + discussing, for competent scholars no longer refer vague + likenesses to borrowing. Certain features are common to the + story of Christ and to the legends of Buddha; but they are + common to other divine narratives also. The striking + similarities are not found in the earliest texts of the + Southern Buddhists. [=I]ça for Jesus is modern, Weber, _loc. + cit._, p. 931.] + + [Footnote 7: Elphinstone, I. pp, 140, 508; II. chap. I. The + 'slave dynasty' of Kutab, 1206-1288. It was the bigoted + barbarity of these Mohammedans that drove Brahmanic religion + into the South.] + + [Footnote 8: Though immediately before it the Harihara cult, + survival of Sankhyan dualism, is practically monotheistic. + Basava belongs to the twelfth century.] + + [Footnote 9: The literary exchange in the realm of fable + between Arabia and later Sanskrit writers (of the twelfth + century) is very evident. Thus in Indic dress appear at this + time the story of Troy, of the passage over the Red Sea, of + Jonas, etc. On the other hand, the Arabians translated + native Hindu fables. See Weber, IS. iii. 327, _Ueber den + Zusammenhang griechischer Fabeln mit indischen_, and + _Indische Skizzen_, p. 111, and _Die Griechen in Indien_. + Arabia further drew on India for philosophical material, and + Alber[=u]ni himself translated Kapila's work (Weber,_loc. + cit_.).] + + [Footnote 10: Whereby cows, snakes, cats (sacred to one of + the Çivaite 'mothers'), crocodiles, monkeys, etc, are + worshipped.] + + [Footnote 11: Pantheists in name alone, most of the lower + caste-men are practically polytheists, and this means that + they are at bottom dualists. They are wont to worship + assiduously but one of the gods they recognize.] + + [Footnote 12: Where Brahmanism may be said to cease and + Hinduism to begin can be defined but vaguely. Krishnaism is + rank Hinduism. But Çivaism is half Brahmanic. For the rest, + in its essential aspects, Hinduism is as old as the Hindus. + Only the form changes (as it intrudes upon Brahmanism).] + + [Footnote 13: It is highly probable that the mention of the + Northwestern Ç[=u]dras in Mbh[=a]. VI. 9. 67 refers to the + Afghan S[=u]droi, and that the slave-caste as a whole, which + bears the name Ç[=u]dra, received this appellation first as + conquered tribes of Afghanistan.] + + [Footnote 14: Brahmanism has always been an island in a sea. + Even in the Brahmanic age there is evidence to show that it + was the isolated belief of a comparatively small group of + minds. It did not even control all the Aryan population.] + + [Footnote 15: We refer partly to literature, that of the + drama and novel, for instance; and partly to the fine arts. + But in connection with the latter it may be remarked that + painting, and the fine arts generally, are expressly + reckoned as the pursuit of slaves alone. For instance, even + as late a jurist as he that wrote the law-code of 'Vishnu' + thus (chap. ii.) parcels out the duties and occupations of + the four castes: The duty of a priest is to teach the Veda, + his means of livelihood is to sacrifice for others and to + receive aims; the duty of the warrior is to fight, his means + of livelihood is to receive taxes for protecting the other + castes; the duty of the V[=a]içya is to tend cattle, his + means of livelihood 1s gain from flocks, farm, trade, or + money-lending. The duty of a slave, Çudra, is to serve the + three upper castes; his means of livelihood is the fine + arts.] + + [Footnote 16: It is this that has exaggerated, though not + produced, that most marked of native beliefs, a faith which + Intertwines with every system, Brahmanic, Buddhistic, or + Hinduistic, a belief in an ecstatic power in man which gives + him control over supernatural forces. Today this Yogism and + Mah[=a]tmaism, which is visible even in the Rig Veda, is + nothing but unbridled fancy playing with mesmerism and + lies.] + + [Footnote 17: The Hindu sectarian cults are often strangely + like those of Greece in details, which, as we have already + suggested, must revert to a like, though not necessarily + mutual, source of primitive superstition. Even the sacred + free bulls, which roam at large, look like old familiar + friends, [Greek: aphetôn dniôn taurôn en tps tou IIoseidônos + Ierps] (Plato, _Kritias_, 119); and we have dared to + question whether Lang's 'Bull-roarer' might not be sought in + the command that the priest should make the bull roar at the + sacrifice; and in the verse of the Rig Veda which says that + the priests "beget (produce) the Dawn by means of the roar + of a bull" (vii. 79. 4); or must the bull be _soma_? For + Müller's defence of the Hindu's veraciousness, see his + _/India, What Can It Teach Us_, p. 34.] + + [Footnote 18: Some exception may be taken to this on the + ground that moral laws really are referred to the Creator in + one form or another, This we acknowledge as a theory of + authority, but it so seldom comes into play, and there is so + little rapport between gods and moral goodness, that the + difference in this regard is greater by far than the + resemblance. A Christian sins against God, a Hindu sins + against himself. The Christian may be punished by God; the + Hindu punishes himself (the _karma_). The latter may say + that moral laws are of God, but he means that they are + natural laws, the violation of which has the same effect as + touching fire.] + + [Footnote 19: The _lex talionis_ is in full force in Hindu + law, even in the codes of Hinduism; for example, 'Vishnu,' + V. 19.] + + [Footnote 20: Deceit of a foe is no sin in any system. "All + is fair in war."] + + [Footnote 21: This idea may be carried out in other + instances. The bravery of civilization is not the bravado + that savages call bravery, and modesty is now a virtue where + boasting used to be reckoned as the necessary complement of + bravery. As for hospitality in the old sense, it is not now + a 'virtue' not to kill a guest.] + + [Footnote 22: India's relations with Rome were late and + wholly of mercantile character.] + + [Footnote 23: It is interesting, as showing incidentally the + close connection between Buddhism and Çivaism in other than + philosophical aspects, that the first Indic grotto-temple + mentioned by foreigners (in the third century A.D.) was one + which contained a statue of an androgynous (Çivaite) deity + (Weber, _Indische Skizzen_, p. 86, note).] + + [Footnote 24: Rosaries are first mentioned in the AV. + Pariçista, XLIII. 4. 11 (Leumann, Rosaries).] + + [Footnote 25: In Lamaism there is also the tiara-crowned + pope, and the transubstantiation theory; the reverence to + Virgin and Child, confessions, fasts, purgatory, abbots, + cardinals, etc. Compare David's _Hibbert Lectures_, p. 193.] + + [Footnote 26: The literature on this subject is very + extensive (see the Bibliography). On Buddhism and + Christianity see Bohlen's _Altes Indien_, I. 334 (Weber, + _Indische Skizzen_, p. 92). At a recent meeting of the + British Association E.B. Tylor presented a paper in which is + made an attempt to show Buddhistic influence on + pre-Columbian culture in America. On comparing the Aztec + picture-writing account of the journey of the soul after + death with Buddhistic eschatology, he is forced to the + conclusion that there was direct transmission from Buddhism. + We require more proof than Aztec pictures of hell to believe + any such theory; and reckon this attempt to those already + discussed in the eighth chapter.] + + [Footnote 27: It is a mooted question in how far the + influence in this line has been reciprocal. See _Indische + Studien_, iii. 128.] + + [Footnote 28: The S[=a]nkhya has no systematic connection + with the 'numbers' of Pythagoras.] + + [Footnote 29: Compare on the Çulvas[=u]tras, Thibaut, J.A. + Beng. xliv. p. 227; Von Schroeder, _Pythagoras und die + Inder; Literatur und Cultur_, p. 718 ff, who also cites + Cantor, _Geschichte der Mathematik_, p. 540, and refutes the + possibility, suggested by the latter, of the loan being from + Greece to India on the ground that the Çulvas[=u]tra are too + old to belong to the Alexandrine period, and too essentlal a + part of the religious literature to have been borrowed; and + also on the ground that they are not an addition to the + Çr[=a]utas[=u]tra, but they make an independent portion (p. + 721, note).] + + [Footnote 30: Compare Garbe (_loc. cit_. below), and his + _S[=a][.m]khya Philosophic_, p. 94.] + + [Footnote 31: This view is not one universally accepted by + Sanskrit scholars. See, for instance, Weber, _Die Griechen + in Indien_. But to us the minute resemblance appears too + striking to be accidental.] + + [Footnote 32: Lassen, and Weber, _Indische Skizzen, p_. 91.] + + [Footnote 33: Garbe, in a recent number of the _Monist_, + where is given a _résumé_ of the relations between Greek and + Hindu philosophical thought.] + + [Footnote 34: Weber, _loc. cit._] + + [Footnote 35: The existence of a soul (spirit) in man is + always assumed in the Upanishads. In the pantheistic system + (the completed Ved[=a]nta) the verity of traditional belief + is also assumed. The latter assumption is made, too, though + not in so pronounced a manner, in the Upanishads.] + + [Footnote 36: The Upanishad philosopher sought only to save + his life, but the Buddhist, to lose it.] + + [Footnote 37: This is not a negative 'non-injury' kindness. + It is a love 'far-reaching, all*pervading' (above, p. 333). + The Buddhist is no Stoic save in the stoicism with which he + looks forward to his own end. Rhys Davids has suggested that + the popularity of Tibet Buddhism in distinction from + Southern Buddhism may have been due to the greater weight + laid by the former on altruism. For, while the earlier + Buddhist strives chiefly for his own perfection, the + spiritualist of the North affects greater love for his kind, + and becomes wise to save others. The former is content to be + an Arhat; the latter desires to be a Bodhisat, 'teacher of + the law' (_Hibbert Lectures_, p. 254). We think, however, + that the latter's success with the vulgar was the result + rather of his own greater mental vulgarity and animism.] + + [Footnote 38: Hurst's _Indika_, chap. XLIX, referring to + _India Christiana_ of 1721, and the correspondence between + Mather and Ziegenbalg, who was then a missionary in India. + The wealthy 'young men' who contributed were, in Hurst's + opinion, Harvard students.] + + [Footnote 39: The Portuguese landed in Calcutta in 1498. + They were driven out by the Dutch, to whom they ceded their + mercantile monopoly, in 1640-1644. The Dutch had arrived in + 1596, and held their ground till their supremacy was wrested + from them by Clive in 1758, The British had followed the + Dutch closely (arriving in 1600), and were themselves + followed soon after by the Germans and Danes (whose activity + soon subsided), and by the French. The German company, under + whose protection stood Ziegenbalg, was one of the last to + enter India, and first to leave it (1717-1726). The most + grotesquely hideous era in India's history is that which was + inaugurated by the supremacy of the Christian British. Major + Munroe's barbaric punishment of the Sepoys took place, + however, in Clive's absence (1760-1765). Marshman, I, p. + 305, says of this Munroe only that he was "an officer of + undaunted resolution"! Clive himself was acquitted by his + own countrymen of theft, robbery, and extortion; but the + Hindus have not acquitted him or Hastings; nor will + Christianity ever do so.] + + [Footnote 40: For specimens of the sacred Kural of + Tiruvalluvar N[=a]r[=a]yana*N[=a]yan[=]r, see the examples + given by Pope, _Indian Antiquary_, seventh and following + volumes. The Sittars, to whom we have referred above, are a + more modern sect. Their precept that love is the essential + of religion is not, as in the case of the Hindu idolators, + of erotic nature. They seem to be the modern representatives + of that Buddhistic division (see above) called S[=a]ugatas, + whose religion consists in 'kindness to all.' In these sects + there is found quietism, a kind of quakerism, pure morality, + high teaching, sternest (almost bigoted) monotheism, and the + doctrine of positive altruism, strange to the Hindu idolator + as to the Brahman. The Prem S[=a]gar, or 'Ocean of Love,' is + a modern Hindu work, which illustrates the religious love + opposed to that of the Sittars, namely, the mystic love of + the Krishnaite for his savior, whose grace is given only to + him that has faith. It is the mystic rapt adoration that in + expression becomes erotic and sensual.] + + [Footnote 41: Hinduism itself is unconsciously doing a + reforming work among the wild tribes that are not touched by + the Christian missionary. These tribes, becoming Hinduized, + become civilized, and, in so far as they are thus made + approachable, they are put in the way of improvement; though + civilization often has a bad effect upon their morals for a + season.] + + [Footnote 42: The substitution of the doctrine of redemption + for that of _karma_ is intellectually impossible for an + educated Hindu. He may renounce the latter, but he cannot + accept the former. The nearest approach to such a conception + is that of the Buddhistic 'Redeemer' heresy referred to + above. In all other regards Samaj and pantheism are too + catholic to be affected; In this regard they are both + unyielding.] + + [Footnote 43: We question, for instance, the advisability of + such means to "fill up the church" as is described in a + missionary report delivered at the last meeting of the + Missionary Union of the Classis of New York for the current + year: "A man is sent to ride on a bicycle as fast as he can + through the different streets. This invariably attracts + attention. Boys and men follow him to the church, where it + is easy to persuade them to enter." But this is an admission + of our position in regard to the classes affected. The + rabble may be Christianized by this means, but the + intelligent will not be attracted.] + + [Footnote 44: After the greater part of our work had passed + the final revision, and several months after the whole was + gone to press, appeared Oldenberg's _Die Religion des Veda_, + which, as the last new book on the subject, deserves a + special note. The author here takes a liberal view, and does + not hesitate to illustrate Vedic religion with the light + cast by other forms of superstition. But this method has its + dangers, and there is perhaps a little too much straining + after original types, giant-gods as prototypes and totemism + in proper names, where Vedic data should be separated from + what may have preceded Vedic belief. Oldenberg, as a + ritualist, finds in Varuna, Dawn, and the Burial Service the + inevitable stumbling-blocks of such scholars as confuse + Brahmanism with early Vedism. To remove these obstacles he + suggests that Varuna, as the moon, was borrowed from the + Semites or Akkadians (though be frankly admits that not even + the shadow of this moon lingers in Vedic belief); explains + Dawn's non-participation in _soma_ by stating that she never + participates in it (which explains nothing); and jumps over + the Burial Hymn with the inquiry whether, after all, it + could not be interpreted as a cremation-hymn (the obvious + answer being that the service does imply burial, and does + not even hint at cremation). On the other hand, when + theoretical barbarism and ritualism are foregone, Oldenberg + has a true eye for the estimation of facts, and hence takes + an unimpeachable position in several important particulars, + notably in rejecting Jacobi's date of the Rig Veda; in + rejecting also Hillebrandt's moon-_soma_; in denying an + originally supreme Dy[=a]us; in his explanation of + henotheism (substantially one with the explanation we gave a + year ago); and in his account of the relation of the Rig + Veda to the (later) Atharvan. Despite an occasional + brilliant suggestion, which makes the work more exciting + than reliable, this book will prove of great value to them + that are particularly interested in the ritual; though the + reader must be on his guard against the substitution of + deduction for induction, as manifested in the confusion of + epochs, and in the tendency to interpret by analogy rather + than in accordance with historical data. The worth of the + latter part of the book is impaired by an unsubstantiated + theory of sacrifice, but as a whole it presents a clear and + valuable view of the cult.] + + * * * * * + + + + +ADDENDA. + + +Page 154, note 3: Add to (RV.) x. 173, AV. vi. 88. + +Page 327, third line from the top: Read Buddhaghosha. According to +Chalmers, as quoted by T.W. Rhys Davids in his recent lectures, traces +of mysticism are found in some of the early texts (as yet +unpublished). The fact that the canonical P[=a]li books know nothing +of the controversy (involving the modification of traditional rules) +of the second council gives a terminus to the canon. Senart, on the +other hand, thinks that the vague language of the Açoka inscriptions +precludes the fixing of the canon at so early a date. + +Page 340, note 4: The gods here are priests. The real meaning seems to +be that the Brahman priests, who were regarded as gods, have been put +to naught in being reduced to their true estate. Compare Senart, +(revised) _Inscriptions de Piyadasi_, third chapter. Açoka dismissed +the Brahman priests that his father had maintained, and substituted +Buddhist monks. + +Page 436, note 2: From B[=e]r[=u]n[=i] it would appear that the Gupta +and Valabh[=i] eras were identical (319-20 A.D). See Fleet, Indian +Antiquary, xvii. 245. Many scholars now assign Kum[=a]rila to the +eighth century rather than to the end of the seventh. + + * * * * * + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY.[1] + + +GENERAL WORKS. + +#Journals#: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Soctety (JRAS.);[2] Journal of +the German Oriental Society (Zeitschrift der Deutschen +Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, ZDMG.); Journal Asiatique (JA.); +Journal of the American Oriental Society (JAOS.); Branch-Journals of +the JRAS.; Calcutta Review; Madras Journal; Indian Antiquary (IA.). +Some of the articles in the defunct Zeitschrift für die Kunde des +Morgenlandes (ZKM.), and in the old Asiatick Researches (AR.) are +still worth reading. Besides these, the most important modern journals +are the transactions of the royal Austrian, Bavarian, Prussian, and +Saxon Academies, the Muséon and the Revue de l'histoire des religions. +Occasional articles bearing on India's religions or mythology will be +found in the American Journal of Philology (AJP.); the Wiener +Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes (WZKM.); the Babylonian and +Oriental Record (BOR.); Kühn's Zeitschrift für vergleichende +Sprachforschuhg (KZ.); Bezzenberger's Beiträge (BB.); and the +Indogermanische Forschungen (IF.). + +#Histories, studies, etc.#: Prinsep, Essays (Indian Antiquities); +Lassen, Indische Alterthumskunde. Histories of India by Elphinstone +(religious material, chapters iv book i, and iv book ii), by +Elliot, by Marshman (complements Elphinstone), and by Wheeler +(unreliable); The Rulers of India; Hunter's Indian Empire and Brief +History. Mill's excellent History of India is somewhat prejudiced. +Dutt's History of Civilization in Ancient India is praise-worthy +(1890). Invaluable are the great descriptive Archaeological Surveys by +Cunningham, Burgess, and Bühler, and Hunter's Statistical Account of +Bengal. Literary History:[3] Colebrooke, Essays, reedited by Cowell, +with notes by Whitney; Wilson, Essays; Weber, Indische Studien (IS.); +Benfey, Orient and Occident (OO.); Müller, Ancient Sanskrit Literature +(ASL.), Science of Religion; Weber, Vorlesungen über Indische +Literaturgeschichte (also translated), Indische Streifen, Indische +Skizzen; L. von Schroeder, Indiens Literatur und Cultur; Whitney, +Oriental and Linguistic Studies, Language and the Study of Language; +Duncker, Geschichte des Alterthums (third volume, may be bought +separately); Williams, Indian Wisdom (inaccurate but readable). + + +VEDIC RELIGION. + +#Literature#: Roth, Zur Literatur und Geschichte des Weda;[4] Benfey, +Vedica und Verwandtes; Zimmer, Altindisches Leben (AIL.); +R[=a]jendralala Mitra, Indo-Aryans(unreliable); Bergaigne, La Religion +Védique (also JA. ix, xiii); De Gubernatis, Letture sopra la Mitologia +Vedica; Pischel and Geldner, Vedische Studien;[5] Regnaud, Le Rig Veda +et les origines de la mythologie indo-européenne, and Les hymnes du +Rig Veda, sont-ils prières? (Ann. d. Mus. Guimet, Bibl. d'études, t. +i, and special studies). Regnaud's point of view renders nugatory most +of what he writes on the Veda.[6] The most useful collection of Vedic +and Brahmanic Texts that illustrate Hindu Mythology and Religion is to +be found in Muir's Original Sanskrit Texts (OST.), especially the +fourth and fifth volumes.[7] For the Sacred Books of the East (SBE.) +see Hems below. + +#Translations of the rig veda#: Complete, by Grassmann and by Ludwig; +partial, by Roth, Benfey, Langlois, Bergaigne; in English chiefly by +Wilson, Müller, Muir, Peterson, Griffith. Of these the German +translation of Grassmann is often inaccurate;[8] that of Ludwig, often +unintelligible. Benfey has translated a number of specimens, OO., BB., +i, vii, and in Kleinere Schriften. The incomplete translation of +Wilson has been carried on by Cowell; those of Peterson and Griffith +are publishing in India; Langlois' is useless. Müller's partial +translations will be found in various volumes, Ancient Sanskrit +Literature, India: What Can it Teach Us, Chips, Hibbert Lectures, +JRAS. ii. 448, iii. 199, etc.; and all the Hymns to the Maruts, SBE. +xxxii. Whitney has translated the cosmogonic hymn, PAOS., May, 1882; +and Deussen has just published the philosophical hymns, Geschichte der +Philosophie, i, 1. A group of Vedic hymns in English dress will be +found in Muir, OST. v.; extracts (without connection) are given by +Bergaigne, in La Religion Védique, and special essays in JA. (above). +In German a capital little collection is the Siebzig Lieder of Geldner +and Kaegi. The best general introductory manual for the study of the +Rig Veda, accompanied with frequent translations, is Kaegi's Der Rig +Veda (translated into English by Arrowsmith). + +#Translations of the atharva veda# are all partial. The handiest +collection is Grill's Hundert Lieder des Atharva Veda. Specimens will +be found translated by Aufrecht, IS. i. 121 (book xv); (Roth) Bruce, +JRAS. 1862, p. 321 (book xii. 1); Kuhn, Indische und Germanische +Segensspriiche, KZ. xiii. 49, 113; Weber, IS. iv. 393, v. 195, 218, +xiii. 129, xvii. 178 (books i-iii, xiv); Grohmann, _ib._ ix. 381; +Ludwig, vol. iii, of his translation of the Rig Veda; Zimmer, AIL.: +Victor Henry, books vii and xiii (Les hymnes Rohitas);[9] Bloomfield, +Seven Hymns, and Contributions AJP. vii. 466, xi. 319, xii. 414, JAOS. +xv. 143, xvi. 1; ZDMG. xlviii. 541; Florenz, BB. xii. 249 (book vi.). +Of The S[=a]ma V[=e]da: Stevenson (1842) in English (inaccurate) and +Benfey (1848) in Gcrman have made translations. On the Yajur Veda +see Schroeder, Literatur und Cultur, and below. + +#Vedic mythology#: Windischmann, Ursagen der Arischen Völker, Bay. +Ak., 1858; Kuhn, KZ. iv. 88, Herabkunft des Feuers (Prometheus);[10] +Roth, Die höchsten Götter der Arischen Völker, ZDMG. vi. 67 (_ib._ +vii. 607); Wilson, Preface of Langlois: Cox, Aryan Mythology; Whitney, +Oriental and Linguistic Studies, ii. p. 149, JAOS. iii. 291, 331; +Müller, Second Series of Science of Language, Biographies of +Words.[11] General interpretation of divinities, Müller, Muir, +Bergaigne, Kaegi, Pischel-Geldner, _loc. cit._ The last books on the +subject are Oldenberg's scholarly volume, Die Religlon des Veda (note, +p. 571, above), and Phillip's The Teaching of the Vedas (1895), the +work of a charlatan. + +SPECIAL STUDIES OF VEDIC DIVINITIES: + +#Aditi#: Roth, IS. xiv. 392; Hillebrandt, Ueber die Göttin Aditi; +Müller, SBE. xxxii. 241; Colinet, Étude sur le mot Aditi, Muséon, xii. +81. [=A]dityas, Roth, ZDMG. vi. 67 (above); Darmesteter, Ormazd et +Ahriman. + +#Agni#: L. von Schroeder, Apollon-Agni, KZ. xxix. 193[12] (see epic, +below). + +#Apsaras# (see Gandhanas). + +#Aryaman# (Açvins, Mitra, etc.): Bollensen, ZDMG. xli. 494. + +#Asura# as Asen, Schrader, p. 599; P. von Bradke, Dy[=a]us Asura. See +Dy[=a]us. + +#Açvins#: Myriantheus, Die Açvins oder Arischen Dioskuren; _not_ +Dioskuroi, Pischel, Vedische Studien, Preface, p. xxvii; as +constellation, etc., Benfey, OO. ii. 245, iii. 159; Gemini, Weber, +last in R[=a]jas[=u]ya, p. 100; as Venus, 'span-god,' Bollensen, ZDMG. +xli. 496; other literature, Muir, OST. v. 234; Colinet, Vedic Chips, +BOR. iii. 193 (n[=a]satya, Avestan n[=a]onhaithya, n[=a] as +'very').[13] + +#Brihaspati#: Roth, ZDMG. i. 66; Muir, v. 272; Hillebrandt, Vedische +Mythologie, i. 404. + +#Dawn# (see Ushas). + +#Dy[=a]us#: P. von Bradke, Dy[=a]us Asura, also Beiträge, ZDMG. xl. +347; not the same with Teutonic Tiu, Bremer, IF. iii. 301; as +'all-father' of primitive Aryans, Müller, Origin of Religion, p. 209; +followed by Tiele, Outlines of History of Ancient religions, p. 106; +see Hopkins, PAOS. Dec. 1894; form of Word, Collitz. KZ. xxvii. 187; +BB. xv. 17. + +#Earth# (see Nritus). + +#Gandharvas#: KZ. i. 513; Meyer, Gandharven-Kentauren (list of +Apsarasas); Pischel, VS. i. 78; Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, i. +427. + +#Haritas# (sun's steeds) as Charites, KZ. x. 96; ib. 365; Sonne, _loc. +cit. s_. S[=u]ryra; Müller, Science of Language, ii. 388. + +#Heaven# (see Dy[=a]us and Varuna). + +#Indra# (etymology, Benfey, OO. i. 49; PW. sv.; añdra, A.-Sax. 'ent,' +'giant,' BB. i. 342;[17]] nar, [Greek: _anor-_, Jacobi, KZ. xxxi. 316; +Indra's bolt, vadha, 'wetter,' Delbrück, KZ. xvi. 266): Perry, Indra +in the Rig Veda, JAOS. xi. 117 (see epic, below). + +#K[=a]ma#: Weber, ZDMG. xiv. 269, IS. v. 224, xvii. 290; Muir, v. 402. + +#Manu#:[15] Roth, ZDMG. iv. 430; Weber, IS. i. 194 ('man and moon'), +ZDMG. iv. 302; Muir, OST. i. 161; Kuhn, KZ. iv. 91; Burnouf, Preface +of Bh[=a]g. Pur[=a]na, p. iii; Ascoli (m[=a]nus, mactus), KZ. xvii. +334; Maspiter as 'man,' Corssen, KZ. ii. 32;[16] Manu's wife, Weber, +ZDMG. xviii. 286. Compare also KZ. xii. 293, xix. 156, Mannus (see +Laws, below). + +#Maruts# (dubious etymology, Grassmann, KZ. xvi. 161; P. von Bradke, +_loc. cit. s._. Dy[=a]us): von Bradke, Wunderliche Geburt, Festgruss +an Roth, p. 117 (Brahmanic, same point of view in parody, RV. x. 102, +ZDMG. xlvi. 445). Hymns to Maruts, translated by Müller, SBE. xxxii. + +#Mitra#: Windischmann, Abh. K.M., 1857; Weber, IS. xvii. 212 (see +Varuna). + +#Namuci#: Lanman, JAS. Beng. viii. 1889; Bloomfield, JAOS. xv. 143. + +#Nritus# as Nerthus, Hoffmann; (Roth) Bruce, Vedic Conceptions of the +Earth, JRAS. 1862, p. 321; Prithiv[=i], ZDMG. xli. 494. + +#Parjanya#: Bühler, Zur Mythologic des Rig Yeda, OO. i. 214; Hirt, 1F. +i. 481, 'oak-god.'[4] + +#Purandhi#: Pischel, VS. i. 202; Hillebrandt, WZKM. iii. 188, 259; +Colinet, BOR. ii. 245, iv. 121 ('abundance'), Congress, 1892. + +#Priçni# (p[r.]çni) as Frigy, KZ. ii. 478; 'freckles,' KZ. xix. 438. + +#P[=u]shan#: Muir, OST. v. 171; Bergaigne, La Relig. Vèd. ii. 420; +Hillebrandt, ved. myth., i. 456 (with soma); gubernatis, letture, p. +82 (as setting sun); pischel, vs. i. 11 (s[=u]ry[=a] and p[=u]shan); +perry, notes on the vedic deity p[=u]shan, drisler memorial, p. 240. + +#Ribhus# ([r.]bhavas, etymology, 'alf,' 'Orpheus'; or Orpheus from +[r.]gh, [Greek: orchietai], Kuhn KZ. iv. 103; Wackernagel, KZ. xxiv. +297); Ludwig, iii. 187, as Seasons. Nève, Études sur les hymnes +(1842), and Essai sur le mythe des Ribhavas (1847, misleading, Ribhu +as apotheosis). + +#Rohitas#: Henry (above). + +#Rudra# (etymology, Pischel, VS. i. 57[18]): Weber, Vedic Conception +of, IS. ii. 19; Pischel, Vedica, ZDMG. xl. 120; Rudra's mouse +and Smintheus, KZ. iii. 335; Grohmann, Apollo Smintheus und die +Bedeutung der Mäuse in der Mythologie der Indogermanen. + +#Sarany[=u]# (sara[n.]y[=u]): [Greek: ertngis], ZDA. vi. 117; KZ. i. +439 (storm; riddle, _ib_. 440); Bloomfield, JAOS. xv. 172; as Dawn, +Müller, Lectures, Second Series; Saram[=a], and S[=a]rameyas as +Hermeias, _ib._; Aufrecht, ZDMG. xiii. 493 (RV. x. 108, translated). + +#Soma#: Windischmann, Ueber den Somacultus der Arier, Abh. Münch. Ak., +iv; Roth, ZDMG. xxxv. 681, xxxviii. 134; Ehni, _ib._ xxxiii. 166; +Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, i; Soma and the eagle, Kuhn, +Herabkunft (above); Roth, ZDMG. xxxvi. 353; Bloomfield, JAOS. xvi (p. +1, further literature), Festgruss an Roth, p. 149; Weber, Vedische +Beiträge, p. 3 (Sitz. Berl. Ak. 1894, p. 775); and Agni ritual, +Knauer, Vedische Fragen, Festgruss an Roth, p. 61. + +#Surya# (see Haritas): sonne, hymn to, kz. xii-xv; form of word, j. +schmidt, kz. xxvi. 9. see p[=u]shan (and hinduism, below). +s[=a]vitr[=i], whitney, colebrooke's essays, ii. iii. + +#Trita#: Macdonnell, Mythological Studies, JRAS. 1893, p. 419 (ap[=a]m +nap[=a]t, lightning; Trita as Thridhi, name of Odin, 'third' form of +fire); form of word, BB. ix. 99; Perry, see Indra (p. 26); Bloomfield, +PAOS. 1894, p. cxix. Other literature, Kaegi, _loc. cit._, note 112 d. + +#Ushas# (U[S.]AS): Muir, v. 181; Bergaigne, i. 241, etc; Sonne, KZ. x. +416; Müller, Science of Language, ii. 391, etc. + +#Vv[=a]c#: logos, Weber, IS. ix. 473. + +#Varuna# (varu[n.]a): Roth, ZDMG. vi. 71; Weber, IS. xvii. 212; Muir, +v. 58; Bergaigne, iii. 110; Hillebrandt, Varu[n.]a und Mitra; +Darmesteter, Ormazd et Ahriman; Sonne, KZ. xii. 364; Pischel, VS. i. +188; Geldner, _ib_. 142; Ludwig, iii. 314; Oldenberg as a borrowed god +(PAOS. 1894); as water, Geldner, BB. xi. 329; form of word, Bolensen, +ZDMG. xli. 504 (var 'hell sein'); Bohnenberger (Roth), Varu[n.]a nach +den Liedern des Rig Veda (Mitra as appellative becomes a new god, p. +85);[19] as svar, Regnaud, Rev. xix. 79. + +#Vastoshpati# ('house-lord'): Windisch, Vassus und Vassallus, Bericht. +d. k. Säch. Gesell. 1892, p. 174 (vassus for vast). + +#V[=a]ta#, vayu (v[=a]ta is [Greek: aêtês], 'wind'): Stokes, BB. xix. +74, compares Irish fath, 'breath,' but gives also fáth, a kind of poem +(vates, vôds, English 'wood' as 'mad'). V[=a]ta, Wuotan, Zimmer, ZDA. +vii. (19) 179 + +#Vishnu# (vi[s.][n.]u like jishnu, ji[s.][n.]u, vi, 'fly,' the +heavenly bird?): Muir, iv and v (older texts relative to Vishnu), +PAOS. Dec. 1894. + +#Yama#: Roth, ZDMG. ii. 216, iv, 417 (Jemshid), JAOS. iii. 335, IS. +xiv. 393; Whitney, Oriental and Linguistic Studies, i. 46; Müller, +Science of Language, ii. 528, 534; Westergaard, with Weber's notes, +IS. iii. 402; Muir, JRAS. i. 287; OST. v. 284; Bergaigne, i. 86, ii. +96, etc; Grassmann, KZ. xi. 13, 'binder'; Ehni, Der Vedische Mythus +des Yama; Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, i. 489; Bloomfield, JAOS. +xv. 163, 172; Hopkins, PAOS. 1891, p. xciv; Scherman, +Visionsliteratur; Leumann, KZ. xxxii. 301 (Yam[=i][20]); L. von +Schroeder, Literatur, p. 217 (Ymir, Praj[=a]pati); Bréal, Hercule et +Circus; Benfey, Vedica, 149; Van den Gheyn, Cerbère (1883); +Casartelli, Dog of Death, BOR. iv. 265.[21] Yama's sadana, Pischel, +VS. i. 242.[22] + +#Veda and brahmanism#: Oldenberg, Die Hymnen des Rig Veda, and ZDMG. +xlii. 199, Ueber die Liedverfasser des Rig Yeda (see Hinduism, below); +Roth, _ib_. iv. 514, divisions of the Rig Veda; Bergaigne, Recherches +sur l'histoire de la Samhit[=a] du Rig Veda, JA. (1886 and following +years), also on the liturgy, _ib_. 1888; JA. x. No. 3; Pincott, JRAS. +xvi. 381; Hillebrandt, Spuren einer älteren Rig Veda Recension, BB. +viii. 195; Lanman, JAOS. x. 580; Brunnhofer, KZ, xxv. 374, BB. x. 234 +(Collitz, BB. vii. 183); Roth, on the worth of tradition, ZDMG. xxi. +1; Whitney, on Translation of Veda, OLS.; PAOS. Oct. 1867; Goldstücker +on S[=a]ya[n.]a, in Preface to P[=a][n.]ini. Cult against mantra, +Roth, ZDMG. vii. 604; viii. 467; Weber, _ib._ viii. 389; Pischel and +Geldner, Preface to Vedische Studien and ZDMG. xlviii. 702; Colinet, +Les Principes de I'exégèse védique, Muséon, 1890; Bloomfield, +Contributions (above); E. Hardy, Die Vedisch-brahmanische Periode d. +Relig. d. Alt. Ind.; Muir, Priests and Interpreters of the Veda, JRAS. +ii. 257, 303; Haug, Contribution, 1863, and Interpretation of the +Veda, Congress, 1874; Ludwig, Die philosophischen und religiösen +Anschanungen des Veda; also Ludwig, Rig-Veda, iii (Mantra-Literatur), +pp. 262, 284, 301, and his works, Ueber Methode bei Interpretationen +des Rig Veda, and Ueber die neuesten Arbeiten auf dem Gebiet der RV. +Forschung. Further (Vedic and later literature), Oldenberg, ZDMG. +xxxvii. 54; _ib_. xxxix. 52; Windisch, Verh. d. Geraer Philologen +Versammlung, Vedische Wettfahrtt in Festgruss an Roth; Weber, Episches +im Vedischen Ritual, Sitz. Berl. Ak., 1891; Schermann, Philosophische +Hymnen (also Visionsliteratur). + +#Vedic and brahmanic belief#: Pott, Vedic and Orphic Kosmic Egg, +Ovidiana, KZ. viii. 179 (Peleus as _Urschlamm I_); von Bradke, +Beiträge z. altind. Religions und Sprachgescbichte, ZDMG. xl. 347, +655; Schrader, chapter xiii; Zimmer, AIL.; Roth and Böhtlingk, +Vedische Räthsel, ZDMG. xxxvii. 109; (and eschatology) xlvi. 759; +Windisch, _ib_. xlviii. 353.[23] Eschatology: Weber, Eine Legende, +ZDMG. ix. 237 (Bhrigu) and 308; Burnell, a Legend from the +Talavak[=a]ra, Congress, 1880, IA. xiii. 16, 21; Benfey, Orient und +Occident, iii. 169, and Hermes, Minos, Tartaros; Whitney, PAOS., Nov., +1858, May, 1886; Böhtlingk, Bericht d. k. Sächs. Gesell, 23. April, +1893, p. 88; Henotheism: Whitney, _loc. cit_., Oct. 1881, see IA. +xi. 146; Hopkins, Drisler Memorial. Social position of priests +(castes), Weber,[24] Nachträge, p. 795; Collectanea, IS. x; Muir, +JRAS. ii. 257; OST. i; Hopkins, Four Castes, also JAOS. xiii; +Schlagintweit (Caste at Present), ZDMG. xxxiii. 549. Cult: E. Hardy, +_loc. cit_. above; on _Om_ see Bloomfield, PAOS. Oct. 1889; Cult of. +Manes, Caland, Altind. Ahnencult, and Ueber Totenverehrung bei Einigen +der IE. Völker; Winternitz, WZKM. iv. 199; Whitney, OLS. i. 46; Kaegi, +_loc. cit_., note 265, with literature. Funeral: Roth, ZDMG. viii. +467; Müller, _ib_. ix. pp. i and xiiii (sic); Wilson, JRAS. 1854, p. +201; Regnaud, Çr[=a]ddha védique, Rev. d'hist. d. relig. xxv. 1; +Donner, pi[n.][d.]apit[r.]yajña; Lanman, Mortuary Urns, PAOS. May, +1891. Wedding: Weber, Hochzeitssprüche, IS. v. 177; Stenzler, +P[=a]raskara, ZDMG. vii. 527; Haas, Heiratsgebräuche d. alten Inder, +IS. v. 267; Schröder, Die Hochzeitsbräuche der Esten; Winternitz, Das +Ai. Hochzeitsrituell. Omens, Ordeals, etc.: Weber, Zwei Vedische +Texte über Omina und Portenta, Wurfel-Orakel, Vedische Beiträge;[25] +Schlagintweit, Gottesurtheile; Stenzler, ZDMG. ix. 661; Kaegi, Alter +und Herkunft der germanischen Gottesurtheile (with further +literature); Jolly, Beiträge zur Rechtsgeschichte, ZDMG. xliv. 347. +The earliest essay on Ordeals was presented by Warren Hastings, 1784, +Asiatick Researches, i. 389. Star-lore: Colebrooke; Weber, IS. ii. +236; Haug, Introduction to [=A]it. Br.; Weber, Die Vedischen +Nachrichten von d. Nakshatra; Sitz. Berl. Ak. 1861, p. 267;[26] +Müller, Ancient Hindu Astronomy and Chronology; Burgess, JRAS. xxv. +717; Jacobi, Methods and Tables. Witchcraft, Medicine: Kuhn, KZ. +xiii. 49; Grohmann, IS. ix. 381; Bloomfield, Contributions, AJP. vii, +xi, xii; Pictet, KZ. v. 24, 321; Jolly, Knoblauch, Festgruss an Roth, +p. 18; medicine and divination, Bower MS., +JASB. 1891; IA. xxi. 29, 129; WZKM. v. 103. Blood-money: Roth, ZDMG. +xli. 672; Aryan and Indic, Bühler and Schroeder, Festgruss an Roth; +Jolly, _loc. cit._., p. 339. Sacrifices: Hillebrandt, Das altind. +Neu-u. Vollmondsopfer, and Nationale Opfer, Festgruss an Böhtlingk; +Lindner, Die Diksk[=a], and _loc. cit._, Ernteopfer; Weber, +V[=a]japeya and R[=a]jas[=u]ya, Sitz. Berl. Ak., 1892, 1893, and Zur +Kenntniss d. Ved. Opferrituals, IS. x. 321, xiii. 217; Schwab, Das +Altindische Thieropfer. Suttee and Human Sacrifices: Colebrooke, +Duties of Faithful Hindu Widow, Asiatick Researches, iv. 209; Wilson, +JRAS. 1851, p. 96, 1854, p. 201, 1859, p. 209; Müller, Chips, ii. 34; +Hall, JRAS. iii. 183, 193; R[=a]jendral[=a]la Mitra, Indo-Aryans, ii. +114; Weber, ZDMG. vii. 585, xviii. 262 (Manu, Minotaur, _ib._ p. 286), +Ind. Streifen, i. 54; Zimmer, AIL. p. 328; Hillebrandt, ZDMG. xl. 711. + +#Ritual, etc#: (above and) Müller, ZDMG. ix. p. xliii; Garbe, ZDMG. +xxxiv. 319 (Pravargya); Rarity of Soma-sacrifice, Haug, ZDMG. xvi. +273; Hindu Doctrine of Atonement, Stenzler, Congress, 1874, p. 205; +Atharva Ritual, Garbe, V[=a]it[=a]na S[=u]tra; Magoun, Asur[=i] Kalpa; +Agni Sacrifice, Thibaut, Agni Citi, Pandit, JAS. Beng., xliv, 1875, +Çulva S[=u]tra; Koulikovski, Les Trois Feux Sacrés, Rev. xx. 121. +Serpent-worship: Stier, Sarpedon, KZ. xi. 234; Fergusson, Tree and +Serpent Worship; Cuthbert, Serpent Temples, JRAS. 1846, p. 407; +compare _ib_, 1891; Winternitz, Sarpabali, Schlangencult, Mit. d. +anthrop. Gesell., Wien, xviii; IA. xv. 258; Bühler, _ib_. vi. 270; +Snakes and Buddha, Bendall, Meghas[=u]tra, JRAS. xii. 286; Senart, +Buddha; Oldham, JRAS. xxiii. 361. Idols: Weber, Omina und Portenta, +p. 337; Ludwig, Nachrichten; Bollensen, ZDMG. xxii. 587, xlvii. 586; +Müller, Chips, i. 37;[27] Muir, OST., v. 453; Kaegi, Rig Veda, note +79^a. Ages and Holy Numbers:[28] Roth, Ueber den AV., and Ueber den +Mythus von den fünf Menschen-Geschlechtern bei Hesiod; Weber, Cycles, +IS. ix. 460; ZDMG. xv. 132; Kaegi, Die Neunzahl; Schroeder, seven as +holy number, KZ. xxix. 224; Hopkins, Holy Numbers of the Rig Veda.[29] +See Star-lore, above. + +#Brahmanism#: Specimens, Muir, OST. iv; S[=a]man, Benfey, Griffith; +Sha[d.]vi[.m]ça, Weber, Omina (above); M[=a]it. S., Haug, IS. ix. 174; +von Schroeder, Literatur, and ZDMG. xxxiii. 177; Çatapatha, partial +translation, Eggeling, SBE., xii, xxvi, xli; Muir, JRAS. 1862, p. 31 +(OST.); Weber, IS. i. 161 and Ind. Streifen, i. 9; first chapter, +ZDMG. iv. 289; Brunnhofer (relation of parts), BB. x. 234; [=A]it. +Br., Haug; Weber, IS. ix. 177; Deluge, etc., Bopp, Sündflüt; Weber, +ZDMG. v. 525, Ind. Streifen, i. 9; Roth, ZDMG. vi. 243; Lindner, Ir. +Fluthsage, Festgruss an Roth. Upanishads:[30] Cowell, Roer, Bib. +Ind.; Whitney, Böhtlingk (Ka[t.]ha, Ch[=a]ndogya, Ait +K[=a]ush[=i]tak[=i], Kena, B[r.]had[=a]ra[n.]yaka); Weber, IS. i, ii, +ix; Müller, SBE., i, xv (all the chief works);[31] Oertel, +J[=a]imin[=i]ya, PAOS. 1894; list of, Müller, ZDMG. xix. 137; +Concordance of Upanishads, Jacob. For a general introduction the best +work in English are the translations in the Sacred Books. Gough's +Philosophy of the Upanishads has many translations, but the book is +otherwise not to be recommended. On [=a]tm[=a] as [Greek: autmên], see +KZ. xvii 145. Philosophy: Deussen, Das System des Ved[=a]nta, 1883, +is now the standard work;[32] to which should be added the same +author's S[=u]tra; Jacob's Ved[=a]ntas[=a]ra; and Thibaut, Ved[=a]nta +S[=u]tra, SBE. xxxiv.[33] For the S[=a]nkhya, Davies, S[=a]nkhya; and +Ballantyne, Aphorisms; but the best work is now Garbe, Die S[=a]mkhya +Philosophie (1894). A good general introduction to Hindu Pantheism has +been given by Lanman, Beginnings of Hindu Pantheism. The best general +summary[34] of Hindu philosophies is found in the revised edition of +Colebrooke's Essays. Other special studies include Roth, Brahma und +die Brahmanen,[35] ZDMG. i. 66 (on _brahma_); Müller, _ib_. vi. 1, +219, vii. 287 (Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Ind. Phil.); Roer, _ib_. +xxi. 309, xxii. 383 (Die Lehrsprüche der Vaiçeshika Philosophie); +Muir, Theism in Vaiçeshika Philosophy, JRAS. 1862, p. 22; Ballantyne, +Ny[=a]yas[=u]tras; Windisch, Ueber das Ny[=a]yabh[=a]shya, 1888, an +Sitz der denkenden Seele, Beitr. d. k. Sächs. Gesell., 1891, p. 55; +Ballantyne and Cowell, Ç[=a][n.][d.]ilya's Aphorisms (text by B., +translation by C., Bib. Ind.); Regnaud, Le Pessimisme Br[=a]hmanique, +Ann. du Mus. Guimet, i, and Matériaux pour servir à l'histoire de la +philosophie d'Inde. The Sarvadarçanasa[.n]graha is translated by +Cowell and Gough. The S[=u]tras of the six systems have all been +translated (with the texts) in India. On the date of Çankara see +Pathak, IA. xi. 174; and Telang and Fleet, _ib_. xiii. 95, xvi. 41; +Logan, _ib_. xvi. 160. + +#House-rules and law#: All the most important manuals of custom and +law have been translated by Stenzler, Bühler, Jolly, Oldenberg, +Bloomfield and Knauer (SBE. ii, vii, xiv, xxv, xxix, xxx, xxxiii; +Stenzler, P[=a]raskara, [=A]çval[=a]yana and Y[=a]jñavalkya; +Oldenberg, IS. xv. 1, Ç[=a]ñkh[=a]yana; Knauer, Gobhila, also Vedische +Fragen, Festgruss an Roth; Bloomfield, Gobhila, ZDMG. xxxv. 533).[36] + +JAINISM. + +Colebrooke's Essays (Cowell), ii. 402; Lassen, iv. 763; Wilson, +Essays, i. 319; Weber, IS. xv. 263, xvi. 211, xvii. 1,[37] and Berlin +MSS., vol. ii, 1892; Klatt, Stotra (MSS.), ZDMG. xxxiii. 445; Leumann, +Berichte von den Schismen der Jaina, IS. xvii. 91; Jacobi, Stutayas +and Stotra, ZDMG. xxxii. 509, IS. xiv. 359, also origin of sects, +ZDMG. xxxviii. 1, Introduction to Kalpa S[=u]tra (Abh. k. M.,[38] +1879, Mab[=a]v[=i]ra is N[=a]taputta). Compare also Jacobi, ZDMG. +xxxiv. 247; Oldenberg, _ib_. 748; Jacobi, _ib_. xxxv. 667, xl. 92; +Burnell, IA. i. 354; Rice and Bühler, _ib_. iii. 153, vii. 28, 143, +etc; Burgess, _ib._ xiii. 191; Windisch, Hemacandra's Yogaç[=a]stra, +ZDMG. xxviii. 185. Jacobi has translated Ac[=a]r[=a]nga and Kalpa +S[=u]tras for SBE. xxii. Hoernle, Digambara Pattavalis, IA. xx. 341, +xxi. 57. A popular essay on Jains by Williams appeared JRAS. xx. 279. +On Jain tradition compare Bühler, Sitz. Wien. Ak. 1883, WZKM. i. 165, +ii. 141, iii. 233, iv. 313, v. 59, 175 (Mathur[=a], Congress, 1892, p. +219). On Gos[=a]la compare Hoernle, Bib. Ind., Uv[=a]saga Das[=a]o +(seventh Anga) with Leumann's review; and Rockhill, Life of Buddha, p. +249. Compare also Jain Bh[=a]rata and R[=a]m[=a]ya[n.]a of Pampa, +Rice, JRAS. xiv. 19; Leumann, Daçavaikalika-S[=u]tra und Niryukti, +Jinabhadra's J[=i]takalpa, Sitz. Berl. Ak. 1892, Die Legende von Citta +und Sa[.m]bh[=u]ta, WZKM. v. 111, vi. 1; Thomas, Early Faith of Açoka +(to show prior Jainism; a dubious contention) JRAS. ix. 155. On the +Jain nurture of vermin see JRAS. 1834, p. 96. On dates compare Jacobi, +Kalpas[=u]tra and Oldenberg (above). The Çatruñjaya M[=a]h[=a]tmyam +(Weber, Abh. k. M., 1858) is probably not an early work (Bühler, Three +New Edicts, IA. vi. 154). On Weber's view in regard to Jain-Greek +legends see his essay Ahaly[=a]-Achilleus, Sitz. Berl. Ak., 1887. See +too Barth, Revue, xix. 292 ff., xx. 332. + +BUDDHISM. + +Colebrook's Essays; Wilson, Buddha and Buddhism, JRAS., 1856, pp. 229, +357; Bennett, Gaudama, JAOS. ii. 3; R. Spence Hardy, Eastern +Monarchism and Manual of Buddhism; E. Hardy, Der Buddhismus nach +älteren P[=a]liwerken; Burnouf, Le Lotus de la Bonne Loi and +Introduction à l'histoire du Bouddhisme indien (Nepal); Köppen, Die +Religion des Buddha; Weber, Ueber den Buddhismus, Ind. Skizzen, and +Streifen, i. 104; Barthélemy Saint-Hilaire, Le Bouddha et sa religion +(now antiquated); Oldenberg, Buddha; Kern, Der Buddhismus; T.W. Rhys +Davids, Manual of Buddhism, and Hibbert Lectures; Copleston, Buddhism; +Monier Williams, Buddhism;[39] Mary Sumner's Histoire (ed. Foucaux); +Senart's Essai sur la légende du Buddha, JA. 1873, p. 114; 1874, p. +249; 1875, P. 97, and published separately. Valuable is the same +author's article, JA. viii, 1876, Notes, and work (containing) Les +Inscriptions de Piyadasi; compare IA. xvii. 188; ZDMG. xl. 127 +(bühler). on N[=a]g[=a]rjuna (second century) see Beal, IA. xv. 353. +Of historical interest, if otherwise valueless, are Schoebel, Le +Buddha et le Bouddhisme, 1857; and Holmboe, Traces de Buddhisme en +Norvège avant l'introduction du christianisme. Lillie, Buddha and +Early Buddhism, also influence of Buddhism on Christianity, and JRAS. +xiv. 218, Buddhist Saint Worship, and _ib_. xv. 419, on Ceylon +Buddhism; Beal, Schools, IA. ix. 299. + +#Buddhist texts#: Burnouf, Foucaux, above; Weber, Dhammapada,[40] +ZDMG. xiv. 29: Müller, Science of Religion, and SBE. x, with +Fanshöll's Sutta Nip[=a]ta; J. Weber and Huth, Tib. Buddhist +S[=u]tras, ZDMG. xlv. 577; Pischel, Assal[=a]yana Sutta; Childers, +Khuddaka P[=a]tha, JRAS. iv. 309.; Davids, Buddhist Suttas translated +from the P[=a]li; and Davids and Oldenberg,[41] Vinaya Texts, SBE. xi, +xiii, xvii, xx; Kern, Lotus, _ib_. xxi; Davids, Milinda, _ib_. xxxv; +Cowell and Müller, Mah[=a]y[=n]na S[=u]tras, _ib_. xlix; Foucaux, +Lalita Vistara, Ann. du MG. vi, xix; Pratimokha, above, and Beal and +Gogerly, JRAS. 1862, p. 407; Dickson, _ib_. vii. 1, viii. 62; +Childers, _ib_. vii. 49; viii. 219; Rogers (and Müller), +Buddhaghosha's Parables; Foulkes, IA. xix. 105; Carus, Gospel of +Buddha. + +#Nirv[=a][n.]a#: Out of the immense literature we select Müller +(Buddhist Nihilism), Science of Religion, p. 141; Oldenberg, Buddha, +p. 273; Frankfurter, JRAS. xii. 548; Rhys Davids, Manual, and Hibbert +Lectures, tenth Appendix. + +#Date of nirv[=a][n.]a#: Westergaard, Buddha's Totesjahr, Ueber den +ältesten Zeitraum der Ind. Geschichte; Cunningham, Bhilsa Topes; +Bühler IA. vi. 149 ff., Three New Edicts of Açoka; Kern, Jaar-telling; +Müller, Acad. March 1, 1884, SBE. x.: Davids, Ancient Coins and +Measures of Ceylon, p. 57; Oldenberg, Vinaya Pitaka, SBE. xiii. p. +xxii.[42] + +#Foreign buddhism#: Stan. Julien, Histoire de la vie de Hiouen Thsang, +Mémoires (compare JA. Dec. 1857), Voyages des Pélerins Bouddhistes; +Wassiljew, Der Buddhismus; Bigandet, Life of Gaudama; Fergusson, +Hiouen Thsang's Journey from Patna, JRAS. vi. 213, 396; Wilson, _ib._ +1859, p. 106 ('Summary Account'); JAS. Beng. i; As. Researches, xx +(Csoma, Asiatic Buddhism); Beal, Diamond S[=u]tras (etc., JRAS.); +Gutzlatf (Sykes), Buddhism in China, JRAS. 1854, p. 73; 1856, pp. 316, +357 (Wilson, Notes, Inscriptions); Edkins, Chinese Buddhism; Beal +(Chinese), Dhammapada, The Romantic Legend, and Travels of the +Buddhist Pilgrim Fah-Hian,[43] Life of Buddha, BOR. _passim_; Müller, +Buddhist Pilgrims, Chips, i; Köppen (above); Hodgson, Memoirs; Burnouf +(above); Schlagintweit, Buddhistic Idols in Tibet, JRAS. 1863, p. 437, +and (Ann. du Musée Guimet, iii) Buddhism in Tibet (Lamaism in the +second part); Rockhill, The Life of Buddha, and The Land of the Lamas; +Lamaistic succession, Mayers, JRAS. iv. 284; Lamaist extension of +Buddhist Confession, IA. xxiii. 73; Lamaism and Catholicism, Davids, +Hibbert Lectures; Modern Lamaism, Waddell, Buddhism of Thibet or +Lamaism; Schiefner, T[=a]ran[=a]tha's Geschichte (and Tibetische +Lebensbeschreibung); Tibet texts (above); Bastian, Buddhist Literature +of the Burmese, ZDMG. xvii. 697, and Buddhist Psychology, _ib._ xx. +419; Führer, Buddhist Manu, BBRAS. xv. 329; Jardine and Forchhammer, +Notes on Buddhist Law (in Burmah); Friederich, Buddhism in Bali, JRAS. +viii 158, ix. 59; dharmaç[=a]stra, IA. xiii. 24; Crawfurd, Hindu +Religion in Bali, AR. xiii. 128;[44] in Ceylon, Foulkes, IA. xvii. +100. + +#Buddhist legends#: Burnouf, Introduction; Davids, Buddhist Birth +Stories, and BOR. iv. 9; Beal, JRAS. vi. 377; Fausböll, Two +J[=a]takas, JRAS. v. i., Five and Ten (1872); Feer, JA. 1875 +(v, vi);[45] Fausböll, Weber, IS. v. 412; Açvaghosha (fifth ccntury); +Weber, Streifen, i. 186; Cowell, Açvaghosha; Lévi, JA. 1892, p. 201; +Beal, SBE. xix. Hells: Feer, Études Bouddhiques, l'Enfer indien, JA. +1892, p. 185, 1893, p. 112;[46] Köppen, p. 239; Senart, Notes, JA. +viii. 477. Symbols: Cunningham, JRAS. 1851, pp. 71, 114; Hodgson, +_ib._ 1861, p. 393; Sewell and Pincott, _ib._ xix. 238 and xxii. +299;[47] IA. vii. 176; _ib._ xv. 61, 89, 217, and following volumes +(sacred trees); Lillie, Saints and Trees, JRAS. xiv. 218. Topes, +Temples: Cunningham, above, p. 108, and St[=u]pa of Bharhut, Bhilsa +Topes (synods, schisms); Fergusson, Rock-cut Temples of India, JRAS. +1844, p. 30, and Topes of S[=a]nchi and Amar[=a]vat[=i]; Beal, JRAS. +v. 164; Burgess, Arch. Surv. of Western India, and Cave Temples of +India (symbols) with Fergusson; the latter, History of Indian and +Eastern Architecture, Tree and Serpent Worship; Simpson, JRAS. xxi. 49 +(temples from tombs); Müller, Dagobas from Ceylon, ZDMG. xii. 514[48] +(also dates). Women leaders of Buddhist Reformation, Miss Bode, JRAS. +xxv. 517. + +#Brahmanism and Buddhism#: Burnouf, Bh. P. Introd. p. 137 (Indra +highest god); Williams, JRAS. xviii. 127; Holtzmann, Zur Geschichte, +p. 103; (and Jainism) Leumann, Die Legende von Citta und Sambh[=u]ta, +WZKM (above); Bastian, Brahmanic Inscriptions in Buddhist Temples (of +Siam), JAOS. viii. 377. + +#Buddhist heresies#, D[=i]pava[.m]sa (above); doctrines, Wassiljew +(above); Le Buddhisme et les Grecs, Lévi, Revue, xxiii. 36. + +HINDUISM. + +EPIC: Ktesias, IA. x. 296 ff.; McCrindle, Ancient India as +described by Ktesias and by Megasthenes and Arrian;[49] date of +Bh[=a]rata, Bühler, Kirste, Ind. Studies, No. ii; in Cambodia, +Barth, Inscriptions Sanskrites du Cambodge; of R[=a]m[=a]ya[n.]a, +Weber, R[=a]m[=a]ya[n.]a, IA., reprint; Jacobi, R[=a]m[=a]ya[n.]a,[50] +Festgruss an Böhtlingk, p. 44, GGA., Nos. 16 of 1892, 1893; epic +language, Franke, Was ist Sanskrit? BB. xvii. 54; epos and Veda, +Oldenberg, ZDMG. xxxvii. 54, xxxviii. 439, xxxix. 52; Weber, Episches +im Vedischen Ritual,[51] Sitz, Berl. Ak. 1891; Ludwig, Ironie, +Festgruss an Böhtlingk. Résumé, Wheeler, History (unreliable); +Williams, Indian Wisdom. Translations, Wilson, Sabh[=a], JRAS. 1842, +p. 137; Thomson (1855), Davies, Lorinser, and Telang (SBE. viii), +Bhagavad G[=i]ta, etc; Milman, Nala; Muir, IA. vii, viii, Metrical +Translations, and OST.; Arnold, S[=a]vitr[=i], Idylls, etc. (free); +Holtzmann (Sr.), Indische Sagen; Foucaux, 'Kairata Parva'; Sadous, +fragments (1858); H. Fauche (several books of Bh[=a]rata); Pratapa +Chandra Roy (almost all); Griffith, R[=a]m[=a]ya[n.]a, Schoebel. (Mus. +Guimet, xiii), Gorresio, Fauche, _id_. Studies, Holtzmann, Indra, +Apsaras, Brahm[=a],[52] ZDMG. xxxii. 290, xxxiii. 631, xxxviii. 167, +Agni, Arjuna (each separately), Zur Geschichte, Neunzehn Bücher +(literature); Hopkins, Manu in Epic, JAOS. xi. 239, Ruling Caste, +_ib_. xiii, etc.; Sauer, Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata and Wate (primitive epic, +unconvincing); Nève, Morals and Women (antiquated); Weber, +Mother-Worship, Zwei Ved. Texte, and West, IA. x. 245; Roussel, Les +idées religieuses, Muséon, xii. 263, 295. For Philosophy, see above. +Pur[=a][n.]as, Modern Sects: Lassen, i. 481; Wilson, Analysis, +1838-39 (essays); Burnouf, Bh[=a]gavata; Wilson, Vishnu; Rückert, +M[=a]rka[n.][d.]eya, Wortham, JRAS. xiii. 103, 355 (partial); _ib_. +xvii. 221; Wolheim, Padma (Latin, partial); Stevenson, Ga[n.]eça, +JRAS. 1846, p. 319; Ante-Brahmanic Religions, and Feudalism, _ib_. +1846, pp. 330, 390; in Dekhan, _ib_. 1838, p. 189; Sykes, Traits, +_ib_. 1860, p. 223; G[=i]ta-Govinda, Lassen (Latin), Rückert, +ZKM. i. 132. Fables: WZKM. vii. 215; Pratapa Chandra Gosha, +Durg[=a]p[=u]j[=a]; T[=i]rtha: Williams, Hinduism (list), IA. v. 209, +Cunningham, Survey; Hunter, Indian Empire (sects), Orissa, and Report; +Çivaite sects, Sen[=a]th[=i] R[=a]ja, Mus. Guim. vii; Krishna, Weber, +ZDMG. vi. 92; Berl. Ak., 1867, p. 217, IS. xiii. 354; Nève, Des +éléments étrangers, etc; Phallus, IA. iv. 211, v. 183, Kittel, Ueber +d. Ursprung des Linga Cultus (refutes Wurm, Geschichte der Indischen +Religion); Stevenson, JRAS. 1846, p. 337; P[=a]ñcar[=a]tra, Hall, +V[=a]savadatta. C[=a]rv[=a]ka, Colebrooke, Muir, _loc. cit_. +Var[=a]hamihira, see above. Fate: IA. xviii. 46. Sects: Jones, AR. ii. +334; names of week-days, Cunningham, IA. xiv. i; Grierson, _ib_. 322; +Dikshit, _ib_. xvi. 113; Wilson's Sketch of the Religious Sects of the +Hindus, AR., Essays; Hunter's Statistical Account of Bengal; Kitt's +Compendium of Castes and Tribes; Elphinstone's History; Müller, Chips, +iv. 329; Williams, Religious Thought and Life, and Brahmanism and +Hinduism; W.J. Wilkins, Modern Hinduism; Wilson, On the Sikhs, JRAS. +1846, p. 43; Prinsep, Origin of Sikh Power; MacGregor, History of +Sikhs;[53] Kab[=i]r; Trumpp, [=A]digranth, JRAS. v. 197, Congress, +1880, p. 159, and [=A]digranth (complete), IA. vi ff.; Die Religion +der Sikhs. Vishnuism, Williams, JRAS. xiv. 289. Mohammedanism in +Hinduism, Dabist[=a]n, vol. ii.[54] Ritual: Bühler, IA. 1883; temples; +Hurst, Indika (especially p. 294); Burgess, IA. xii. 315; Williams, +Thought and Life, p. 448 (see Buddhism). Thugs: Reynolds, JRAS. 1837, +p. 200; Sherwood, AR. xiii. 25, Ph[=a]ns[=i]gars; Shakespear, _ib_. +xiii. 282; also Sleeman, Report, and Ramaseeana (Thugs' Argot and +papers on Thugs); Elphinstone, i. 369, 371 (Bh[=a]ts and Ch[=a]rans), +384 (Thugs and Decoits). C[=a]itanyas, Hunter, Statistical Account, +Williams and Wilkins, _loc. cit_.; On 'pocket-altars,' JRAS. 1851, p. +71; Vidh[=a]nas, Burnell, Meyer; K[=a]nph[=a]tis, Celibates, of Kutch, +JRAS. 1839, p. 268; Ling[=a]yits, Kittel, above, and IA. iv, v; Tulsi +D[=a]s, R[=a]m[=a]ya[n.]a, works of Ramavat sect, Grierson, IA. xxii. +89, 122, 227; Pandus as gods, IA, vii. 127; their fish-emblems, _ib_. +xxii. 61; Bombay Dancing Girls, IA. xiii. 165; Sun-worship, temples, +St. Julien, Voy. iii. 172; Burgess, Survey, p. 216; in Taxila, JRAS. +1859, p. 77; in Pur[=a][n.]as, Lassen, ii. 832, 919; IA. vi. 11, vii. +69, 71, viii. 30 ([=a]dityabhaktas). Theistic Reformers: Wilson, +Essays; Hunter, Account; Müller, Chips; Williams, JRAS. xiii. I, 281; +Tiru Valluvar, Graul, Kural, and Pope, IA. vii ff.; N[=a]ngi +Panth[=i]s, IA. xiii. 1; Tamil Çivaites, Foulkes, Catechism; JAOS. iv. +129; Ph[=a]ndarpur Vishnuites, Vi[t.]h[t.]ala Bhaktas (Kab[=i]r), +Stevenson, JRAS. 1842 p. 64; especially Mitchell, IA. xi. 56, 149, +hyrons of Tuk[=a], and celebration, Congress, 1892, p. 282. +Festivals:[55] above, V[=a]japeya; Hillebrandt, Sonnwendfeste; JRAS. +1846, p. 60; Gover, _ib_. v. 91; IA. xx. 430; Holi, JRAS. 1838, p. +189; 1841, p. 239; Vet[=a]la, _ib_. 1838, p. 192; Dekhan deities, +_ib_. 1842, p. 105. + +WILD TRIBES. + +Johnston. Yellow Men of India; Hunter, _loc. cit_.; Hewitt, Early +History of Northern India (speculative), JRAS. xx. 321, etc.; Oppert, +Original Inhabitants, Madras Journal, 1887, 1888; Breeks, Account of +Primitive Tribes, etc. (Nilagiris, Todas); Hodgson, Aboriginal Tribes, +JAS. Beng., xxv. 31; Samuelis, Native Dress and Religious Dances, +_ib_. 295; Neumann, English Realm in India, ii; Latham, Ethnology of +India; Macpherson, JRAS. 1842, p. 172, and 1852, p. 216(Khonds); +Briggs, Aboriginal Races, _ib_. 275; Sherring, Hindu (Bengal) Tribes; +the Sacred City of the Hindus; also Bhar-tribe by the same, JRAS. v. +376; Risley, Tribes and Castes of Bengal; Rowney, Wild Tribes; Khonds, +Koles,[56] S[=a]uras, Gonds (and Bh[=i]ls) JRAS. 1852, p, 216 (1844, +p. 181); also _ib_. 1842, p. 172; Marshman, History, iii. p. 108 +(Khonds); thirty Snake-tribes, JRAS. xii. 229; _ib_. 1859, p.1,[57] +Frye, Uriya and Khonds, religious dances, p. 16; creed and sacrifice, +pp. 20, 36; Marshman ii. p. 164 (infanticide); Kitt, Compendium of +Castes and Tribes found in India; Santh[=a]ls, JRAS. 1852, p. 285; IA. +xxii. 294 (emigration); Avery, Aboriginal Tribes, IA. xiv. 125; +Carnegy, Races Tribes and Castes (Oude); Dalton (Bengal), Descriptive +Ethnology; Social Customs in Kashmeer and Oude, IA. xviii. 287, 386; +Campbell, Sant[=a]l folklore (totemistic origin from goose);[58] +Kork[=u]s, Kolarian Tribe in middle of (Dravidian) Gonds, JRAS. xvi. +164; Newbold, Chenchwars, wild tribe in forests of eastern Ghauts, +JRAS. 1845, p. 271; Cain, Koi, southern tribe of Gonds, JRAS. xiii. +410 (witches, Pandus, etc); Dunbar, Lurka Koles, JRAS., 1861, p. 370; +Dravidians, Kittel, and Caldwell, _loc. cit._; Polyandry, Thomas, +JRAS. xi. 37; Simpson (rites, sacrifices, etc.), P[=u]jas in the +Sutlej valley, JRAS. xvi. 13; Burnell, Devil-worship of Tuluvas, IA. +1894; Waddell, Frog-worship (Nepal), IA. xxii. 293; Steere, Swahili +Tales, IA. _passim_.[59] A volume has lately been published on the +Chittagong Hill Tribes[60] by Riebeck with superb illustrations; and +photographic illustrations of racial types may be studied in Watson's +and Kaye's volumes, The People of India. Discussion (biassed) of +_r[=a]jputs_ of Scythian origin, Elphinstone, i. 440. On Dravidian +literature, see Elliot, IA. xvi. 158. On Gipsies, Grierson, _ib._ 35; +etymology, _ib._ 239. + + +GEOGRAPHY, INDIA AND THE WEST. + +Schmidt, Die Urheimath d. Indog. u. d. europäische Zahlsystem, Sitz. +Berl. Akad. 1890, p. 297; Hirt,[61] Die Urheimath d. Indogermanen, IF. +i. 464; Schrader, Sprachvergleichung und Urgeschlchte, p. 616; Lassen, +Indische Alterthumskunde, i. 643; Vivien de Saint Martin, Études sur +la Géographie du Véda; Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 3; Aufrecht, +ZDMG. xiii. 498 (Ras[=a] as Milky Way); Ludwig, Nachrichten über +Geographie, etc.; Whitney, Language and the Study of Language; +Oldenberg, Buddha, p. 399 (we cite from the first edition); Thomas, +Rivers of the Rig Veda, JRAS. xv. 357.[62] On the relations of the +Hindus and the West: Weber (relations with Semites), Indische +Skizzen, and Die Griechen in Indien, in Sitz. Berl. Akad. 1890, p. +901; Steinthal, ZDMG. xi. 396; Grill, _ib_. xxvii. 425; Stein, IA. +xvii. 89. Leo's view in regard to German-Indian unity (reviewed, ZDMG. +viii. 389) is worth citing as a curioslty.[63] Brunnhofer's works have +been cited above, p. 15. On the Beziehungen der Indier zum Westen a +valuable article has lately been written by Franke (ZDMG. xlvii. 595). +Weber, Ueber d. P[=a]ras[=i]prakaça d. K[r.][s.][n.]ad[=a]sa, as well +as in his R[=a]jas[=u]ya, V[=a]japeya, Vedische Beiträge, etc., has +treated of the relations with Persia (Fables, IS. iii. 327). In the +works cited above the same author has discussed the relations with all +other Western nations, including the Greeks, on which Sykes, Notes on +Religious State of India, JRAS. 1841, p. 243, is readable; Bohlen, +_Altes-Indien,_ and Lévi, La Grèce et I'lnde d'après les documents +indiens (revue des études grecques, 1891) should be read.[64] The +subject of Early Christianity in India has been treated by Burnell, +IA. iii. 308, iv. 153, etc. (see also above, p. 479); while Priaulx, +in JRAS. 1861, 1862, has written a series of interesting articles on +India's Connection with Rome. The Indian travels of Apollonius of +Tyana, JRAS. 1859, p. 70, etc., are of no value beside those of +Ktesias and Megasthenes. The origin of the Hindu Alphabet and the +native system of Dates have to do with the originality of parts of +Hindu literature, but these outlying subjects, which have a literature +of their own, we can only touch upon. A good _résumé_ of the +discussion in regard to the alphabet will be found in JRAS. xvi. 325, +by Cust; a new theory of Franke's, ZDMG. xlvi. 731. Halévy derives the +alphabet from Greece. But see now Bühler, Ind. Studies, iii, 1895 +(North Semitic, seventh century, B.C.) The native eras are discussed +by Cunningham, Book of Indian Eras; and in Müller's India, What Can It +Teach Us? p. 282. On the native date for the beginning of the +Kali-yuga, _i.e._ this age (the year 3101 or 3102 B.C), JRAS. iv. 136, +and Thomas, edition of Prinsep's Antiquities, may be read.[65] A +general survey of primitive Aryan culture will be found in Schrader, +_loc. cit._, to which may be added on Vedic (Aryan) metres, Westphal, +KZ. ix. 437; and Allen, _ib._ xxiv. 556 (style, Heinzel, Stil d. +altgerm. Poesie). On the name [=A]rya, besides _loc. cit._ above, p. +25, may be added, Windisch, Beitr. z. Geschichte d. D. Sprache, iv. +211; Pott, Internat. Zt. für allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, ii. p. 105 +ff. Criticism of a too great confidence in the results of the +comparattve method, AJP. xv. 154; PAOS. 1895. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: This bibliography is meant only to orient the + reader in regard to exegetical literature. It is not + complete, nor does it give editions of texts. The order + follows in general that of the chapters, but the second and + last paragraphs respectively must be consulted for + interpretation and geography. Works that cover several + fields are placed under the literature of the first. The + special studies on Vedic divinities have been arranged + alphabetically.] + + [Footnote 2: On account of the inconvenient form in which + appeared the earlier numbers of the JRAS. we cite the Old + Series only by date. All references without date refer to + the New Series (vol i, NS., 1864).] + + [Footnote 3: On the artistic side Emil Schlagintweit's great + work, Indien in Wort und Bild, contains much of interest to + the student of religious paraphernalia. See also below under + wild tribes.] + + [Footnote 4: Roth, Morality of the Veda; Whitney, Result of + Vedic Researches (JAOS. iii. 289 and 331); Whitney, History + of the Vedic Texts, _ib_. iv. 245.] + + [Footnote 5: Under this title Roth has an essay (on the + comparison of texts), KZ. xxvi. 45.] + + [Footnote 6: See below. Defence of the same by the author, + WZKM. vii. 103.] + + [Footnote 7: JRAS, i. 51 ff., and subsequent volumes, + Contributions to a Knowledge of the Vedic Theogony and + Mythology and Progress of the Vedic Religion toward Abstract + Conceptions of the Deity.] + + [Footnote 8: It cannot be too much emphasized that + Grassmann's translation should never be used for comparative + purposes. At the same time, for a general understanding of + the contents of the whole Rig Veda it is the only book that + can be recommended. Ludwig's translation is so uncouth that + without a controlling knowledge of the original it is often + meaningless.] + + [Footnote 9: Bloomfield, AJP. xii. 429. Compare also + Regnaud, Le Mythe de Rohita. The same author has published + various Vedic articles in the Rev. de l'histoire des + religions, vols. xv-xxvi. Whitney's complete translation of + AV. will soon appear.] + + [Footnote 10: Sexual side of fire-cult; whirlwind of fire, + M[=a]tariçvan, Schwartz, KZ. xx. 202; compare Hillebrandt, + ZDMG. xxxiii. 248.] + + [Footnote 11: Neisser's Vorvedisches im Veda, BB. xvii. 244, + is not a mythological study.] + + [Footnote 12: Apollon here is Saparye[n.]ya, 'worshipful.' + This derivation is attacked by Froehde, Apollon, BB. xix. + 230 (compare Fick, _ib._ xviii. 138), who derives Apollon + from [Greek: phellhôn], 'word,' comparing [Greek: hapellhaxein], + 'conciliare,' _pell_ being 'spell' (in Gospel, etc.), + 'inter-pellare.' Thus Apollo would be 'prophet,' 'wârspello.' + On _vahni_, Agni, compare Neisser, Vedica, BB. xviii. 301 + (xix. 120, 248).] + + [Footnote 13: Oldenberg, _loc. cit_., interprets Açvins as + morning and evening stars! The epithet (of Agni and Açvins) + _bhura[n.]yu_ has been equated with Phor[=o]neus, we forget + by whom.] + + [Footnote 14: Oldenberg's (Die Religion des Veda) + Old-Man-of-the-Mountains-Indra thus gets etymological + support.] + + [Footnote 15: For convenience included in this list.] + + [Footnote 16: Maspiter is Mars-pater.] + + [Footnote 17: Hirt equates Parjanya, Perkunas, Fjörgyn, as + originally epithet of Dy[=a]ns-Zeus, with [Greek: + phêgotaios], the 'Oak-god.' See also Zimmer, ZDA. vii. (19) + 164.] + + [Footnote 18: Müller explains Rudra as 'howler'; Leo + identifies him with Wuotan; Jones with Apollo, Kuhn. KZ. + iii. 335; as A. Sax. Rodor, _ib_. ii. 478: P. von Bradke. + ZDMG. xi. 361. Oldenberg's delineation of Rudra in Die + Religion des Veda is based on the Brahmanic Rudra-Çiva (see + PAOS. Dec 1894).] + + [Footnote 19: Kerbaker, Varuna e gli Aditya (Naples, + Proceedings of the Royal Academy) is known to us only by + title.] + + [Footnote 20: The author justly remarks that no sociological + data can be made of Yama's wife or sister.] + + [Footnote 21: Dog sees Death, sharp sight of dog causes + myth.] + + [Footnote 22: Other less important examples of etymological + ingenuity are Scherer, Brahman as flamen ([Greek: Brhagkos], + Bragi, see Kaegi, Rig Veda, note 82); abhrad[=i]t[=a] as + Aphrodite, Sonne, KZ. x. 415; Ahaly[=a] as Achilleus, Weber, + Sitz. Berl. Ak., 1887; Id[=a] as Iris (Windischmann), + Poseidon, potÃdas, i[=d.]aspati (Fick, KZ. xxi. 462); but in + KZ. i. 459 Poseidon is patye davan. On the form compare BB. + viii. 80; x. 237; KZ. xxx. 570. Prellwitz, BB. ix. 327, + agrees with Fick and Pott as to i[d.]as representing + [Greek: oidma] and compares [prosklhôtios]. Garga is Gorgo, + Kern, JRAS. iv. 431; P[=a]jasya is Pegasos, etc, KZ. i. 416, + xxix. 222; Parvata is Pelasgos, Burda, KZ. xxi. 470; but + compare Stier, _ib_. xi. 229, where Pelasgoi are 'cranes'; + and Pische, _ib_. xx. 369, where they are [Greek: + parhrhhasioi]. Sabheya is Yavi[s.][t.]ha (not Hephaistos, as + says Kuhn), Müller, _ib._ xviii. 212; and v[r.]trahan is not + Bellerophon (as says Pott), _ib_. iv. 416, v. 140 (bellero + is varvara). Çarád is Ceres, Müller, _ib_. xviii. 211; + svav[=a]n is [Greek: enas], Autrecht, ZDMG. xiii 499; svar + 'sing' in Silenus, Siren: Buddhaguru in Pythagoras, etc. + Helena is Saram[=a], and Hermes 1s S[=a]rameya. Müller, + Chips, ii. 138, note. Compare for further clever guesses + Cox's Aryan Mythology, Müller's Lectures, Second Series, and + Biographies of Words.] + + [Footnote 23: Compare Deussen, Geschichte der Philosophie, + i. 105. On Vedic and Sanskrit Riddles, _loc. cit_.; also + Haug, Vedische Räthselfragen (also Brahma und die + Brahmanen); Führer, ZDMG. xxxix. 99.] + + [Footnote 24: There is an essay on this subject by Kern, + Ind. Theorieen over de Standenverdeeling, which we have not + seen.] + + [Footnote 25: Sitz. Berl. Ak. 1858, 1859, and 1894, + respectively. The Wurfel-Orakel (and Schiefner) is published + also in Ind. Streifen, i. 274. The essay on Omina and + Portenta contains translations of parts of the + Sha[d.]vi[.m]ça Br[=a]hma[n.]a, of the S[=a]ma Veda, and of + the K[=a]uçika (AV.) S[=u]tra.] + + [Footnote 26: (Whitney) Burgess, S[=u]ryasiddh[=a]nta, + JAOS. vi; JRAS. 1863, p. 345; Whitney, _ib_. i. 316; Lunar + Zodiac, Or. Ling. St., ii. 341; Kern, translation of BS., + JRAS. iv-vii; IS. x, xiv, xv; Weber, Ueber altir[=a]nische + Sternnamen, Sitz. Berl. Ak., 1888; see also Whitney, JAOS. + viii. 1, 382; Burgess, _ib_. 309; Weber, IS. ix. 424, x. + 213; Whitney _vs_. Ludwig, PAOS., 1885. On the twelve + intercalated days, 'Twelfth Night,' see Weber, IS. v. 437 + (Çabal[=i]-homa), xvii. 224.] + + [Footnote 27: The statement is here made that the Vedic + religion knows nothing of idols; but see the other cited + works which seem to disprove this.] + + [Footnote 28: The 'Fifteen Puzzle' is Indic (IA. x. 89, xi. + 83).] + + [Footnote 29: Triton und Euphemos, oder Die Argonauten in + Libyen, by Water, in 1849, treats of the holy seven in a + ridiculous way. Not less ridiculous is the author's attempt + to explain everything by the Moon-Cult, thus anticipating + modern vagaries.] + + [Footnote 30: A curious though useless classic is Anquetil + du Perron's Oupnekhat, 1801, the first European version of + the Upanishads (through the Persian).] + + [Footnote 31: Whitney, AJP. vii. 1, xi. 407; Jacob, IA. xv. + 279; Whitney Trans. Phil. Ass. xxi. 88; Böhtlingk, Bericht + d. k. Sächs. Gesellschaft, 1890, and separately.] + + [Footnote 32: Compare Windischmann, Sancara, 1833; Ecstein, + IS. ii. 369; and Bruining-Bijdrage tot de Kennis van den + Ved[=a]nta, 1871.] + + [Footnote 33: Compare two native expositions, JRAS. x. 33 + (Vedantic conception of _brahma_), and WZKM. ii. 95 + (Çankara's _advaita_ philosophy); also Müller, Three + Lectures.] + + [Footnote 34: Compare Ballantyne's Hindu Philosophy, + Williams' Indian Wisdom, Brahmanism and Hinduism, Religious + Thought and Life, and also the excellent chapters in Weber's + Lectures (above), and in Schroeder's Literatur und Cultur. + Of Deussen's Allgemeine Geschichte der Philosophie one half + volume has appeared.] + + [Footnote 35: Haug has an article on the M[=a]it. Sa[.m]h. + with the same title, Brahma und Die Brahmanen.] + + [Footnote 36: House-ritual: [=A]çval[=a]yana, Gobhila, + Ç[=a][.n]kh[=a]yana, P[=a]raskara, Kh[=a]dira, + Hira[n.]yakeçin, [=A]pastamba. Law: [=A]pastamba, + G[=a]utama, Vasistha, B[=a]udh[=a]yana, Y[=a]jñavalkya, + Vishnu, N[=a]rada, Brihaspati, Manu. The last is also + translated by Loiseleur, Jones, Burnell and Hopkins (besides + Bühler, SBE., above).] + + [Footnote 37: Ueber die heiligen Schriften, translated into + English by Smyth in the Indian Antiquary, 1893.] + + [Footnote 38: Feer, JA. 1888 (xii), p. 209. Leumann has + published in the same German series the Aupap[=a]tika + S[=u]tra, but as yet only the text (1883) has appeared.] + + [Footnote 39: Of the many manuals we recommend especially + those of Rhys Davids for ontology (also J[=a]takis. First + Part) and Oldenberg (now in second edition). For Northern + Buddhism Köppen's Religion is still excellent, although it + is vitiated by the point of view taken by the author, who + regards Buddha as an emancipator, a political innovator, + etc. Davids has two recent articles on Buddhist sects, JRAS. + xxiii. 409; xxiv. 1 (see abo below).] + + [Footnote 40: L. von Schroeder, Worte der Wahrheit. On the + word Dhammapada, Franke ZDMG. xlvi. 734.] + + [Footnote 41: Also Oldenberg, D[=i]pava[.m]sa, with text.] + + [Footnote 42: For Nirv[=a]na and its date all the manuals + may be consulted. See also D'Alwis, Nirv[=a]na (with + translation); Edkins, JRAS. xiii. 59, Congress, 1880, p. + 195; Childers, Dictionary, JRAS. v. 219, 289, vii. 49, etc.; + Fergusson, _ib._ iv. 81 (Indic Chronology); Müller, Origin + of Religion, p. 130, note, and Introduction to Buddhaghosha, + and to Dhammapada (above). We incline to accept 471 to 483 + as the extreme limits of the date of Buddha's death (Kern, + 380; Davids, 412).] + + [Footnote 43: On Hsing (671) see Beal, IA. x. 109, 194; + Müller, India. 'Fà -Hien's travels are now published by + Legge, 'Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms.' There are other + editions. See also Sykes, JRAS. 1841, p. 248; Beal, _ib._ + xix. 191.] + + [Footnote 44: On Japanese Buddhism there have been published + some texts by Japanese scholars (ed. Müller, Aryán Series of + Anecdota Oxoniensia). See JRAS. xii. 153.] + + [Footnote 45: Chalmers, J[=a]takas (ed. Cowell, vol. 1) is + announced. Compare JRAS. xxiv. 423. On Barlaam u. Joasaph + see now the exhaustive essay of Kuhn, Abh. d.k. Bayerisch. + Ak. 1894 (with all literature).] + + [Footnote 46: By the same, Avad[=a]naçataka, Mus. Guimet, + xviii (JA. 1879, xiv). The Da[t.]havamça, Melloné, Ann. du + MG. vii.] + + [Footnote 47: Triratna and triçula. The articles following + are by Murray-Aynsley (Asiatic Symbolism), on svastika, + trees, serpents, evil eye, etc. On the evil eye and the + poison-girl, vi[s.]akany[=a], see now the interesting essay + of Hertz (Abh. d. Bayern. Akad, 1894), who connects the + superstition with the religious practice described above, p. + 505, note 2.] + + [Footnote 48: For older essays see also Schönberg, ZDMG. + vii. 101 (rock-temples); JAS. Beng. xxv. 222 (Khandgiri + temples); Yule, JAS. Beng., 1857, Ancient Buddhistic Remains + (on the Irawady): Sykes, Miniature Caityas in Buddhist + topes, JRAS. 1854, pp. 37, 227.] + + [Footnote 49: Çiva is here falsely interpreted as Herakles, + p. 39. Compare too Weber, IS. ii. 409, and his + Ahaly[=a]-Achilleus, Berl. Ak. 1887. The original Greek is + edited by Schwanbeck. On Darius' conquest see Marshman, i. + p. 10.] + + [Footnote 50: Sixth or eighth century, developed with + Buddhistic or Greek influence.] + + [Footnote 51: An example of the survival of the Hindu cult + in the Çr[=a]uta ritual is given by Weber, IS. v. 437, + Çabal[=i]-homa.] + + [Footnote 52: Weber on Skanda, IS. iii. 478.] + + [Footnote 53: Compare also Malcolm, AR. xi (1812), 197; ZKM. + v. 1, Die Religion und der Staat der Sikh.] + + [Footnote 54: The Dalast[=a]n or School of Manners, + translated from the Persian, with notes by Shea and Troy, + 1843.] + + [Footnote 55: Williams' Hinduism and the third chapter of + Wilkins' Modern Hinduism contain a list of the modern + festivals. Grierson, Peasant Life, describes Beh[=a]r.] + + [Footnote 56: M[=o]ns and Koles, JRAS. x, 234. Lards, + Congress, 1874, by Drew; 1880, by Leitner.] + + [Footnote 57: Snake-nation in America, Shoshone, Clark, + Sign-language, p. 337; snake-symbol of life, Schoolcraft, i. + 375.] + + [Footnote 58: Totemism repudiated, Kennedy, on N[=a]gas, + JRAS. xxiii. 480.] + + [Footnote 59: The Indian Antiquary contains a vast fund of + folk-lore stones of more or less religious importance. See + Barth's note, Rev. xxix. 55, for the Orientalist.] + + [Footnote 60: Early accounts of Burmah will be found in + Buchanan's Religion and Literature of the Burmas, AR. vi. + 163; of the R[=a]jmahal tribes, T. Shaw, _ib._ iv. 45; of + the inhabitants of the Garrow Hills, Eliot, _ib._ iii. 17; + of the Kookies, MacRae (or McRae), _ib._ vii. 183; of Nepal + (temples, etc.), _ib._ ii. 307. An account of the + Tibeto-Burman tribes by Damant will be found in JRAS. xii. + 228.] + + [Footnote 61: Compare a suggestive paper by the same author, + IF. iv, p. 36 (1894), on Die Verwandtschaftsverhältnisse der + Indogermanen (linguistic, but historically important).] + + [Footnote 62: Volga as 'Pâ, Ranha, Ras[=a], Kuhn, KZ. xxviii + 214; the Sarasvat[=i] and the lost river, Oldham, JRAS. xxv. + 49.] + + [Footnote 63: Another curiosity will be found in JRAS., + 1854, p. 199, where Curzon claims that the Aryan Hindus are + autochthonous.] + + [Footnote 64: Leitner, Greek Influence on India, Congress, + 1880, p. 113. On the Drama see above, pp. 2 and 438.] + + [Footnote 65: Further, Westergaard, Ueber den ältesten + Zeitraum der Indischen Geschichte; Fergusson, JRAS. xii. + 259; Fleet, _samvat_ for Çaka-era, JRAS., 1884, p. lxxi; + Gupta, IA. xv. 189, and xvi. 141; (B[=e]r[=u]n[=i]), _ib._ + xvii. 243, 359; also Kielhorn, Vikrama, IA. xix. 24 ff.; + xxii. III; Bühler, WZKM. v. 215. Methods and Tables for + Computing Hindu Dates, Jacobi, IA. xvii. 145; and Epigraphia + ind. I. 430. Last literature on date of Rig Veda, above, p. + 5, and add now Oldenberg, ZDMG. xlviii. 629. Further + references, above, pp. 436, 571, notes.] + + * * * * * + + + + +INDEX. + + + A (alpha), 226, 397. + + abbots, 557. + + abhangs, 522. + + abhidhamma, 326. + + Abhinavagupta, 482. + + Abh[=i]ras, 543. + + ab[=i]r, 454, 455. + + absorption, 496 + + abstractions,112, 135. + + [=a]c[=a]ra, 554. + + Achaemenides, 544. + + [=A]di Br[=a]hma Sam[=a]j, 517, 519. + + [=A]digranth, 511 ff. + + Aditi, 55, 73, 139, 142, 154 + + [=A]dityas (see Aditi, Varu[n.]a, etc), 55 + (A[.n]ça), 143, 167; + [=a]dityabhaktas, see sun and S[=a]uras. + + adultery, 203 + + adv[=a]ita, 396, 496, 505. + + Aesculapius, 538. + + Afghanistan, 30, 548. + + [=a]gamas, 295, 439. + + ages, 227, 259, 418 ff., 444, 530. + + Aghor[=i], 490, 533. + + Agnes, saint, 451. + + Agni, 43, 101, 105 ff., 123, 144, 168, 353, + 356, 377, 401, 414. 445, 449, 476, 480, 554. + + ahimas[=a], 199, 287, 310, 365. + + Ahura Mazd[=a]o, 49, 67, 167. 170. + + [=A]k[=a]çamukhas, 486. + + Akbar, 437, 546. + + Akkadians, Akkadists, 542, 571. + + ak[s.]am[=a]la (see rosary) 374. + + Al B[=e]r[=u]n[=i], 547, Addenda. + + Alexander, 431, 546. + + Alexandria, 431, 561. + + All-god, 139, 141, 496. + + All-gods, 137, 144, 450. + + Allah [=u]d d[=i]n, 437. + + alphabet, 543, 595. + + altars, 475. 490 + + altruism, 478, 555, 556, 563, 567. + + American Indians, see Indians. + + [=A]nanda, 309, 311; + [=A]nanda Giri, 445, 447; + [=A]nandat[=i]rtha, 509. + + Ananta, 397. + + ancestors (see female, Manes), ten, 534. + + Anaximander, 559. + + ancestor-tree, 541. + + Andaman gods, 538. + + androgynous, 447, 492, 557. + + a[.n]gas,440. + + A[.n]g[=i]ras, 108, 167, 477. + + A[n.][=i]m[=a][n.][d.]avya, 432. + + Aniruddha, 441, 442, 457. + + annihilation (see Nirv[=a][n.]a), 421, 531, 532. + + ant-oath, 534. + + Antiochus, 545. + + Anug[=i]t[=a], 401. + + Aphrodite, 471. + + Apollonius, 508. + + April-Fool, 455. + + Apsaras, 137, 169, 355, 365. + + Arabia, 547. + + [=A]ra[n.]yakas, 178, 219. + + ardhan[=a]r[=i]çvara, 447. + + Arhat, 280, 285, 303, 320, 564. + + Arjun, 511. + + Arjuna, 361. + + Arrian, 459. + + arrow-oath, 534. + + art, artists, 549. + + Aryaman, 46, 121, 397. + + Aryan, 11, 26, 548. + + [=A]rya Sam[=a]j, 521. + + açani, 464. + + ascetics, 148, 254, 258, 304, 352 ff.; + asceticism, 287, 366, 470, 520. + + açoka, 540. + + Açoka, 311, 340, 341, 435. + + astrology, 256, 438, 543. + + Asuras, 42, 49, 104, 170 ff., 186 ff., 358 + + Asura Maya, 368. + + Açvins, 38, 54, 78, 80, 381. + + Atharva Veda, 3, 29, 43, 151, 175, 419, 477, 571. + + Atharvan, 110, 378, 477. + + [=A]tm[=a], 42, 47 (soul), 56, 220 ff., 232, + 249, 354, 396, 398, 442. + + [=A]tm[=i]ya Sabh[=a], 516. + + atonement, 376. + + Avadh[=u]tas, 502. + + avasthas, 412. + + avatar, 162, 196, 215, 340, 389, 393, 404, 424, + 430; + number of, 444, 468; + Vishnu's last avatar, 522. + + Avesta (see Iranian), 12, 16, 422. + + avy[=u]ha 442. + + Ayenar, 464. + + axe (see Paraçu R[=a]ma), 527. + + Aztecs, 557. + + + B[=a]b[=a]l[=a]ls, 514. + + Baber, 437. + + Babrius, 558. + + Babylon, 543. + + Bacchic rites, 414, 427, 528. + + Bactria, 32, 33, 434. + + B[=a]dar[=a]ya[n.]a, 495, 497. + + B[=a]la Gop[=a]la, 503. + + Balar[=a]ma, 442, 469. + + bali, 540. + + Bali, 478. + + bamboo (see pole-rite), 536. + + bandana, 533. + + banian, 540. + + Bardesanes, 561. + + Barlaam, 557. + + Basava, 482, 547. + + basil, see tulas[=i]. + + Baskets, see Tripi[t.]aka. + + Beh[=a]r, 435. + + bel-tree, 453, 536, 541. + + bell, 557. + + Bella Pennu, 530. + + Bellerophon, 530. + + Benares, 459. + + Bhaga, 41, 50 ff.; + bhaga, 490. + + Bhagavad G[=i]t[=a], 389 ff., 399, 400, 401, 447. + + Bhagavat, 303, 389. + + Bh[=a]gavatas, 447, 497. + + Bh[=a]irava, 464, 491. + + Bh[=a]ktas, 447. + + bhakti (see faith), 429, 503, 519. + + Bh[=a]rata, 349 ff., 438, 457. + + Bh[=a]rs, 534, 535 ff. + + Bh[=a]ts, 479. + + Bhava, 462, 464, 548. + + Bhav[=a]n[=i], 494. + + bhik[s.]u, 258, 281, 303, 310, 374; + bhik[s.]uk[=i], 426. + + Bhils, 533. + + Bh[r.]gu, 168, 397, 423. + + bicycle, used to make converts, 570. + + bigotry, 445. + + bila, 12. + + bilva, see bel. + + bird (of the sky) 45, 49, 113, 124, 140, 164; + birds as spirits, 432. + + birth-impurity, 541. + + Birth-stories, see J[=a]takas. + + birth-tree, 540. + + Blavatskyism, 562. + + Blessed One, 19, 388 ff. + + blood-money, 162. + + blood-revenge, 375. + + bloodless sacrifice (see ahi[.m]s[=a], Thugs), + 528. + + boar, 404, 407, 445. + + Bodhisat, bodhisattva, 303, 564. + + Bhodhi-tree, bo-tree, Bodhi Gay[=a], 304, 308, + 540. + + boundary-god, 529. + + brahma, 156, 178, 195, 217, 220 ff., 231 ff., + 381, 389, 393 ff., 398, 403, 419, 420, 474, + 496, 518. + + Brahm[=a], 195, 218, 332, 346, 372, 403 ff., + 407, 412, 421, 446, 451, 458 ff., + 464 ff., 487, 492, 499, 518, 534. + + Br[=a]hma Dharma, 517. + + Brahmaloka, 256. + + Brahmamaha, 371, 411. + + Br[=a]hma[n.]as, 4, 5, C^ 22, 23, 174, 219, 502. + + Brahmanism, 24, 176 ff., 548. + + Br[=a]hma Sam[=a]j, 516; + of India, 519. + + Bahmasamprad[=a]yins, 509. + + brahmodya, 383. + + branding, 440, 447. + + B[r.]haspati, 54 (Lord of Strength), 101, 136, + 159, 379, 386. + + B[=r.]hat Sa[.m]hit[=a], 438. + + brothers, 370. + + Buddha, 258, 280, 303 ff., 426; + precedent Buddhas, 309, 523, 557; + avatar of Vishnu, 469, 500; + brother of Çiva, 478. + + Buddhagho[s.]a, 327, 343. + + Buddhism, 4, 5, 6, 7, 26, 225, 298 ff., 310, + 401, 448; + Northern and Southern, 326, 327, 341; + esoteric, 320, 334; + epic, 423 ff.; + Çivaite, 485, 486; + morals of, 554, 556; + Occidental, 563; + lesson of, 564. + + Budo Gosain, 533. + + buffalo (see cow-bells), 445, 531, 537. + + bull, 407, 445, 528, 534. + + bull-roarer, 204, 553. + + burial, 60, 271, 364, 528, 534, 571. + + buttoat, 493. + + + Calvinism, 501. + + Candragupta, 311, 434. + + Candraçekhara, 470. + + cara[n.]a, 255. + + C[=a]ra[n.]as, 367. + + Caran D[=a]s[=i]s, 506. + + Cardinals, 557. + + Carnival, 455. + + C[=a]rv[=a]ka, 298, 374, 448. + + castes, 27, 28, 29, 40, 141, 226, 263, 426, + 507, 571; + duties and occupations of, 549. + + cat, holy, 547. + + cat-doctrine, 500. + + cataclysms, 259, 260. + + cattle (see cow), 50, 462 ff., 450. + + caturm[=u]rti, 413. + + caturthi, 451. + + caturvy[=u]ha, 442. + + celibates (see monks), 537. + + Ceylon, Buddhism of, 341. + + C[=a]itanya, 503. + + chandas, 142, 174, 477. + + Ch[=a]rans, 479. + + chief, divinity of, 534. + + child-marriages, 519. + + children, sacrifice of (see merias), 450. + + Ch[=i]rus, 535. + + choirs, 557. + + chrematheism, 135, 166. + + Christ, Christianity, 389, 395, 428 ff., 431, + 479, 482, 503, 524, 545, 566, 569, 570; + and Buddhism, 546, 557. + + Christmas, 430, 568. + + churik[=a], 441. + + circumambulations, 271, 454. + + Citragupta, 424. + + Clive, 566. + + cock, 415, 535, 538. + + commandments (see morals), 267, 317, 401, 479, + 506. + + confessional, 203, 373, 557. + + cosmic tree, see tree. + + courage, 527. + + covenants, 192, 361 ff. + + cow, 156, 189, 527, 547. + + cow-bells, worship of buffalo cow-bells, 537. + + cow-boys, 454. + + creation, 60, 141, 173, 207 ff., 216, 540. + + creator, 384, 444. + + crocodile, 450, 547. + + cross, 537. + + Cupid, see Love. + + custom, 531, 554. + + + Dabist[=a]n, 480, 510. + + D[=a]d[=u] Panth[=i]s, 480, 502, 510, 513, 547. + + daevas, 10, 168. + + Dak[s.]a, 406. + + D[=a]navas, see devils. + + dance, 443, 454, 456, 504, 535. + + Darius, 544. + + darkness (as hell and evil), 147, 206, 227, 422. + + Daçan[=a]mis, 482. + + Daçapeya, 477. + + Dasyus, 524, 542. + + dates, 3-8, 434 ff., 571, 595, note. + + Datt[=a]mitra, 545. + + Dawn (see Ushas), hymns, character of, 553, 571. + + Day[=a]nanda, 521. + + Death (see dogs, M[=a]ra), 43, 129, 136. + + Debendran[=a]th, 516 ff. + + Decoits, 494. + + Dedr[=a]j, 514. + + deism, 498, 515, 523. + + deluge, 160, 162 214, 369, 421, 542, 543. + + demons, see devils. + + demonology, 46, 135, 168, 538. + + Demetrius, 545. + + depressed classes, 568. + + devas, 10, 168. + + Devadatta, 309. + + Devak[=i], 465, 467. + + devils, 368, 414, 423, 475, 526, 539. + + Dhammapada,346. + + dhan, 508. + + Dha[=n.]gars, 531. + + Dharma, dharma (see Path, Right), 249 ff., + 358, 373, 380 417, 420, 554. + + dharma, 361. + + Dhav[=a], 452. + + Dh[r.]ti, 452. + + dhvaja, 443. + + Digambaras, 284 ff., 480. + + Dionysos, 458 ff. + + D[=i]p[=a]l[=a], 456. + + discus, 440, 462. + + disease (see small-pox god), 452 ff., 538. + + divination, 535. + + dogs of Death, 132, 138, 147, 163. + + Dol[=a] Y[=a]tr[=a], dolotsava, 453 ff. + + dolmen, 538. + + dolphin, 450. + + dragon (see N[=a]ga, snake), 42, 48, 165, 539. + + drama, 2, 436, 438. + + Dravidian religion, 416, 425, 426 ff., 542. + + dreams, 42. + + drugha[n.]a, 441. + + Druids, 533. + + drunkenness, 491. + + dualism (see ptak[r.]ti, S[=a][.n]khya), 13, + 396, 414. + + Durg[=a], 416, 451, 456, 490, 492, 513. + + d[=u]rv[=a], 502. + + Dutch rule in India, 566. + + dv[=a]para, 420. + + Dy[=a]us, 9, 19 (heaven), 58, 172, 571. + + + eagle (see soma), 534. + + Earth, 58 ff., 168, 445; + earth-worshippers, 480, 531. + + Easter, 454. + + education, salvation of, 571. + + egg, mundane, 166, 208, 411. + + Egypt, 543, 550. + + ek[=a]ntinas, 413; + eka deva, 420. + + Eleatics, 559. + + elements, 1, 559. + + elephant, 445, 533. + + eleocarpus ganitrus, 502. + + emperors, imperialism, 36, 435 ff. + + English rule in India, 566. + + ensigns, 539. + + epic, 2, 25, 348 ff., 425, 444, 496; + Greek influence on, 545. + + Epicureans, 505. + + eras, 436. + + Eros, see Love. + + eschatology (see Heaven, Hell, Manes), + 173, 204, 216, 253, 367, 394, 496, 530. + + ethnologists, 11. + + euphemism, 251. + + Europe and India, 556 ff. + + evil eye, 155, 526, 589, note 3. + + exogamy (see marriage), 534, 535. + + + fables, 545, 558. + + faith, bhakti, 396, 506, 507, 545. + + fakirs, 486. + + family, see matriarchy. + + fasting, 452, 557. + + fate (see karma), 369, 417, 477. + + Father-god, see Praj[=a]pati; + Fathers, see Manes; + father (see parents), 529. + + fauna, 35. + + fees, 192. + + female (see abstractions, infanticide, + mothers, çakti), divinities, 51, 138, + 184, 416; + female ancestors, 441, 534. + + Feridun, 11. + + festivals, 202, 448. + + fetishism, 169, 363; + distinction between fetish and god-stone, 538. + + fire (see Agni), as germ of life, 141; + fire-cult, 158, 378; + destroys world, see Sa[.m]vartaka; + cult, 454, 460, 491. + + flood, see deluge. + + flowers, 440, 540, 557. + + forest (see wood), 528. + + fountain-god, 531. + + free-will, 384. + + frogs, 14, 100 ff.; + frog-maiden, frog-feast, 536. + + funeral, see burial. + + + gambler, 14, 162, 376. + + games, 328, 451. + + Gandharva, 125, 130, 167, 367, 419, 442, 542. + + Gan-eden, 542. + + Ga[n.]eça, 414, 416, 447, 450 ff., 456, 466, 487, 506, 532. + + G[=a][n.]eças, 413. + + Ganges, 30, 372, ff., 450. + + Garos, 534. + + Garutman, Garuda, 45, 360, 378, 446. + + G[=a]ur[=i], 452. + + Gautama, 302 ff.; + Gotama, 308, note; 542. + + g[=a]yatr[=i], 46, 124. + + generosity, 374. + + geography, 28, 29, 177, 193, 314, 342 ff. + + Ghori, 437. + + ghosts, 532. + + giants, 470, 571. + + Giriça, 463. + + g[=i]t[=a], see Bhagavad. + + G[=i]ta Govinda, 457, 503. + + Gnosticism, 560. + + gods (see devas), 29, 90, 141, 182, 209, 395, 402. + + golden age, see ages. + + golden germ, 141, 208, 507. + + golden rule, 479. + + Gonds, 444, 526 ff. + + goose-totem, 534. + + gop[=i]s, 456. + + Gorakhn[=a]th, 486. + + gosain, 504. + + Gos[=a]la, 283. + + gospels, 546. + + Gotama, see Gautama. + + Govind, 511. + + grace of God, 143, 384, 393, 396, 413, 429. + + grahas (see planets), 415. + + gr[=a]mas, 27. + + Greece, Greeks, 1, 3, 6, 416, 431, 434 ff., + 458 ff., 470, 471, 544 ff., 550. + + Grippa Valli, 530. + + G[=u][d.]aras, 487. + + guest, 369, 531. + + gu[n.]as, 507. + + Gupta era, 436, Addenda. + + guru, 246, 510. + + + Hanuman (see monkey), 368, 502. + + haoma, 16. + + Hara, 462. + + Harahvati, 31. + + Harihara, 464, 547. + + Hariva[.n]ça, 424, 428, 439, 464, 467. + + H[=a]r[=i]ta, 440. + + Hartmann, 562. + + Harvard students, 565. + + harvest (see festival), 531, 532. + + Hastings, 567. + + Heathen, 524. + + Heaven (see Dy[=a]us, Varu[n.]a, eschatology), + 48, 143, 145 ff., 253, + 365, 417, 448. + + Helen, 12, 168. + + Hell, 147, 165, 206, 232 ff., 253, 267, + 336, 363, 381, 402, 443, 478, + 528, 557. + + henotheism, 139, 177, 571. + + Herakles, 458 ff., 470. + + Heraklitus, 558. + + Hestia, 530. + + hills, see mountains and wild tribes. + + Hinduism, 24, 348 ff., 434 ff., 548, 568 ff. + + Hindukush, 31. + + Hira[n.]yagarbha (see golden germ), 447. + + history, 434. + + holiness, 442. + + Holl, 453. + + holy-days, 204, 248 ff. + + holy-places, 444. + + holy-stone, see Ç[=a]lagr[=a]ma and stone. + + holy-water, 557. + + horse-sacrifice, 444. + + honesty, 527, 555. + + hospitality (see guest), 555, 556. + + house-god, 374, 530. + + H[r.][s.]ikeça, 432. + + humanitarianism, 428. + + humanity, 433. + + + idealism, see adv[=a]ita. + + idolatry, modern, 522. + + idols, 95, 370, 371, 374, 442, 446, 477, 537, 556 ff. + + Ilium, 12. + + illusion, 395, 396, 401, 421, 497. + + immaculate conception, 431, 460. + + immortality (see Heaven), 141, 396, 422; + immortality of pots, 534. + incarnation (see magic), 470. + + Incarnation, see avatar. + + incest (see commandments, left-hand), 531. + + Indians, 161 ff., 452, 532, 533, 542. + + Indra, 10, 20, 39, 56, 57, 89, 91 ff., + 101, 123, 332, 353, 355 ff., 69, 377, + 404, 405, 412, 414, 445, 448, 449, 473 ff. + + Indramaha, 378, 457, 460. + + Indus, 30. + + infanticide, 529, 531. + + infidelily, 448, 475. + + Innocents day, 455. + + inspiration, 305. + + Iranians, 6, 15, 26, 32 ff., 67, 132, 168, 170, 186, 422, 543. + + [=I]ça, 546. + + islands, 431. + + Issa, 546. + + Itih[=a]sa, 434, 477. + + + Jagann[=a]th, 440, 449, 456, 505. + + J[=a]imini, 495. + + Jainism, 280, 318, 348, 401, 448, 480. + + Jam[=a]li, 283. + + J[=a]mbavan, 368. + + janas, 26, 27. + + Jangamas, 447, 482. + + Janm[=a][s.][t.]am[=i], 465, 469. + + J[=a]takas, 339 ff., 393, 430, 558. + + J[=a]tavedas, 416. + + Jayadeva, 503. + + Jay[=i], 494. + + Jem[=i]dar, 493. + + Jemshid, 11. + + Jews, 524, 544. + + j[=i]va, 442, 496. + + J[.n][=a]ndev, 522. + + J[.n][=a]triputra, 292. + + John, saint, 558. + + Jonas, story of, 547. + + Josaphat, 557. + + Judgment-god (see Dharma), 529, 531. + + Juggernaut, see Jagann[=a]th. + + jugglers, see Yogi. + + Justice, see Dharma. + + + Ka, 182, 413. + + Kab[=i]r (Panthis), 502, 510, 514, 547. + + Kabul, Kabulistan, 30. + + kal[=a], 501. + + K[=a]la, see Time. + + kali, 421. + + K[=a]l[=i], 416, 438, 441, 490, 492, 533. + + K[=a]lid[=a]sa, 438. + + Kalki, 340, 469. + + kalpa, see ages. + + K[=a]ma, see Love. + + Ka[n.][=a]da, 503. + + K[=a]naph[=a]ts, 486, 487. + + K[=a][.n]culiyas, 492. + + Kani[s.]ka, 435, 436. + + K[=a]p[=a]likas, 487. + + kapi, 543. + + Kapila. 397, 402, 495, 547. + + Kapilavastu, 300. + + karma, 199, 231, 253, 302, 319, 369, 374. 401. + + Karmah[=i]nas, 447. + + Karmam[=i]m[=a][.m]s[=a], 495. + + Kart[=a]bh[=a]ja, 504. + + K[=a]rttikeya, see Skanda. + + K[=a]çyapa, 503. + + Kashmeer, 31, 314, 482. + + Kassos, 534. + + Katties, 537. + + Kh[=a]kis, 502. + + Kh[=a]ls[=a], 512. + + Khasas, Kh[=a]s[=i]as, 537. + + Khonds, 445, 526, 528 ff. + + Kil, 502. + + kindness (see love), 448. + + kings, 226 465. + + Kinnaras, 367. + + kirttan, k[=i]rtan, 508. + + Koches, 525. + + Koles, Kolarians, 525, 531, 532 ff. + + koph, 543. + + Kosmas, 544. + + Krishna (k[r.][s.][n.]a), 349, 361, 388 ff, + 399, 401, 405, 411, 412, 429, 448, 449, + 456, 457, 465, 498, 548, 551. + + Krishnaism, 427, 464, 484 ff., 548. + + Krishnaite[s.], 503 ff. + + k[r.]ta, 419. + + K[s.]apanakas, 448. + + K[s.]atriya, 419. + + K[s.]emendra, 478. + + Kubera, 251, 353, 358, 446. + + kukkuja, see cock. + + Kum[=a]ra K[=a]rttikej-a (see Skanda), 356, 463. + + Kum[=a]rila, 436, 437, 572. + + Kural, 567. + + Kurus, 32, 179. + + Kuruk[s.]etra, 33, 263, 372 ff. + + kush, 542. + + + Lak[s.]m[=i], 451, 492, 501, 506. + + Lalita Vistara, 343. + + Lamaistn, 343, 557, 565. + + Lamp-festival, 456; + service, 557. + + Law-books, religion of, 247 ff.; + Aryanism of, 541. + + Left-hand cult, 490, 506, 533. + + lex talionis, 555. + + liberality of thought, 556. + + light, as right, 422. + + li[.n]ga (see phallus), 447, 453, 456, 462, 475, 488, 502. + + Li[.n]g[=a]yits, 482. + + liquor, 491, 531. + + literature, celebration of, 451. + + Logos, V[=a]c, 142, 195, 251, 492, 558. + + Lohit[=a]yan[=i], 415. + + lotus, 411, 451, 462, 502. + + Lotus of the Law, 343. + + Love, 154; + love-charm, 155; + love as god, 156, 416, 444, 445, 446, + 450, 452, 455, 471, 544. + + lundi, 528. + + Lupercalia, 455. + + Lurka Koles, 531, 534. + + + M[=a]dhava [=A]c[=a]rya, 445. + + M[=a]dhvas, 502, 506, 509, 514. + + Madonna-worship, 469, 503, 505, 506, 557. + + M[=a]gadha, 435. + + Magas, Magi, 544. + + magic, witchcraft, 135, 137, 149, 151 ff., 477, 526. + + Mah[=a]deva, 464; + mah[=a]dev[=i], 490. + + Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata, see Bh[=a]rata. + + Mah[=a]r[=a]jas, 505. + + m[=a]h[=a]ris, 534. + + mah[=a]tmaism, 486, 550, 562. + + Mah[=a]v[=i]ra, 280 ff. + + Maheçvaras, 482. + + Mahmud, 436. + + Mahrattas, 437. + + M[=a]itreya, M[=a]itrakanyaka, 340, 479. + + makara, 450. + + Man, 508, + worshippers of, 481. + + Manes (see Çr[=a]ddha), 10, 11, 132, + 143 ff., 155, 173, 190, 250, 361, + 364, 365, 446, 450, 452, 529, 530, + 532, 533, 537. + + Man-lion, 453, 470. + + mantra, 174, 374, 440, 453, 491, 508. + + Manu, 32, 128, 143, 169, 392; + code of, 263 ff., 391, 397, 399, 401; + verse attributed to, 487. + + manvantara, 439. + + M[=a]ra, 304, 346. + + m[=a]rj[=a]ra ny[=a]ya, 501. + + marka[t.]a ny[=a]ya, 501. + + marriage-rites, 270, 421, 533. + + marriage-tree, 541. + + Maruts, 8, 56, 97 ff. + + Mather, Cotton, 565. + + matriarchy, 441, 541. + + matter (see prak[r.]ti), 400. + + M[=a]y[=a], see illusion. + + May-day, 453. + + meat-eating (see ahi[.m]s[=a]), 365, 368. + + medh[=a], 452. + + Megasthenes, 1, 458 ff. + + Menandros, 545. + + merias, 529. + + metals, 35. + + metempsychosis, 175, 199, 204, 286, 302, 347, + 364, 401, 532, 533, 559; + in the Veda, 145, 432, 530. + + methods of interpretation, 8, 12 ff., 22, 551. + + Mihira, see Mithra. + + Milinda, 545. + + M[=i]m[=a][.m]s[=a], 495. + + miracles, 430. + + missionaries, 566 ff. + + Mitra (see Varu[n.]a), 41, 44, 57, 60, 71, 138; + mitra, mihira, 423, 544. + + Mohammedans, 436 ff., 482, 509, 524, 546 ff. + + monks (see ascetic, bhik[s.]u, Sanny[=a]sin), 285, 324; + monasticism, 502, 557. + + monkey (see Hanuman), 448, 452, 502, 547; + monkey-doctrine, 500. + + monolith, worship of, 538. + + monotheism, 11, 13, 67, 70, 139, 172, 413, 414, + 427, 432, 442, 481, 483, 509, 547. + + monsoon, 35. + + moon (see eschalology, Gandharva, Soma), 185, + 470, 480, 526, 533. + + morals (see commandments, sin), 14, 143, 180, + 203, 353, 375, 401, 443, 553, 570. + + mother-divinities, 415, 492; + motherhoods, 534. + + mountains, divine, 137, 359, 416, 461, 463, 528, 532, 537. + + mouse, 532. + + Mozoomdar, 519. + + muni, 148, 520. + + Munroe, Major, 566. + + murder, 179, 475, 527. + + music, 443. + + M[=u][s.]ikas, 532. + + mysticism (see Yoga), 504. + + + N[=a]gas (see dragon, snake), 536, 539. + + N[=a]g[=a]rjuna, 340, 343. + + Nakh[=i]s, 486. + + name of the Lord, call upon, 507. + + names, 201. + + N[=a]nak, 502, 511 ff., 547. + + N[=a][.n]gi Panthis, 514. + + Nara, N[=a]r[=a]ya[n.]a, 412, 448; + Sv[=a]mi N[=a]raya[n.]a, 506, 514. + + Nature, 397. + + nautch, 454. + + Neo-Platonism, 558, 560. + + New Year's festival, 449, 456. + + Niadis, 537. + + nid[=a]nas, chain of causality, 323. + + Night, 48, 76, 79. + + Nik[=a]ya, 326. + + Nimb[=a]ditya, 508. + + Nirgrantha, 283. + + Nirmalas, 513. + + Nirv[=a][n.]a, 286, 310, 319, 321 ff., 336, 346, 347, 426 ff. + + Ni[s.]ads, 440. + + non-duality, see adv[=a]ita. + + Notovitch, 546. + + numbers, 478. + + nuns, 290, 310, 330, 557. + + nymphs, in heaven, 417. + + Nysian, 458. + + + oath (see ordeals), of king, 213; + may be broken, 255; + water in oath, 362; + other forms of oath, 533, 534. + + observances, 246. + + oceans, 34. + + offerings, 183. + + Om, 395, 453. + + Omens (see magic), 256, 328. + + ophir, 543. + + oracles, 533, 534. + + Or[=a]ons, 526, 531, 535. + + ordeals, 3, 270, 275, 363. + + orders, politica), priestly stadia, 264, 353, 365. + + orthodoxy, 507, 562. + + + pacceka, 305. + + P[=a]h[=a]rias, 533. + + pairs of gods, 83, 102, 138, 462. + + palm, 540. + + palmistry (sce omens), 256. + + P[=a][.n]cajanya fire, 423. + Pa[.n]cak[=a]la, Pa[.n]cak[=a]j[.n]as, 413. + + Pa[.n]camah[=a]kalpa, 413. + + Pa[.n]catantra, 558. + + P[=a][.n]car[=a]tra, 413, 427, 442, 447, 492, 497. + + P[=a][n.][d.]avas, 466, 469. + + P[=a][n.]dur[=a][.n]ga, 500. + + pantheism (see K[r.][s.][n.]a, R[=a]ma, + Vi[s.][n.]u), 37, 47, 57, 138, 140, 248, + 356, 407, 414, 484 ff., 498, 547. + + Paradise, see Heaven. + + Paraçu R[=a]ma, 469. + + parents, 370. + + parimata, 227, 229, 232. + + Parjanya, 100 ff., 369, 378. + + Parmenides, 559. + + parrot, 445, 450. + + P[=a]rvat[=i], (goddess) 'of mountains,' 416. + + Paçupati, 413, 462, 463. + + P[=a]çupata, 447, 482, 509. + + P[=a]taliputta, 311. + + Pata[.n]jali, 495. + + Path, holy, 305 ff., 401,426. + + peacock, 445, 450, 528, 536. + + Persian, see Darius, Iranian. + + pessimism, 306, 314, 316 ff. + + phallus (see li[.n]ga), 150, 414, 443, 470. 471, 528, 544. + + Ph[=a]nsigars, 494. + + Philo, 555. + + philosophy (see S[=a][.n]khya, Ved[=a]nta), 141, 495. + + Phoenicia, 543. + + picture-worship, 374, 557. + + pipal-tree, see bo-tree. + + Piç[=a]cas (see devils), 415. + + planets, 367, 415, 545. + + plants, worship of (see trees), 540; + plant-souls, see metempsychosis. + + Plato, 2, 559. + + Plotinus, 561. + + pocket-altars, 475. + + pole-rite, 378, 443, 534. + + political divisions, 26, 27. + + polyandry, 467, 535. + + polygamy, 533. + + polytheism, 11, 13, 529, 547. + + Pongol, 449, 528. + + pools, 254. 370, 372, 404, 444, 478. + + pope, 557. + + Porphyry, 561. + + Portuguese rule in India, 566. + + Prabh[=a], 452. + + Pradyumna, 441, 442. + + Prabl[=a]da, 397. + + Praj[=a]pati, 142, 182 ff., 196 ff., 404, 412,475, 492, 554. + + prak[=r.]ti, 396, 397, 399, 507. + + pras[=a]da (see grace) 429. + + pray[=a]ga, 435. + + Prem S[=a]gar, 567. + + priest, 28, 29, 40, 176, 179, 370; + privileges of, 263,549; + epic priest, 352. + + P[=r.]çn[=i], 97. + + Prometheus, 107, 165. + + Punj[=a]b, 30, 33, 34. + + Pur[=a][n.]as, 2, 3, 424, 430, 434 ff., 476, 503. + + Puranic S[=a]nkhya, 495. + + purity, 148, 369. + + purgatory, 557. + + Purusa, 142, 397, 447. + + P[=u]rvam[=i]m[=i]m[=a]ms[=a], 495. + + P[=u][s.]an, 5, 41, 47, 50 ff., 80, 101, 463, 464, 475. + + Pu[s.]kara, 372. + + Pu[s.][t.]i, 452. + + P[=u]lan[=a], 444. + + p[=u]tika, 369. + + Pythagoras, 209, 559 ff., 580, note 3. + + + quakerism, 567. + + quietism (see Yoga), 567. + + + R[=a]dh[=a], R[=a]dh[=a] Vallabhis, 492, 506. + + R[=a]hu, 367. + + rain-gods, 99, 528. + + rajas, 507. + + R[=a]jas[=u]ya, 444, 448, 477. + + R[=a]k[s.]as (see devils), 419. + + ram, 445. + + R[=a]ma, 349, 397, 498. + + R[=a]macandra, 454, 506. + + Ramaism, 315, 349, 427, 485, 500 ff. + + R[=a]m[=a]nand, 502, 510, 513. + + R[=a]m[=a]nuja, 447, 482, 496 ff., 505, 507. + + R[=a]m[=a]ya[n.]a, 349 ff. + + Ramcaritmanas, 503. + + R[=a]mmohun Roy, 515. + + Ras[=a] (Volga, 26), 30, 169. + + R[=a]s D[=a]sas, 502. + + R[a=]s Y[=a]tr[=a], 456, 505. + + Rath Y[=a]tr[=a], 456. + + Rail, 452. + + R[=a]udras,447. + + R[=a]vana, 470. + + redemption, doctrine of, 569. + + reformation of sects, 508, 522. + + relics, 556. + + remnant-worship, 151, 157. + + Renaissance, 2, 435. + + renunciation (see Yogi, Sanny[=a]si), 394. + + responsability, moral, 380. + + Ribhus ([R.]bhavas), 93, 123, 169, 382. + + Right (see Dharma), 249, 422, 442, 554. + + Right-hand cult, 490. + + Rig Veda ([r.]g), 3, 5, 7, 9, 10 ff., 22, 29, 37 ff., 44; + in epic, 360, 419. + + Rishis ([R.][s.]is), see Seers. + + ritual, 12 ff., 16 ff., 106, 124, 175. + + ritualism, 568. + + rivers, divine, 30 ff., 32, 99, 138, 528. 537. + + Romans, 6, 556. + + rosary, 374, 413, 478. 502, 557. + + rosy, 493. + + Rudra (see Çatarudriya, Çiva), 50, 54, 97, 99, 379, 388, 406; + Rudra-Çiva, 458 ff.; + Rudrajapas, 463. + + rudr[=a]k[s.]a, 502. + + + sacraments, forty, 255. + + sacrifice, 47, 60, 149, 177 ff., 188, 196, + 198, 211, 225, 246, 363, 369, 375, 406, + 413, 420, 423, 450, 462, 471, 490 ff., + 526, 528, 529, 534, 571. + + S[=a]dhus, 514. + + Ç[=a]ivas (see Çivaites), 413. + + Çaka era, 436. + + Sakh[=i] bh[=a]vas, 492. + + Ç[=a]ktas, 413, 489, 533. + + çakti, 489, 490, 537, 553. + + Çakuntal[=a], 438. + + Ç[=a]kya, 300, 302. + + ç[=a]lagr[=a]ma, holy stone, 447, 502, 540. + + sallo kallo, 531. + + Sam[=a]jas, 516 ff., 369, 570. + + S[=a]ma Veda, 176, 389, 396, 419. + + Samana, 302, 344. + + Çambhu, 487. + + Çam[=i] çam[=i]-plant, 540. + + sa[.m]vartaka fire, 421. + + sa[.m]s[=a]ra. 175, 199, 231, 253, 380, 425. + + sa[.m]sk[r.]ta, 396. + + sa[.m]vat, 436. + + Sanatkum[=a]ra, 466. + + Ç[=a][n.][d.]ila, 221, 497, 509; + s[=u]tras, 503. + + Sandrocottos, 435. + + Sa[.n]gha, 324, 341. + + Ça[n.]kara, 289, 437, 445; + vijaya, 480; 482, 495, 505, 506. + + S[=a][.n]khya, 323, 365, 391 ff., 396, 399, + 400, 402, 460, 482, 484, 489, 495, 509, + 547, 560. + + Sanny[=a]s[=i]n, 258, 281, 508. + + Sara[n.]y[=u], 81, 138. + + Saram[=a], S[=a]rameya, 131, 132, 138. + + Sarasvat[=i], 31 ff., 149, 451, 492. + + Ç[=a]r[=i]rakam[=i]m[=a][.m]s[=a], 495. + + Çarva, 462, 463, 548. + + Sarvadarça[n.]asangraha, 480. + + Çatarudriya, 413, 470. + + Sat n[=a]m, 512. + + sattra, 371, 420. + + sattva, 507. + + Saturnalia, 455. + + S[=a]ubhagasena, 545. + + S[=a]ugatas, 448, 567. + + S[=a]uras, 413,423, 508. + + Sav[=a]ras, Sauras, 535. + + Savitar (see Sun), 41 ff., 46 ff. + + S[=a]vitr[=i], 46, 466, 492. + + S[=a]ya[n.]a, 480. + + Schopenhauer, 561. + + sects, 445. + + Seers, 368. + + Semiramis, 543. + + Semites, 571. + + Sen, 518. + + sesamum, 452, 502. + + Çesa, 446, 465. + + seven, 18, 26, 32, 49, 64, 98, 162, 533. + + Seypoys, 566. + + sex, 43, 59, 183, 490. + + Siddhas, 367, 397, 482. + + Sikhs (Singhs, Si[.m]has), 8, 502, 510-513. + + sin (see commandments, vows), 42, 47, + 51, 60, 65, 329, 376, 392, 530, 554; + venial, 254; + sin and sacrifice, 526. + + si[.n]g[=a]-tree, 533. + + Çiçup[=a]la, 457. + + Sittars, 315, 367, 482, 488, 567, 570. + + Çiva, 25, 50, 99, 112, 150, 178, 251, + 332, 354, 365, 374, 388 ff., 397, + 404, 406, 412 ff. 487, 532-534. + + Çivaism (see Ç[=a]ivas), 348, 389, + 407, 413, 423, 427, 446, 451, 453, + 466, 480, 484, 488, 496, 548; + sacrifice of, 371, 453, 459, 462, 492. + + Çivaites, 481 ff., 483. + + Skanda (K[=a]rttikeya), 354, 410, 414, 445, 466. + + slaves, 29, 425, 477, 548, 549. + + small-pox god, 452, 528. + + Sm[=a]rtas, 482, 507. + + Sm[r.]ti, 440. + + snake (see dragon, N[=a]ga), 20, 94, + 154, 164, 186, 344, 361, 376, 397, + 419, 446, 469, 527, 533, 536, 539, 547. + + sociological data, 27, 60, 524 ff. + + solar mylhs, 11. + + Soma, 14, 16, 42, 50, 112 ff., 185, 354, + 369, 378, 477, 491, 531, 540, 571. + + Som[=a]nanda, 482. + + son, importance of, 148, 363. + + sophistry, 383. + + sorcery, see magic. + + soul (see [=a]tm[=a], j[=i]va), 530. + + sources, 3. + + spirit (see [=a]tm[=a]), 400, 442. + + spring, god of, 528. + + spring-festival, 449, 452, 456. + + Çr[=a]ddha (see Manes), 451, 453, 455. + + Çrama[n.]a, 281, 292, 302. + + çravaka, 303. + + Çr[=i], 438, 441, 451, 492. + + Çr[=i]ra[n.]ga, 456. + + Çruti, 245 ff., 373, 378. + + star-souls, 204, 366, 446. + + star-worshippers, 480, 526, 533. + + Stoics, 558, 563. + + stone, worship of (see ç[=a]lagr[=a]ma), 526, + 533, 538; + marriage-stone, 271, 535. + + straw (victim), 526. + + st[=u]pas, 556. + + Subrahma[n.]ya, 466 + + Ç[=u]dra (see slave), 419; + S[=u]droi, 548. + + suicide, 378. + + S[=u]kharas, 487. + + Çulvasutra, 560. + + Sun, 17, 39, 40 ff., 47, 51, 56, 57, 82, 164, + 205, 354, 377, 401, 402, 446, 449, 452, + 460, 492, 508, 509, 526, 528, 530, 532, + 534, 543 ff. + + Sunday, 452. + + Sunth[=a]ls, 532. + + Ç[=u]nyav[=a]ds, 448. + + sur[=a], 127. + + S[=u]ry[=a] (see Sun), 51, 82, 449, 492. + + Sutta, 326. + + suttee, 165, 274, 369, 441. + + S[=u]tras, 3, 4, 5, 7, 174. 245 ff. + + Sv[=a]mi, see N[=a]r[=a]ya[n.]a. + + svastiv[=a]canam, 371. + + Çvet[=a]mbaras, 284 ff., 480. + + swing, see D[=o]l[=a]. + + + tab[=u], 251, 535. + + tamas (see darkness), 507. + + Tamerlane, 436. + + Tamil, + poetry, 315; + religion, 524. + + tan, 508. + + Tantras, 2, 439, 476, 491 + + tapas (see asceticism), 520. + + Tari, 528, 530. + + Tath[=a]gata, 303. + + temples, 428, 444, 447, 452, 456, 471, 526, 557; + snake-temple, 539. + + Ten-galais, 501. + + [t.]haks, 535. + + [T.]h[=a]kur[=a][n.][=i], 535. + + Thales, 559. + + theft (see commandments, morals), 527, 554. + + theosophy, 40, 112, 384. + + thieves, god of. 554. + + Thomas, church of, 479. + + three, 42, 49, 110, 164. + + Time, see fate. + + Thugs, 492 ff., 528, 535. + + thunder-worship, 536. + + tiger, 533. + + tillais, 494. + + t[=i]rtha, see pools. + + Tiru-valluvar, 567. + + Todas, 526, 537. + + tonsure, 557. + + tortoise (see avatar), 536. + + totem, totemism, 163, 430, 445, 464, 468, 532, 534, 537, 557. + + traga, 479. + + tr[=a]ipuru[s.]a, 464. + + transmigration, see metempsychosis. + + transubstantiation, 557. + + trees, worship of, 35, 154, 470, 528, 533, 540; + tree of creation, 540, 542. + + tret[=a], 420. + + triad, 42, 46, 183, 377, 404, 460. + + tribes, 26 ff. + + Trida[n.][d.]is, 482. + + trim[=u]rti (see trinity), 447, 464. + + trinity (see triad, trim[=u]rti, tr[=a]ipuru[s.]a), + 57, 105, 237, 387, 404, 410, 411, 412, 432, 439, + 507, 516, 545; + four members, 445; + prayer to, 447; + history of, 457 ff.; + female, 492, 499. + + Tripi[t.]aka, 326, 347. + + Trip[=u]jas, 480. + + Trita, 11, 45, 104, 431. + + Troy, story of, 547. + + truth, 203, 369, 381, 527, 533, 553. + + Tuk[=a]r[=a]m, 524. + + tulas[=i], 456, 502, 540. + + Tulas[=i]d[=a]sa, 503. + + Turanian, 15, 435. + + Tu[s.][t.]i, 452. + + tutelary gods, 530. + + + Ud[=a]sis, 513. + + Ugras, 447. + + [=U]kharas, 487. + + Um[=a], 416, 460, 490, 492. + + Unitarians, 413, 485, 547. + + Up[=a][.n]gas, 440. + + Upani[s.]ads, 3, 4, 5, 7, 24, 181, 216 ff., + 389, 399, 405, 434, 447, 518. + + Upapur[=a][n.]as, 440. + + up[=a]saka, 310. + + Upendra, 409. + + [=U]rdhvab[=a]hus, 486. + + Uçanas, see B[r.]haspati. + + Ushas (U[s.]as), Dawn, 9, 10, 19, 73 ff. + + Uttaram[=i]m[=a][.m]s[=a],495. + + + V[=a]c, see Logos. + + Vada-galais, 501. + + V[=a]ikh[=a]nasas, 447. + + V[=a]ir[=a]gins, 508. + + V[=a]içe[s.][=i]ka, 503. + + V[=a]i[s.][n.]ava, 371, 413. + + V[=a]içv[=a]nara (see Agni), 507. + + V[=a]içya, 419, 487, 525. + + Vala, 20. + + Valabh[=i] era, 436, 572. + + Valentine, saint, 451. + + Vallabhas, 504-508. + + V[=a]lm[=i]ki, 503. + + Var[=a]hamihira, 438. + + Varu[n.]a, 18, 41, 42, 44, 47, 58, + 61 ff., 138, 170, 196, 353, + 354, 397, 448, 539, 554; + as the moon, 571. + + vasanta, see spring festival. + + V[=a]sto[s.]pati, 530. + + vassallus, vassus, 530. + + vasso, 292. + + V[=a]suki, 397. + + V[=a]ta, V[=a]yu, see Wind-god. + + Veda, 12, 15 ff., 142, 174, 188, 222, 256, + 374, 401, 420, 425, 510. + + Ved[=a]nta, 143, 228, 264, 365, 396, 398 ff., + 416, 460, 484, 495 ff.; + s[=u]tra, 437. + + 'Vehicles,' 340. + + vermilion, 532. + + Vesta, 530. + + Vet[=a]la, 537. + + Vidy[=a]dharas, 367. + + Vighneça, 488. + + vih[=a]ra, 435. + + Vikram[=a]ditya, 436. + + village-tree, 540. + + Vinaya, 326. + + Virabhadra, 467. + + Vir[=a]j, 507. + + Virgin-worship, 557. + + virtue (see commandments, dharma, morals), ideals of, 555. + + viças, 27, 194. + + Viç[=a]kha, 466. + + Vishnu (Vi[s.][n.]u), 41, 52, 56, 112, 144, 178, 251, 332, 354, + 365, 388 ff., 412 ff., 451 ff.; + feast of, 456; 460, 487, 492, 498, 508, 534. + + Vishnuism, 143, 348, 389, 413, 446, 464, 480, 494 ff. + + Vishnu's law-book, 441. + + Viçv[=a]mitra, 27. + + Vi[t.]h[t.]hala, 500, 508, 514, 522. + + Vivasvant, 81, 128 ff., 146, 392. + + void, see Ç[=u]nya. + + Volga, see Ras[=a]. + + vows, 293, 317, 378. + + V[r.][s.]abha, 482. + + Vr[=a]tya-hymns, 179. + + Vritra (V[r.]tra), 20, 120, 185, 357, 369. + + Vy[=a]sa, 488, 495. + + + warriors, 28, 29, 419. + + water (origin of all things), 48, 107, 141, 330, 362, 378. + + waters, 99. + + water-pot, 453. + + water-worshippers, 480. + + wealth (see Bhaga), 528. + + White Island, 413, 426 ff:, 431, 545. + + wife, see woman. + + wild-tribes, 471, 490, 493, 534 ff., + 569. + + wind-god, 87 ff., 123, 165, 354, 460; + worshippers, 480. + + witchcraft, see magic. + + witness (see oath), 250. + + women (authors of Rig Veda), 27; + burned, see suttee; as nuns, 291, + 310; religion of, 370; use mantra, + 440, 450, 453; price of wife, 270, + 535. + + wood, see trees. + + wood-goddess, 138, 530. + + worlds, number of, 402. + + writing, 4, 7, 331, 544. 595. + + Yajur Veda, 24, 176 ff., 419. + + Yak[s.]as, 415. + + Yama (see Citragupta, Hell), 16, 45, + 49, 128 ff., 144, 146, 353, 365, 378ff., + 397, 451, 480, 540. + + Yima, 11, 16,128 ff. + + Yoga, yogin or yogi, 262, 281, 304, + 351, 391 ff., 399, 402, 470, 486, + 495, 550. + + yoni, vulva, 475,490. + + yuga, see ages. + + Zarathustra, Zoroaster (see Iranian), + 10, 72, 524. + + Zeus, 9, 66. + + Ziegenbalg. 565. + + Zoölatry, 547. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Religions of India, by Edward Washburn Hopkins + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14499 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Religions of India + Handbooks On The History Of Religions, Volume 1, Edited By Morris Jastrow + +Author: Edward Washburn Hopkins + +Release Date: December 28, 2004 [EBook #14499] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA *** + + + + +Produced by Paul Murray and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. +This file was produced from images generously made available by the +Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at +http://gallica.bnf.fr + + + + + + +HANDBOOKS ON THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS + + + + + +EDITED BY MORRIS JASTROW, JR., PH.D. + +_Professor of Semitic Languages +in the University of Pennsylvania_ + + + + + + +VOLUME I + + + + + + +HANDBOOKS ON THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS + + + + + + +THE + +RELIGIONS OF INDIA + + + +BY + + + +EDWARD WASHBURN HOPKINS + +Ph.D. (LEIPSIC) + +PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT AND COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY IN BRYN MAWR COLLEGE + + + + + + + _"This holy mystery I declare unto you: + There is nothing nobler than humanity."_ + + THE MAH[=A]BH[=A]RATA. + + + + + +LONDON + +EDWARD ARNOLD + +37 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND + +PUBLISHER TO THE INDIA OFFICE + +1896 + + +_(All rights reserved)_ + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY + +EDWARD WASHBURN HOPKINS + + + + + + + + +TO THE MEMORY OF + +WILLIAM DWIGHT WHITNEY + +THIS VOLUME + +IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED + +BY THE AUTHOR + + + + + + + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE + +BY THE EDITOR. + + +The growing interest both in this country and abroad in the historical +study of religions is one of the noticeable features in the +intellectual phases of the past decades. The more general indications +of this interest may be seen in such foundations as the Hibbert and +Gifford Lectureships in England, and the recent organization of an +American committee to arrange in various cities for lectures on the +history of religions, in the establishment of a special department for +the subject at the University of Paris, in the organization of the +Musée Guimet at Paris, in the publication of a journal--the _Revue de +l'Histoire des Religions_--under the auspices of this Museum, and in +the creation of chairs at the Collège de France, at the Universities +of Holland, and in this country at Cornell University and the +University of Chicago,[1] with the prospect of others to follow in the +near future. For the more special indications we must turn to the +splendid labors of a large array of scholars toiling in the various +departments of ancient culture--India, Babylonia, Assyria, Egypt, +Palestine, Arabia, Phoenicia, China, Greece, and Rome--with the result +of securing a firm basis for the study of the religions flourishing in +those countries--a result due mainly to the discovery of fresh sources +and to the increase of the latter brought about by exploration and +incessant research. The detailed study of the facts of religion +everywhere, both in primitive society and in advancing civilization, +and the emphasis laid upon gathering and understanding these facts +prior to making one's deductions, has succeeded in setting aside the +speculations and generalizations that until the beginning of this +century paraded under the name of "Philosophy of Religion." + +Such has been the scholarly activity displayed and the fertility +resulting, that it seems both desirable and timely to focus, as it +were, the array of facts connected with the religions of the ancient +world in such a manner that the summary resulting may serve as the +point of departure for further investigations. + +This has been the leading thought which has suggested the series of +Handbooks on the History of Religions. The treatment of the religions +included in the series differs from previous attempts in the aim to +bring together the ascertained results of scholarship rather than to +make an additional contribution, though the character of the scholars +whose coöperation has beep secured justifies the hope that their +productions will also mark an advance in the interpretation of the +subject assigned to each. In accord with this general aim, mere +discussion has been limited to a minimum, while the chief stress has +been laid upon the clear and full presentation of the data connected +with each religion. + +A uniform plan has been drawn up by the editor for the order of +treatment in the various volumes, by following which it is hoped that +the continuous character of the series will be secured. + +In this plan the needs of the general reader, as well as those of the +student, for whom, in the first place, the series is designed, have +been kept in view. After the introduction, which in the case of each +volume is to be devoted to a setting forth of the sources and the +method of study, a chapter follows on the land and the people, +presenting those ethnographical and geographical considerations, +together with a brief historical sketch of the people in question, so +essential to an understanding of intellectual and religious life +everywhere. + +In the third section, which may be denominated the kernel of the book, +the subdivisions and order of presentation necessarily vary, the +division into periods being best adapted to one religion, the +geographical order for another, the grouping of themes in a logical +sequence for a third; but in every case, the range covered will be the +same, namely, the beliefs, including the pantheon, the relation to the +gods, views of life and death, the rites--both the official ones and +the popular customs--the religious literature and architecture. A +fourth section will furnish a general estimate of the religion, its +history, and the relation it bears to others. Each volume will +conclude with a full bibliography, index, and necessary maps, with +illustrations introduced into the text as called for. The Editor has +been fortunate in securing the services of distinguished specialists +whose past labors and thorough understanding of the plan and purpose +of the series furnish a guarantee for the successful execution of +their task. + +It is the hope of the Editor to produce in this way a series of +manuals that may serve as text-books for the historical study of +religions in our universities and seminaries. In addition to supplying +this want, the arrangement of the manuals will, it is expected, meet +the requirements of reliable reference-books for ascertaining the +present status of our knowledge of the religions of antiquity, while +the popular manner of presentation, which it will be the aim of the +writers to carry out, justifies the hope that the general reader will +find the volumes no less attractive and interesting. + + UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: In an article by the writer published in the + _Biblical World_ (University of Chicago Press) for January, + 1893, there will be found an account of the present status + of the Historical Study of Religions in this country.] + + * * * * * + + + + + +CHAPTER I.--INTRODUCTION. + + +SOURCES.--DATES.--METHODS OF INTERPRETATION.--DIVISIONS OF SUBJECT. + + +SOURCES. + + +India always has been a land of religions. In the earliest Vedic +literature are found not only hymns in praise of the accepted gods, +but also doubts in regard to the worth of these gods; the beginnings +of a new religion incorporated into the earliest records of the old. +And later, when, about 300 B.C, Megasthenes was in India, the +descendants of those first theosophists are still discussing, albeit +in more modern fashion, the questions that lie at the root of all +religion. "Of the philosophers, those that are most estimable he terms +Brahmans ([Greek: _brachmanas_]). These discuss with many words +concerning death. For they regard death as being, for the wise, a +birth into real life--into the happy life. And in many things they +hold the same opinions with the Greeks: saying that the universe was +begotten and will be destroyed, and that the world is a sphere, which +the god who made and owns it pervades throughout; that there are +different beginnings of all things, but water is the beginning of +world-making, while, in addition to the four elements, there is, as +fifth, a kind of nature, whence came the sky and the stars.... And +concerning the seed of things and the soul they have much to say also, +whereby they weave in myths, just as does Plato, in regard to the +soul's immortality, judgment in hell, and such things."[1] + +And as India conspicuously is a country of creeds, so is its +literature preëminently priestly and religious. From the first Veda to +the last Pur[=a]na, religion forms either the subject-matter of the +most important works, or, as in the case of the epics,[2] the basis of +didactic excursions and sectarian interpolations, which impart to +worldly themes a tone peculiarly theological. History and oratory are +unknown in Indian literature. The early poetry consists of hymns and +religious poems; the early prose, of liturgies, linguistics, "law," +theology, sacred legends and other works, all of which are intended to +supplement the knowledge of the Veda, to explain ceremonies, or to +inculcate religious principles. At a later date, formal grammar and +systems of philosophy, fables and commentaries are added to the prose; +epics, secular lyric, drama, the Pur[=a]nas and such writings to the +poetry. But in all this great mass, till that time which Müller has +called the Renaissance--that is to say, till after the Hindus were +come into close contact with foreign nations, notably the Greek, from +which has been borrowed, perhaps, the classical Hindu drama,[3]--there +is no real literature that was not religious originally, or, at least, +so apt for priestly use as to become chiefly moral and theosophic; +while the most popular works of modern times are sectarian tracts, +Pur[=]nas, Tantras and remodelled worldly poetry. The sources, then, +from which is to be drawn the knowledge of Hindu religions are the +best possible--the original texts. The information furnished by +foreigners, from the times of Ktesias and Megasthenes to that of +Mandelslo, is considerable; but one is warranted in assuming that what +little in it is novel is inaccurate, since otherwise the information +would have been furnished by the Hindus themselves; and that, +conversely, an outsider's statements, although presumably correct, +often may give an inexact impression through lack of completeness; as +when--to take an example that one can control--Ktesias tells half the +truth in regard to ordeals. His account is true, but he gives no +notion of the number or elaborate character of these interesting +ceremonies. + +The sources to which we shall have occasion to refer will be, then, +the two most important collections of Vedic hymns--the Rig Veda and +the Atharva Veda; the Brahmanic literature, with the supplementary +Upanishads, and the S[=u]tras or mnemonic abridgments of religious and +ceremonial rules; the legal texts, and the religious and theological +portions of the epic; and the later sectarian writings, called +Pur[=a]nas. The great heresies, again, have their own special +writings. Thus far we shall draw on the native literature. Only for +some of the modern sects, and for the religions of the wild tribes +which have no literature, shall we have to depend on the accounts of +European writers. + + +DATES. + +For none of the native religious works has one a certain date. Nor is +there for any one of the earlier compositions the certainty that it +belongs, as a whole, to any one time. The Rig Veda was composed by +successive generations; the Atharvan represents different ages; each +Br[=a]hmana appears to belong in part to one era, in part to another; +the earliest S[=u]tras (manuals of law, etc.) have been interpolated; +the earliest metrical code is a composite; the great epic is the work +of centuries; and not only do the Upanishads and Pur[=a]nas represent +collectively many different periods, but exactly to which period each +individually is to be assigned remains always doubtful. Only in the +case of the Buddhistic writings is there a satisfactorily approximate +terminus a quo, and even here approximate means merely within the +limit of centuries. + +Nevertheless, criteria fortunately are not lacking to enable one to +assign the general bulk of any one work to a certain period in the +literary development; and as these periods are, if not sharply, yet +plainly distinguishable, one is not in so desperate a case as he might +have expected to be, considering that it is impossible to date with +certainty any Hindu book or writer before the Christian era. For, +first, there exists a difference in language, demarcating the most +important periods; and, secondly, the development of the literature +has been upon such lines that it is easy to say, from content and +method of treatment, whether a given class of writings is a product of +the Vedic, early Brahmanic, or late Brahmanic epochs. Usually, indeed, +one is unable to tell whether a later Upanishad was made first in the +early or late Brahmanic period, but it is known that the Upanishads, +as a whole, _i.e._, the literary form and philosophical material which +characterize Upanishads, were earlier than the latest Brahmanic period +and subsequent to the early Brahmanic period; that they arose at the +close of the latter and before the rise of the former. So the +Br[=a]hmanas, as a whole, are subsequent to the Vedic age, although +some of the Vedic hymns appear to have been made up in the same period +with that of the early Br[=a]hmanas. Again, the Pur[=a]nas can be +placed with safety after the late Brahmanic age; and, consequently, +subsequent to the Upanishads, although it is probable that many +Upanishads were written after the first Pur[=a]nas. The general +compass of this enormous literature is from an indefinite antiquity to +about 1500 A.D. A liberal margin of possible error must be allowed in +the assumption of any specific dates. The received opinion is that +the Rig Veda goes back to about 2000 B.C., yet are some scholars +inclined rather to accept 3000 B.C. as the time that represents this +era. Weber, in his _Lectures on Sanskrit Literature_ (p. 7), rightly +says that to seek for an exact date is fruitless labor; while Whitney +compares Hindu dates to ninepins--set up only to be bowled down again. +Schroeder, in his _Indiens Literatur und Cultur_, suggests that the +prior limit may be "a few centuries earlier than 1500," agreeing with +Weber's preferred reckoning; but Whitney, Grassmann, and Benfey +provisionally assume 2000 B.C. as the starting point of Hindu +literature. The lowest possible limit for this event Müller now places +at about 1500, which is recognized as a very cautious view; most +scholars thinking that Müller's estimate gives too little time for the +development of the literary periods, which, in their opinion, require, +linguistically and otherwise, a greater number of years. Brunnhofer +more recently has suggested 2800 B.C. as the terminus; while the last +writers on the subject (Tilak and Jacobi) claim to have discovered +that the period from 3500 to 2500 represents the Vedic age. Their +conclusions, however, are not very convincing, and have been disputed +vigorously.[4] Without the hope of persuading such scholars as are +wedded to a terminus of three or four thousand years ago that we are +right, we add, in all deference to others, our own opinion on this +vexed question. Buddhism gives the first semblance of a date in Hindu +literature. Buddha lived in the sixth century, and died probably about +480, possibly (Westergaard's extreme opinion) as late as 368.[5] +Before this time arise the S[=u]tras, back of which lie the earliest +Upanishads, the bulk of the Br[=a]hmanas, and all the Vedic poems. Now +it is probable that the Brahmanic literature itself extends to the +time of Buddha and perhaps beyond it. For the rest of pre-Buddhistic +literature it seems to us incredible that it is necessary to require, +either from the point of view of linguistic or of social and religious +development, the enormous period of two thousand years. There are no +other grounds on which to base a reckoning except those of Jacobi and +his Hindu rival, who build on Vedic data results that hardly support +the superstructure they have erected. Jacobi's starting-point is from +a mock-serious hymn, which appears to be late and does not establish, +to whatever date it be assigned, the point of departure from which +proceeds his whole argument, as Whitney has shown very well. One is +driven back to the needs of a literature in respect of time sufficient +for it to mature. What changes take place in language, even with a +written literature, in the space of a few centuries, may be seen in +Persian, Greek, Latin, and German. No two thousand years are required +to bridge the linguistic extremes of the Vedic and classical Sanskrit +language.[6] But in content it will be seen that the flower of the +later literature is budding already in the Vedic age. We are unable to +admit that either in language or social development, or in literary or +religious growth, more than a few centuries are necessary to account +for the whole development of Hindu literature (meaning thereby +compositions, whether written or not) up to the time of Buddha. +Moreover, if one compare the period at which arise the earliest forms +of literature among other Aryan peoples, it will seem very strange +that, whereas in the case of the Romans, Greeks, and Persians, one +thousand years B.C. is the extreme limit of such literary activity as +has produced durable works, the Hindus two or three thousand years +B.C. were creating poetry so finished, so refined, and, from a +metaphysical point of view, so advanced as is that of the Rig Veda. +If, as is generally assumed, the (prospective) Hindus and Persians +were last to leave the common Aryan habitat, and came together to the +south-east, the difficulty is increased; especially in the light of +modern opinion in regard to the fictitious antiquity of Persian +(Iranian) literature. For if Darmesteter be correct in holding the +time of the latter to be at most a century before our era, the +incongruity between that oldest date of Persian literature and the +"two or three thousand years before Christ," which are claimed in the +case of the Rig Veda, becomes so great as to make the latter +assumption more dubious than ever. + +We think in a word, without wishing to be dogmatic, that the date of +the Rig Veda is about on a par, historically, with that of 'Homer,' +that is to say, the Collection[7] represents a long period, which was +completed perhaps two hundred years after 1000 B.C, while again its +earliest beginnings precede that date possibly by five centuries; but +we would assign the bulk of the Rig Veda to about 1000 B.C. With +conscious imitation of older speech a good deal of archaic linguistic +effect doubtless was produced by the latest poets, who really belong +to the Brahmanic age. The Brahmanic age in turn ends, as we opine, +about 500 B.C., overlapping the S[=u]tra period as well as that of the +first Upanishads. The former class of writings (after 500 B.C. one may +talk of writings) is represented by dates that reach from circa +600-500 B.C. nearly to our era. Buddhism's _floruit_ is from 500 B.C. +to 500 A.D., and epic Hinduism covers nearly the same centuries. From +500 to 1000 Buddhism is in a state of decadence; and through this time +extend the dramatic and older Puranic writings; while other Pur[=a]nas +are as late as 1500, at which time arises the great modern reforming +sect of the Sikhs. In the matter of the earlier termini a century may +be added or subtracted here and there, but these convenient divisions +of five hundreds will be found on the whole to be sufficiently +accurate.[8] + + +METHODS OF INTERPRETATION. + +At the outset of his undertaking a double problem presents itself to +one that would give, even in compact form, a view of Hindu religions. +This problem consists in explaining, and, in so far as is possible, +reconciling opposed opinions in regard not only to the nature of these +religions but also to the method of interpreting the Vedic hymns. + +That the Vedic religion was naturalistic and mytho-poetic is doubted +by few. The Vedic hymns laud the powers of nature and natural +phenomena as personified gods, or even as impersonal phenomena. They +praise also as distinct powers the departed fathers. In the Rig Veda +I. 168, occur some verses in honor of the storm-gods called Maruts: +"Self-yoked are they come lightly from the sky. The immortals urge +themselves on with the goad. Dustless, born of power, with shining +spears the Maruts overthrow the strongholds. Who is it, O Maruts, ye +that have lightning-spears, that impels you within? ... The streams +roar from the tires, when they send out their cloud-voices," etc. +Nothing would seem more justifiable, in view of this hymn and of many +like it, than to assume with Müller and other Indologians, that the +Marut-gods are personifications of natural phenomena. As clearly do +Indra and the Dawn appear to be natural phenomena. But no less an +authority than Herbert Spencer has attacked this view: "Facts imply +that the conception of the dawn as a person results from the giving of +dawn as a birth-name."[9] And again: "If, then, Dawn [in New Zealand +and elsewhere] is an actual name for a person, if where there prevails +this mode of distinguishing children, it has probably often been given +to those born early in the morning; the traditions concerning one of +such who became noted, would, in the mind of the uncritical savage ... +lead to identification with the dawn."[10] In another passage: "The +primitive god is the superior man ... propitiated during his life and +still more after his death."[11] Summing up, Spencer thus concludes: +"Instead of seeing in the common character of so-called myths, that +they describe combats of beings using weapons, evidence that they +arose out of human transactions; mythologists assume that the order of +Nature presents itself to the undeveloped mind in terms of victories +and defeats."[12] Moreover (_a posteriori_), "It is not true that the +primitive man looks at the powers of Nature with awe. It is not true +that he speculates about their characters and causes."[13] If Spencer +had not included in his criticism the mythologists that have written +on Vedic religion, there would be no occasion to take his opinion into +consideration. But since he claims by the light of his comparative +studies to have shown that in the Rig Veda the "so-called nature +gods,"[14] were not the oldest, and explains Dawn here exactly as he +does in New Zealand, it becomes necessary to point out, that apart +from the question of the origin of religions in general, Spencer has +made a fatal error in assuming that he is dealing in the Rig Veda with +primitive religion, uncritical savages, and undeveloped minds. And +furthermore, as the poet of the Rig Veda is not primitive, or savage, +or undeveloped, so when he worships _Dyaus pitar_ [Greek: Zeùs patáer] +as the 'sky-father,' he not only makes it evident to every reader that +he really is worshipping the visible sky above; but in his +descriptions of gods such as Indra, the Dawn, and some other new gods +he invents from time to time, long after he has passed the savage, +primitive, and undeveloped state, he makes it no less clear that he +worships phenomena as they stand before him (rain, cloud, lightning, +etc.), so that by analogy with what is apparent in the case of later +divinities, one is led inevitably to predicate the same origin as +theirs in the case of the older gods. + +But it is unnecessary to spend time on this point. It is impossible +for any sober scholar to read the Rig Veda and believe that the Vedic +poets are not worshipping natural phenomena; or that the phenomena so +worshipped were not the original forms of these gods. Whether at a +more remote time there was ever a period when the pre-historic Hindu, +or his pre-Indic ancestor, worshipped the Manes exclusively is another +question, and one with which at present we have nothing to do. The +history of Hindu religions begins with the Rig Veda, and in this +period the worship of Manes and that of natural phenomena were +distinct, nor are there any indications that the latter was ever +developed from the former. It is not denied that the Hindus made gods +of departed men. They did this long after the Vedic period. But there +is no proof that all the Vedic gods, as claims Spencer, were the +worshipped souls of the dead. No _argumentum a fero_ can show in a +Vedic dawn-hymn anything other than a hymn to personified Dawn, or +make it probable that this dawn was ever a mortal's name. + +In respect of that which precedes all tradition we, whose task is not +to speculate in regard to primitive religious conceptions, but to give +the history of one people's religious progress, may be pardoned for +expressing no opinion. But without abandoning history (i.e., +tradition) we would revert for a moment to the pre-Indian period and +point out that Zarathustra's rejection of the _daevas_ which must be +the same _devas_ that are worshipped in India, proves that +_deva_-worship is the immediate predecessor of the Hindu religion. As +far back as one can scrutinize the Aryan past he finds, as the +earliest known objects of reverence, 'sun' and 'sky,' besides and +beside the blessed Manes. A word here regarding the priority of +monotheism or of polytheism. The tradition is in favor of the latter, +while on _a priori_ grounds whoever thinks that the more primitive the +race the more apt it is for monotheism will postulate, with some of +the older scholars, an assumed monotheism as the pre-historic religion +of the Hindus; while whosoever opines that man has gradually risen +from a less intellectual stage will see in the early gods of the +Hindus only another illustration of one universal fact, and posit even +Aryan polytheism as an advance on the religion which it is probable +that the remoter ancestors of the Aryans once acknowledged. + +A word perhaps should be said, also, in order to a better +understanding between the ethnologists as represented by Andrew Lang, +and the unfortunate philologists whom it delights him to pommel. +Lang's clever attacks on the myth-makers, whom he persistently +describes as the philologists--and they do indeed form part of that +camp--have had the effect of bringing 'philological theories' into sad +disrepute with sciolists and 'common-sense' people. But the sun-myths +and dawn-myths that the myth-makers discover in Cinderella and Red +Riding Hood, ought not to be fathered upon all philologists. On the +other hand, who will deny that in India certain mythological figures +are eoian or solar in origin? Can any one question that Vivasvant the +'wide gleaming' is sun or bright sky, as he is represented in the +Avesta and Rig Veda? Yet is a very anthropomorphic, nay, earthly +figure, made out of this god. Or is Mr. Lang ignorant that the god +Yima became Jemshid, and that Feridun is only the god Trita? It +undoubtedly is correct to illuminate the past with other light than +that of sun or dawn, yet that these lights have shone and have been +quenched in certain personalities may be granted without doing +violence to scientific principles. All purely etymological mythology +is precarious, but one may recognize sun-myths without building a +system on the basis of a Dawn-Helen, and without referring Ilium to +the Vedic _bila_. Again, myths about gods, heroes, and fairies are to +be segregated. Even in India, which teems with it, there is little, if +any, folklore that can be traced to solar or dawn-born myths. Mr. Lang +represents a healthy reaction against too much sun-myth, but we think +that there are sun-myths still, and that despite his protests all +religion is not grown from one seed. + +There remains the consideration of the second part of the double +problem which was formulated above--the method of interpretation. The +native method is to believe the scholiasts' explanations, which often +are fanciful and, in all important points, totally unreliable; since +the Hindu commentators lived so long after the period of the +literature they expound that the tradition they follow is useful only +in petty details. From a modern point of view the question of +interpretation depends mainly on whether one regard the Rig Veda as +but an Indic growth, the product of the Hindu mind alone, or as a work +that still retains from an older age ideas which, having once been +common to Hindu and Iranian, should be compared with those in the +Persian Avesta and be illustrated by them. Again, if this latter +hypothesis be correct, how is one to interpret an apparent likeness, +here and there, between Indic and foreign notions,--is it possible +that the hymns were composed, in part, before the advent of the +authors into India, and is it for this reason that in the Rig Veda are +contained certain names, ideas, and legends, which do not seem to be +native to India? On the other hand, if one adopt the theory that the +Rig Veda is wholly a native work, in how far is he to suppose that it +is separable from Brahmanic formalism? Were the hymns made +independently of any ritual, as their own excuse for being, or were +they composed expressly for the sacrifice, as part of a formal cult? + +Here are views diverse enough, but each has its advocate or advocates. +According to the earlier European writers the Vedic poets are +fountains of primitive thought, streams unsullied by any tributaries, +and in reading them one quaffs a fresh draught, the gush of +unsophisticated herdsmen, in whose religion there is to be seen a +childlike belief in natural phenomena as divine forces, over which +forces stands the Heaven-god as the highest power. So in 1869 +Pfleiderer speaks of the "primeval childlike naïve prayer" of Rig Veda +vi. 51. 5 ("Father sky, mother earth," etc.);[15] while Pictet, in his +work _Les Origines Indo-Européennes_, maintains that the Aryans had a +primitive monotheism, although it was vague and rudimentary; for he +regards both Iranian dualism and Hindu polytheism as being +developments of one earlier monism (claiming that Iranian dualism is +really monotheistic). Pictet's argument is that the human mind must +have advanced from the simple to the complex! Even Roth believes in an +originally "supreme deity" of the Aryans.[16] Opposed to this, the +'naïve' school of such older scholars as Roth, Müller,[17] and +Grassmann, who see in the Rig Veda an ingenuous expression of +'primitive' ideas, stand the theories of Bergaigne, who interprets +everything allegorically; and of Pischel and Geldner, realists, whose +general opinions may thus be formulated: The poets of the Rig Veda are +not childlike and naïve; they represent a comparatively late period of +culture, a society not only civilized, but even sophisticated; a mode +of thought philosophical and sceptical a religion not only ceremonious +but absolutely stereotyped. In regard to the Aryanhood of the hymns, +the stand taken by these latter critics, who renounce even Bergaigne's +slight hold on mythology, is that the Rig Veda is thoroughly Indic. It +is to be explained by the light of the formal Hindu ritualism, and +even by epic worldliness, its fresh factors being lewd gods, harlots, +and race-horses. Bloomfield, who does not go so far as this, claims +that the 'Vedic' age really is a Brahmanic age; that Vedic religion is +saturated with Brahmanic ideas and Brahmanic formalism, so that the +Rig Veda ought to be looked upon as made for the ritual, not the +ritual regarded as ancillary to the Rig Veda[18]. This scholar +maintains that there is scarcely any chronological distinction between +the hymns of the Rig Veda and the Br[=a]hmana, both forms having +probably existed together "from earliest times"; and that not a single +Vedic hymn "was ever composed without reference to ritual +application"; nay, all the hymns were "liturgical from the very +start"[19]. This is a plain advance even on Bergaigne's opinion, who +finally regarded all the family-books of the Rig Veda as composed to +subserve the _soma_-cult.[20] + +In the Rig Veda occur hymns of an entirely worldly character, the +lament of a gambler, a humorous description of frogs croaking like +priests, a funny picture of contemporary morals [describing how every +one lusts after wealth], and so forth. From these alone it becomes +evident that the ritualistic view must be regarded as one somewhat +exaggerated. But if the liturgical extremist appears to have stepped a +little beyond the boundary of probability, he yet in daring remains +far behind Bergaigne's disciple Regnaud, who has a mystical 'system,' +which is, indeed, the outcome of Bergaigne's great work, though it is +very improbable that the latter would have looked with favor upon his +follower's results. In _Le Rig Veda_ [Paris, 1892] Paul Regnaud, +emphasizing again the connection between the liturgy and the hymns, +refers every word of the Rig Veda to the sacrifice in its simplest +form, the oblation. According to this author the Hindus had forgotten +the meaning of their commonest words, or consistently employed them in +their hymns in a meaning different to that in ordinary use. The very +word for god, _deva_ [deus], no longer means the 'shining one' [the +god], but the 'burning oblation'; the common word for mountain, +_giri_ also means oblation, and so on. This is Bergaigne's allegorical +mysticism run mad. + +At such perversion of reasonable criticism is the exegesis of the Veda +arrived in one direction. But in another it is gone astray no less, as +misdirected by its clever German leader. In three volumes[21] +Brunnhofer has endeavored to prove that far from being a Brahmanic +product, the Rig Veda is not even the work of Hindus; that it was +composed near the Caspian Sea long before the Aryans descended into +India. Brunnhofer's books are a mine of ingenious conjectures, as +suggestive in detail as on the whole they are unconvincing. His +fundamental error is the fancy that names and ideas which might be +Iranian or Turanian would prove, if such they really could be shown to +be, that the work in which they are contained must be Iranian or +Turanian. He relies in great measure on passages that always have been +thought to be late, either whole late hymns or tags added to old +hymns, and on the most daring changes in the text, changes which he +makes in order to prove his hypothesis, although there is no necessity +for making them. The truth that underlies Brunnhofer's extravagance is +that there are foreign names in the Rig Veda, and this is all that he +has proved thus far. + +In regard to the relation between the Veda and the Avesta the +difference of views is too individual to have formed systems of +interpretation on that basis alone. Every competent scholar recognizes +a close affinity between the Iranian Yima and the Hindu Yama, between +the _soma_-cult and the _haoma_-cult, but in how far the thoughts and +forms that have clustered about one development are to be compared +with those of the other there is no general agreement and there can be +none. The usual practice, however, is to call the Iranian _Yima, +haoma_, etc., to one's aid if they subserve one's own view of _Yama, +soma,_ and other Hindu parallels, and to discard analogous features as +an independent growth if they do not. This procedure is based as well +on the conditions of the problem as on the conditions of human +judgment, and must not be criticized too severely; for in fact the two +religions here and there touch each other so nearly that to deny a +relation between them is impossible, while in detail they diverge so +widely that it is always questionable whether a coincidence of ritual +or belief be accidental or imply historical connection. + +It is scarcely advisable in a concise review of several religions to +enter upon detailed criticism of the methods of interpretation that +affect for the most part only the earliest of them. But on one point, +the reciprocal relations between the Vedic and Brahmanic periods, it +is necessary to say a few words. Why is it that well-informed Vedic +scholars differ so widely in regard to the ritualistic share in the +making of the Veda? Because the extremists on either side in +formulating the principles of their system forget a fact that probably +no one of them if questioned would fail to acknowledge. The Rig Veda +is not a homogeneous whole. It is a work which successive generations +have produced, and in which are represented different views, of local +or sectarian origin; while the hymns from a literary point of view are +of varying value. The latter is a fact which has been ignored +frequently, but it is more important than any other. For one has +almost no criteria, with which to discover whether the hymns precede +or follow the ritual, other than the linguistic posteriority of the +ritualistic literature, and the knowledge that there were priests with +a ritual when some of the hymns were composed. The bare fact that +hymns are found rubricated in the later literature is surely no reason +for believing that such hymns were made for the ritual. Now while it +can be shown that a large number of hymns are formal, conventional, +and mechanical in expression, and while it may be argued with +plausibility that these were composed to serve the purpose of an +established cult, this is very far from being the case with many +which, on other grounds, may be supposed to belong severally to the +older and later part of the Rig Veda. Yet does the new school, in +estimating the hymns, never admit this. The poems always are spoken of +as 'sacerdotal', ritualistic, without the slightest attempt to see +whether this be true of all or of some alone. We claim that it is not +historical, it is not judicious from a literary point of view, to +fling indiscriminately together the hymns that are evidently +ritualistic and those of other value; for, finally, it is a sober +literary judgment that is the court of appeals in regard to whether +poetry be poetry or not. Now let one take a hymn containing, to make +it an unexceptionable example, nothing very profound or very +beautiful. It is this well-known + + HYMN TO THE SUN (_Rig Veda_, I. 50). + + Aloft this all-wise[22] shining god + His beams of light are bearing now, + That every one the sun may see. + + Apart, as were they thieves, yon stars, + Together with the night[23], withdraw + Before the sun, who seeth all. + + His beams of light have been beheld + Afar, among [all] creatures; rays + Splendid as were they [blazing] fires, + + Impetuous-swift, beheld of all, + Of light the maker, thou, O Sun, + Thou all the gleaming [sky] illum'st. + + Before the folk of shining gods + Thou risest up, and men before, + 'Fore all--to be as light beheld; + + [To be] thine eye, O pure bright Heaven, + Wherewith amid [all] creatures born + Thou gazest down on busy [man]. + + Thou goest across the sky's broad place, + Meting with rays, O Sun, the days, + And watching generations pass. + + The steeds are seven that at thy car + Bear up the god whose hair is flame + O shining god, O Sun far-seen! + + Yoked hath he now his seven fair steeds, + The daughters of the sun-god's car, + Yoked but by him[24]; with these he comes. + +For some thousands of years these verses have been the daily prayer of +the Hindu. They have been incorporated into the ritual in this form. +They are rubricated, and the nine stanzas form part of a prescribed +service. But, surely, it were a literary hysteron-proteron to conclude +for this reason that they were made only to fill a part in an +established ceremony. + +The praise is neither perfunctory nor lacking in a really religious +tone. It has a directness and a simplicity, without affectation, which +would incline one to believe that it was not made mechanically, but +composed with a devotional spirit that gave voice to genuine feeling. + +We will now translate another poem (carefully preserving all the +tautological phraseology), a hymn + + To DAWN _(Rig Veda_ VI. 64). + + Aloft the lights of Dawn, for beauty gleaming, + Have risen resplendent, like to waves of water; + She makes fair paths, (makes) all accessible; + And good is she, munificent and kindly. + + Thou lovely lookest, through wide spaces shin'st thou, + Up fly thy fiery shining beams to heaven; + Thy bosom thou reveals't, thyself adorning, + Aurora, goddess gleaming bright in greatness. + + The ruddy kine (the clouds) resplendent bear her, + The blessed One, who far and wide extendeth. + As routs his foes a hero armed with arrows, + As driver swift, so she compels the darkness. + + Thy ways are fair; thy paths, upon the mountains; + In calm, self-shining one, thou cross'st the waters. + O thou whose paths are wide, to us, thou lofty + Daughter of Heaven, bring wealth for our subsistence. + + Bring (wealth), thou Dawn, who, with the kine, untroubled + Dost bring us good commensurate with pleasure, + Daughter of Heaven, who, though thou art a goddess, + Didst aye at morning-call come bright and early. + + Aloft the birds fly ever from their dwelling, + And men, who seek for food, at thy clear dawning. + E'en though a mortal stay at home and serve thee, + Much joy to him, Dawn, goddess (bright), thou bringest. + +The "morning call" might, indeed, suggest the ritual, but it proves +only a morning prayer or offering. Is this poem of a "singularly +refined character," or "preëminently sacerdotal" in appearance? One +other example (in still a different metre) may be examined, to see if +it bear on its face evidence of having been made with "reference to +ritual application," or of being "liturgical from the very start." + + To INDRA _(Rig Veda_, I.11). + + 'Tis Indra all (our) songs extol, + Him huge as ocean in extent; + Of warriors chiefest warrior he, + Lord, truest lord for booty's gain. + + In friendship, Indra, strong as thine + Naught will we fear, O lord of strength; + To thee we our laudations sing, + The conqueror unconquered.[25] + + The gifts of Indra many are, + And inexhaustible his help + Whene'er to them that praise he gives + The gift of booty rich in kine. + + A fortress-render, youthful, wise, + Immeasurably strong was born + Indra, the doer of every deed, + The lightning-holder, far renowned. + + 'Twas thou, Bolt-holder, rent'st the cave + Of Val, who held the (heavenly) kine;[26] + Thee helped the (shining) gods, when roused + (To courage) by the fearless one.[27] + + Indra, who lords it by his strength, + Our praises now have loud proclaimed; + His generous gifts a thousand are, + Aye, even more than this are they. + +This is poetry. Not great poetry perhaps, but certainly not ground out +to order, as some of the hymns appear to have been. Yet, it may be +said, why could not a poetic hymn have been written in a ritualistic +environment? But it is on the hymns themselves that one is forced to +depend for the belief in the existence of ritualism, and we claim that +such hymns as these, which we have translated as literally as +possible, show rather that they were composed without reference to +ritual application. It must not be forgotten that the ritual, as it is +known in the Br[=a]hmanas, without the slightest doubt, from the point +of view of language, social conditions, and theology, represents an +age that is very different to that illustrated by the mass of the +hymns. Such hymns, therefore, and only such as can be proved to have a +ritualistic setting can be referred to a ritualistic age. There is no +convincing reason why one should not take the fully justified view +that some of the hymns represent a freer and more natural (less +priest-bound) age, as they represent a spirit freer and less +mechanical than that of other hymns. As to the question which hymns, +early or late, be due to poetic feeling, and which to ritualistic +mechanism or servile imitation, this can indeed be decided by a +judgment based only on the literary quality, never on the accident of +subsequent rubrication. + +We hold, therefore, in this regard, that the new school, valuable and +suggestive as its work has been, is gone already farther than is +judicious. The Rig Veda in part is synchronous with an advanced +ritualism, subjected to it, and in some cases derived from it; but in +part the hymns are "made for their own sake and not for the sake of +any sacrificial performance," as said Muller of the whole; going in +this too far, but not into greater error than are gone they that +confuse the natural with the artificial, the poetical with the +mechanical, gold with dross. It may be true that the books of the Rig +Veda are chiefly family-books for the _soma_-cult, but even were it +true it would in no wise impugn the poetic character of some of the +hymns contained in these books. The drag-net has scooped up old and +new, good and bad, together. The Rig Veda is not of one period or of +one sort. It is a 'Collection,' as says its name. It is essentially +impossible that any sweeping statement in regard to its character +should be true if that character be regarded as uniform. To say that +the Rig Veda represents an age of childlike thought, a period before +the priestly ritual began its spiritual blight, is incorrect. But no +less incorrect is it to assert that the Rig Veda represents a period +when hymns are made only for rubrication by priests that sing only for +baksheesh. Scholars are too prone to-day to speak of the Rig Veda in +the same way as the Greeks spoke of Homer. It is to be hoped that the +time may soon come when critics will no longer talk about the +Collection as if it were all made in the same circumstances and at the +same time; above all is it desirable that the literary quality of the +hymns may receive due attention, and that there may be less of those +universal asseverations which treat the productions of generations of +poets as if they were the work of a single author. + +In respect of the method of reading into the Rig Veda what is found in +parallel passages in the Atharva Veda and Br[=a]hmanas, a practice +much favored by Ludwig and others, the results of its application have +been singularly futile in passages of importance. Often a varied +reading will make clearer a doubtful verse, but it by no means follows +that the better reading is the truer. There always remains the lurking +suspicion that the reason the variant is more intelligible is that its +inventor did not understand the original. As to real elucidation of +other sort by the later texts, in the minutiae of the outer world, in +details of priestcraft, one may trust early tradition tentatively, +just as one does late commentators, but in respect of ideas tradition +is as apt to mislead as to lead well. The cleft between the theology +of the Rig Veda and that of the Br[=a]hmanas, even from the point of +view of the mass of hymns that comprise the former, is too great to +allow us with any content to explain the conceptions of the one by +those of the other. A tradition always is useful when nothing else +offers itself, but traditional beliefs are so apt to take the color of +new eras that they should be employed only in the last emergency, and +then with the understanding that they are of very hypothetical value. + +In conclusion a practical question remains to be answered. In the few +cases where the physical basis of a Rig Vedic deity is matter of +doubt, it is advisable to present such a deity in the form in which he +stands in the text or to endeavor historically to elucidate the figure +by searching for his physical prototype? We have chosen the former +alternative, partly because we think the latter method unsuitable to a +handbook, since it involves many critical discussions of theories of +doubtful value. But this is not the chief reason. Granted that the +object of study is simply to know the Rig Veda, rightly to grasp the +views held by the poets, and so to place oneself upon their plane of +thought, it becomes obvious that the farther the student gets from +their point of view the less he understands them. Nay, more, every bit +of information, real as well as fancied, which in regard to the poets' +own divinities furnishes one with more than the poets themselves knew +or imagined, is prejudicial to a true knowledge of Vedic beliefs. Here +if anywhere is applicable that test of desirable knowledge formulated +as _das Erkennen des Erkannten_. To set oneself in the mental sphere +of the Vedic seers, as far as possible to think their thoughts, to +love, fear, and admire with them--this is the necessary beginning of +intimacy, which precedes the appreciation that gives understanding. + + +DIVISIONS OF THE SUBJECT. + +After the next chapter, which deals with the people and land, we shall +begin the examination of Hindu religions with the study of the beliefs +and religious notions to be found in the Rig Veda. Next to the Rig +Veda in time stands the Atharva Veda, which represents a growing +demonology in contrast with _soma_-worship and theology; sufficiently +so at least to deserve a special chapter. These two Vedic Collections +naturally form the first period of Hindu religion. + +The Vedic period is followed by what is usually termed Brahmanism, the +religion that is inculcated in the rituals called Br[=a]hmana and its +later development in the Upanishads. These two classes of works, +together with the Yajur Veda, will make the next divisions of the +whole subject. The formal religion of Brahmanism, as laid down for +popular use and instruction in the law-books, is a side of Brahmanic +religion that scarcely has been noticed, but it seems to deserve all +the space allotted to it in the chapter on 'The Popular Brahmanic +Faith.' We shall then review Jainism and Buddhism, the two chief +heresies. Brahmanism penetrates the great epic poem which, however, in +its present form is sectarian in tendency, and should be separated as +a growth of Hinduism from the literature of pure Brahmanism. +Nevertheless, so intricate and perplexing would be the task of +unraveling the theologic threads that together make the yarn of the +epic, and in many cases it would be so doubtful whether any one thread +led to Brahmanism or to the wider and more catholic religion called +Hinduism, that we should have preferred to give up the latter name +altogether, as one that was for the most part idle, and in some degree +misleading. Feeling, however, that a mere manual should not take the +initiative in coining titles, we have admitted this unsatisfactory +word 'Hinduism' as the title of a chapter which undertakes to give a +comprehensive view of the religions endorsed by the many-centuried +epic, and to explain their mutual relations. As in the case of the +'Popular Faith,' we have had here no models to go upon, and the mass +of matter which it was necessary to handle--the great epic is about +eight times as long as the Iliad and Odyssey put together--must be our +excuse for many imperfections of treatment in this part of the work. +The reader will gain at least a view of the religious development as +it is exhibited in the literature, and therefore, as, far as possible, +in chronological order. The modern sects and the religions of the hill +tribes of India form almost a necessary supplement to these nobler +religions of the classical literature; the former because they are the +logical as well as historical continuation of the great Hindu +sectarian schisms, the latter because they give the solution of some +problems connected with Çivaism, and, on the other hand, offer useful +un-Aryan parallels to a few traits which have been preserved in the +earliest period of the Aryans.[28] + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Megasthenes, Fr. XLI, ed. Schwanbeck.] + + [Footnote 2: Epic literature springs from lower castes than + that of the priest, but it has been worked over by + sacerdotal revisers till there is more theology than epic + poetry in it.] + + [Footnote 3: See Weber, _Sanskrit Literature_, p. 224; + Windisch, _Greek Influence on Indian Drama_; and Lévi, _Le + théâtre indien_. The date of the Renaissance is given as + "from the first century B.C. to at least the third century + A.D." (_India_, p. 281). Extant Hindu drama dates only from + the fifth century A.D. We exclude, of course, from "real + literature" all technical hand-books and commentaries.] + + [Footnote 4: Jacobi, in Roth's _Festgruss_, pp. 72, 73 + (1893); Whitney, _Proceed. A.O.S._, 1894, p. lxxii; Perry, + _P[=u]shan,_ in the _Drisler Memorial_; Weber, _Vedische + Beiträge._] + + [Footnote 5: Westergaard, _Ueber Buddha's Todesjahr_. The + prevalent opinion is that Buddha died in 477 or 480 B.C.] + + [Footnote 6: It must not be forgotten in estimating the + _broad_ mass of Br[=a]hmanas and S[=u]tras that each as a + school represents almost the whole length of its period, and + hence one school alone should measure the time from end to + end, which reduces to very moderate dimensions the + literature to be accounted for in time.] + + [Footnote 7: _'Rig Veda Collection'_ is the native name for + that which in the Occident is called Rig Veda, the latter + term embracing, to the Hindu, all the works (Br[=a]hmanas, + S[=u]tras, etc.) that go to explain the 'Collection' (of + hymns).] + + [Footnote 8: Schroeder, _Indiens Literatur und Cultur,_ + p.291, gives: Rig-Veda, 2000-1000 B.C.; older Br[=a]hmanas, + 1000-800; later Br[=a]hmanas and Upanishads, 800-600; + S[=u]tras, 600-400 or 300.] + + [Footnote 9: _Principles of Sociology_, I. P.448 (Appleton, + 1882).] + + [Footnote 10: Ib. p. 398.] + + [Footnote 11: Ib. p. 427.] + + [Footnote 12: Ib. p. 824.] + + [Footnote 13: Ib.] + + [Footnote 14: Ib. p. 821.] + + [Footnote 15: Compare Muir, _Original Sanskrit Texts_, V. p. + 412 ff., where are given the opinions of Pfleiderer, Pictet, + Roth, Scherer, and others.] + + [Footnote 16: ZDMG., vi. 77: "Ein alter gemeinsam arischer + [indo-iranic], ja vielleicht gemeinsam indo-germanischer + oberster Gott, Varuna-Ormuzd-Uranos."] + + [Footnote 17: In his _Science of Language_, Müller speaks of + the early poets who "strove in their childish way to pierce + beyond the limits of this finite world." Approvingly cited, + SBE. xxxii. p. 243 (1891).] + + [Footnote 18: The over view may be seen in Müller's _Lecture + on the Vedas_ (Chips, I. p. 9): "A collection made for its + own sake, and not for the sake of any sacrificial + performance." For Pischel's view compare _Vedische Studien_, + I. Preface.] + + [Footnote 19: Bloomfield, JAOS xv. p. 144.] + + [Footnote 20: Compare Barth (Preface): "A literature + preeminently sacerdotal.... The poetry ... of a singularly + refined character, ... full of ... pretensions to + mysticism," etc.] + + [Footnote 21: _Iran und Turan_, 1889; _Vom Pontus bis zum + Indus_, 1890; _Vom Aral bis zur Gang[=a]_ 1892.] + + [Footnote 22: Or "all-possessing" [Whitney]. The metre of + the translation retains the number of feet in the original. + Four [later added] stanzas are here omitted.] + + [Footnote 23: So P.W. possibly "by reason of [the sun's] + rays"; _i.e._, the stars fear the sun as thieves fear light. + For 'Heaven,' here and below, see the third chapter.] + + [Footnote 24: Yoked only by him; literally "self-yoked." + Seven is used in the Rig Veda in the general sense of + "many," as in Shakespeare's "a vile thief this seven + years."] + + [Footnote 25: _jet[=a]ram [=a]par[=a]jitam_.] + + [Footnote 26: The rain, see next note.] + + [Footnote 27: After this stanza two interpolated stanzas are + here omitted. Grassman and Ludwig give the epithet + "fearless" to the gods and to Vala, respectively. But + compare I.6.7, where the same word is used of Indra. For the + oft-mentioned act of cleaving the cave, where the dragon Val + or Vritra (the restrainer or envelopper) had coralled the + kine(i.e. without metaphor, for the act of freeing the + clouds and letting loose the rain), compare I.32.2, where of + Indra it is said: "He slew the snake that lay upon the + mountains ... like bellowing kine the waters, swiftly + flowing, descended to the sea"; and verse 11: "Watched by + the snake the waters stood ... the waters' covered cave he + opened wide, what time he Vritra slew."] + + [Footnote 28: Aryan, Sanskrit _aryà, árya_, Avestan _airya_, + appears to mean the loyal or the good, and may be the + original national designation, just as the Medes were long + called [Greek: _Arioi_]. In late Sanskrit _[=a]rya_ is + simply 'noble.' The word survives, perhaps, in [Greek: + _aristos_], and is found in proper names, Persian + Ariobarzanes, Teutonic Ariovistus; as well as in the names + of people and countries, Vedic [=A]ryas, [=I]ran, Iranian; + (doubtful) Airem, Erin, Ireland. Compare Zimmer, BB. iii. p. + 137; Kaegi, _Der Rig Veda_, p. 144 (Arrowsmith's + translation, p. 109). In the Rig Veda there is a god + Aryaman, 'the true,' who forms with Mitra and Varuna a triad + (see below). Windisch questions the propriety of identifying + [=I]ran with Erin, and Schrader (p. 584^2) doubts whether + the Indo-Europeans as a body ever called themselves Aryans. + We employ the latter name because it is short.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +PEOPLE AND LAND. + + +The Aryan Hindus, whose religions we describe in this volume[1], +formed one of the Aryan or so-called Indo-European peoples. To the +other peoples of this stock, Persians, Armenians, Greeks, Italians, +Kelts, Teutons, Slavs, the Hindus were related closely by language, +but very remotely from the point of view of their primitive religion. +Into India the Aryans brought little that was retained in their +religious systems. A few waning gods, the worship of ancestors, and +some simple rites are common to them and their western relations; but +with the exception of the Iranians (Persians), their religious +connection with cis-Indic peoples is of the slightest. With the +Iranians, the Hindus (that were to be) appear to have lived longest in +common after the other members of the Aryan host were dispersed to +west and south[2]. They stand in closer religious touch with these, +their nearest neighbors, and in the time of the Rig Veda (the Hindus' +earliest literature) there are traces of a connection comparatively +recent between the pantheons of the two nations. + +According to their own, rather uncertain, testimony, the Aryans of the +Rig Veda appear to have consisted of five tribal groups[3]. These +groups, _janas_, Latin gens, are subdivided into _viças_, Latin vicus, +and these, again, into _gr[=a]mas_. The names, however, are not +employed with strictness, and _jana_, etymologically gens but +politically tribus, sometimes is used as a synonym of _gr[=a]ma_.[4] +Of the ten books of the Rig-Veda seven are ascribed to various +priestly families. In the main, these books are rituals of song as +inculcated for the same rites by different family priests and their +descendants. Besides these there are books which are ascribed to no +family, and consist, in part, of more general material. The +distinction of priestly family-books was one, possibly, coextensive +with political demarcation. Each of the family-books represents a +priestly family, but it may represent, also, a political family. In at +least one case it represents a political body.[5] + +These great political groups, which, perhaps, are represented by +family rituals, were essentially alike in language, custom and +religion (although minor ritualistic differences probably obtained, as +well as tribal preference for particular cults); while in all these +respects, as well as in color and other racial peculiarities, the +Aryans were distinguished from the dark-skinned aborigines, with whom, +until the end of the Rig Vedic period, they were perpetually at war. +At the close of this period the immigrant Aryans had reduced to +slavery many of their unbelieving and barbarian enemies, and formally +incorporated them into the state organization, where, as captives, +slaves, or sons of slaves, the latter formed the "fourth caste." But +while admitting these slaves into the body politic, the priestly +Aryans debarred them from the religious congregation. Between the +Aryans themselves there is in this period a loosely defined +distinction of classes, but no system of caste is known before the +close of the first Vedic Collection. Nevertheless, the emphasis in +this statement lies strongly upon system, and it may not be quite idle +to say at the outset that the general caste-distinctions not only are +as old as the Indo-Iranian unity (among the Persians the same division +of priest, warrior and husbandman obtains), but, in all probability, +they are much older. For so long as there is a cult, even if it be of +spirits and devils, there are priests; and if there are chieftains +there is a nobility, such as one finds among the Teutons, nay, even +among the American Indians, where also is known the inevitable +division into priests, chiefs and commons, sometimes hereditary, +sometimes not. There must have been, then, from the beginning of +kingship and religious service, a division among the Aryans into +royalty, priests, and people, i.e., whoever were not acting as priests +or chieftains. When the people becomes agricultural, the difference +tends to become permanent, and a caste system begins. Now, the Vedic +Aryans appear in history at just the period when they are on the move +southwards into India; but they are no irrupting host. The battles led +the warriors on, but the folk, as a folk, moved slowly, not all +abandoning the country which they had gained, but settling there, and +sending onwards only a part of the people. There was no fixed line of +demarcation between the classes. The king or another might act as his +own priest--yet were there priestly families. The cow-boys might +fight--yet were there those of the people that were especially +'kingsmen,' _r[=a]janyas_, and these were, already, practically a +class, if not a caste[6]. These natural and necessary social +divisions, which in early times were anything but rigid, soon formed +inviolable groups, and then the caste system was complete. In the +perfected legal scheme what was usage becomes duty. The warrior may +not be a public priest; the priest may not serve as warrior or +husbandman. The farmer 'people' were the result of eliminating first +the priestly, and then the fighting factors from the whole body +politic. But these castes were all Aryans, and as such distinguished +most sharply, from a religious point of view, from the "fourth caste"; +whereas among themselves they were, in religion, equals. But they were +practically divided by interests that strongly affected the +development of their original litanies. For both priest and warrior +looked down on the 'people,' but priest and warrior feared and +respected each other. To these the third estate was necessary as a +base of supplies, and together they guarded it from foes divine and +mortal. But to each other they were necessary for wealth and glory, +respectively. So it was that even in the earliest period the religious +litany, to a great extent, is the book of worship of a warrior-class +as prepared for it by the priest. Priest and king--these are the main +factors in the making of the hymns of the Rig Veda, and the gods +lauded are chiefly the gods patronized by these classes. The third +estate had its favorite gods, but these were little regarded, and were +in a state of decadence. The slaves, too, may have had their own gods, +but of these nothing is known, and one can only surmise that here and +there in certain traits, which seem to be un-Aryan, may lie an +unacknowledged loan from the aborigines. + +Between the Rig Veda and the formation or completion of the next Veda, +called the Atharvan, the interval appears to have been considerable, +and the inherent value of the religion inculcated in the latter can be +estimated aright only when this is weighed together with the fact, +that, as is learned from the Atharvan's own statements, the Aryans +were now advanced further southwards and eastwards, had discovered a +new land, made new gods, and were now more permanently established, +the last a factor of some moment in the religious development. +Indications of the difference in time may be seen in the geographical +and physical limitations of the older period as compared with those of +the later Atharvan. When first the Aryans are found in India, at the +time of the Rig Veda, they are located, for the most part, near the +Upper Indus (Sindhu). The Ganges, mentioned but twice, is barely +known. On the west the Aryans lingered in East Kabulistan (possibly in +Kashmeer in the north); and even Kandahar appears, at least, to be +known as Aryan. That is to say, the 'Hindus' were still in +Afghanistan, although the greater mass of the people had already +crossed the Indus and were progressed some distance to the east of the +Punj[=a]b. That the race was still migrating may be seen from the +hymns of the Rig Veda itself.[7] Their journey was to the south-east, +and both before and after they reached the Indus they left +settlements, chiefly about the Indus and in the Punj[=a]b (a +post-Vedic group), not in the southern but in the northern part of +this district.[8] + +The Vedic Aryans of this first period were acquainted with the Indus, +Sutlej (Çutudri), Beas (Vip[=a]ç, [Greek: Yphtsis]), Ravi (Parushni or +Ir[=a]vat[=i]); the pair of rivers that unite and flow into the Indus, +viz.: Jhelum (Vitast[=a], Behat), and Chin[=a]b (Asikni,[9] Akesines); +and knew the remoter Kubh[=a] ([Greek: Kôphhên], Kabul) and the +northern Suv[=a]stu (Swat); while they appear to have had a legendary +remembrance of the Ras[=a], Avestan Ra[.n]ha (Rangha), supposed by +some to be identical with the Araxes or Yaxartes, but probably (see +below) only a vague 'stream,' the old name travelling with them on +their wanderings; for one would err if he regarded similarity or even +identity of appellation as a proof of real identity.[10] West of the +Indus the Kurum and Gomal appear to be known also. Many rivers are +mentioned of which the names are given, but their location is not +established. It is from the district west of the Indus that the most +famous Sanskrit grammarian comes, and long after the Vedas an Indic +people are known in the Kandahar district, while Kashmeer was a late +home of culture. The Sarasvati river, the name of which is transferred +at least once in historical times, may have been originally one with +the Arghand[=a]b (on which is Kandahar), for the Persian name of this +river (_s_ becomes _h_) is Harahvati (Arachotos, Arachosia), and it is +possible that it was really this river, and not the Indus which was +first lauded as the Sarasvat[=i]. In that case there would be a +perfect parallel to what has probably happened in the case of the +Ras[=a], the name--in both cases meaning only 'the stream' (like +Rhine, Arno, etc.)--being transferred to a new river. But since the +Iranian Harahvati fixes the first river of this name, there is here a +stronger proof of Indo-Iranian community than is furnished by other +examples.[11] + +These facts or suggestive parallels of names are of exceeding +importance. They indicate between the Vedic Aryans and the Iranians a +connection much closer than usually has been assumed. The bearings of +such a connection on the religious ideas of the two peoples are +self-evident, and will often have to be touched upon in the course of +this history. It is of less importance, from the present point of +view, to say how the Aryans entered India, but since this question is +also connected with that of the religious environment of the first +Hindu poets, it will be well to state that, although, as some scholars +maintain, and as we believe, the Hindus may have come with the +Iranians through the open pass of Herat (Haraiva, Haroyu), it is +possible that they parted from the latter south of the Hindukush[12] +(descending through the Kohistan passes from the north), and that the +two peoples thence diverged south-east and south-west respectively. +Neither assumption would prevent the country lying between the +Harahvati and Vitast[=a][13] from being, for generations, a common +camping-ground for both peoples, who were united still, but gradually +diverging. This seems, at least, to be the most reasonable explanation +of the fact that these two rivers are to each people their farthest +known western and eastern limits respectively. With the exception of +the vague and uncertain Ras[=a], the Vedic Hindu's geographical +knowledge is limited by Kandahar in the west, as is the Iranian's in +the east by the Vitast[=a].[14] North of the Vitast[=a] Mount Tricota +(Trikakud, 'three peaks') is venerated, and this together with a Mount +M[=u]javat, of which the situation is probably in the north, is the +extent of modern knowledge in respect of the natural boundaries of the +Vedic people. One hears, to be sure, at a later time, of 'northern +Kurus,' whose felicity is proverbial; and it is very tempting to find +in this name a connection with the Iranian Kur, but the Kurus, like +the Ras[=a] and Sarasvat[=i], are re-located once (near Delhi), and no +similarity of name can assure one of a true connection. If not +coincidences, such likenesses are too vague to be valuable +historically.[15] + +Another much disputed point must be spoken of in connection with this +subject. In the Veda and in the Avesta there is mentioned the land of +the 'seven rivers.' Now seven rivers are often spoken of in the Rig +Veda, but only once does this term mean the country, while in the +'Hymn to the Rivers' no less than twenty-one streams are enumerated +(RV. X. 75). In order to make out the 'seven rivers' scholars have +made different combinations, that most in favor being Müller's, the +five rivers of the Punj[=a]b together with the Kabul and (Swat or) +Sarasvat[=i]. But in point of fact 'seven' quite as often means many, +as it does an exact number, and this, the older use, may well be +applied here. It is quite impossible to identify the seven, and it is +probable that no Vedic poet ever imagined them to be a group of this +precise number. It would be far easier to select a group of seven +conspicuous rivers, if anywhere, on the west of the Indus. A very +natural group from the Iranian side would be the Her[=i]r[=u]d, +Hilmund, Arghand[=a]b, Kurum, Kabul, Indus, and Vitast[=a]. Against +this, however, can be urged that the term 'seven rivers' may be +Bactrian, older than the Vedic period; and that, in particular, the +Avesta distinguishes Vaikerta, Urva, and other districts from the +'seven rivers.' It is best to remain uncertain in so doubtful a +matter, bearing in mind that even Kurukshetra, the 'holy land,' is +said to-day to be watered by 'seven streams,' although some say nine; +apropos of which fact Cunningham remarks, giving modern examples, that +"the Hindus invariably assign seven branches to all their rivers."[16] + +Within the Punj[=a]b, the Vedic Aryans, now at last really 'Hindus,' +having extended themselves to the Çutudri (Çatadru, Sutlej), a +formidable barrier, and eventually having crossed even this, the last +tributary's of the Indus, descended to the jumna (Yamun[=a]), over the +little stream called 'the Rocky' (Drishadvat[=i]) and the lesser +Sarasvat[=i], southeast from Lahore and near Delhi, in the region +Kurukshetra, afterwards famed as the seat of the great epic war, and +always regarded as holy in the highest degree. + +Not till the time of the Atharva Veda do the Aryans appear as far east +as Benares (V[=a]r[=a]nas[=i], on the 'Varan[=a]vat[=i]'), though the +Sarayu is mentioned in the Rik. But this scarcely is the tributary of +the Ganges, Gogra, for the name seems to refer to a more western +stream, since it is associated with the Gomat[=i] (Gomal). One may +surmise that in the time of the Rig Veda the Aryans knew only by name +the country east of Lucknow. It is in the Punj[=a]b and a little to +the west and east of it (how far it is impossible to state with +accuracy) where lies the real theatre of activity of the Rig Vedic +people. + +Some scholars believe that this people had already heard of the two +oceans. This point again is doubtful in the extreme. No descriptions +imply a knowledge of ocean, and the word for ocean means merely a +'confluence' of waters, or in general a great oceanic body of water +like the air. As the Indus is too wide to be seen across, the name may +apply in most cases to this river. An allusion to 'eastern and western +floods,'[17] which is held by some to be conclusive evidence for a +knowledge of the two seas, is taken by others to apply to the +air-oceans. The expression may apply simply to rivers, for it is said +that the Vip[=a]ç and Çutudr[=i] empty into the 'ocean', i.e., the +Indus or the Çutudr[=i]'s continuation.[18] One late verse alone +speaks of the Sarasvat[=i] pouring into the ocean, and this would +indicate the Arabian Sea.[19] Whether the Bay of Bengal was known, +even by hearsay and in the latest time of this period, remains +uncertain. As a body the Aryans of the Rig Veda were certainly not +acquainted with either ocean. Some straggling adventurers probably +pushed down the Indus, but Zimmer doubtless is correct in asserting +that the popular emigration did not extend further south than the +junction of the Indus and the Pa[=n]canada (the united five +rivers).[20] The extreme south-eastern geographical limit of the Rig +Vedic people may be reckoned (not, however, in Oldenberg's opinion, +with any great certainty) as being in Northern Beh[=a]r (M[=a]gadha). +The great desert, Marusthala, formed an impassable southern obstacle +for the first immigrants.[21] + +On the other hand, the two oceans are well known to the Atharva Veda, +while the geographical (and hence chronological) difference between +the Rik and the Atharvan is furthermore illustrated by the following +facts: in the Rig Veda wolf and lion are the most formidable beasts; +the tiger is unknown and the elephant seldom alluded to; while in the +Atharvan the tiger has taken the lion's place and the elephant is a +more familiar figure. Now the tiger has his domicile in the swampy +land about Benares, to which point is come the Atharvan Aryan, but not +the Rig Vedic people. Here too, in the Atharvan, the panther is first +mentioned, and for the first time silver and iron are certainly +referred to. In the Rig Veda the metals are bronze and gold, silver +and iron being unknown.[22] Not less significant are the trees. The +ficus religiosa, the tree later called the 'tree of the gods' +(_deva-sadana, açvattha_), under which are fabled to sit the +divinities in heaven, is scarcely known in the Rig Veda, but is well +known in the Atharvan; while India's grandest tree, the _nyagrodha_, +ficus indica, is known to the Atharvan and Brahmanic period, but is +utterly foreign to the Rig Veda. Zimmer deems it no less significant +that fishes are spoken of in the Atharvan and are mentioned only once +in the Rig Veda, but this may indicate a geographical difference less +than one of custom. In only one doubtful passage is the north-east +monsoon alluded to. The storm so vividly described in the Rig Veda is +the south-west monsoon which is felt in the northern Punj[=a]b. The +north-east monsoon is felt to the southeast of the Punj[=a]b, possibly +another indication of geographical extension, withal within the limits +of the Rig Veda itself. + +The seat of culture shifts in the Brahmanic period, which follows that +of the Vedic poems, and is found partly in the 'holy land' of the +west, and partly in the east (Beh[=a]r, Tirhut).[23] The literature of +this period comes from Aryans that have passed out of the Punj[=a]b. +Probably, as we have said, settlements were left all along the line of +progress. Even before the wider knowledge of the post-Alexandrine +imperial age (at which time there was a north-western military +retrogression), and, from the Vedic point of view, as late as the end +of the Brahmanic period, in the time of the Upanishads, the northwest +seems still to have been familiarly known.[24] + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: We take this opportunity of stating that by the + religions of the Aryan Hindus we mean the religions of a + people who, undoubtedly, were full-blooded Aryans at first, + however much their blood may have been diluted later by + un-Aryan admixture. Till the time of Buddhism the religious + literature is fairly Aryan. In the period of "Hinduism" + neither people nor religion can claim to be quite Aryan.] + + [Footnote 2: If, as thinks Schrader, the Aryans' original + seat was on the Volga, then one must imagine the + Indo-Iranians to have kept together in a south-eastern + emigration.] + + [Footnote 3: That is to say, frequent reference is made to + 'five tribes.' Some scholars deny that the tribes are Aryan + alone, and claim that 'five,' like seven, means 'many.'] + + [Footnote 4: RV. III. 33. 11; 53. 12. Zimmer, _Altindisches + Leben_, p. 160, incorrectly identifies _viç_ with tribus + (Leist, _Rechtsgeschichte_, p. 105).] + + [Footnote 5: Viçv[=a]mitra. A few of the hymns are not + ascribed to priests at all (some were made by women; some by + 'royal-seers,' _i.e._ kings, or, at least, not priests).] + + [Footnote 6: Caste, at first, means 'pure,' and signifies + that there is a moral barrier between the caste and outcast. + The word now practically means class, even impure class. The + native word means 'color,' and the first formal distinction + was national, (white) Aryan and 'black-man.' The precedent + class-distinctions among the Aryans themselves became fixed + in course of time, and the lines between Aryans, in some + regards, were drawn almost as sharply as between Aryan and + slave.] + + [Footnote 7: Compare RV. iii. 33, and in I. 131. 5, the + words: 'God Indra, thou didst help thy suppliants; one river + after another they gained who pursued glory.'] + + [Footnote 8: Thomas, _Rivers of the Vedas_ (JRAS. xv. 357 + ff.; Zimmer, loc. cit. cap. 1).] + + [Footnote 9: Later called the Candrabh[=a]ga. For the Jumna + and Sarayu see below.] + + [Footnote 10: This is the error into which falls Brunnhofer, + whose theory that the Vedic Aryans were still settled near + the Caspian has been criticised above (p. 15).] + + [Footnote 11: Compare Geiger, _Ostiranische Cultur_, p. 81. + See also Muir, OST. ii. p. 355.] + + [Footnote 12: Lassen, I. p. 616, decided in favor of the + western passes of the Hindukush.] + + [Footnote 13: From Kandahar in Afghanistan to a point a + little west of Lahore. In the former district, according to + the Avesta, the dead are buried (an early Indian custom, not + Iranian).] + + [Footnote 14: Geiger identifies the Vita[=g]uhaiti or + Vitanghvati with the Oxus, but this is improbable. It lies + in the extreme east and forms the boundary between the true + believers and the 'demon-worshippers' (Yasht, 5, 77; Geiger, + _loc. cit._ p. 131, note 5). The Persian name is the same + with Vitast[=a], which is located in the Punj[=a]b.] + + [Footnote 15: On the Kurus compare Zimmer (loc. cit.), who + thinks Kashmeer is meant, and Geiger, loc. cit. p. 39. Other + geographical reminiscences may lie in Vedic and Brahmanic + allusions to Bactria, Balkh (AV.); to the Derbiker (around + Meru? RV.), and to Manu's mountain, whence he descended + after the flood (Naubandhana): _Çatapatha Br[=a]hmana_, I. + 8. 1, 6, 'Manu's descent'.] + + [Footnote 16: _Arch. Survey_, xiv. p. 89; Thomas, loc. cit. + p. 363.] + + [Footnote 17: RV. x. 136. 5.] + + [Footnote 18: RV. iii. 33. 2.] + + [Footnote 19: RV. vii. 95. 2. Here the Sarasvat[=i] can be + only the Indus.] + + [Footnote 20: Pa[=n]ca-nada, Punjnud, Persian 'Punj[=a]b,' + the five streams, Vitas[=a], Asikn[=i], Ir[=a]vat[=i], + Vip[=a]ç, Çutudr[=i]. The Punjnud point is slowly moving up + stream; Vyse, JRAS. x. 323. The Sarayu may be the + Her[=i]r[=u]d, Geiger, loc. cit. p. 72.] + + [Footnote 21: Muir, OST. ii. 351; Zimmer, loc. cit. p. 51 + identifies the _K[=i]katas_ of RV. iii. 53. 14 with the + inhabitants of Northern Beh[=a]r. Marusthala is called + simply 'the desert.'] + + [Footnote 22: The earlier _áyas_, Latin _aes_, means bronze + not iron, as Zimmer has shown, loc. cit. p. 51. Pischel, + _Vedische Studien_, I, shows that elephants are mentioned + more often than was supposed (but rarely in family-books).] + + [Footnote 23: Weber, _Indische Studien,_ I. p. 228; + Oldenberg, _Buddha_, pp. 399 ff., 410.] + + [Footnote 24: Very lately (1893) Franke has sought to show + that the P[=a]li dialect of India is in part referable to + the western districts (Kandahar), and has made out an + interesting case for his novel theory (ZDMG. xlvii. p. + 595).] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE RIG VEDA. THE UPPER GODS. + + +The hymns of the Rig Veda may be divided into three classes, those in +which are especially lauded the older divinities, those in which +appear as most prominent the sacrificial gods, and those in which a +long-weakened polytheism is giving place to the light of a clearer +pantheism. In each category there are hymns of different age and +quality, for neither did the more ancient with the growth of new +divinities cease to be revered, nor did pantheism inhibit the formal +acknowledgment of the primitive pantheon. The cult once established +persisted, and even when, at a later time, all the gods had been +reduced to nominal fractions of the All-god, their ritualistic +individuality still was preserved. The chief reason for this lies in +the nature of these gods and in the attitude of the worshipper. No +matter how much the cult of later gods might prevail, the other gods, +who represented the daily phenomena of nature, were still visible, +awe-inspiring, divine. The firmest pantheist questioned not the +advisability of propitiating the sun-god, however much he might regard +this god as but a part of one that was greater. Belief in India was +never so philosophical that the believer did not dread the lightning, +and seek to avert it by praying to the special god that wielded it. +But active veneration in later times was extended in fact only to the +strong Powers, while the more passive divinities, although they were +kept as a matter of form in the ceremonial, yet had in reality only +tongue-worshippers. + +With some few exceptions, however, it will be found impossible to say +whether any one deity belonged to the first pantheon. + +The best one can do is to separate the mass of gods from those that +become the popular gods, and endeavor to learn what was the character +of each, and what were the conceptions of the poets in regard both to +his nature, and to his relations with man. A different grouping of the +gods (that indicated below) will be followed, therefore, in our +exposition. + +After what has been said in the introductory chapter concerning the +necessity of distinguishing between good and bad poetry, it may be +regarded as incumbent upon us to seek to make such a division of the +hymns as shall illustrate our words. But we shall not attempt to do +this here, because the distinction between late mechanical and poetic +hymns is either very evident, and it would be superfluous to burden +the pages with the trash contained in the former,[1] or the +distinction is one liable to reversion at the hands of those critics +whose judgment differs from ours, for there are of course some hymns +that to one may seem poetical and to another, artificial. Moreover, we +admit that hymns of true feeling may be composed late as well as +early, while as to beauty of style the chances are that the best +literary production will be found among the latest rather than among +the earliest hymns. + +It would, indeed, be admissible, if one had any certainty in regard to +the age of the different parts of the Rig Veda, simply to divide the +hymns into early, middle, and late, as they are sometimes divided in +philological works, but here one rests on the weakest of all supports +for historical judgment, a linguistic and metrical basis, when one is +ignorant alike of what may have been accomplished by imitation, and of +the work of those later priests who remade the poems of their +ancestors. + +Best then, because least hazardous, appears to be the method which we +have followed, namely, to take up group by group the most important +deities arranged in the order of their relative importance, and by +studying each to arrive at a fair understanding of the pantheon as a +whole. The Hindus themselves divided their gods into highest, middle, +and lowest, or those of the upper sky, the atmosphere, and the earth. +This division, from the point of view of one who would enter into the +spirit of the seers and at the same time keep in mind the changes to +which that spirit gradually was subjected, is an excellent one. For, +as will be seen, although the earlier order of regard may have been +from below upwards, this order does not apply to the literary +monuments. These show on the contrary a worship which steadily tends +from above earthwards; and the three periods into which may be divided +all Vedic theology are first that of the special worship of sky-gods, +when less attention is paid to others; then that of the atmospheric +and meteorological divinities; and finally that of terrestrial powers, +each later group absorbing, so to speak, the earlier, and therewith +preparing the developing Hindu intelligence for the reception of the +universal god with whom closes the series. + +Other factors than those of an inward development undoubtedly were at +work in the formation of this growth. Especially prominent is the +amalgamation of the gods of the lower classes with those of the +priest-hood. Climatic environment, too, conditioned theological +evolution, if not spiritual advance. The cult of the mid-sphere god, +Indra, was partly the result of the changing atmospheric surroundings +of the Hindus as they advanced into India. The storms and the sun were +not those of old. The tempests were more terrific, the display of +divine power was more concentrated in the rage of the elements; while +appreciation of the goodness of the sun became tinged with +apprehension of evil, and he became a deadly power as well as one +beneficent. Then the relief of rain after drought gave to Indra the +character of a benign god as well as of a fearful one. Nor were +lacking in the social condition certain alterations which worked +together with climatic changes. The segregated mass of the original +people, the braves that hung about the king, a warrior-class rapidly +becoming a caste, and politically the most important caste, took the +god of thunder and lightning for their god of battle. The fighting +race naturally exalted to the highest the fighting god. Then came into +prominence the priestly caste, which gradually taught the warrior that +mind was stronger than muscle. But this caste was one of thinkers. +Their divinity was the product of reflection. Indra remained, but +yielded to a higher power, and the god thought out by the priests +became God. Yet it must not be supposed that the cogitative energy of +the Brahman descended upon the people's gods and suddenly produced a +religious revolution. In India no intellectual advance is made +suddenly. The older divinities show one by one the transformation that +they suffered at the hands of theosophic thinkers. Before the +establishment of a general Father-god, and long before that of the +pantheistic All-god, the philosophical leaven was actively at work. It +will be seen operative at once in the case of the sun-god, and, +indeed, there were few of the older divinities that were untouched by +it. It worked silently and at first esoterically. One reads of the +gods' 'secret names,' of secrets in theology, which 'are not to be +revealed,' till at last the disguise is withdrawn, and it is +discovered that all the mystery of former generations has been leading +up to the declaration now made public: 'all these gods are but names +of the One.' + + +THE SUN-GOD. + +The hymn which was translated in the first chapter gives an epitome of +the simpler conceptions voiced in the few whole hymns to the sun. But +there is a lower and a higher view of this god. He is the shining god +_par excellence_, the _deva, s[=u]rya_,[2] the red ball in the sky. +But he is also an active force, the power that wakens, rouses, +enlivens, and as such it is he that gives all good things to mortals +and to gods. As the god that gives life he (with others)[3] is the +author of birth, and is prayed to for children. From above he looks +down upon earth, and as with his one or many steeds he drives over the +firmament he observes all that is passing below. He has these, the +physical side and the spiritual side, under two names, the glowing +one, S[=u]rya, and the enlivener, Savitar;[4] but he is also the good +god who bestows benefits, and as such he was known, probably locally, +by the name of Bhaga. Again, as a herdsman's god, possibly at first +also a local deity, he is P[=u]shan (the meaning is almost the same +with that of Savitar). As the 'mighty one' he is Vishnu, who measures +heaven in three strides. In general, the conception of the sun as a +physical phenomenon will be found voiced chiefly in the family-books: +"The sightly form rises on the slope of the sky as the swift-going +steed carries him ... seven sister steeds carry him."[5] This is the +prevailing utterance. Sometimes the sun is depicted under a medley of +metaphors: "A bull, a flood, a red bird, he has entered his father's +place; a variegated stone he is set in the midst of the sky; he has +advanced and guards the two ends of space."[6] One after the other the +god appears to the poets as a bull, a bird,[7] a steed, a stone, a +jewel, a flood, a torch-holder,[8] or as a gleaming car set in heaven. +Nor is the sun independent. As in the last image of a chariot,[9] so, +without symbolism, the poet speaks of the sun as made to rise by +Varuna and Mitra: "On their wonted path go Varuna and Mitra when in +the sky they cause to rise Surya, whom they made to avert darkness"; +where, also, the sun, under another image, is the "support of the +sky."[10] Nay, in this simpler view, the sun is no more than the "eye +of Mitra Varuna,"[11] a conception formally retained even when the sun +in the same breath is spoken of as pursuing Dawn like a lover, and as +being the 'soul of the universe' (I. 115. 1-2). In the older passages +the later moral element is almost lacking, nor is there maintained the +same physical relation between Sun and Dawn. In the earlier hymns the +Dawn is the Sun's mother, from whom he proceeds.[12] It is the "Dawns +produced the Sun," in still more natural language;[13] whereas, the +idea of the lover-Sun following the Dawn scarcely occurs in the +family-books.[14] Distinctly late, also, is the identification of the +sun with the all-spirit _([=a]tm[=a],_ I. 115. 1), and the following +prayer: "Remove, O sun, all weakness, illness, and bad dreams." In +this hymn, X. 37. 14, S[=u]rya is the son of the sky, but he is +evidently one with Savitar, who in V. 82. 4, removes bad dreams, as in +X. 100. 8, he removes sickness. Men are rendered 'sinless' by the sun +(IV. 54. 3; X. 37. 9) exactly as they are by the other gods, Indra, +Varuna, etc. In a passage that refers to the important triad of sun, +wind and fire, X. 158. I ff., the sun is invoked to 'save from the +sky,' _i.e._ from all evils that may come from the upper regions; +while in the same book the sun, like Indra, is represented as the +slayer of demons _(asuras)_ and dragons; as the slayer, also, of the +poet's rivals; as giving long life to the worshipper, and as himself +drinking sweet _soma_. This is one of the poems that seem to be at +once late and of a forced and artificial character (X. 170). + +Although S[=u]rya is differentiated explicitly from Savitar (V. 81. 4, +"Savitar, thou joyest in S[=u]a's rays"), yet do many of the hymns +make no distinction between them. The Enlivener is naturally extolled +in fitting phrase, to tally with his title: "The shining-god, the +Enlivener, is ascended to enliven the world"; "He gives protection, +wealth and children" (II. 38.1; IV. 53. 6-7). The later hymns seem, as +one might expect, to show greater confusion between the attributes of +the physical and spiritual sun. But what higher power under either +name is ascribed to the sun in the later hymns is not due to a higher +or more developed homage of the sun as such. On the contrary, as with +many other deities, the more the praise the less the individual +worship. It is as something more than the sun that the god later +receives more fulsome devotion. And, in fact, paradoxical as it seems, +it is a decline in sun-worship proper that is here registered. The +altar-fire becomes more important, and is revered in the sun, whose +hymns, at most, are few, and in part mechanical. + +Bergaigne in his great work, _La Religion Védique_, has laid much +stress on sexual antithesis as an element in Vedic worship. It seems +to us that this has been much exaggerated. The sun is masculine; the +dawn, feminine. But there is no indication of a primitive antithesis +of male and female in their relations. What occurs appears to be of +adventitious character. For though sun and dawn are often connected, +the latter is represented first as his mother and afterwards as his +'wife' or mistress. Even in the later hymns, where the marital +relation is recognized, it is not insisted upon. But Bergaigne[15] is +right in saying that in the Rig Veda the sun does not play the part of +an evil power, and it is a good illustration of the difference between +Rik and Atharvan, when Ehni cites, to prove that the sun is like +death, only passages from the Atharvan and the later Brahmanic +literature.[16] + +When, later, the Hindus got into a region where the sun was deadly, +they said, "Yon burning sun-god is death," but in the Rig Veda' they +said, "Yon sun is the source of life,"[17] and no other conception of +the sun is to be found in the Rig Veda. + +There are about a dozen hymns to S[=u]rya, and as many to Savitar, in +the Rig Veda.[18] It is noteworthy that in the family-books the hymns +to Savitar largely prevail, while those to S[=u]rya are chiefly late +in position or content. Thus, in the family-books, where are found +eight or nine of the dozen hymns to Savitar, there are to S[=u]rya but +three or four, and of these the first is really to Savitar and the +Açvins; the second is an imitation of the first; the third appears to +be late; and the fourth is a fragment of somewhat doubtful antiquity. +The first runs as follows: "The altar-fire has seen well-pleased the +dawns' beginning and the offering to the gleaming ones; come, O ye +horsemen (Açvins), to the house of the pious man; the sun (S[=u]rya), +the shining-god, rises with light. The shining-god Savitar has +elevated his beams, swinging his banner like a good (hero) raiding for +cattle. According to rule go Varuna and Mitra when they make rise in +the sky the sun (S[=u]rya) whom they have created to dissipate +darkness, being (gods) sure of their habitation and unswerving in +intent. Seven yellow swift-steeds bear this S[=u]rya, the seer of all +that moves. Thou comest with swiftest steeds unspinning the web, +separating, O shining-god, the black robe. The rays of S[=u]rya +swinging (his banner) have laid darkness like a skin in the waters. +Unconnected, unsupported, downward extending, why does not this (god) +fall down? With what nature goes he, who knows (literally, 'who has +seen')? As a support he touches and guards the vault of the sky" (IV. +13). + +There is here, no more than in the early hymn from the first book, +translated in the first chapter, any worship of material phenomena. +S[=u]rya is worshipped as Savitar, either expressly so called, or with +all the attributes of the spiritual. The hymn that follows this[19] is +a bald imitation. In V. 47 there are more or less certain signs of +lateness, _e.g.,_ in the fourth stanza ("four carry him, ... and ten +give the child to drink that he may go," etc.) there is the juggling +with unexplained numbers, which is the delight of the later +priesthood. Moreover, this hymn is addressed formally to Mitra-Varuna +and Agni, and not to the sun-god, who is mentioned only in metaphor; +while the final words _námo divé_, 'obeisance to heaven,' show that +the sun is only indirectly addressed. One cannot regard hymns +addressed to Mitra-Varuna and S[=u]rya (with other gods) as primarily +intended for S[=u]rya, who in these hymns is looked upon as the +subject of Mitra and Varuna, as in VII. 62; or as the "eye" of the two +other gods, and 'like Savitar' in VII. 63. So in VII. 66. 14-16, a +mere fragment of a hymn is devoted exclusively to S[=u]rya as "lord of +all that stands and goes." But in these hymns there are some very +interesting touches. Thus in VII. 60. 1, the sun does not make +sinless, but he announces to Mitra and Varuna that the mortal is +sinless. There are no other hymns than these addressed to S[=u]rya, +save those in the first and tenth books, of which nine stanzas of I. +50 (see above) may be reckoned early, while I. 115, where the sun is +the soul of the universe, and at the same time the eye of +Mitra-Varuna, is probably late; and I. 163 is certainly so, wherein +the sun is identified with Yama, Trita, etc.; is 'like Varuna'; and is +himself a steed, described as having three connections in the sky, +three in the waters, three in the sea. In one of the hymns in the +tenth book, also a mystical song, the sun is the 'bird' of the sky, a +metaphor which soon gives another figure to the pantheon in the form +of Garutman, the sun-bird, of whose exploits are told strange tales in +the epic, where he survives as Garuda. In other hymns S[=u]rya averts +carelessness at the sacrifice, guards the worshipper, and slays +demons. A mechanical little hymn describes him as measuring the +'thirty stations.' Not one of these hymns has literary freshness or +beauty of any kind. They all belong to the class of stereotyped +productions, which differ in origin and content from the hymns first +mentioned.[20] + + +SAVITAR. + +Turning to Savitar one finds, of course, many of the same descriptive +traits as in the praise of S[=u]rya, his more material self. But with +the increased spirituality come new features. Savitar is not alone the +sun that rises; he is also the sun that sets; and is extolled as such. +There are other indications that most of the hymns composed for him +are to accompany the sacrifice, either of the morning or of the +evening. In II. 38, an evening song to Savitar, there are inner signs +that the hymn was made for rubrication, but here some fine verses +occur: "The god extends his vast hand, his arms above there--and all +here obeys him; to his command the waters move, and even the winds' +blowing ceases on all sides." Again: "Neither Indra, Varuna, Mitra, +Aryaman, Rudra, nor the demons, impair his law" We call attention here +to the fact that the Rig Veda contains a strong(stong in the original) +current of demonology, much stronger than has been pointed out by +scholars intent on proving the primitive loftiness of the Vedic +religion. + +In III. 62. 7-9 there are some verses to P[=u]shan, following which is +the most holy couplet of the Rig Veda, to repeat which is essentially +to repeat the Veda. It is the famous G[=a]yatr[=i] or S[=a]vitr[=i] +hymnlet (10-12): + + Of Savitar, the heavenly, that longed-for glory may we win, + And may himself inspire our prayers.[21] + +Whitney (loc. cit.) says of this hymn that it is not remarkable in any +way and that no good reason has ever been given for its fame. The good +reason for this fame, in our opinion, is that the longed-for glory was +interpreted later as a revealed indication of primitive pantheism, and +the verses were understood to express the desire of absorption into +the sun, which, as will be seen, was one of the first divine bodies to +be accepted as the type of the All-god. This is also the intent of the +stanzas added to I. 50 (above, p. 17), where S[=u]rya is "the highest +light, the god among gods," mystic words, taken by later philosophers, +and quite rightly, to be an expression of pantheism. The esoteric +meaning of the G[=a]yatr[=i] presumably made it popular among the +enlightened. Exoterically the sun was only the goal of the soul, or, +in pure pantheism, of the sight. In the following[22] the +sin-forgiving side of Savitar is developed, whereby he comes into +connection with Varuna: + + God Savitar deserveth now a song from us; + To-day, with guiding word, let men direct him here. + He who distributes gifts unto the sons of men, + Shall here on us bestow whatever thing is best; + For thou, O Savitar, dost first upon the gods + Who sacrifice deserve, lay immortality, + The highest gift, and then to mortals dost extend + As their apportionment a long enduring life. + Whatever thoughtless thing against the + race of gods We do in foolishness and human insolence, + Do thou from that, O Savitar, mid gods and men + Make us here sinless, etc. + +But if this song smacks of the sacrifice, still more so does V. 81, +where Savitar is the 'priest's priest,' the 'arranger of sacrifice,' +and is one with P[=u]shan. He is here the swift horse (see above) and +more famous as the divider of time than anything else. In fact this +was the first ritualistic glory of Savitar, that he divides the time +for sacrifice. But he receives more in the light of being the type of +other luminous divinities. In the next hymn, another late effort (V. +82; see the dream in vs. 4), there may be an imitation of the +G[=a]yatr[=i]. Savitar is here the All-god and true lord, and frees +from sin. There is nothing new or striking in the hymns VI. 71; VII. +38 and 45. The same golden hands, and references to the sacrifice +occur here. Allusions to the Dragon of the Deep, who is called upon +with Savitar (VII. 38. 5), and the identification of Savitar with +Bhaga (ib. 6) are the most important items to be gleaned from these +rather stupid hymns. In other hymns not in the family-books +(II.-VIII.), there is a fragment, X. 139. 1-3, and another, I. 22. +5-8. In the latter, Agni's (Fire's) title, 'son of waters,' is given +to Savitar, who is virtually identified with Agni in the last part of +the Rig Veda; and in the former hymn there is an interesting +discrimination made between Savitar and P[=u]shan, who obeys him. The +last hymn in the collection to Savitar, X. 149, although late and +plainly intended for the sacrifice (vs. 5), is interesting as showing +how the philosophical speculation worked about Savitar as a centre. +'He alone, he the son of the waters, knows the origin of water, whence +arose the world.' This is one of the early speculations which recur so +frequently in the Brahmanic period, wherein the origin of 'all this' +(the universe) is referred to water. A hymn to Savitar in the first +book contains as excellent a song as is given to the sun under this +name. It is neither a morning nor an evening song in its original +state, but mentions all the god's functions, without the later moral +traits so prominent elsewhere, and with the old threefold division +instead of thrice-three heavens. + + TO SAVITAR (I. 35). + + I call on Agni first (the god of fire) for weal; + I call on Mitra-Varuna to aid me here; + I call upon the Night, who quiets all that moves; + On Savitar, the shining god, I call for help. + +After this introductory invocation begins the real song in a different +metre. + + Through space of darkness wending comes he hither, + Who puts to rest th' immortal and the mortal, + On golden car existent things beholding, + The god that rouses, Savitar, the shining; + Comes he, the shining one, comes forward, upward, + Comes with two yellow steeds, the god revered, + Comes shining Savitar from out the distance, + All difficulties far away compelling. + His pearl-adorned, high, variegated chariot, + Of which the pole is golden, he, revered, + Hath mounted, Savitar, whose beams are brilliant, + Against the darksome spaces strength assuming. + Among the people gaze the brown white-footed + (Steeds) that the chariot drag whose pole is golden. + All peoples stand, and all things made, forever, + Within the lap of Savitar, the heavenly. + + [There are three heavens of Savitar, two low ones,[23] + One, men-restraining, in the realm of Yama. + As on (his) chariot-pole[24] stand all immortals, + Let him declare it who has understood it!] + + Across air-spaces gazes he, the eagle, + Who moves in secret, th' Asura,[25] well-guiding, + Where is (bright) S[=u]rya now? who understands it? + And through which sky is now his ray extending? + + He looks across the earth's eight elevations,[26] + The desert stations three, and the seven rivers, + The gold-eyed shining god is come, th' Arouser, + To him that worships giving wealth and blessings. + + The golden-handed Savitar, the active one, + Goes earth and heaven between, compels demoniac powers, + To S[=u]rya gives assistance, and through darksome space + Extends to heaven, etc.[27] + + +P[=U]SHAN AND BHAGA AS SUN-GODS. + +With P[=u]shan, the 'bestower of prosperity,' appears an ancient side +of sun-worship. While under his other names the sun has lost, to a +great extent, the attributes of a bucolic solar deity, in the case of +P[=u]shan he appears still as a god whose characteristics are bucolic, +war-like, and priestly, that is to say, even as he is venerated by the +three masses of the folk. It will not do, of course, to distinguish +too sharply between the first two divisions, but one can very well +compare P[=u]shan in these rôles with Helios guiding his herds, and +Apollo swaying armed hosts. It is customary to regard P[=u]shan as too +bucolic a deity, but this is only one side of him. He apparently is +the sun, as herdsmen look upon him, and in this figure is the object +of ridicule with the warrior-class who, especially in one family or +tribe, take a more exalted view of him. Consequently, as in the case +of Varuna, one need not read into the hymns more than they offer to +see that, not to speak of the priestly view, there are at least two +P[=u]shans, in the Rig Veda itself.[28] + +As the god 'with braided hair,' and as the 'guardian of cattle,' +P[=u]shan offers, perhaps, in these particulars, the original of +Rudra's characteristics, who, in the Vedic period, and later as +Rudra-Çiva, is also a 'guardian of cattle' and has the 'braided hair.' + +Bergaigne identifies P[=u]shan with Soma, with whom the poets were apt +to identify many other deities, but there seems to be little +similarity originally.[29] It is only in the wider circles of each +god's activity that the two approach each other. Both gods, it is +true, wed S[=u]rya (the female sun-power), and Soma, like P[=u]shan, +finds lost cattle. But it must be recognized once for all that +identical attributes are not enough to identify Vedic gods. Who gives +wealth? Indra, Soma, Agni, Heaven and Earth, Wind, Sun, the Maruts, +etc. Who forgives sins? Agni, Varuna, Indra, the Sun, etc. Who helps +in war? Agni, P[=u]shan, Indra, Soma, etc. Who sends rain? Indra, +Parjanya, Soma, the Maruts, P[=u]shan, etc. Who weds Dawn? The Açvins, +the Sun, etc. The attributes must be functional or the identification +is left incomplete. + +The great disparity in descriptions of P[=u]shan may be illustrated by +setting VI. 48. 19 beside X. 92. 13. The former passage merely +declares that P[=u]shan is a war-leader "over mortals, and like the +gods in glory"; the latter, that he is "distinguished by all divine +attributes"; that is to say, what has happened in the case of Savitar +has happened here also. The individuality of P[=u]shan dies out, but +the vaguer he becomes the more grandiloquently is he praised and +associated with other powers; while for lack of definite laudation +general glory is ascribed to him. The true position of P[=u]shan in +the eyes of the warrior is given unintentionally by one who says,[30] +"I do not scorn thee, O P[=u]shan," _i.e.,_ as do most people, on +account of thy ridiculous attributes. For P[=u]shan does not drink +_soma_ like Indra, but eats mush. So another devout believer says: +"P[=u]shan is not described by them that call him an eater of +mush."[31] The fact that he was so called speaks louder than the pious +protest. Again, P[=u]shan is simply bucolic. He uses the goad, which, +however, according to Bergaigne, is the thunderbolt! So, too, the cows +that P[=u]shan is described as guiding have been interpreted as clouds +or 'dawns.' But they may be taken without 'interpretation' as +real cows.[32] P[=u]shan drives the cows, he is armed with a goad, and +eats mush; bucolic throughout, yet a sun-god. It is on these lines +that his finding-qualities are to be interpreted. He finds lost +cattle,[33] a proper business for such a god; but Bergaigne will see +in this a transfer from P[=u]shan's finding of rain and of _soma_.[34] +P[=u]shan, too, directs the furrow[35] + +Together with Vishnu and Bhaga this god is invoked at sacrifices, (a +fact that says little against or for his original sun-ship),[36] and +he is intimately connected with Indra. His sister is his mistress, and +his mother is his wife (Dawn and Night?) according to the meagre +accounts given in VI. 55. 4-5.[37] As a god of increase he is invoked +in the marriage-rite, X. 85. 37. + +As Savitar and all sun-gods are at once luminous and dark, so +P[=u]shan has a clear and again a revered (terrible) appearance; he is +like day and night, like Dyaus (the sky); at one time bright, at +another, plunged in darkness, VI. 58. 1. Quite like Savitar he is the +shining god who "looks upon all beings and sees them all together"; he +is the "lord of the path," the god of travellers; he is invoked to +drive away evil spirits, thieves, footpads, and all workers of evil; +he makes paths for the winning of wealth; he herds the stars and +directs all with _soma_. He carries a golden axe or sword, and is +borne through air and water on golden ships; and it is he that lets +down the sun's golden wheel. These simpler attributes appear for the +most part in the early hymns. In what seem to be later hymns, he is +the mighty one who "carries the thoughts of all"; he is +like _soma_ (the drink), and attends to the filter; he is "lord of the +pure"; the "one born of old," and is especially called upon to help +the poets' hymns.[38] It is here, in the last part of the Rig Veda, +that he appears as [Greek: psuchopompós], who "goes and returns," +escorting the souls of the dead to heaven. He is the sun's messenger, +and is differentiated from Savitar in X. 139. 1.[39] Apparently he was +a god affected most by the Bharadv[=a]ja family (to which is ascribed +the sixth book of the Rig Veda) where his worship was extended more +broadly. He seems to have become the special war-god of this family, +and is consequently invoked with Indra and the Maruts (though this may +have been merely in his rôte as sun). The goats, his steeds, are also +an attribute of the Scandinavian war-god Thor (Kaegi, _Rig Veda_, note +210), so that his bucolic character rests more in his goad, food, and +plough. + +Bhaga is recognized as an [=A]ditya (luminous deity) and was perhaps a +sun-god of some class, possibly of all, as the name in Slavic is still +kept in the meaning 'god,' literally 'giver.' In the Rig Veda the word +means, also, simply god, as in _bhágabhakta_, 'given by gods'; but as +a name it is well known, and when thus called Bhaga is still the +giver, 'the bestower' _(vidhart[=á])_. As _bhaga_ is also an epithet +of Savitar, the name may not stand for an originally distinct +personality. Bhaga has but one hymn.[40] There is in fact no reason +why Bhaga should be regarded as a sun-god, except for the formal +identification of him as an [=A]dityà, that is as the son of Aditi +(Boundlessness, see below); but neither S[=u]rya nor Savitar is +originally an [=A]dityà, and in Iranic _bagha_ is only an epithet of +Ormuzd. + + + HYMNS TO P[=U]SHAN AND BHAGA. + + To P[=U]SHAN (vi. 56). + + The man who P[=u]shan designates + With words like these, 'mush-eater he,' + By him the god is not described. + + With P[=u]shan joined in unison + That best of warriors, truest lord, + Indra, the evil demons slays. + + 'T is he, the best of warriors, drives + The golden chariot of the sun + Among the speckled kine (the clouds). + + Whate'er we ask of thee to-day, + O wonder-worker, praised and wise, + Accomplish thou for us that prayer. + + And this our band, which hunts for kine,[41] + Successful make for booty's gain; + Afar, O P[=u]shan, art thou praised. + + We seek of thee success, which far + From ill, and near to wealth shall be; + For full prosperity to-day; + And full prosperity the morn.[42] + + + To BHAGA (vii. 41). + + Early on Agni call we, early Indra call; + Early call Mitra, Varuna, the Horsemen twain; + Early, too, Bhaga, P[=u]shan, and the Lord of Strength; + And early Soma will we call, and Rudra too. + +This stanza has been prefixed to the hymn by virtue of the catch-word +'early' (in the morning), with which really begins this prosaic poem +(in different metre): + + The early-conquering mighty Bhaga call we, + The son of Boundlessness, the gift-bestower,[43] + Whom weak and strong, and e'en the king, regarding, + Cry _bhágam bhakshi_, 'give to me the giver.'[44] + + O Bhaga, leader Bhaga, true bestower, + O Bhaga, help this prayer, to us give (riches), + O Bhaga, make us grow in kine and horses, + O Bhaga, eke in men, men-wealthy be we! + + And now may we be rich, be _bhaga_-holders,[45] + Both at the (day's) approach, and eke at midday, + And at the sun's departure, generous giver. + The favor of the gods may we abide in. + + O gods, (to us) be Bhaga really _bhaga_,[46] + By means of him may we be _bhaga_-holders. + As such an one do all, O Bhaga, call thee, + As such, O Bhaga, be to-day our leader. + + May dawns approach the sacrifice, the holy + Place, like to Dadhikr[=a],[47] like horses active, + Which bring a chariot near; so, leading Bhaga, + Who finds good things, may they approach, and bring him. + +As this is the only hymn addressed to Bhaga, and as it proves itself +to have been made for altar service (in style as well as in special +mention of the ceremony), it is evident that Bhaga, although called +Aditi's son, is but a god of wealth and (like Ança, the Apportioner) +very remotely connected with physical functions. But the hymn appears +to be so late that it cannot throw much light on the original +conception of the deity. We rather incline to doubt whether Bhaga was +ever, strictly speaking, a sun-god, and think that he was made so +merely because the sun (Savitar) was called _bhaga_. A (Greek: Zehys) +Bagaios was worshipped by the Phrygians, while in the Avesta and as a +Slavic god Bhaga has no especial connection with the sun. It must be +acknowledged, however, that every form of the sun-god is especially +lauded for generosity. + + +VISHNU. + +In the person of Vishnu the sun is extolled under another name, which +in the period of the Rig Veda was still in the dawn of its glory. The +hymns to Vishnu are few; his fame rests chiefly on the three strides +with which he crosses heaven, on his making fast the earth, and on his +munificence.[48] He, too, leads in battle and is revered under the +title Çipivishta,[49] of unknown significance, but meaning literally +'bald.' Like Savitar he has three spaces, two called earthly, and one, +the highest, known only to himself. His greatness is inconceivable, +and he is especially praised with Indra, the two being looked upon as +masters of the world.[50] His highest place is the realm of the +departed spirits.[51] The hymns to him appear to be late (thus I. 155. +6, where, as the year, he has four seasons of ninety days each). Like +P[=u]shan (his neighbor in many lauds) he is associated in a late hymn +with the Maruts (V. 87). His later popularity lies in the importance +of his 'highest place' (or step) being the home of the departed +spirits, where he himself dwells, inscrutable. This led to the +spirit's union with the sun, which, as we have said, is one of the +first phases of the pantheistic doctrine. In the family-books Vishnu +gets but two hymns, both in the same collection, and shares one more +with Indra (VII. 99-100; VI. 69). In some of the family-collections, +notably in that of the Visvamitras, he is, if not unknown, almost +ignored. As Indra's friend he is most popular with the Kanva family, +but even here he has no special hymn. + + None born, God Vishnu, and none born hereafter + E'er reaches to the limit of thy greatness; + Twas thou establish'st yon high vault of heaven, + Thou madest fast the earth's extremest mountain. (VII. 99. 2.) + + Three steps he made, the herdsman sure, + Vishnu, and stepped across (the world). (I. 22. i8.) + + The mighty deeds will I proclaim of Vishnu, + Who measured out the earth's extremest spaces, + And fastened firm the highest habitation, + Thrice stepping out with step all-powerful. + + O would that I might reach his path beloved, + Where joy the men who hold the gods in honor. (I. 154. 1, 5.) + +Under all these names and images the sun is worshipped. And it is +necessary to review them all to see how deeply the worship is +ingrained. The sun is one of the most venerable as he is the most +enduring of India's nature-gods.[52] In no early passage is the sun a +malignant god. He comes "as kine to the village, as a hero to his +steed, as a calf to the cow, as a husband to his wife."[53] He is the +'giver,' the 'generous one,' and as such he is Mitra, 'the friend,' +who with Varuna, the encompassing heaven, is, indeed, in the Rig Veda, +a personality subordinated to his greater comrade; yet is this, +perhaps, the sun's oldest name of those that are not descriptive of +purely physical characteristics. For Mithra in Persian keeps the +proof that this title was given to the Indo-Iranic god before the +separation of the two peoples. It is therefore (perhaps with Bhaga?) +one of the most ancient personal designations of the sun,--one, +perhaps, developed from a mere name into a separate deity. + + +HEAVEN AND EARTH. + +Not only as identical with the chief god of the Greeks, but also from +a native Indic point of view, it might have been expected that Dyaus +(Zeus), the 'shining sky,' would play an important rôle in the Hindu +pantheon. But such is not the case. There is not a single hymn +addressed independently to Dyaus, nor is there any hint of especial +preeminence of Dyaus in the half-dozen hymns that are sung to Heaven +and Earth together. The word _dyaus_ is used hundreds of times, but +generally in the meaning sky (without personification). There is, to +be sure, a formal acknowledgment of the fatherhood of Dyaus (among +gods he is father particularly of Dawn, the Açvins, and Indra), as +there is of the motherhood of Earth, but there is no further +exaltation. No exaggeration--the sign of Hindu enthusiasm--is +displayed in the laudation, and the epithet 'father' is given to half +a dozen Vedic gods, as in Rome Ma(r)spiter stands beside Jup(p)iter. +Certain functions are ascribed to Heaven and Earth, but they are of +secondary origin. Thus they bring to the god he sacrifice,[54] as does +Agni, and one whole hymn may thus be epitomized: 'By the ordinance of +Varuna made firm, O Heaven and Earth, give us blessings. Blest with +children and wealth is he that adores you twain. Give us sweet food, +glory and strength of heroes, ye who are our father and mother.'[55] + +The praise is vague and the benevolence is the usual 'bestowal of +blessings' expected of all the gods in return for praise. Other hymns +add to this something, from which one sees that these deities are not +regarded as self-created; for the seers of old, or, according to one +poet some wonderful divine artisan, "most wondrous worker of the +wonder-working gods," created them. Their chief office is to exercise +benign protection and bestow wealth. Once they are invited to come to +the sacrifice "with the gods," but this, of course, is not meant to +exclude them from the list of gods[56]. + +The antithesis of male and female, to Bergaigne's insistence on which +reference was made above (p. 43), even here in this most obvious of +forms, common to so many religions, shows itself so faintly that it +fails utterly to support that basis of sexual dualism on which the +French scholar lays so much stress. Dyaus does, indeed, occasionally +take the place of Indra, and as a bellowing bull impregnate earth, but +this is wholly incidental and not found at all in the hymns directly +lauding Heaven and Earth. Moreover, instead of "father and mother" +Heaven and Earth often are spoken of as "the two mothers," the +significance of which cannot be nullified by the explanation that to +the Hindu 'two mothers' meant two parents, and of two parents one must +be male,--Bergaigne's explanation. For not only is Dyaus one of the +'two mothers,' but when independently used the word Dyaus is male or +female indifferently. Thus in X. 93. I: "O Heaven and Earth be wide +outstretched for us, (be) like two young women." The position of +Heaven and Earth in relation to other divinities varies with the fancy +of the poet that extols them. They are either created, or they create +gods, as well as create men. In accordance with the physical reach of +these deities they are exhorted to give strength whereby the +worshipper shall "over-reach all peoples"; and, as parents, to be the +"nearest of the gods," to be "like father and mother in kindness." (I. +159; 160. 2, 5.) + +One more attribute remains to be noticed, which connects Dyaus morally +as well as physically with Savitar and Varuna. The verse in which this +attribute is spoken of is also not without interest from a +sociological point of view: "Whatsoever sin we have committed against +the gods, or against a friend, or against the chief of the clan +(family)[57] may this hymn to Heaven and Earth avert it." It was shown +above that Savitar removes sin. Here, as in later times, it is the +hymn that does this. The mystery of these gods' origin puzzles the +seer: "Which was first and which came later, how were they begotten, +who knows, O ye wise seers? Whatever exists, that they carry."[58] But +all that they do they do under the command of Mitra.[59] + +The most significant fact in connection with the hymns to Heaven and +Earth is that most of them are expressly for sacrificial intent. "With +sacrifices I praise Heaven and Earth" (I. 159. 1); "For the sake of +the sacrifice are ye come down (to us)" (IV. 56. 7). In VI. 70 they +are addressed in sacrificial metaphors; in VII. 53. 1 the poet says: +"I invoke Heaven and Earth with sacrifices," etc. The passivity of the +two gods makes them yield in importance to their son, the active +Savitar, who goes between the two parents. None of these hymns bears +the impress of active religious feeling or has poetic value. They all +seem to be reflective, studied, more or less mechanical, and to belong +to a period of theological philosophy. To Earth alone without Heaven +are addressed one uninspired hymn and a fragment of the same +character: "O Earth be kindly to us, full of dwellings and painless, +and give us protection."[60] In the burial service the dead are +exhorted to "go into kindly mother earth" who will be "wool-soft, like +a maiden."[61] The one hymn to Earth should perhaps be placed +parallel with similar meditative and perfunctory laudations in the +Homeric hymns: + + To EARTH (V. 84). + + In truth, O broad extended earth, + Thou bear'st the render of the hills,[62] + Thou who, O mighty mountainous one, + Quickenest created things with might. + Thee praise, O thou that wander'st far, + The hymns which light accompany, + Thee who, O shining one, dost send + Like eager steeds the gushing rain. + Thou mighty art, who holdest up + With strength on earth the forest trees, + When rain the rains that from thy clouds + And Dyaus' far-gleaming lightning come.[62] + +On the bearing of these facts, especially in regard to the secondary +greatness of Dyaus, we shall touch below. He is a god exalted more by +modern writers than by the Hindus! + + +VARUNA. + +Varuna has been referred already in connection with the sun-god and +with Heaven and Earth. It is by Varuna's power that they stand firm. +He has established the sun 'like a tree,' i.e., like a support, and +'made a path for it.'[63] He has a thousand remedies for ills; to his +realm not even the birds can ascend, nor wind or swift waters attain. +It is in accordance with the changeless order[64] of Varuna that the +stars and the moon go their regular course; he gives long life and +releases from harm, from wrong, and from sin.[65] + +Varuna is the most exalted of those gods whose origin is physical. His +realm is all above us; the sun and stars are his eyes; he sits above +upon his golden throne and sees all that passes below, even the +thoughts of men. He is, above all, the moral controller of the +universe. + + To VARUNA (i. 25). + + Howe'er we, who thy people are, + O Varuna, thou shining god, + Thy order injure, day by day, + Yet give us over nor to death, + Nor to the blow of angry (foe), + Nor to the wrath of (foe) incensed.[66] + Thy mind for mercy we release-- + As charioteer, a fast-bound steed-- + By means of song, O Varuna. + + * * * * * + + ('Tis Varuna) who knows the track + Of birds that fly within the air, + And knows the ships upon the flood;[67] + Knows, too, the (god) of order firm, + The twelve months with their progeny, + And e'en which month is later born;[68] + Knows, too, the pathway of the wind, + The wide, the high, the mighty (wind), + And knows who sit above (the wind). + + (God) of firm order, Varuna + His place hath ta'en within (his) home + For lordship, he, the very strong.[69] + Thence all the things that are concealed + He looks upon, considering + Whate'er is done and to be done. + May he, the Son of Boundlessness, + The very strong, through every day + Make good our paths, prolong our life. + + Bearing a garment all of gold, + In jewels clothed, is Varuna, + And round about him sit his spies; + A god whom injurers injure not, + Nor cheaters cheat among the folk, + Nor any plotters plot against; + Who for himself 'mid (other) men + Glory unequalled gained, and gains + (Such glory) also 'mid ourselves. + + Far go my thoughts (to him), as go + The eager cows that meadows seek, + Desiring (him), the wide-eyed (god). + Together let us talk again, + Since now the offering sweet I bring, + By thee beloved, and like a priest + Thou eat'st. + + I see the wide-eyed (god): + I see his chariot on the earth, + My song with joy hath he received. + + Hear this my call, O Varuna, + Be merciful to me today, + For thee, desiring help, I yearn. + + Thou, wise one, art of everything, + The sky and earth alike, the king; + As such upon thy way give ear, + And loose from us the (threefold) bond; + The upper bond, the middle, break, + The lower, too, that we may live. + +In the portrait of such a god as this one comes very near to +monotheism. The conception of an almost solitary deity, recognized as +watcher of wrong, guardian of right, and primitive creator, approaches +more closely to unitarianism than does the idea of any physical power +in the Rig Veda. + +To the poet of the Rig Veda Varuna is the enveloping heaven;[70] that +is, in distinction from Dyaus, from whom he +differs _toto caelo_, so to speak, the invisible world, which embraces +the visible sky. His home is there where lives the Unborn, whose place +is unique, above the highest heaven.[71] + +But it is exactly this loftiness of character that should make one shy +of interpreting Varuna as being originally the god that is presented +here. Can this god, 'most august of Vedic deities,' as Bergaigne and +others have called him, have belonged as such to the earliest stratum +of Aryan belief? + +There are some twelve hymns in the Rig Veda in Varuna's honor. Of +these, one in the tenth book celebrates Indra as opposed to Varuna, +and generally it is considered late, in virtue of its content. Of the +hymns in the eighth book the second appears to be a later imitation of +the first, and the first appears, from several indications, to be of +comparatively recent origin.[72] In the seventh book (vii. 86-89) the +short final hymn contains a distinctly late trait in invoking Varuna +to cure dropsy; the one preceding this is _in majorem gloriam_ of the +poet Vasistha, fitly following the one that appears to be as new, +where not only the mysticism but the juggling with "thrice-seven," +shows the character of the hymn to be recent.[73] In the first hymn of +this book the late doctrine of inherited sin stands prominently forth +(vii. 86. 5) as an indication of the time in which it was composed. +The fourth and sixth books have no separate hymns to Varuna. In the +fifth book the position of the one hymn to Varuna is one favorable to +spurious additions, but the hymn is not otherwise obnoxious to the +criticism of lateness. Of the two hymns in the second book, the first +is addressed only indirectly to Varuna, nor is he here very prominent; +the second (ii. 28) is the only song which stands on a par with the +hymn already translated. There remain the hymns cited above from the +first, not a family-book. It is, moreover, noteworthy that in ii. 28, +apart from the ascription of general greatness, almost all that is +said of Varuna is that he is a priest, that he causes rivers to flow, +and loosens the bond of sin.[74] The finest hymn to Varuna, from a +literary point of view, is the one translated above, and it is mainly +on the basis of this hymn that the lofty character of Varuna has been +interpreted by occidental writers. To our mind this hymn belongs to +the close of the first epoch of the three which the hymns represent. +That it cannot be very early is evident from the mention of the +intercalated month, not to speak of the image of Varuna eating the +sweet oblation 'like a priest.' Its elevated language is in sharp +contrast to that of almost all the other Varuna hymns. As these are +all the hymns where Varuna is praised alone by himself, it becomes of +chief importance to study him here, and not where, as in iii. 62, iv. +41, vi. 51, 67, 68, and elsewhere, he is lauded as part of a +combination of gods (Mitra or Indra united with Varuna). In the last +book of the Rig Veda there is no hymn to Varuna,[75] a time when +pantheistic monotheism was changing into pantheism, so that, in the +last stage of the Rig Veda, Varuna is descended from the height. +Thereafter he is god and husband of waters, and punisher of secret sin +(as in ii. 28). Important in contrast to the hymn translated above is +v. 85. + + +TO VARUNA. + +"I will sing forth unto the universal king a high deep prayer, dear to +renowned Varuna, who, as a butcher a hide, has struck earth apart +(from the sky) for the sun. Varuna has extended air in trees, strength +in horses, milk in cows, and has laid wisdom in hearts; fire in water; +the sun in the sky; _soma_ in the stone. Varuna has inverted his +water-barrel and let the two worlds with the space between flow (with +rain). With this (heavenly water-barrel) he, the king of every created +thing, wets the whole world, as a rain does a meadow. He wets the +world, both earth and heaven, when he, Varuna, chooses to milk out +(rain)--and then do the mountains clothe themselves with cloud, and +even the strongest men grow weak. Yet another great and marvellous +power of the renowned spirit (Asura) will I proclaim, this, that +standing in mid-air he has measured earth with the sun, as if with a +measuring rod. (It is due to) the marvellous power of the wisest god, +which none ever resisted, that into the one confluence run the rivers, +and pour into it, and fill it not. O Varuna, loosen whatever sin we +have committed to bosom-friend, comrade, or brother; to our own house, +or to the stranger; what (we) have sinned like gamblers at play, real +(sin), or what we have not known. Make loose, as it were, all these +things, O god Varuna, and may we be dear to thee hereafter." + +In this hymn Varuna is a water-god, who stands in mid-air and directs +the rain; who, after the rain, reinstates the sun; who releases from +sin (as water does from dirt?). According to this conception it would +seem that Varuna were the 'coverer' rather than the 'encompasser.' It +might seem probable even that Varuna first stood to Dyaus as cloud and +rain and night to shining day, and that his counterpart, (Greek: +Hohyranhos), stood in the same relation to (Greek: Zehys); that were +connecte(Greek: Hohyranhos)d with (Greek: hyrheô) and Varuna with +_vari_, river, _v[=a]ri_, water.[76] + +It is possible, but it is not provable. But no interpretation of +Varuna that ignores his rainy side can be correct. And this is fully +recognized by Hillebrandt. On account of his "thousand spies," _i.e.,_ +eyes, he has been looked upon by some as exclusively a night-god. But +this is too one-sided an interpretation, and passes over the +all-important, fact that it is only in conjunction with the sun +(Mitra), where there is a strong antithesis, that the night-side of +the god is exclusively displayed. Wholly a day-god he cannot be, +because he rules night and rain. He is _par excellence_ the Asura, +and, like Ahura Mazdao, has the sun for an eye, _i.e.,_ he is heaven. +But there is no Varuna in Iranian worship and Ahura is a sectarian +specialization. Without this name may one ascribe to India what is +found in Iran?[77] It has been suggested by Bergaigne that Varuna and +Vritra, the rain-holding demon, were developments from the same idea, +one revered as a god, the other, a demon; and that the word means +'restrainer,' rather than 'encompasser.' + +From all this it will be evident that to claim an original monotheism +as still surviving in the person of Varuna, is impossible; and this is +the one point we would make. Every one must admire the fine hymn in +which he is praised, but what there is in it does not make it seem +very old, and the intercalated month is decisive evidence, for here +alone in the Rig Veda is mentioned this month, which implies the +five-year cyclus, but this belongs to the Brahmanic period (Weber, +_Vedische Beiträge_, p. 38). Every explanation of the original nature +of Varuna must take into consideration that he is a rain-god, a +day-god, and a night-god in turn, and that where he is praised in the +most elevated language the rain-side disappears, although it was +fundamental, as may be seen by comparing many passages, where Varuna +is exhorted to give rain, where his title is 'lord of streams,' his +position that of 'lord of waters.' The decrease of Varuna worship in +favor of Indra results partly from the more peaceful god of rain +appearing less admirable than the monsoon-god, who overpowers with +storm and lightning, as well as 'wets the earth.' + +The most valuable contribution to the study of Varuna is Hillebrandt's +'Varuna and Mitra.' This author has succeeded in completely +overthrowing the old error that Varuna is exclusively a night-god.[78] +Quite as definitively he proves that Varuna is not exclusively a +day-god. + +Bergaigne, on the other hand, claims an especially tenebrous character +for Varuna.[79] Much has been written on luminous deities by scholars +that fail to recognize the fact that the Hindus regard the night both +as light and as dark. But to the Vedic poet the night, star-illumined, +was bright. Even Hillebrandt speaks of "the bright heaven" of day as +"opposed to the dark night-heaven in which Varuna also shows +himself."[80] + +In the Rig Veda, as it stands, with all the different views of Varuna +side by side, Varuna is a universal encompasser, moral as well as +physical. As such his physical side is almost gone. But the conception +of him as a moral watcher and sole lord of the universe is in so sharp +contrast to the figure of the rain-god, who, like Parjanya, stands in +mid-air and upsets a water-barrel, that one must discriminate even +between the Vedic views in regard to him.[81] + +It is Varuna who lets rivers flow; with Indra he is besought not to +let his weapons fall on the sinner; wind is his breath.[82] + +On the other hand he is practically identified with the sun.[83] How +ill this last agrees with the image of a god who 'lives by the spring +of rivers,' 'covers earth as with a garment,' and 'rises like a secret +sea (in fog) to heaven'![84] Even when invoked with the sun, Mitra, +Varuna still gives rain: "To whomsoever ye two are kindly disposed +comes sweet rain from heaven; we beseech you for rain ... you, the +thunderers who go through earth and heaven" (v. 63),--a strange prayer +to be addressed to a monotheistic god of light: "Ye make the lightning +flash, ye send the rain; ye hide the sky in cloud and rain" (_ib_.). +In the hymn preceding we read: "Ye make firm heaven and earth, ye give +growth to plants, milk to cows; O ye that give rain, pour down rain!" +In the same group another short hymn declares: "They are universal +kings, who have _ghee_ (rain) in their laps; they are lords of the +rain" (v. 68). In the next hymn: "Your clouds (cows) give nourishment, +your streams are sweet." Thus the twain keep the order of the seasons +(i. 2. 7-8) and protect men by the regular return of the rainy season. +Their weapons are always lightning (above, i. 152. 2, and elsewhere). +A short invocation in a family-book gives this prayer: "O +Mitra-Varuna, wet our meadows with _ghee_; wet all places with the +sweet drink" (iii. 62. 16). + +The interpretation given above of the office of Varuna as regards the +sun's path, is supported by a verse where is made an allusion to the +time "when they release the sun's horses," _i.e_., when after two or +three months of rain the sun shines again (v. 62. 1). In another verse +one reads: "Ye direct the waters, sustenance of earth and heaven, +richly let come your rains" (viii. 25. 6). + +Now there is nothing startling in this view. In opposition to the +unsatisfactory attempts of modern scholars, it is the traditional +interpretation of Mitra and Varuna that Mitra was god of day (_i.e.,_ +the sun), and Varuna the god of night (_i.e.,_ covering),[85] while +native belief regularly attributes to him the lordship of water[86]. +The 'thousand eyes' of Varuna are the result of this view. The other +light-side of Varuna as special lord of day (excluding the all-heaven +idea with the sun as his 'eye') is elsewhere scarcely referred to, +save in late hymns and VIII. 41.[87] In conjunction with the +storm-god, Indra, the wrath-side of Varuna is further developed. The +prayer for release is from 'long darkness,' _i.e._, from death; in +other words, may the light of life be restored (II. 27. 14-15; II. 28. +7). Grassmann, who believes that in Varuna there is an early +monotheistic deity, enumerates all his offices and omits the giving of +rain from the list;[88] while Ludwig derives his name from _var_ (= +velle) and defines him as the lofty god who wills! + +Varuna's highest development ushers in the middle period of the Rig +Veda; before the rise of the later All-father, and even before the +great elevation of Indra. But when S[=u]rya and Dawn were chief, then +Varuna was chiefest. There is no monotheism in the worship of a god +who is regularly associated as one of a pair with another god. Nor is +there in Varuna any religious grandeur which, so far as it exceeds +that of other divinities, is not evolved from his old physical side. +One cannot personify heaven and write a descriptive poem about him +without becoming elevated in style, as compared with the tone of one +that praises a rain-cloud or even the more confined personality of the +sun. There is a stylistic but not a metaphysical descent from this +earlier period in the 'lords of the atmosphere,' for, as we shall +show, the elevation of Indra and Agni denotes a philosophical +conception yet more advanced than the almost monotheistic greatness +attained by Varuna. But one must find the background to this earlier +period; and in it Varuna is not monotheistic. He is the covering sky +united with the sun, or he whose covering is rain and dew. Indra +treats Varuna as Savitar treats Mitra, supplants him; and for the same +reason, because each represents the same priestly philosophy. + +In the one extant hymn to Mitra (who is Indo-Iranian) it is Mitra that +'watches men,' and 'bears earth and heaven.' He is here (iii. 59) the +kindly sun, his name (Mitra, 'friend') being frequently punned upon. + +The point of view taken by Barth deserves comment. He says:[89] "It +has sometimes been maintained that the Varuna of the hymns is a god in +a state of decadence. In this view we can by no means concur; ... an +appeal to these few hymns is enough to prove that in the consciousness +of their authors the divinity of Varuna stood still intact." If, +instead of 'still intact,' the author had said, 'on the increase, till +undermined by still later philosophical speculation,' the true +position, in our opinion, would have been given. But a distinction +must be made between decadence of greatness and decadence of +popularity. It has happened in the case of some of the Vedic inherited +gods that exactly in proportion as their popularity decreased their +greatness increased; that is to say, as they became more vague and +less individual to the folk they were expanded into wider circles of +relationship by the theosophist, and absorbed other gods' majesty.[89] +Varuna is no longer a popular god in the Rig Veda. He is already a god +of speculation, only the speculation did not go far enough to suit the +later seers of Indra-Savitar-hood. Most certainly his worship, when +compared in popularity with that of Agni and Indra, is unequal. But +this is because he is too remote to be popular. + +What made the popular gods was a union of near physical force to +please the vulgar, with philosophical mysticism to please the priest, +and Indra and Agni fulfilled the conditions, while awful, but distant, +Varuna did not. + +In stating that the great hymn to Varuna is not typical of the +earliest stage of religious belief among the Vedic Aryans, we should +add one word in explanation. Varuna's traits, as shown in other parts +of the Rig Veda, are so persistent that they must be characteristic of +his original function. It does not follow, however, that any one hymn +in which he is lauded is necessarily older than the hymn cited from +the first book. The earliest stage of religious development precedes +the entrance into the Punj[=a]b. It may even be admitted that at the +time when the Vedic Aryans became Hindus, that is, when they settled +about the Indus, Varuna was the great god we see him in the great hymn +to his honor. But while the relation of the [=A]dityas to the spirits +of Ahura in Zoroaster's system points to this, yet it is absurd to +assume this epoch as the starting point of Vedic belief. Back of this +period lies one in which Varuna was by no means a monotheistic deity, +nor even the greatest divinity among the gods. The fact, noticed by +Hillebrandt, that the Vasishtha family are the chief praisers of +Varuna, may also indicate that his special elevation was due to the +theological conceptions of one clan, rather than of the whole people, +since in the other family books he is worshipped more as one of a +pair, Varuna and Mitra, heaven and sun. + + +ADITI. + +The mother of Varuna and the luminous gods is the 'mother of kings,' +Boundlessness (_aditi_)[90] a product of priestly theosophy. Aditi +makes, perhaps, the first approach to formal pantheism in India, for +all gods, men, and things are identified with her (i. 89. 10). Seven +children of Aditi are mentioned, to whom is added an eighth (in one +hymn).[91] The chief of these, who is, _par excellence_ the [=A]ditya +(son of Aditi), is Varuna. Most of the others are divinities of the +sun (x. 72). With Varuna stands Mitra, and besides this pair are found +'the true friend' Aryaman, Savitar, Bhaga, and, later, Indra, as sun +(?). Daksha and Ança are also reckoned as [=A]dityas, and S[=u]rya is +enumerated among them as a divinity distinct from Savitar. But the +word _aditi,_ 'unbound,' is often a mere epithet, of Fire, Sky, etc. +Moreover, in one passage, at least, _aditi_ simply means 'freedom' (i. +24. 1), less boundlessness than 'un-bondage'; so, probably, in i. 185. +3, 'the gift of freedom.' Ança seems to have much the same meaning +with Bhaga, _viz.,_ the sharer, giver. Daksha may, perhaps, be the +'clever,' 'strong' one ([Greek: dexios]), abstract Strength; as +another name of the sun (?). Aditi herself (according to Müller, +Infinity; according to Hillebrandt, Eternity) is an abstraction that +is born later than her chief sons, Sun and Varuna.[92] Zarathustra +(Zoroaster, not earlier than the close of the first Vedic period) took +the seven [=A]dityas and reformed them into one monotheistic +(dualistic) Spirit (Ahura), with a circle of six moral attendants, +thereby dynamically destroying every physical conception of them. + + +DAWN. + +We have devoted considerable space to Varuna because of the +theological importance with which is invested his personality. If one +admit that a monotheistic Varuna is the _ur_-Varuna, if one see in him +a sign that the Hindus originally worshipped one universally great +superior god, whose image effaced that of all the others,[93] then the +attempt to trace any orderly development in Hindu theology may as well +be renounced; and one must imagine that this peculiar people, starting +with monotheism descended to polytheism, and then leapt again into the +conception of that Father-god whose form, in the end of the Rig Vedic +period, out-varunas Varuna as encompasser and lord of all. If, on the +other hand, one see in Varuna a god who, from the 'covering,' heaven +and cloud and rain, from earliest time has been associated with the +sun as a pair, and recognize in Varuna's loftier form the product of +that gradual elevation to which were liable all the gods at the hands +of the Hindu priests; if one see in him at this stage the highest god +which a theology, based on the worship of natural phenomena, was able +to evolve; then, for the reception of those gods who overthrew him +from his supremacy, because of their greater freedom from physical +restraints, there is opened a logical and historical path--until that +god comes who in turn follows these half-embodied ones, and stands as +the first immaterial author of the universe--and so one may walk +straight from the physical beginning of the Rig Vedic religion to its +spiritual Brahmanic end. + +We turn now to one or two phenomena-deities that were never much +tampered with by priestly speculation; their forms being still as +bright and clear as when the first Vedic worshipper, waiting to salute +the rising sun, beheld in all her beauty, and thus praised + +THE DAWN.[94] + + As comes a bride hath she approached us, gleaming; + All things that live she rouses now to action. + A fire is born that shines for human beings; + Light hath she made, and driven away the darkness. + + Wide-reaching hath she risen, to all approaching, + And shone forth clothed in garments white and glistening, + Of gold her color, fair to see her look is, + Mother of kine,[95] leader of days she gleameth. + + Bearing the gods' eye, she, the gracious maiden, + --Leading along the white and sightly charger[96] + --Aurora, now is seen, revealed in glory, + With shining guerdons unto all appearing. + + O near and dear one, light far off our foes, and + Make safe to us our kines' wide pasture-places. + Keep from us hatred; what is good, that bring us, + And send the singer wealth, O generous maiden. + + With thy best beams for us do thou beam widely, + Aurora, goddess bright, our life extending; + And food bestow, O thou all goods possessing, + Wealth, too, bestowing, kine and steeds and war-cars + + Thou whom Vasistha's[97] sons extol with praises, + Fair-born Aurora, daughter of Dyaus, the bright one, + On us bestow thou riches high and mighty, + --O all ye gods with weal forever guard us. + +In the laudation of Varuna the fancy of the poet exhausts itself in +lofty imagery, and reaches the topmost height of Vedic religious +lyric. In the praise of Dawn it descends not lower than to interweave +beauty with dignity of utterance. Nothing in religious poetry more +graceful or delicate than the Vedic Dawn-hymns has ever been written. +In the daily vision of Dawn following her sister Night the poet sees +his fairest goddess, and in his worship of her there is love and +admiration, such as is evoked by the sight of no other deity. "She +comes like a fair young maiden, awakening all to labor, with an +hundred chariots comes she, and brings the shining light; gleam forth, +O Dawn, and give us thy blessing this day; for in thee is the life of +every living creature. Even as thou hast rewarded the singers of old, +so now reward our song" (I. 48). + +The kine of Dawn are the bright clouds that, like red cattle, wander +in droves upon the horizon. Sometimes the rays of light, which stretch +across the heaven, are intended by this image, for the cattle-herding +poets employed their flocks as figures for various ends. + +The inevitable selfish pessimism of unripe reflection is also woven +into the later Dawn-hymns: "How long will it be ere this Dawn, too, +shall join the Dawns departed? Vanished are now the men that saw the +Dawns of old; we here see her now; there will follow others who will +see her hereafter; but, O Dawn, beam here thy fairest; rich in +blessings, true art thou to friend and right. Bring hither (to the +morning sacrifice) the gods" (I. 113). + +Since the metre (here ignored) of the following hymn is not all of one +model, it is probable that after the fourth verse a new hymn began, +which was distinct from the first; but the argument from metre is +unconvincing, and in any event both songs are worth citing, since they +show how varied were the images and fancies of the poets: "The Dawns +are like heroes with golden weapons; like red kine of the morning on +the field of heaven; shining they weave their webs of light, like +women active at work; food they bring to the pious worshipper. Like a +dancing girl is the Dawn adorned, and opens freely her bosom; as a cow +gives milk, as a cow comes forth from its stall, so opens she her +breast, so comes she out of the darkness (verses 1-4) ...She is the +ever new, born again and again, adorned always with the same color. As +a player conceals the dice, so keeps she concealed the days of a man; +daughter of Heaven she wakes and drives away her sister (Night). Like +kine, like the waves of a flood, with sunbeams she appears. O rich +Dawn, bring us wealth; harness thy red horses, and bring to us +success" (I. 92). The homage to Dawn is naturally divided at times +with that to the sun: "Fair shines the light of morning; the sun +awakens us to toil; along the path of order goes Dawn arrayed in +light. She extendeth herself in the east, and gleameth till she fills +the sky and earth"; and again: "Dawn is the great work of Varuna and +Mitra; through the sun is she awakened" (I. 124; III. 61. 6-7). In the +ritualistic period Dawn is still mechanically lauded, and her beams +"rise in the east like pillars of sacrifice" (IV. 51. 2); but +otherwise the imagery of the selections given above is that which is +usually employed. The 'three dawns' occasionally referred to are, as +we have shown elsewhere,[98] the three dawn-lights, white, red, and +yellow, as they are seen by both the Vedic poet and the Florentine. + +Dawn becomes common and trite after awhile, as do all the gods, and is +invoked more to give than to please. 'Wake us,' cries a later poet, +'Wake us to wealth, O Dawn; give to us, give to us; wake up, lest the +sun burn thee with his light'--a passage (V. 79) which has caused much +learned nonsense to be written on the inimical relations of Sun and +Dawn as portrayed here. The dull idea is that Dawn is lazy, and had +better get up before S[=u]rya catches her asleep. The poet is not in +the least worried because his image does not express a suitable +relationship between the dawn and the sun, nor need others be +disturbed at it. The hymn is late, and only important in showing the +new carelessness as regards the old gods.[99] Some other traits appear +in VII. 75. 1 ff., where Dawn is 'queen of the world,' and banishes +the _druhs_, or evil spirit. She here is daughter of Heaven, and wife +of the sun (4, 5); _ib_. 76. 1, she is the eye of the world; and _ib_ +81. 4, she is invoked as 'mother.' + +There is, at times, so close a resemblance between Dawn-hymns and +Sun-hymns that the imagery employed in one is used in the other. Thus +the hymn VI. 64 begins: "The beams of Dawn have arisen, shining as +shine the waters' gleaming waves. She makes good paths, ... she +banishes darkness as a warrior drives away a foe (so of the sun, IV. +13. 2; X. 37. 4; 170. 2). Beautiful are thy paths upon the mountains, +and across the waters thou shinest, self-gleaming" (also of the sun). +With the last expression may be compared that in VI. 65. 5: "Dawn, +whose seat is upon the hills." + +Dawn is intimately connected not only with Agni but with the Twin +Horsemen, the Açvins (equites)--if not so intimately connected as is +Helen with the Dioskouroi, who, _pace_ Pischel, are the Açvins of +Hellas. This relationship is more emphasized in the hymns to the +latter gods, but occasionally occurs in Dawn-hymns, of which another +is here translated in full. + + TO DAWN (IV. 52). + + The Daughter of Heaven, this beauteous maid, + Resplendent leaves her sister (Night), + And now before (our sight) appears. + + Red glows she like a shining mare, + Mother of kine, who timely comes-- + The Horsemen's friend Aurora is. + + Both friend art thou of the Horsemen twain, + And mother art thou of the kine, + And thou, Aurora, rulest wealth. + + We wake thee with our praise as one + Who foes removes; such thought is ours, + O thou that art possesst of joy. + + Thy radiant beams beneficent + Like herds of cattle now appear; + Aurora fills the wide expanse. + + With light hast thou the dark removed, + Filling (the world), O brilliant one. + Aurora, help us as thou us'st. + + With rays thou stretchest through the heaven + And through the fair wide space between, + O Dawn, with thy refulgent light. + +It was seen that Savitar (P[=u]shan) is the rising and setting sun. +So, antithetic to Dawn, stands the Abendroth with her sister, Night. +This last, generally, as in the hymn just translated, is lauded only +in connection with Dawn, and for herself alone gets but one hymn, and +that is not in a family-book. She is to be regarded, therefore, less +as a goddess of the pantheon than as a quasi-goddess, the result of a +poet's meditative imagination, rather than one of the folk's primitive +objects of adoration; somewhat as the English poets personify "Ye +clouds, that far above me float and pause, ye ocean-waves ... ye +woods, that listen to the night-bird's singing, O ye loud waves, and O +ye forests high, and O ye clouds that far above me soared; thou rising +sun, thou blue rejoicing sky!"--and as in Greek poetry, that which +before has been conceived of vaguely as divine suddenly is invested +with a divine personality. The later poet exalts these aspects of +nature, and endows those that were before only half recognized with a +little special praise. So, whereas Night was divine at first merely as +the sister of divine Dawn, in the tenth book one poet thus gives her +praise: + + + HYMN TO NIGHT (X. 127). + + Night, shining goddess, comes, who now + Looks out afar with many eyes, + And putteth all her beauties on. + + Immortal shining goddess, she + The depths and heights alike hath filled, + And drives with light the dark away. + + To me she comes, adorned well, + A darkness black now sightly made; + Pay then thy debt, O Dawn, and go.[100] + + The bright one coming put aside + Her sister Dawn (the sunset light), + And lo! the darkness hastes away. + + So (kind art thou) to us; at whose + Appearing we retire to rest, + As birds fly homeward to the tree. + + To rest are come the throngs of men; + To rest, the beasts; to rest, the birds; + And e'en the greedy eagles rest. + + Keep off the she-wolf and the wolf, + Keep off the thief, O billowy Night, + Be thou to us a saviour now. + + To thee, O Night, as 'twere an herd, + To a conqueror (brought), bring I an hymn + Daughter of Heaven, accept (the gift).[101] + + +THE AÇVINS. + +The Açvins who are, as was said above, the 'Horsemen,' parallel to the +Greek Dioskouroi, are twins, sons of Dyaus, husbands, perhaps brothers +of the Dawn. They have been variously 'interpreted,' yet in point of +fact one knows no more now what was the original conception of the +twain than was known before Occidental scholars began to study +them.[102] Even the ancients made mere guesses: the Açvins came before +the Dawn, and are so-called because they ride on horses _(açva, +equos)_ they represent either Heaven and Earth, or Day and Night, or +Sun and Moon, or two earthly kings--such is the unsatisfactory +information given by the Hindus themselves.[103] + +Much the same language with that in the Dawn-hymns is naturally +employed in praising the Twin Brothers. They, like the Dioskouroi, are +said to have been incorporated gradually into the pantheon, on an +equality with the other gods,[104] not because they were at first +human beings, but because they, like Night, were adjuncts of Dawn, and +got their divinity through her as leader.[105] In the last book of the +Rig Veda they are the sons of Sarany[=u] and Vivasvant, but it is not +certain whether Sarany[=u] means dawn or not; in the first book they +are born of the flood (in the sky).[106] They are sons of Dyaus, but +this, too, only in the last and first books, while in the latter they +are separated once, so that only one is called the Son of the +Sky.[107] They follow Dawn 'like men' (VIII. 5. 2) and are in +Brahmanic literature the 'youngest of the gods.'[108] + +The twin gods are the physicians of heaven, while to men they bring +all medicines and help in times of danger. They were apparently at +first only 'wonder-workers,' for the original legends seem to have +been few. Yet the striking similarity in these aspects with the +brothers of Helen must offset the fact that so much in connection with +them seems to have been added in books one and ten. They restore the +blind and decrepit, impart strength and speed, and give the power and +seed of life; even causing waters to flow, fire to burn, and trees to +grow. As such they assist lovers and aid in producing offspring. + +The Açvins are brilliantly described, Their bird-drawn chariot and all +its appurtenances are of gold; they are swift as thought, agile, +young, and beautiful. Thrice they come to the sacrifice, morning, +noon, and eve; at the yoking of their car, the dawn is born. When the +'banner before dawn' appears, the invocation to the Açvins begins; +they 'accompany dawn.' Some variation of fancy is naturally to be +looked for. Thus, though, as said above, Dawn is born at the Açvins +yoking, yet Dawn is herself invoked to wake the Açvins; while again +the sun starts their chariot before Dawn; and as sons of Zeus they are +invoked "when darkness still stands among the shining clouds +(cows)."[109] + +Husbands or brothers or children of Dawn, the Horsemen are also +S[=u]ry[=a]'s husbands, and she is the sun's daughter (Dawn?) or the +sun as female. But this myth is not without contradictions, for +S[=u]ry[=a] elsewhere weds Soma, and the Açvins are the bridegroom's +friends; whom P[=u]shan chose on this occasion as his parents; he who +(unless one with Soma) was the prior bridegroom of the same +much-married damsel.[110] + +The current explanation of the Açvins is that they represent two +periods between darkness and dawn, the darker period being nearer +night, the other nearer day. But they probably, as inseparable twins, +are the twinlights or twilight, before dawn, half dark and half +bright. In this light it may well be said of them that one alone is +the son of bright Dyaus, that both wed Dawn, or are her brothers. They +always come together. Their duality represents, then, not successive +stages but one stage in day's approach, when light is dark and dark is +light. In comparing the Açvins to other pairs[111] this dual nature is +frequently referred to; but no less is there a triality in connection +with them which often in describing them has been ignored. This is +that threefold light which opens day; and, as in many cases they join +with Dawn, so their color is inseparable. Strictly speaking, the break +of red is the dawn and the white and yellow lights precede this[112]. +Thus in V. 73. 5: "Red birds flew round you as S[=u]ry[=a] stepped +upon your chariot"; so that it is quite impossible, in accordance with +the poets themselves, to limit the Açvins to the twilight. They are a +variegated growth from a black and white seed. The chief function of +the Açvins, as originally conceived, was the finding and restoring of +vanished light. Hence they are invoked as finders and aid-gods in +general (the myths are given in Myriantheus). + +Some very amusing and some silly legends have been collected and told +by the Vedic poets in regard to the preservation and resuscitating +power of the Açvins--how an old man was rejuvenated by them (this is +also done by the three Ribhus, master-workmen of the gods); how brides +are provided by them; how they rescued Bhujyu and others from the +dangers of the deep (as in the classical legends); how they replaced a +woman's leg with an iron one; restored a saint's eye-sight; drew a +seer out of a well, etc, etc. Many scholars follow Bergaigne in +imagining all these miracles to be anthropomorphized forms of solar +phenomena, the healing of the blind representing the bringing out of +the sun from darkness, etc. To us such interpretation often seems +fatuous. No less unconvincing is the claim that one of the Açvins +represents the fire of heaven and the other the fire of the altar. The +Twins are called _n[=a]saty[=a],_ the 'savers' (or 'not untrue +ones[113]'); explained by some as meaning 'gods with good noses[114].' + + +HYMN TO THE HORSEMEN. + +Whether ye rest on far-extended earth, or on the sea in house upon it +made, 'come hither thence, O ye that ride the steeds. If ever for man +ye mix the sacrifice, then notice now the Kanva [poet who sings]. I +call upon the gods [Indra, Vishnu[115]] and the swift-going +Horsemen[116]. These Horsemen I call now that they work wonders, to +seize the works (of sacrifice), whose friendship is preëminently ours, +and relationship among all the gods; in reference to whom arise +sacrifices ... If, to-day, O Horsemen, West or East ye stand, ye of +good steeds, whether at Druhyu's, Anu's, Turvaça's, or Yadu's, I call +ye; come to me. If ye fly in the air, O givers of great joy; or if +through the two worlds; or if, according to your pleasure, ye mount +the car,--thence come hither, O Horsemen. + +From the hymn preceding this, the following verses[117]: + + Whatever manliness is in the aether, in the sky, and among + the five peoples, grant us that, O Horsemen ... this hot + _soma_-drink of yours with laudation is poured out; this + _soma_ sweet through which ye discovered Vritra ... Ascend + the swift-rolling chariot, O Horsemen; hither let these my + praises bring ye, like a cloud ... Come as guardians of + homes; guardians of our bodies. Come to the house for (to + give) children and offspring. Whether ye ride on the same + car with Indra, or be in the same house with the Wind; + whether united with the Sons of Boundlessness or the Ribhus, + or stand on Vishnu's wide steps (come to us). This is the + best help of the horsemen, if to-day I should entice them to + get booty, or call them as my strength to conquer in + battle.... Whatever medicine (ye have) far or near, with + this now, O wise ones, grant protection.... Awake, O Dawn, + the Horsemen, goddess, kind and great.... When, O Dawn, thou + goest in light and shinest with the Sun, then hither comes + the Horsemen's chariot, to the house men have to protect. + When the swollen _soma_-stalks are milked like cows with + udders, and when the choric songs are sung, then they that + adore the Horsemen are preëminent.... + +Here the Açvins are associated with Indra, and even find the evil +demon; but, probably, at this stage Indra is more than god of storms. + +Some of the expanded myths and legends of the Açvins may be found in +i. 118, 119, 158; x. 40. Here follows one with legends in moderate +number (vii. 71): + + Before the Dawn her sister, Night, withdraweth; + The black one leaves the ruddy one a pathway. + Ye that have kine and horses, you invoke we; + By day, at night, keep far from us your arrow. + + Come hither, now, and meet the pious mortal, + And on your car, O Horsemen, bring him good things; + Keep off from us the dry destroying sickness, + By day, at night, O sweetest pair, protect us. + + Your chariot may the joy-desiring chargers, + The virile stallions, bring at Dawn's first coming; + That car whose reins are rays, and wealth upon it; + Come with the steeds that keep the season's order. + + Upon the car, three-seated, full of riches, + The helping car, that has a path all golden, + On this approach, O lords of heroes, true ones, + Let this food-bringing car of yours approach us. + + Ye freed from his old age the man Cyav[=a]na; + Ye brought and gave the charger swift to Pedu; + Ye two from darkness' anguish rescued Atri; + Ye set J[a=]husha down, released from fetters.[118] + + This prayer, O Horsemen, and this song is uttered; + Accept the skilful[sic] poem, manly heroes. + These prayers, to you belonging, have ascended, + O all ye gods protect us aye with blessings![119] + +The sweets which the Açvins bring are either on their chariot, or, as +is often related, in a bag; or they burst forth from the hoof of their +steed. Pegasus' spring in Helicon has been compared with this. Their +vehicles are variously pictured as birds, horses, ships, etc. It is to +be noticed that in no one of their attributes are the Açvins unique. +Other gods bring sweets, help, protect, give offspring, give healing +medicines, and, in short, do all that the Açvins do. But, as Bergaigne +points out, they do all this pacifically, while Indra, who performs +some of their wonders, does so by storm. He protects by not injuring, +and helps by destroying foes. Yet is this again true only in general, +and the lines between warlike, peaceful, and 'sovereign' gods are +often crossed. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Such for instance as the hymn to the Açvins, + RV. ii. 39. Compare verses 3-4: 'Come (ye pair of Açvins) + like two horns; like two hoofs; like two geese; like two + wheels; like two ships; like two spans'; etc. This is the + content of the whole hymn.] + + [Footnote 2: _Deva_ is 'shining' (deus), and _S[=u]rya_ + (sol, [Greek: áelios]) means the same.] + + [Footnote 3: Let the reader note at the outset that there is + scarcely an activity considered as divine which does not + belong to several gods (see below).] + + [Footnote 4: From _su, sav_, enliven, beget, etc. In RV. iv. + 53.6 and vii, 63.2, _pra-savitar_.] + + [Footnote 5: RV. VII. 66. 14-15; compare X. 178. 1. In the + notes immediately following the numbers all refer to the Rig + Veda.] + + [Footnote 6: V. 47, 3; compare vs. 7, and X. 189. 1-2.] + + [Footnote 7: Compare X. 177. 1.] + + [Footnote 8: X. 37. 9.] + + [Footnote 9: V. 63. 7. Varuna and Mitra set the sun's car in + heaven.] + + [Footnote 10: 1 IV. 13. 2-5; X. 37, 4; 85, 1. But _ib_. 149. + 1. Savitar holds the sky 'without support.'] + + [Footnote 11: VII 63.1; I. 115.11; X. 37. 1.] + + [Footnote 12: III. 61.4; VII. 63. 3.] + + [Footnote 13: VII 78.3.] + + [Footnote 14: I. 56,4; IX. 84. 2; Compare I. 92. 11; 115, 2; + 123. 10-12. V. 44. 7, and perhaps 47.6, are late. VII. 75. + 5, is an exception (or late).] + + [Footnote 15: _La Religion Védique_, I.6; II. 2.] + + [Footnote 16: Ehni, _Yama,_ p. 134.] + + [Footnote 17: RV., IV. 54. 2. Here the sun gives life even + to the gods.] + + [Footnote 18: Ten hundred and twenty-eight hymns are + contained in the 'Rig Veda Collection.'] + + [Footnote 19: IV. 14.] + + [Footnote 20: X. 37; 158; 170; 177; 189. Each has its own + mark of lateness. In 37, the dream; in 158, the triad; in + 170, the sun as _asurah[=a]_; in 177, the mystic tone and + the bird-sun (compare Garutman, I. 164; X. 149); in 189, the + thirty stations.] + + [Footnote 21: See Whitney in _Colebrooke's Essays_, revised + edition, ii. p. 111.] + + [Footnote 22: iv. 54] + + [Footnote 23: Two 'laps' below, besides that above, the word + meaning 'middle' but also 'under-place.' The explanation of + this much-disputed passage will be found by comparing I. + 154. 5 and VII. 99. 1. The sun's three places are where he + appears on both horizons and in the zenith. The last is the + abode of the dead where Yama reigns. Compare IV. 53. The + bracketed verses are probably a late puzzle attached to the + word 'lap' of the preceding verse.] + + [Footnote 24: Doubtful.] + + [Footnote 25: The Spirit, later of evil spirits, demons (as + above, the _asurah[=á]_). Compare Ahura.] + + [Footnote 26: A numerical conception not paralleled in the + Rig Veda, though mountains are called protuberances + ('elevations') in other places.] + + [Footnote 27: The last stanza is in the metre of the first; + two more follow without significant additions.] + + [Footnote 28: The texts are translated by Muir, OST, V. p. + 171 ff.] + + [Footnote 29: _La Religion Védique_, II. p. 428. Compare + Hillebrandt, _Soma_ p. 456.] + + [Footnote 30: I. 138. 4.] + + [Footnote 31: VI. 56. 1.] + + [Footnote 32: In I. 23. 13-15 P[=u]shan is said to bring + king _(soma),_ "whom he found like a lost herd of cattle." + The fragment is late if, as is probable, the 'six' of vs. 15 + are the six seasons. Compare VI. 54. 5, "may P[=u]shan go + after our kine."] + + [Footnote 33: Compare VI. 54.] + + [Footnote 34: He is the 'son of freeing,' from darkness? VI. + 55. 1.] + + [Footnote 35: IV. 57. 7.] + + [Footnote 36: VI. 17. 11; 48. 11 ff.; IV. 30. 24 ff. He is + called like a war-god with the Maruts in VI. 48.] + + [Footnote 37: So, too, Bhaga is Dawn's brother, I. 123. 5. + P[=u]shan is Indra's brother in VI. 55. 5. Gubernatis + interprets P[=u]shan as 'the setting sun.'] + + [Footnote 38: Contrast I. 42, and X. 26 (with 1. 138. 1). In + the first hymn P[=u]shan leads the way and drives away + danger, wolves, thieves, and helps to booty and pasturage. + In the last he is a war-god, who helps in battle, a + 'far-ruler,' embracing the thoughts of all (as in III. 62. + 9).] + + [Footnote 39: For the traits just cited compare IV. 57. 7; + VI. 17. 11; 48. 15; 53; 55; 56. I-3; 57. 3-4; 58. 2-4; II. + 40; X. 17. 3 ff.; 26. 3-8; I. 23. 14; all of I. 42, and 138; + VIII. 4. 15-18; III. 57. 2. In X. 17. 4, Savitar, too, + guides the souls of the dead.] + + [Footnote 40: That is to say, one hymn is addressed to Bhaga + with various other gods, VII. 41. Here he seems to be + personified good-luck ("of whom even the king says,' I would + have thee,'" vs. 2). In Ihe Br[=a]hmanas 'Bhaga is blind,' + which applies better to Fortune than to the Sun.] + + [Footnote 41: The hymn is sung before setting out on a + forray for cattle. Let one observe how unsupported is + the assumption of the ritualists as applied to this hymn, + that it must have been "composed for rubrication."] + + [Footnote 42: After Muir, V. p. 178. The clouds and cattle + are both called _gàs_ 'wanderers,' which helped in the + poetic identification of the two.] + + [Footnote 43: Compare IX. 97. 55, "Thou art Bhaga, giver of + gifts."] + + [Footnote 44: _Bhágam bhakshi_! Compare baksheesh. The word + as 'god' is both Avestan, _bagha_, and Slavic, _bogu_ (also + meaning 'rich'). It may be an epithet of other gods also, + and here it means only luck.] + + [Footnote 45: Literally 'possessed of _bhaga,' i.e_., + wealth.] + + [Footnote 46: May Bhaga be _bhágav[=a]n, i.e_., a true + _bhaga_-holder. Here and below a pun on the name (as + above).] + + [Footnote 47: Mythical being, possibly the sun-horse. + According to Pischel a real earthly racer.] + + [Footnote 48: I.22.17, etc; 154 ff.; VII. too.] + + [Footnote 49: VII. 100. 5-6. Vishnu (may be the epithet of + Indra in I.61.7) means winner (?),] + + [Footnote 50: VI. 69; VII. 99. But Vishnu is ordered about + by Indra (IV. 18. 11; VIII. 89. 12).] + + [Footnote 51: I.154. 5. In II. 1. 3, Vishnu is one with Fire + (Agni).] + + [Footnote 52: Thus, for example, Vishnu in the Hindu + trinity, the separate worship of the sun in modern sects, + and in the cult of the hill-men.] + + [Footnote 53: X. 149.] + + [Footnote 54: II.41.20.] + + [Footnote 55: vi.70.] + + [Footnote 56: I.160.4; IV. 56.1-3; VII. 53. 2.] + + [Footnote 57: I. 185. 8. _(J[=a]spati)._ The expiatory power + of the hymn occurs again in I. 159.] + + [Footnote 58: I. 185. 1.] + + [Footnote 59: IV. 56. 7.] + + [Footnote 60: I. 22. 15.] + + [Footnote 61: X. 18. 10 (or: "like a wool-soft maiden").] + + [Footnote 62: The lightning. In I. 31. 4, 10 "(Father) Fire + makes Dyaus bellow" like "a bull" (v. 36. 5). Dyaus "roars" + in vi. 72. 3. Nowhere else is he a thunderer.] + + [Footnote 63: 1. 24. 7-8. The change in metaphor is not + unusual.] + + [Footnote 64: This word means either order or orders (law); + literally the 'way' or 'course.'] + + [Footnote 65: 1. 24 (epitomized).] + + [Footnote 66: Perhaps better with Ludwig "of (thee) in + anger, of (thee) incensed."] + + [Footnote 67: Or: "Being (himself) in the (heavenly) flood + he knows the ships." (Ludwig.)] + + [Footnote 68: An intercalated month is meant (not the + primitive 'twelve days').] + + [Footnote 69: Or 'very wise,' of mental strength.] + + [Footnote 70: VIII. 41. 7; VII. 82. 6 (Bergaigne); X. 132. + 4.] + + [Footnote 71: Compare Bergaigne, _La Religion Védique_, iii. + pp. 116-118.] + + [Footnote 72: The insistence on the holy seven, the 'secret + names' of dawn, the confusion of Varuna with Trita. Compare, + also, the refrain, viii. 39-42. For X. 124, see below.] + + [Footnote 73: Compare Hillebrandt's Varuna and Mitra, p. 5; + and see our essay on the Holy Numbers of the Rig Veda (in + the _Oriental Studies_).] + + [Footnote 74: Varuna's forgiving of sins may be explained as + a washing out of sin, just as fire burns it out, and so + loosens therewith the imagined bond, V. 2. 7. Thus, quite + apart from Varuna in a hymn addressed to the 'Waters,' is + found the prayer, "O waters, carry off whatever sin is in me + ... and untruth," I. 23. 22.] + + [Footnote 75: But as in iv. 42, so in x. 124 he shares glory + with Indra.] + + [Footnote 76: Later, Varuna's water-office is his only + physical side. Compare [=A]it. [=A]r. II. I. 7. 7, 'water + and Varuna, children of mind.' Compare with _v[=a]ri, oùrá_ + = _v[=a]ra_, and _var[=i]_, an old word for rivers, + _var[s.]_ (= _var_ + _s_), 'rain.' The etymology is very + doubtful on account of the number of _var_-roots. Perhaps + dew _(ersa)_ and rain first as 'coverer.' Even _var = vas_ + 'shine,' has been suggested (ZDMG. XXII. 603).] + + [Footnote 77: The old comparison of _Varena cathrugaosha_ + turns out to be "the town of Varna with four gates"!] + + [Footnote 78: In _India: What Can it Teach us_, pp. 197, + 200, Müller tacitly recognizes in the physical Varuna only + the 'starry' night-side.] + + [Footnote 79: _Loc. cit._, III. 119. Bergaigne admits Varuna + as god of waters, but sees in him identity with Vritra a + 'restrainer of waters.' He thinks the 'luminous side' of + Varuna to be antique also (III. 117-119). Varuna's cord, + according to Bergaigne, comes from 'tying up' the waters; + 'night's fetters,' according to Hillebrandt.] + + [Footnote 80: _Loc. cit._, p. 13.] + + [Footnote 81: One of the chief objections to Bergaigne's + conception of Varuna as restrainer is that it does not + explain the antique union with Mitra.] + + [Footnote 82: II. 28. 4, 7; VII. 82. 1, 2; 87.2] + + [Footnote 83: vii. 87. 6; 88. 2.] + + [Footnote 84: viii. 41. 2, 7, 8. So Varuna gives _soma_, + rain. As a rain-god he surpasses Dyaus, who, ultimately, is + also a rain-god (above), as in Greece.] + + [Footnote 85: Compare Çat. Br. V. 2.5.17, "whatever is dark + is Varuna's."] + + [Footnote 86: In II. 38. 8 _varuna_ means 'fish,' and 'water + in I.184. 3.] + + [Footnote 87: V. 62. I, 8; 64.7; 61. 5; 65. 2; 67. 2; 69.1; + VI. 51.1; 67. 5. In VIII. 47.11 the [=A]dityas are + themselves spies.] + + [Footnote 88: Introduction to Grassmann, II. 27; VI. 42. + Lex. s. v.] + + [Footnote 89: _Religions of India,_ p. 17.] + + [Footnote 90: The Rik knows, also, a Diti, but merely as + antithesls to Aditi--the 'confined and unconfined.' Aditi is + prayed to (for protection and to remove sin) in sporadic + verses of several hymns addressed to other gods, but she has + no hymn.] + + [Footnote 91: Müller (_loc. cit._, below) thinks that the + 'sons of Aditi' were first eight and were then reduced to + seven, in which opinion as in his whole interpretation of + Aditi as a primitive dawn-infinity we regret that we cannot + agree with him.] + + [Footnote 92: See Hillebrandt, _Die Göttin Aditi_; and + Müller, SBE, xxxii., p. 241, 252.] + + [Footnote 93: That is to say, if one believe that the + 'primitive Aryans' were inoculated with Zoroaster's + teaching. This is the sort of Varuna that Koth believes to + have existed among the aboriginal Aryan tribes (above, p. + 13, note 2).] + + [Footnote 94: VII. 77.] + + [Footnote 95: Clouds.] + + [Footnote 96: The sun.] + + [Footnote 97: The priest to whom, and to whose family, is + ascribed the seventh book.] + + [Footnote 98: JAOS., XV. 270.] + + [Footnote 99: Much theosophy, and even history (!), has been + read into II. 15, and IV. 30, where poets speak of Indra + slaying Dawn; but there is nothing remarkable in these + passages. Poetry is not creed. The monsoon (here Indra) does + away with dawns for a time, and that is what the poet says + in his own way.] + + [Footnote 100: Transferred by Roth from the penultimate + position where it stands in the original. Dawn here pays + Night for the latter's malutinal withdrawing by withdrawing + herself. Strictly speaking, the Dawn is, of course, the + sunset light conceived of as identical with that preceding + the sunrise ([Greek: usas, hêôs], 'east' as 'glow').] + + [Footnote 101: Late as seems this hymn to be, it is + interesting in revealing the fact that wolves (not tigers or + panthers) are the poet's most dreaded foes of night. It + must, therefore have been composed in the northlands, where + wolves are the herdsman's worst enemies.] + + [Footnote 102: Myriantheus, _Die Açvins_; Muir, OST. v. + p.234; Bergaigne, _Religion Védique,_ II. p. 431; Müller, + _Lectures_, 2d series, p. 508; Weber, _Ind. St_. v. p. 234. + S[=a]yana on I. 180. 2, interprets the 'sister of the + Açvins' as Dawn.] + + [Footnote 103: Muir, _loc. cit_. Weber regards them as the + (stars) Gemini.] + + [Footnote 104: Weber, however, thinks that Dawn and Açvins + are equally old divinities, the oldest Hindu divinities in + his estimation.] + + [Footnote 105: In the Epic (see below) they are called the + lowest caste of gods (Ç[=u]dras).] + + [Footnote 106: X. 17. 2; I. 46. 2.] + + [Footnote 107: I. 181. 4 (Roth, ZDMG. IV. 425).] + + [Footnote 108: T[=a]itt. S. VII. 2. 7. 2; Muir, _loc. cit_. + p. 235.] + + [Footnote 109: vii. 67. 2; viii. 5. 2; x. 39. 12; viii. 9. + 17; i. 34. 10; x. 61. 4. Muir, _loc. cit._ 238-9. Compare + _ib_. 234, 256.] + + [Footnote 110: Muir, _loc. cit_. p. 237. RV. vi. 58. 4; x. + 85. 9ff.] + + [Footnote 111: They are compared to two ships, two birds, + etc.] + + [Footnote 112: In _Çat. Br_. V. 5. 4. it to the Açvins a + red-white goat is sacrificed, because 'Açvins are + red-white.'] + + [Footnote 113: Perhaps best with Brannhofer, 'the savers' + from _nas_ as in _nasjan_ (AG. p. 99).] + + [Footnote 114: _La Religion Védique_, II. p. 434. That + _n[=a]snya_ means 'with good noses' is an epic notion, + _n[=a]satyadasr[=a]u sunas[=a]u,_ Mbh[=a]. I. 3. 58, and for + this reason, if for no other (though idea is older), the + etymology is probably false! The epithet is also Iranian. + Twinned and especially paired gods are characteristic of the + Rig Veda. Thus Yama and Yam[=i] are twins; and of pairs + Indra-Agni, Indra-V[=a]yu, besides the older Mitra-Varuna, + Heaven-Earth, are common.] + + [Footnote 115: Perhaps to be omitted.] + + [Footnote 116: _Pischel_, Ved. St. I. p. 48. As swift-going + gods they are called 'Indra-like.'] + + [Footnote 117: VIII. 9 and 10.] + + [Footnote 118: Doubtful] + + [Footnote 119: The last verse is not peculiar to this hymn, + but is the sign of the book (family) in which it was + composed.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE RIG VEDA (CONTINUED).--THE MIDDLE GODS. + + +Only one of the great atmospheric deities, the gods that preëminently +govern the middle sphere between sky and earth, can claim an Aryan +lineage. One of the minor gods of the same sphere, the ancient +rain-god, also has this antique dignity, but in his case the dignity +already is impaired by the strength of a new and greater rival. In the +case of the wind-god, on the other hand, there is preserved a deity +who was one of the primitive pantheon, belonging, perhaps, not only to +the Iranians, but to the Teutons, for V[=a]ta, Wind, may be the +Scandinavian Woden. The later mythologists on Indian soil make a +distinction between V[=a]ta, wind, and V[=a]yu (from the same root; as +in German _wehen_) and in this distinction one discovers that the old +V[=a]ta, who must have been once _the_ wind-god, is now reduced to +physical (though sentient) wind, while the newer name represents the +higher side of wind as a power lying back of phenomena; and it is this +latter conception alone that is utilized in the formation of the Vedic +triad of wind, fire, and sun. In short, in the use and application of +the two names, there is an exact parallel to the double terminology +employed to designate the sun as S[=u]rya and Savitar. Just as +S[=u]rya is the older [Greek: hêlios] and sol (acknowledged as a god, +yet palpably the physical red body in the sky) contrasted with the +interpretation which, by a newer name (Savitar), seeks to +differentiate the (sentient) physical from the spiritual, so is +V[=a]ta, Woden, replaced and lowered by the loftier conception of +V[=a]yu. But, again, just as, when the conception of Savitar is +formed, the spiritualizing tendency reverts to S[=u]rya, and makes of +him, too, a figure reclothed in the more modern garb of speech, which +is invented for Savitar alone; so the retroactive theosophic fancy, +after creating V[=a]yu as a divine power underlying phenomenal +V[=a]ta, reinvests V[=a]ta also with the garments of V[=a]yu. Thus, +finally, the two, who are the result of intellectual differentiation, +are again united from a new point of view, and S[=u]rya or Savitar, +V[=a]yu or V[=a]ta, are indifferently used to express respectively the +whole completed interpretation of the divinity, which is now visible +and invisible, sun and sun-god, wind and wind-god. In these pairs +there is, as it were, a perspective of Hindu theosophy, and one can +trace the god, as a spiritual entity including the physical, back to +the physical prototype that once was worshipped as such alone. + +In the Rig Veda there are three complete hymns to Wind, none of these +being in the family books. In x. 186, the poet calls on Wind to bring +health to the worshipper, and to prolong his life. He addresses Wind +as 'father and brother and friend,' asking the power that blows to +bring him ambrosia, of which Wind has a store. These are rather pretty +verses without special theological intent, addressed more to Wind as +such than to a spiritual power. The other hymn from the same book is +directed to V[=a]ta also, not to V[=a]yu, and though it is loftier in +tone and even speaks of V[=a]ta as the soul of the gods, yet is it +evident that no consistent mythology has worked upon the purely poetic +phraseology, which is occupied merely with describing the rushing of a +mighty wind (x. 168). Nevertheless, V[=a]ta is worshipped, as is +V[=a]yu, with oblations. + + + HYMN TO WIND (V[=a]ta). + + Now V[=a]ta's chariot's greatness! Breaking goes it, + And thundering is its noise; to heaven it touches, + Goes o'er the earth, cloud[1] making, dust up-rearing; + Then rush together all the forms of V[=a]ta; + To him they come as women to a meeting. + With them conjoint, on the same chariot going, + Is born the god, the king of all creation. + Ne'er sleepeth he when, on his pathway wandering, + He goes through air. The friend is he of waters; + First-born and holy,--where was he created, + And whence arose he? Spirit of gods is V[=a]ta, + Source of creation, goeth where he listeth; + Whose sound is heard, but not his form. This V[=a]ta + Let us with our oblations duly honor. + +In times later than the Rig Veda, V[=a]yu interchanges with Indra as +representative of the middle sphere; and in the Rig Veda all the hymns +of the family books associate him with Indra (vii. 90-92; iv. 47-48). +In the first book he is associated thus in the second hymn; while, ib. +134, he has the only remaining complete hymn, though fragments of +songs occasionally are found. All of these hymns except the first two +simply invite V[=a]yu to come with Indra to the sacrifice, It is +V[=a]yu who with Indra obtains the first drink of soma (i. 134. 6). He +is spoken of as the artificer's, Tvashtar's, son-in-law, but the +allusion is unexplained (viii. 26. 22); he in turn begets the +storm-gods (i. 134. 4). + +With V[=a]yu is joined Indra, one of the popular gods. These +divinities, which are partly of the middle and partly of the lower +sphere, may be called the popular gods, yet were the title 'new gods' +neither wholly amiss nor quite correct. For, though the popular +deities in general, when compared with many for whom a greater +antiquity may be claimed, such as the Sun, Varuna, Dyaus, etc., are of +more recent growth in dignity, yet there remains a considerable number +of divinities, the hymns in whose honor, dating from the latest +period, seem to show that the power they celebrate had been but lately +admitted into the category of those gods that deserved special +worship. Consequently new gods would be a misleading term, +as it should be applied to the plainer products of theological +speculation and abstraction rather than to Indra and his peers, not to +speak of those newest pantheistic gods, as yet unknown. The +designation popular must be understood, then, to apply to the gods +most frequently, most enthusiastically revered (for in a stricter +sense the sun was also a popular god); and reference is had in using +this word to the greater power and influence of these gods, which is +indicated by the fact that the hymns to Agni and Indra precede all +others in the family books, while the Soma-hymns are collected for the +most part into one whole book by themselves. + +But there is another factor that necessitates a division between the +divinities of sun and heaven and the atmospheric and earthly gods +which are honored so greatly; and this factor is explanatory of the +popularity of these gods. In the case of the older divinities it is +the spiritualization of a sole material appearance that is revered; in +the case of the popular gods, the material phenomenon is reduced to a +minimum, the spirituality behind the phenomenon is exalted, and that +spirituality stands not in and for itself, but as a part of a union of +spiritualities. Applying this test to the earlier gods the union will +be found to be lacking. The sun's spiritual power is united with +Indra's, but the sun is as much a physical phenomenon as a +spirituality, and always remains so. On the other hand, the equation +of Varunic power with Indraic never amalgamated the two; and these are +the best instances that can be chosen of the older gods. For in the +case of others it is self-evident. Dyaus and Dawn are but material +phenomena, slightly spiritualized, but not joined with the +spirit-power of others. + +Many have been the vain attempts to go behind the returns of Vedic +hymnology and reduce Indra, Agni, and Soma to terms of a purely +naturalistic religion. It cannot be done. Indra is neither sun, +lightning, nor storm; Agni is neither hearth-fire nor celestial fire; +Soma is neither planet nor moon. + +Each is the transient manifestation of a spirituality lying behind and +extending beyond this manifestation. Here alone is the latch-key of +the newer, more popular religion. Not merely because Indra was a +'warrior god,' but because Indra and Fire were one; because of the +mystery, not because of the appearance, was he made great at the hands +of the priests. It is true, as has been said above, that the idol of +the warriors was magnified because he was such; but the true cause of +the greatness ascribed to him in the hymns lay in the secret of his +nature, as it was lauded by the priest, not in his form, as it was +seen by the multitude. Neither came first, both worked together; but +had it not been for the esoteric wisdom held by the priests in +connection with his nature, Indra would have gone the way of other +meteorological gods; whereas he became chiefest of the gods, and, as +lord of strength, for a time came nearest to the supreme power. + + +INDRA. + +Indra has been identified with 'storm,' with the 'sky,' with the +'year'; also with 'sun' and with 'fire' in general.[2] But if he be +taken as he is found in the hymns, it will be noticed at once that he +is too stormy to be the sun; too luminous to be the storm; too near to +the phenomena of the monsoon to be the year or the sky; too rainy to +be fire; too alien from every one thing to be any one thing. He is too +celestial to be wholly atmospheric; too atmospheric to be celestial; +too earthly to be either. A most tempting solution is that offered by +Bergaigne, who sees in Indra sun or lightning. Yet does this +explanation not explain all, and it is more satisfactory than others +only because it is broader; while it is not yet broad enough. Indra, +in Bergaigne's opinion, stands, however, nearer to fire than to +sun.[3] But the savant does not rest content with his own explanation: +"Indra est peut-être, de tous les dieux védiques, celui qui résiste le +plus longtemps à un genre d'analyse qui, appliqué à la plupart des +autres, les résout plus ou moins vite en des personnifications des +éléments, soit des phénomènes naturels, soit du culte" (ibid. p. 167). + +Dyaus' son, Indra, who rides upon the storm and hurls the lightnings +with his hands; who 'crashes down from heaven' and 'destroys the +strongholds' of heaven and earth; whose greatness 'fills heaven and +earth'; whose 'steeds are of red and gold'; who 'speaks in thunder,' +and 'is born of waters and cloud'; behind whom ride the storm-gods; +with whom Agni (fire) is inseparably connected; who 'frees the waters +of heaven from the demon,' and 'gives rain-blessings and wealth' to +man--such a god, granted the necessity of a naturalistic +interpretation, may well be thought to have been lightning itself +originally, which the hymns now represent the god as carrying. But in +identifying Indra with the sun there is more difficulty. In none of +the early hymns is this suggested, and the texts on which Bergaigne +relies besides being late are not always conclusive. "Indra clothes +himself with the glory of the sun"; he "sees with the eye of the +sun"--such texts prove little when one remembers that the sun is the +eye of all the gods, and that to clothe ones' self with solar glory is +far from being one with the sun. In one other, albeit a late verse, +the expression 'Indra, a sun,' is used; and, relying on such texts, +Bergaigne claims that Indra is the sun. But it is evident that this is +but one of many passages where Indra by implication is compared to the +sun; and comparisons do not indicate allotropy. So, in ii. II. 20, +which Bergaigne gives as a parallel, the words say expressly "Indra +[did so and so] _like a sun_."[4] To rest a building so important on a +basis so frail is fortunately rare with Bergaigne. It happens here +because he is arguing from the assumption that Indra primitively was a +general luminary. Hence, instead of building up Indra from early +texts, he claims a few late phrases as precious confirmation of his +theory.[5] What was Indra may be seen by comparing a few citations +such as might easily be amplified from every book in the Rig Veda. + +According to the varying fancies of the poets, Indra is armed with +stones, clubs, arrows, or the thunderbolt (made for him by the +artificer, Tvashtar), of brass or of gold, with many edges and points. +Upon a golden chariot he rides to battle, driving two or many red or +yellow steeds; he is like the sun in brilliancy, and like the dawn in +beauty; he is multiform, and cannot really be described; his divine +name is secret; in appearance he is vigorous, huge; he is wise and +true and kind; all treasures are his, and he is a wealth-holder, vast +as four seas; neither his greatness nor his generosity can be +comprehended; mightiest of gods is he, filling the universe; the +heavens rest upon his head; earth cannot hold him; earth and heaven +tremble at his breath; he is king of all; the mountains are to him as +valleys; he goes forth a bull, raging, and rushes through the air, +whirling up the dust; he breaks open the rain-containing clouds, and +lets the rain pour down; as the Açvins restore the light, so he +restores the rain; he is (like) fire born in three places; as the +giver of rain which feeds, he creates the plants; he restores or +begets Sun and Dawn (after the storm has passed);[6] he creates (in +the same way) all things, even heaven and earth; he is associated with +Vishnu and P[=u]shan (the sun-gods), with the Açvins, with the Maruts +(storm-gods) as his especial followers, and with the artisan Ribhus. +With Varuna he is an Adityá, but he is also associated with another +group of gods, the Vasus (x. 66. 3), as Vasupati, or 'lord of the +Vasus.' He goes with many forms (vi. 47. 18).[7] + +The luminous character[8] of Indra, which has caused him to be +identified with light-gods, can be understood only when one remembers +that in India the rainy season is ushered in by such displays of +lightning that the heavens are often illuminated in every direction at +once; and not with a succession of flashes, but with contemporaneous +ubiquitous sheets of light, so that it appears as if on all sides of +the sky there was one lining of united dazzling flame. When it is said +that Indra 'placed light in light,' one is not to understand, with +Bergaigne, that Indra is identical with the sun, but that in day +(light) Indra puts lightning (x. 54. 6; Bergaigne ii. p. 187). + +Since Indra's lightning[9] is a form of fire, there is found in this +union the first mystic dualism of two distinct gods as one. This comes +out more in Agni-worship than in Indra-worship, and will be treated +below. The snake or dragon killed by Indra is Vritra, the restrainer, +who catches and keeps in the clouds the rain that is falling to earth. +He often is called simply the snake, and as the Budhnya Snake, or +snake of the cloud-depths, is possibly the Python (=Budh-nya).[10] +There is here a touch of primitive belief in an old enemy of man--the +serpent! But the Budhnya Snake has been developed in opposite ways, +and has contradictory functions.[11] + +Indra, however, is no more the lightning than he is the sun. One poet +says that he is like the sun;[12] another, that he is like the +lightning (viii. 93. 9), which he carries in his arms (viii. 12. 7); +another, that he is like the light of dawn (x. 89. 12). So various are +the activities, so many the phenomena, that with him first the seer is +obliged to look back of all these phenomena and find in them one +person; and thus he is the most anthropomorphized of the Vedic gods. +He is born of heaven or born of clouds (iv. 18), but that his mother +is Aditi is not certain. As the most powerful god Indra is again +regarded as the All-god (viii. 98. 1-2). With this final supremacy, +that distinction between battle-gods and gods sovereign, which +Bergaigne insists upon--the sovereign gods belonging to _une +conception unitaire de l'ordre du monde_ (iii. p. 3; ii. p. +167)--fades away. As Varuna became gradually greatest, so did Indra in +turn. But Varuna was a philosopher's god, not a warrior's; and Varuna +was not double and mystical. So even the priest (Agni) leaves Varuna, +and with the warrior takes more pleasure in his twin Indra; of him +making an All-god, a greatest god. Varuna is passive; Indra is +energetic; but Indra does not struggle for his lordship. Inspired by +_soma_, he smites, triumphs, punishes. Victor already, he descends +upon his enemies and with a blow destroys them. It is rarely that he +feels the effect of battle; he never doubts its issue. + +There is evidence that this supremacy was not gained without +contradiction, and the novelty of the last extravagant Indra-worship +may be deduced, perhaps, from such passages as viii. 96. 15; and 100. +3, where are expressed doubts in regard to the existence of a real +Indra. How late is the worship of the popular Indra, and that it is +not originality that causes his hymns to be placed early in each +collection, may be judged from the fact that only of Indra (and Agni?) +are there idols: viii. 1. 5; iv. 24. 10: "Who gives ten cows for my +Indra? When he has slain his foe let (the purchaser) give him to me +again."[13] Thus it happens that one rarely finds such poems to Indra +as to Dawn and to other earlier deities, but almost always stereotyped +descriptions of prowess, and mechanical invitations to come to the +altar and reward the hymn-maker. There are few of Indra's many hymns +that do not smack of _soma_ and sacrifice. He is a warrior's god +exploited by priests; as popularly conceived, a sensual giant, friend, +brother, helper of man. One example of poetry, instead of ritualistic +verse-making to Indra, has been translated in the introductory +chapter. Another, which, if not very inspiring, is at least free from +obvious _soma_-worship--which results in Indra being invoked chiefly +to come and drink--is as follows (vi. 30): + + Great hath he grown, Indra, for deeds heroic; + Ageless is he alone, alone gives riches; + Beyond the heaven and earth hath Indra stretched him, + The half of him against both worlds together! + So high and great I deem his godly nature; + What he hath stablished there is none impairs it. + Day after day a sun is he conspicuous, + And, wisely strong, divides the wide dominions. + To-day and now (thou makest) the work of rivers, + In that, O Indra, thou hast hewn them pathway. + The hills have bowed them down as were they comrades; + By thee, O wisely strong, are spaces fastened. + 'Tis true, like thee, O Indra, is no other, + Nor god nor mortal is more venerable. + Thou slew'st the dragon that the flood encompassed, + Thou didst let out the waters to the ocean. + Thou didst the waters free, the doors wide opening, + Thou, Indra, brak'st the stronghold of the mountains, + Becamest king of all that goes and moveth, + Begetting sun and heaven and dawn together. + + +THE MARUTS. + +These gods, the constant followers of Indra, from the present point of +view are not of great importance, except as showing an unadulterated +type of nature-gods, worshipped without much esoteric wisdom (although +there is a certain amount of mystery in connection with their birth). +There is something of the same pleasure in singing to them as is +discernible in the hymns to Dawn. They are the real storm-gods, +following Rudra, their father, and accompanying the great +storm-bringer, Indra. Their mother is the variegated cow Priçni, the +mother cloud. Their name means the shining, gleaming ones. + + HYMN TO THE MARUTS (vii. 56. 1-10). + + Who, sooth, are the gleaming related heroes, + the glory of Rudra, on beauteous chargers? + For of them the birthplace no man hath witnessed; + they only know it, their mutual birthplace. + With wings expanded they sweep each other,[14] + and strive together, the wind-loud falcons. + Wise he that knoweth this secret knowledge, + that Priçni the great one to them was mother.[15] + This folk the Maruts shall make heroic, + victorious ever, increased in manhood; + In speed the swiftest, in light the lightest, + with grace united and fierce in power-- + Your power fierce is; your strength, enduring; + and hence with the Maruts this folk is mighty. + Your fury fair is, your hearts are wrothful, + like maniacs wild is your band courageous. + From us keep wholly the gleaming lightning; + let not your anger come here to meet us. + Your names of strong ones endeared invoke I, + that these delighted may joy, O Maruts. + +What little reflection or moral significance is in the Marut hymns is +illustrated by i. 38. 1-9, thus translated by Müller: + + What then now? When will ye take us as a dear father takes + his son by both hands, O ye gods, for whom the sacred grass + has been trimmed? + + Where now? On what errand of yours are you going, in heaven, + not on earth? Where are your cows sporting? Where are your + newest favors, O Maruts? Where are blessings? Where all + delights? If you, sons of Priçni, were mortals and your + praiser an immortal, then never should your praiser be + unwelcome, like a deer in pasture grass, nor should he go on + the path of Yama.[16] Let not one sin after another, + difficult to be conquered, overcome us; may it depart, + together with greed. Truly they are terrible and powerful; + even to the desert the Rudriyas bring rain that is never + dried up. The lightning lows like a cow, it follows as a + mother follows after her young, when the shower has been let + loose. Even by day the Maruts create darkness with the + water-bearing cloud, when they drench the earth, etc. + +The number of the Maruts was originally seven, afterwards raised to +thrice seven, and then given variously,[17] sometimes as high as +thrice sixty. They are the servants, the bulls of Dyaus, the glory of +Rudra (or perhaps the 'boys of Rudra'), divine, bright as suns, +blameless and pure. They cover themselves with shining adornment, +chains of gold, gems, and turbans. On their heads are helmets of gold, +and in their hands gleam arrows and daggers. Like heroes rushing to +battle, they stream onward. They are fair as deer; their roar is like +that of lions. The mountains bow before them, thinking themselves to +be valleys, and the hills bow down. Good warriors and good steeds are +their gifts. They smite, they kill, they rend the rocks, they strip +the trees like caterpillars; they rise together, and, like spokes in a +wheel, are united in strength. Their female companion is Rodas[=i] +(lightning, from the same root as _rudra_, the 'red'). They are like +wild boars, and (like the sun) they have metallic jaws. On their +chariots are speckled hides; like birds they spread their wings; they +strive in flight with each other. Before them the earth sways like a +ship. They dance upon their path. Upon their chests for beauty's sake +they bind gold armor. From the heavenly udder they milk down rain. +"Through whose wisdom, through whose design do they come?" cries the +poet. They have no real adversary. The kings of the forest they tear +asunder, and make tremble even the rocks. Their music is heard on +every side.[18] + + +RUDRA. + +The father of the Maruts, Rudra, is 'the ruddy one,' _par excellence_ +and so to him is ascribed paternity of the 'ruddy ones.' But while +Indra has a plurality of hymns, Rudra has but few, and these it is not +of special importance to cite. The features in each case are the same. +The Maruts remain as gods whose function causes them to be invoked +chiefly that they may spare from the fury of the tempest. This idea is +in Rudra's case carried out further, and he is specially called on to +avert (not only 'cow-slaying' and 'man-slaying' by lightning,[19] but +also) disease, pestilence, etc. Hence is he preeminently, on the one +hand, the kindly god who averts disease, and, on the other, of +destruction in every form. From him Father Manu got wealth and health, +and he is the fairest of beings, but, more, he is the strongest god +(ii. 33. 3, 10). From such a prototype comes the later god of healing +and woe--Rudra, who becomes Çiva.[20] + + +RAIN-GODS. + +There is one rather mechanical hymn directed to the Waters themselves +as goddesses, where Indra is the god who gives them passage. But in +the unique hymn to the Rivers it is Varuna who, as general god of +water, is represented as their patron. In the first hymn the +rain-water is meant.[21] A description in somewhat jovial vein of the +joy produced by the rain after long drought forms the subject matter +of another lyric (less an hymn than a poem), which serves to +illustrate the position of the priests at the end of this Vedic +collection. The frogs are jocosely compared to priests that have +fulfilled their vow of silence; and their quacking is likened to the +noise of students learning the Veda. Parjanya is the god that, in +distinction from Indra as the first cause, actually pours down the +rain-drops. + + + THE FROGS.[22] + + As priests that have their vows fulfilled, + Reposing for a year complete, + The frogs have now begun to talk,-- + Parjanya has their voice aroused. + + When down the heavenly waters come upon him, + Who like a dry bag lay within the river, + Then, like the cows' loud lowing (cows that calves have), + The vocal sound of frogs comes all together. + + When on the longing, thirsty ones it raineth, + (The rainy season having come upon them), + Then _akkala_![23] they cry; and one the other + Greets with his speech, as sons address a father. + + The one the other welcomes, and together + They both rejoice at falling of the waters; + The spotted frog hops when the rain has wet him, + And with his yellow comrade joins his utterance. + + When one of these the other's voice repeateth, + Just as a student imitates his teacher, + Then like united members with fair voices, + They all together sing among the waters. + + One like an ox doth bellow, goat-like one bleats; + Spotted is one, and one of them is yellow; + Alike in name, but in appearance different, + In many ways the voice they, speaking, vary. + + As priests about th' intoxicating[24] _soma_ + Talk as they stand before the well-filled vessel, + So stand ye round about this day once yearly, + On which, O frogs, the time of rain approaches. + + (Like) priests who _soma_ have, they raise their voices, + And pray the prayer that once a year is uttered; + (Like) heated priests who sweat at sacrifices, + They all come out, concealed of them is no one. + + The sacred order of the (year) twelve-membered, + These heroes guard, and never do neglect it; + When every year, the rainy season coming, + The burning heat receiveth its dismission.[25] + +In one hymn no less than four gods are especially invoked for +rain--Agni, Brihaspati, Indra, and Parjanya. The two first are +sacrificially potent; Brihaspati, especially, gives to the priest the +song that has power to bring rain; he comes either 'as Mitra-Varuna or +P[=u]shan,' and 'lets Parjanya rain'; while in the same breath Indra +is exhorted to send a flood of rain,--rains which are here kept back +by the gods,[26]--and Agni is immediately afterwards asked to perform +the same favor, apparently as an analogue to the streams of oblation +which the priest pours on the fire. Of these gods, the pluvius is +Parjanya: + + Parjanya loud extol in song, + The fructifying son of heaven; + May he provide us pasturage! + He who the fruitful seed of plants, + Of cows and mares and women forms, + He is the god Parjanya. + For him the melted butter pour + In (Agni's) mouth,--a honeyed sweet,-- + And may he constant food bestow![27] + +This god is the rain-cloud personified,[28] but he is scarcely to be +distinguished, in other places, from Indra; although the latter, as +the greater, newer god, is represented rather as causing the rain to +flow, while Parjanya pours it down. Like Varuna, Parjanya also upsets +a water-barrel, and wets the earth. He is identical with the Slavic +Perkuna. + +For natural expression, vividness, energy, and beauty, the following +hymn is unsurpassed. As a god unjustly driven out of the pantheon, it +is, perhaps, only just that he should be exhibited, in contrast to +the tone of the sacrificial hymnlet above, in his true light. +Occasionally he is paired with Wind; and in the curious tendency of +the poets to dualize their divinities, the two become a compound, +_Parjanyav[=a]t[=a]_ ("Parjanya and V[=a]ta"). There is, also, vii. +101, one mystic hymn to Parjanya. The following, v. 83, breathes quite +a different spirit:[29] + + Greet him, the mighty one, with these laudations, + Parjanya praise, and call him humbly hither; + With roar and rattle pours the bull his waters, + And lays his seed in all the plants, a foetus. + + He smites the trees, and smites the evil demons, too; + While every creature fears before his mighty blow, + E'en he that hath not sinned, from this strong god retreats, + When smites Parjanya, thundering, those that evil do. + As when a charioteer with whip his horses strikes, + So drives he to the fore his messengers of rain; + Afar a lion's roar is raised abroad, whene'er + Parjanya doth create the rain-containing cloud. + Now forward rush the winds, now gleaming lightnings fall; + Up spring the plants, and thick becomes the shining sky. + For every living thing refreshment is begot, + Whene'er Parjanya's seed makes quick the womb of earth. + + Beneath whose course the earth hath bent and bowed her, + Beneath whose course the (kine) behoofed bestir them, + Beneath whose course the plants stand multifarious, + He--thou, Parjanya--grant us great protection! + Bestow Dyaus' rain upon us, O ye Maruts! + Make thick the stream that comes from that strong stallion! + With this thy thunder come thou onward, hither, + Thy waters pouring, a spirit and our father.[30] + Roar forth and thunder! Give the seed of increase! + Drive with thy chariot full of water round us; + The water-bag drag forward, loosed, turned downward; + Let hills and valleys equal be before thee! + Up with the mighty keg! then pour it under! + Let all the loosened streams flow swiftly forward; + Wet heaven and earth with this thy holy fluid;[31] + And fair drink may it be for all our cattle! + + When thou with rattle and with roar, + Parjanya, thundering, sinners slayest, + Then all before thee do rejoice, + Whatever creatures live on earth. + + Rain hast thou rained, and now do thou restrain it; + The desert, too, hast thou made fit for travel; + The plants hast thou begotten for enjoyment; + And wisdom hast thou found for thy descendants. + +The different meters may point to a collection of small hymns. It is +to be observed that Parjanya is here the fathergod (of men); he is the +Asura, the Spirit; and rain comes from the Shining Sky (Dyaus). How +like Varuna! + +The rain, to the poet, descends from the sky, and is liable to be +caught by the demon, Vritra, whose rain-swollen belly Indra opens with +a stroke, and lets fall the rain; or, in the older view just +presented, Parjanya makes the cloud that gives the rain--a view united +with the descent of rain from the sky (Dyaus). With Parjanya as an +Aryan rain-god may be mentioned Trita, who, apparently, was a +water-god, [=A]ptya, in general; and some of whose functions Indra has +taken. He appears to be the same with the Persian Thraetaona +[=A]thwya; but in the Rig Veda he is interesting mainly as a dim +survival of the past.[32] The washing out of sins, which appears to be +the original conception of Varuna's sin-forgiving,[33] finds an +analogue in the fact that sins are cast off upon the innocent waters +and upon Trita--also a water-god, and once identified with Varuna +(viii. 41. 6). But this notion is so unique and late (only in viii. +47) that Bloomfield is perhaps right in imputing it to the [later] +moralizing age of the Br[=a]hmanas, with which the third period of the +Rig Veda is quite in touch. + + * * * * * + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Compare I. 134. 3.] + + [Footnote 2: For the different views, see Perry, JAOS. xi. + p. 119; Muir, OST. v. p. 77.] + + [Footnote 3: _La Religion Védique_, ii. pp. 159, 161, 166, + 187.] + + [Footnote 4: The chief texts are ii. 30. 1; iv. 26. 1; vii. + 98. 6; viii. 93. 1, 4; x. 89. 2; x. 112. 3.] + + [Footnote 5: Other citations given by Bergaigne in + connection with this point are all of the simile class. Only + as All-god is Indra the sun.] + + [Footnote 6: i. 51. 4: "After slaying Vritra, thou did'st + make the sun climb in the sky."] + + [Footnote 7: [=A]dityá, only vii. 85. 4; V[=a]l. 4. 7. For + other references, see Perry (loc. cit.).] + + [Footnote 8: Bergaigne, ii. 160. 187.] + + [Footnote 9: Indra finds and begets Agni, iii. 31. 25.] + + [Footnote 10: Unless the Python be, rather, the Demon of + Putrefaction, as in Iranian belief.] + + [Footnote 11: Demons of every sort oppose Indra; Vala, + Vritra, the 'holding' snake (_áhi_=[Greek: echis]), Çushna + ('drought'), etc.] + + [Footnote 12: So he finds and directs the sun and causes it + to shine, as explained above (viii. 3. 6; iii. 44. 4; i. 56. + 4; iii. 30. 12). He is praised with Vishnu (vi.69) in one + hymn, as distinct from him.] + + [Footnote 13: Bollensen would see an allusion to idols in i. + 145. 4-5 (to Agni), but this is very doubtful (ZDMG. xlvii. + p. 586). Agni, however, is on a par with Indra, so that the + exception would have no significance. See Kaegi, Rig Veda, + note 79a.] + + [Footnote 14: Or 'pluck with beaks,' as Müller translates, + SBE. xxxii. p. 373.] + + [Footnote 15: "Bore them" (gave an udder). In v. 52. 16 + Rudra is father and Priçni, mother. Compare viii. 94. 1: + "The cow ... the mother of the Maruts, sends milk (rain)." + In x. 78. 6 the Maruts are sons of Sindhu (Indus).] + + [Footnote 16: I.e., die.] + + [Footnote 17: The number is not twenty-seven, as Muir + accidentally states, OST. v. p. 147.] + + [Footnote 18: v. 58. 4, 5; I. 88. 1; 88. 5; v. 54. 11; viii. + 7. 25; i. 166. 10; i. 39. 1; 64. 2-8; v. 54. 6; i. 85. 8; + viii. 7. 34; v. 59. 2.] + + [Footnote 19: He carries lightnings and medicines together + in vii. 46. 3.] + + [Footnote 20: Çiva is later identified with Rudra. For the + latter in RV. compare i. 43; 114, 1-5, 10; ii. 33. 2-13.] + + [Footnote 21: vii. 47, and x. 75.] + + [Footnote 22: vii. 103.] + + [Footnote 23: _Akhkhala_ is like Latin _eccere_ shout of joy + and wonder(_Am.J. Phil._ XIV. p. 11).] + + [Footnote 24: Literally, 'that has stood over-night,' i.e., + fermented.] + + [Footnote 25: To this hymn is added, in imitation of the + laudations of generous benefactors, which are sometimes + suffixed to an older hymn, words ascribing gifts to the + frogs. Bergaigne regards the frogs as meteorological + phenomena! It is from this hymn as a starting-point proceed + the latter-day arguments of Jacobi, who would prove the + 'period of the Rig Veda' to have begun about 3500 B.C. One + might as well date Homer by an appeal to the + Batrachomyomachia.] + + [Footnote 26: x. 98. 6.] + + [Footnote 27: vii. 102.] + + [Footnote 28: Compare Bühler, _Orient and Occident_, I. p. + 222.] + + [Footnote 29: This hymn is another of those that contradict + the first assumption of the ritualists. From internal + evidence it is not likely that it was made for baksheesh.] + + [Footnote 30: _[A]suras, pit[=a] nas_.] + + [Footnote 31: Literally, 'with _ghee_'; the rain is like the + _ghee_, or sacrificial oil (melted butter).] + + [Footnote 32: Some suppose even Indra to be one with the + Avestan _A[.n]dra_, a demon, which is possible.] + + [Footnote 33: Otherwise it is the 'bonds of sin' which are + broken or loosed, as in the last verse of the first Varuna + hymn, translated above. But the two views may be of equal + antiquity (above, p. 69, note). On Trita compare JRAS. 1893, + p. 419; PAOS. 1894 (Bloomfield).] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE RIG VEDA (CONTINUED).--THE LOWER GODS. + +AGNI. + + +Great are the heavenly gods, but greater is Indra, god of the +atmosphere. Greatest are Agni and Soma, the gods of earth. + +Agni is the altar-fire. Originally fire, Agni, in distinction from sun +and lightning, is the fire of sacrifice; and as such is he great. One +reads in v. 3. 1-2, that this Agni is Varuna, Indra; that in him are +all the gods. This is, indeed, formally a late view, and can be +paralleled only by a few passages of a comparatively recent period. +Thus, in the late hymn i. 164. 46: "Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, they +say; he is the sun (the bird in the sky); that which is but one they +call variously," etc. So x. 114. 5 and the late passage iii. 38. 7, +have reference to various forms of Agni. + +Indra had a twofold nature in producing the union of lightning and +Agni; and this made him mysteriously great. But in Agni is found the +first triality, which, philosophically, is interpreted as a trinity. +The fire of the altar is one with the lightning, and, again, one with +the sun. This is Agni's threefold birth; and all the holy character of +three is exhausted in application where he is concerned. It is the +highest mystery until the very end of the Vedic age. This Agni it is +that is the real Agni of the Rig Veda--the new Agni; for there was +probably an Agni cult (as simple fire) long before the _soma_ cult. +Indra and Agni are one, and both are called the slayers of the +demons[1]. They are both united as an indissoluble pair (iii. 12, +etc.). Agni, with, perhaps, the exception of Soma, is the most +important god in the Rig Veda; and it is no chance that gives him the +first place in each family hymn-book; for in him are found, only in +more fortunate circumstances, exactly the same conditions as obtain in +the case of Indra. He appealed to man as the best friend among divine +beings; he was not far off, to be wondered at; if terrible, to be +propitiated. He was near and kind to friends. And as he seemed to the +vulgar so he appealed to the theosophy which permeates the spirit of +the poets; for he is mysterious; a mediator between god and man (in +carrying to heaven the offerings); a threefold unity, typical of +earth, atmosphere, and heaven. From this point of view, as in the case +of Indra, so in the case of Agni, only to a greater extent, it becomes +impossible to interpret Agni as one element, one phenomenon. There is, +when a distinction is made, an _agni_ which is single, the altar-fire, +separate from other fires; but it is seldom that Agni is not felt as +the threefold one. + +And now for the interpretation of the modern ritualists. The Hindu +ritual had 'the three fires,' which every orthodox believer was taught +to keep up. The later literature of the Hindus themselves very +correctly took these three fires as types of the three forms of Agni +known in the Rig Veda. But to the ritualists the historical precedence +is inverted, and they would show that the whole Vedic mythological +view of an Agni triad is the result of identifying Agni with the three +fires of the ritual. From this crass method of interpretation it would +result that all Vedic mythology was the child of the liturgy[2]. + +As earthly fire Agni is first ignis:[3] "Driven by the wind, he +hastens through the forest with roaring tongues.... black is thy path, +O bright immortal!" "He mows down, as no herd can do, the green +fields; bright his tooth, and golden his beard." "He devours like a +steer that one has tied up." This is common fire, divine, but not of +the altar. The latter Agni is of every hymn. For instance, the first +stanza of the Rig Veda: "Agni, the family priest, I worship; the +divine priest of sacrifice; the oblation priest, who bestows riches," +where he is invoked under the names of different priests. But Agni is +even more than this; he is the fire (heat) that causes production and +reproduction, visibly manifest in the sun. This dual Agni, it is to be +noticed, is at times the only Agni recognized. The third form is then +added, lightning, and therewith Agni is begotten of Indra, and is, +therefore, one with Indra: "There is only one fire lighted in many +places" (V[=a]l. 10. 2). As a poetical expression, Agni in the last +form is the 'Son of Waters,' an epithet not without significance in +philosophical speculation; for water, through all periods, was +regarded as the material origin of the universe. + +Agni is one with the sun, with lightning (and thunder), and descends +into the plants.[4] To man he is house-priest and friend. It is he +that has "grouped men in dwelling-places" (iii. 1. 17) like +Prometheus, in whose dialectic name, Promantheus, lingers still the +fire-creator, the twirling (_math_) sticks which make fire in the +wood. He is man's guest and best friend (Mitra, iv. 1. 9; above). + +An hymn or two entire will show what was Agni to the Vedic poet. In +the following, the Rig Veda's first hymn, he is addressed, in the +opening stanza, under the names of house-priest, the chief sacrificial +priest, and the priest that pours oblations. In the second stanza he +is extolled as the messenger who brings the gods to the sacrifice, +himself rising up in sacrificial flames, and forming a link between +earth and heaven. In a later stanza he is called the Messenger +(Angiras =[Greek: aggelos]),--one of his ordinary titles: + + To AGNI (i. 1). + + I worship Agni; house-priest, he, + And priest divine of sacrifice, + Th' oblation priest, who giveth wealth. + + Agni, by seers of old adored, + To be adored by those to-day-- + May he the gods bring here to us. + + Through Agni can one wealth acquire, + Prosperity from day to day, + And fame of heroes excellent. + + O, Agni! whatsoe'er the rite + That thou surround'st on every side, + That sacrifice attains the gods. + + May Agni, who oblation gives-- + The wisest, true, most famous priest-- + This god with (all) the gods approach I + + Thou doest good to every man + That serves thee, Agni; even this + Is thy true virtue, Angiras. + + To thee, O Agni, day by day, + Do we with prayer at eve and dawn, + Come, bringing lowly reverence; + + To thee, the lord of sacrifice, + And shining guardian of the rite,[5] + In thine own dwelling magnified. + + As if a father to his son, + Be easy of access to us, + And lead us onward to our weal. + +This is mechanical enough to have been made for an established ritual, +as doubtless it was. But it is significant that the ritualistic gods +are such that to give their true character hymns of this sort must be +cited. Such is not the case with the older gods of the pantheon. +Ritualistic as it is, however, it is simple. Over against it may be +set the following (vi. 8): "Now will I praise the strength of the +variegated red bull (Agni), the feasts of the Knower-of-beings[6] +(Agni); to Agni, the friend of all men, is poured out a new song, +sweet to him as clear _soma_. As soon as he was born in highest +heaven, Agni began to protect laws, for he is a guardian of law (or +order). Great in strength, he, the friend of all men, measured out the +space between heaven and earth, and in greatness touched the zenith; +he, the marvellous friend, placed apart heaven and earth; with light +removed darkness; separated the two worlds like skins. Friend of all +men, he took all might to himself.... In the waters' lap the mighty +ones (gods) took him, and people established him king. M[=a]tariçvan, +messenger of the all-shining one, bore him from afar, friend of all +men. Age by age, O Agni, give to poets new glorious wealth for feasts. +O ever-youthful king, as if with a ploughshare, rend the sinner; +destroy him with thy flame, like a tree! But among our lords bring, O +Agni, power unbent, endless strength of heroes; and may we, through +thy assistance, conquer wealth an hundredfold, a thousandfold, O Agni, +thou friend of all; with thy sure protection protect our royal lords, +O helper, thou who hast three habitations; guard for us the host of +them that have been generous, and let them live on, friend of all, now +that thou art lauded." + +Aryan, as Kuhn[7] has shown, is at least the conception if not the +particular form of the legend alluded to in this hymn, of fire brought +from the sky to earth, which Promethean act is attributed elsewhere to +the fire-priest.[8] Agni is here Mitra, the friend, as sun-god, and as +such takes all the celestials' activities on himself. Like Indra he +also gives personal strength: "Fair is thy face, O Agni, to the mortal +that desires strength;--they whom thou dost assist overcome their +enemies all their lives" (vi. 16. 25, 27). Agni is drawn down to earth +by means of the twirling-sticks, one the father, one the mother[9]. +"The bountiful wood bore the fair variegated son of waters and +plants;[10] the gods united in mind, and payed homage to the glorious +mighty child when he was born" (iii. 1. 13). As the son of waters, +Agni loves wood but retreats to water, and he is so identified with +Indra that he 'thunders' and 'gives rain' (as lightning; ii. 6. 5; +iii. 9. 2). + +The deeper significance of Agni-worship is found not alone in the fact +that he is the god in whom are the other gods, nor in that he is the +sun alone, but that "I am Agni, immortality is in my mouth; threefold +my light, eternal fire, my name the oblation (fire)," iii. 26. 7. He +is felt as a mysterious trinity. As a sun he lights earth; and gives +life, sustenance, children, and wealth (iii. 3. 7); as lightning he +destroys, as fire he befriends; like Indra he gives victory (iii. 16. +1); like Varuna he releases the bonds of sin; he is Varuna's brother +(v. 2. 7; vi. 3. 1; iv. 1. 2); his 'many names' are often alluded to +(iii. 20. 3, and above). The ritualistic interpretation of the priest +is that the sun is only a sacrificial fire above lighted by the gods +as soon as the corresponding fire is lighted on earth by men (vi. 2. +3). He is all threefold; three his tongues, his births, his places; +thrice led about the sacrifice given thrice a day (iii. 2. 9; 17. 1; +20. 2; iv, 15. 2; 1. 7; 12. 1). He is the upholder of the religious +order, the guest of mortals, found by the gods in the heavenly waters; +he is near and dear; but he also becomes dreadful to the foe (iii. 1. +3-6; 6. 5; vi. 7. 1; 8. 2; iii. 1. 23; 22. 5; vi. 3. 7; iii. 18. 1; +iv. 4. 4; 1. 6). + +It is easy to see that in such a conception of a triune god, who is +fearful yet kind, whose real name is unknown, while his visible +manifestations are in earth, air, and heaven, whose being contains all +the gods, there is an idea destined to overthrow, as it surpasses, the +simpler conceptions of the naturalism that precedes it. Agni as the +one divine power of creation is in fact the origin of the human race: +"From thee come singers and heroes" (vi. 7. 3). The less weight is, +therefore, to be laid on Bergaigne's 'fire origin of man'; it is not +as simple fire, but as universal creator that Agni creates man; it is +not the 'fire-principle'[11] philosophically elicited from connection +of fire and water, but as god-principle, all-creative, that Agni gets +this praise. + +Several hymns are dedicated to _Indr[=a]gni_, Indra united with Agni; +and the latter even is identified with Dyaus (iv. 1. 10), this +obsolescent god reviving merely to be absorbed into Agni. As water +purifies from dirt and sin (Varuna), so fire purifies (iv. 12. 4). It +has been suggested on account of v. 12. 5: 'Those that were yours have +spoken lies and left thee,' that there is a decrease in Agni worship. +As this never really happened, and as the words are merely those of a +penitent who has lied and seeks forgiveness at the hands of the god of +truth, the suggestion is not very acceptable. Agni comprehends not +only all naturalistic gods, but such later femininities as Reverence, +Mercy, and other abstractions, including Boundlessness. + +Of how great importance was the triune god Agni may be seen by +comparing his three lights with the later sectarian trinity, where +Vishnu, originally the sun, and (Rudra) Çiva, the lightning, are the +preserver and destroyer. + +We fear the reader may have thought that we were developing rather a +system of mythology than a history of religion. With the close of the +Vedic period we shall have less to say from a mythological point of +view, but we think that it will have become patent now for what +purpose was intended the mythological basis of our study. Without this +it would have been impossible to trace the gradual growth in the +higher metaphysical interpretation of nature which goes hand in hand +with the deeper religious sense. With this object we have proceeded +from the simpler to the more complex divinities. We have now to take +up a side of religion which lies more apart from speculation, but it +is concerned very closely with man's religious instincts--the worship +of Bacchic character, the reverence for and fear of the death-god, and +the eschatological fancies of the poets, together with those first +attempts at creating a new theosophy which close the period of the Rig +Veda. + + +SOMA. + +Inseparably connected with the worship of Indra and Agni is that of +the 'moon-plant,' _soma_, the intoxicating personified drink to whose +deification must be assigned a date earlier than that of the Vedas +themselves. For the _soma_ of the Hindus is etymologically identified +with the _haoma_ of the Persians (the [Greek: omomi] of Plutarch[12]), +and the cultus at least was begun before the separation of the two +nations, since in each the plant is regarded as a god. The inspiring +effect of intoxication seemed to be due to the inherent divinity of +the plant that produced it; the plant was, therefore, regarded as +divine, and the preparation of the draught was looked upon as a sacred +ceremony[13]. + +This offering of the juice of the _soma_-plant in India was performed +thrice daily. It is said in the Rig Veda that _soma_ grows upon the +mountain M[=u]javat, that its or his father is Parjanya, the rain-god, +and that the waters are his sisters[14]. From this mountain, or from +the sky, accounts differ, _soma_ was brought by a hawk[15]. He is +himself represented in other places as a bird; and as a divinity he +shares in the praise given to Indra, "who helped Indra to slay +Vritra," the demon that keeps back the rain. Indra, intoxicated by +_soma_, does his great deeds, and indeed all the gods depend on _soma_ +for immortality. Divine, a weapon-bearing god, he often simply takes +the place of Indra and other gods in Vedic eulogy. It is the god Soma +himself who slays Vritra, Soma who overthrows cities, Soma who begets +the gods, creates the sun, upholds the sky, prolongs life, sees all +things, and is the one best friend of god and man, the divine drop +(_índu_), the friend of Indra[16]. + +As a god he is associated not only with Indra, but also with Agni, +Rudra, and P[=u]shan. A few passages in the later portion of the Rig +Veda show that _soma_ already was identified with the moon before the +end of this period. After this the lunar yellow god regularly was +regarded as the visible and divine Soma of heaven, represented on +earth by the plant[17]. + +From the fact that Soma is the moon in later literature, and +undoubtedly is recognized as such in a small number of the latest +passages of the Rig Veda, the not unnatural inference has been drawn +by some Vedic scholars that Soma, in hymns still earlier, means the +moon; wherever, in fact, epithets hitherto supposed to refer to the +plant may be looked upon as not incompatible with a description of the +moon, there these epithets are to be referred directly to Soma as the +moon-god, not to _soma_, the mere plant. Thus, with Rig Veda, X. 85 (a +late hymn, which speaks of Soma as the moon "in the lap of the stars," +and as "the days' banner") is to be compared VI. 39. 3, where it is +said that the drop (_soma_) lights up the dark nights, and is the +day's banner. Although this expression, at first view, would seem to +refer to the moon alone, yet it may possibly be regarded as on a par +with the extravagant praise given elsewhere to the _soma_-plant, and +not be so significant of the moon as it appears to be. Thus, in +another passage of the same book, the _soma_, in similar language, is +said to "lay light in the sun," a phrase scarcely compatible with the +moon's sphere of activity[18]. + + +The decision in regard to this question of interpretation is not to be +reached so easily as one might suppose, considering that a whole book, +the ninth, of the Rig Veda is dedicated to Soma, and that in addition +to this there are many hymns addressed to him in the other books. For +in the greater number of passages which may be cited for and against +this theory the objector may argue that the generally extravagant +praise bestowed upon Soma through the Veda is in any one case +merely particularized, and that it is not incongruous to say of the +divine _soma_-plant, "he lights the dark nights," when one reads in +general that he creates all things, including the gods. On the other +hand, the advocate of the theory may reply that everything which does +not apply to the moon-god Soma may be used metaphorically of him. +Thus, where it is said, "Soma goes through the purifying sieve," by +analogy with the drink of the plant _soma_ passing through the sieve +the poet may be supposed to imagine the moon passing through the +sieve-like clouds; and even when this sieve is expressly called the +'sheep's-tail sieve' and 'wool-sieve,' this may still be, +metaphorically, the cloud-sieve (as, without the analogy, one speaks +to-day of woolly clouds and the 'mare's tail'). + +So it happens that, with an hundred hymns addressed to Soma, it +remains still a matter of discussion whether the _soma_ addressed be +the plant or the moon. Alfred Hillebrandt, to whom is due the problem +in its present form, declares that everywhere[19] in the Rig Veda Soma +means the moon. No better hymn can be found to illustrate the +difficulty under which labors the _soma_-exegete than IX. 15, from +which Hillebrandt takes the fourth verse as conclusive evidence that +by _soma_ only the moon is meant. In that case, as will be seen from +the 'pails,' it must be supposed that the poet leaps from Soma to +_soma_ without warning. Hillebrandt does not include the mention of +the pails in his citation; but in this, as in other doubtful cases, it +seems to us better to give a whole passage than to argue on one or two +verses torn from their proper position: + + HYMN TO SOMA (IX. 15). + + QUERY: Is the hymn addressed to the plant as it is pressed + out into the pails, or to the moon? + + 1. This one, by means of prayer (or intelligence), comes + through the fine (sieve), the hero, with swift car, going to + the meeting with Indra. + + 2. This one thinks much for the sublime assembly of gods, + where sit immortals. + + 3. This one is despatched and led upon a shining path, when + the active ones urge (him).[20] + + 4. This one, shaking his horns, sharpens (them), the bull of + the herd, doing heroic deeds forcibly. + + 5. This one hastens, the strong steed, with bright golden + beams, becoming of streams the lord. + + 6. This one, pressing surely through the knotty (sieve?) to + good things, comes down into the vessels. + + 7. This one, fit to be prepared, the active ones prepare in + the pails, as he creates great food. + + 8. Him, this one, who has good weapons, who is most + intoxicating, ten fingers and seven (or many) prayers + prepare. + +Here, as in IX. 70, Hillebrandt assumes that the poet turns suddenly +from the moon to the plant. Against this might be urged the use of the +same pronoun throughout the hymn. It must be confessed that at first +sight it is almost as difficult to have the plant, undoubtedly meant +in verses 7 and 8, represented by the moon in the preceding verses, as +it is not to see the moon in the expression 'shaking his horns.' This +phrase occurs in another hymn, where Hillebrandt, with the same +certainty as he does here, claims it for the moon, though the first +part of this hymn as plainly refers to the plant, IX. 70. 1, 4. Here +the plant is a steer roaring like the noise of the Maruts (5-6), and +then (as above, after the term steer is applied to the plant), it is +said that he 'sharpens his horns,' and is 'sightly,' and further, 'he +sits down in the fair place ... on the wooly back,' etc., which bring +one to still another hymn where are to be found like expressions, +used, evidently, not of the moon, but of the plant, _viz._ to IX. 37, +a hymn not cited by Hillebrandt: + + This strong (virile) _soma_, pressed for drink, flows into + the purifying vessel; this sightly (as above, where + Hillebrandt says it is epithet of the moon), yellow, fiery + one, is flowing into the purifying vessel; roaring into its + own place (as above). This strong one, clear, shining (or + purifying itself), runs through the shining places of the + sky, slaying evil demons, through the sheep-hair-sieve. On + the back of Trita this one shining (or purifying itself) + made bright the sun with (his) sisters.[21] This one, + slaying Vritra, strong, pressed out, finding good things (as + above), uninjured, _soma_, went as if for booty. This god, + sent forth by seers, runs into the vessels, the drop + (_indu_) for Indra, quickly (or willingly). + +So far as we can judge, after comparing these and the other passages +that are cited by Hillebrandt as decisive for a lunar interpretation +of _soma_, it seems quite as probable that the epithets and +expressions used are employed of the plant metaphorically as that the +poet leaps thus lightly from plant to moon. And there is a number of +cases which plainly enough are indicative of the plant alone to make +it improbable that Hillebrandt is correct in taking Soma as the moon +'everywhere in the Rig Veda.' It may be that the moon-cult is somewhat +older than has been supposed, and that the language is consciously +veiled in the ninth book to cover the worship of a deity as yet only +partly acknowledged as such. But it is almost inconceivable that an +hundred hymns should praise the moon; and all the native commentators, +bred as they were in the belief of their day that _soma_ and the moon +were one, should not know that _soma_ in the Rig Veda (as well as +later) means the lunar deity. It seems, therefore, safer to abide by +the belief that _soma_ usually means what it was understood to mean, +and what the general descriptions in the _soma_-hymns more or less +clearly indicate, _viz._, the intoxicating plant, conceived of as +itself divine, stimulating Indra, and, therefore, the _causa movens_ +of the demon's death, Indra being the _causa efficiens_. Even the +allusions to _soma_ being in the sky is not incompatible with this. +For he is carried thence from the place of sacrifice. Thus too in 83. +1-2: "O lord of prayer[22], thy purifier (the sieve) is extended. +Prevailing thou enterest its limbs on all sides. Raw (_soma_), that +has not been cooked (with milk) does not enter into it. Only the +cooked (_soma_), going through, enters it. The sieve of the hot drink +is extended in the place of the sky. Its gleaming threads extend on +all sides. This (_soma_'s) swift (streams) preserve the man that +purifies them, and wisely ascend to the back of the sky." In this, as +in many hymns, the drink _soma_ is clearly addressed; yet expressions +are used which, if detached, easily might be thought to imply the moon +(or the sun, as with Bergaigne)--a fact that should make one employ +other expressions of the same sort with great circumspection. + +Or, let one compare, with the preparation by the ten fingers, 85. 7: +"Ten fingers rub clean (prepare) the steed in the vessels; uprise the +songs of the priests. The intoxicating drops, as they purify +themselves, meet the song of praise and enter Indra." Exactly the same +images as are found above may be noted in IX. 87, where not the moon, +but the plant, is conspicuously the subject of the hymn: "Run into the +pail, purified by men go unto booty. They lead thee like a swift horse +with reins to the sacrificial straw, preparing (or rubbing) thee. With +good weapons shines the divine (shining) drop (_Indu_), slaying +evil-doers, guarding the assembly; the father of the gods, the clever +begetter, the support of the sky, the holder of earth.... This one, +the _soma_ (plant) on being pressed out, ran swiftly into the purifier +like a stream let out, sharpening his two sharp horns like a buffalo; +like a true hero hunting for cows; he is come from the highest +press-stone," etc. It is the noise of _soma_ dropping that is compared +with 'roaring.' The strength given by (him) the drink, makes +him appear as the 'virile one,' of which force is the activity, and +the bull the type. Given, therefore, the image of the bull, the rest +follows easily to elaborate the metaphor. If one add that _soma_ is +luminous (yellow), and that all luminous divinities are 'horned +bulls[23],' then it will be unnecessary to see the crescent moon in +_soma_. Moreover, if _soma_ be the same with Brihaspati, as thinks +Hillebrandt, why are there three horns in V. 43. 13? Again, that the +expression 'sharpening his horns' does not refer necessarily to the +moon may be concluded from x. 86. 15, where it is stated expressly +that the _drink_ is a sharp-horned steer: "Like a sharp-horned steer +is thy brewed drink, O Indra," probably referring to the taste. The +sun, Agni, and Indra are all, to the Vedic poet, 'sharp-horned +steers[24],' and the _soma_ plant, being luminous and strong +(bull-like), gets the same epithet. + +The identity is rather with Indra than with the moon, if one be +content to give up brilliant theorizing, and simply follow the poets: +"The one that purifies himself yoked the sun's swift steed over man +that he might go through the atmosphere, and these ten steeds of the +sun he yoked to go, saying Indra is the drop (_Indu_)." When had ever +the moon the power to start the sun? What part in the pantheon is +played by the moon when it is called by its natural name (not by the +priestly name, _soma_)? Is _m[=a]s_ or _candramas_ (moon) a power of +strength, a great god? The words scarcely occur, except in late hymns, +and the moon, by his own folk-name, is hardly praised except in +mechanical conjunction with the sun. The floods of which _soma_ is +lord are explained in IX. 86. 24-25: "The hawk (or eagle) brought thee +from the sky, O drop (_Indu_[25]), ... seven milk-streams sing to the +yellow one as he purifies himself with the wave in the sieve of +sheep's wool. The active strong ones have sent forth the wise seer in +the lap of the waters." If one wishes to clear his mind in respect of +what the Hindu attributes to the divine drink (expressly drink, and +not moon), let him read IX. 104, where he will find that "the twice +powerful god-rejoicing intoxicating drink" finds goods, finds a path +for his friends, puts away every harmful spirit and every devouring +spirit, averts the false godless one and all oppression; and read also +ix. 21. I-4: "These _soma_-drops for Indra flow rejoicing, maddening, +light-(or heaven-) finding, averting attackers, finding desirable +things for the presser, making life for the singer. Like waves the +drops flow into one vessel, playing as they will. These _soma_-drops, +let out like steeds (attached) to a car, as they purify themselves, +attain all desirable things." According to IX. 97. 41^2 and _ib._ 37. +4 (and other like passages, too lightly explained, p. 387, by +Hillebrandt), it is _soma_ that "produced the light in the sun" and +"makes the sun rise," statements incompatible with the (lunar) Soma's +functions, but quite in accordance with the magic power which the +poets attribute to the divine drink. Soma is 'king over treasure.' +Soma is brought by the eagle that all may "see light" (IX. 48. 3-4). +He traverses the sky, and guards order--but not necessarily is he here +the moon, for _soma_, the drink, as a "galloping steed," "a brilliant +steer," a "stream of pressed _soma_," "a dear sweet," "a helper of +gods," is here poured forth; after him "flow great water-floods"; and +he "purifies himself in the sieve, he the supporter, holder of the +sky"; he "shines with the sun," "roars," and "looks like Mitra"; being +here both "the intoxicating draught," and at the same time "the giver +of kine, giver of men, giver of horses, giver of strength, the soul of +sacrifice" (IX. 2). + +Soma is even older than the Vedic Indra as slayer of Vritra and +snakes. Several Indo-Iranian epithets survive (of _soma_ and _haoma_, +respectively), and among those of Iran is the title 'Vritra-slayer,' +applied to _haoma_, the others being 'strong' and 'heaven-winning,' +just as in the Veda[26]. All three of them are contained in one of the +most lunar-like of the hymns to Soma, which, for this reason, and +because it is one of the few to this deity that seem to be not +entirely mechanical, is given here nearly in full, with the original +shift of metre in the middle of the hymn (which may possibly indicate +that two hymns have been united). + + To SOMA (I. 91). + + Thou, Soma, wisest art in understanding; + Thou guidest (us) along the straightest pathway; + 'Tis through thy guidance that our pious[27] fathers + Among the gods got happiness, O Indu. + + Thou, Soma, didst become in wisdom wisest; + In skill[28] most skilful, thou, obtaining all things. + A bull in virile strength, thou, and in greatness; + In splendor wast thou splendid, man-beholder. + + Thine, now, the laws of kingly Varuna[29]; + Both high and deep the place of thee, O Soma. + Thou brilliant art as Mitra, the belovèd[30], + Like Aryaman, deserving service, art thou. + + Whate'er thy places be in earth or heaven, + Whate'er in mountains, or in plants and waters, + In all of these, well-minded, not injurious, + King Soma, our oblations meeting, take thou. + + Thou, Soma, art the real lord, + Thou king and Vritra-slayer, too; + Thou art the strength that gives success. + + And, Soma, let it be thy will + For us to live, nor let us die[31]; + Thou lord of plants[32], who lovest praise. + + Thou, Soma, bliss upon the old, + And on the young and pious man + Ability to live, bestowest. + + Do thou, O Soma, on all sides + Protect us, king, from him that sins, + No harm touch friend of such as thou. + + Whatever the enjoyments be + Thou hast, to help thy worshipper, + With these our benefactor be. + + This sacrifice, this song, do thou, + Well-pleased, accept; come unto us; + Make for our weal, O Soma, thou. + + In songs we, conversant with words, + O Soma, thee do magnify; + Be merciful and come to us. + + * * *[33] + + All saps unite in thee and all strong powers, + All virile force that overcomes detraction; + Filled full, for immortality, O Soma, + Take to thyself the highest praise in heaven. + The sacrifice shall all embrace--whatever + Places thou hast, revered with poured oblations. + Home-aider, Soma, furtherer with good heroes, + Not hurting heroes, to our houses come thou. + Soma the cow gives; Soma, the swift charger; + Soma, the hero that can much accomplish + (Useful at home, in feast, and in assembly + His father's glory)--gives, to him that worships. + + In war unharmed; in battle still a saviour; + Winner of heaven and waters, town-defender, + Born mid loud joy, and fair of home and glory, + A conqueror, thou; in thee may we be happy. + Thou hast, O Soma, every plant begotten; + The waters, thou; and thou, the cows; and thou hast + Woven the wide space 'twixt the earth and heaven; + Thou hast with light put far away the darkness. + With mind divine, O Soma, thou divine[34] one, + A share of riches win for us, O hero; + Let none restrain thee, thou art lord of valor; + Show thyself foremost to both sides in battle[35]. + +Of more popular songs, Hillebrandt cites as sung to Soma (!) VIII. 69. +8-10: + + Sing loud to him, sing loud to him; + Priyamedhas, oh, sing to him, + And sing to him the children, too; + Extol him as a sure defence.... + To _Indra_ is the prayer up-raised. + +The three daily _soma_-oblations are made chiefly to Indra and +V[=a]yu; to Indra at mid-day; to the Ribhus, artisans of the gods, at +evening; and to Agni in the morning. + +Unmistakable references to Soma as the moon, as, for instance, in X. +85. 3: "No one eats of that _soma_ which the priests know," seem +rather to indicate that the identification of moon and Soma was +something esoteric and new rather than the received belief of +pre-Vedic times, as will Hillebrandt. This moon-_soma_ is +distinguished from the "_soma_-plant which they crush." + +The floods of _soma_ are likened to, or, rather, identified with, the +rain-floods which the lightning frees, and, as it were, brings to +earth with him. A whole series of myths depending on this natural +phenomenon has been evolved, wherein the lightning-fire +as an eagle brings down _soma_ to man, that is, the heavenly drink. +Since Agni is threefold and the G[=a]yatri metre is threefold, they +interchange, and in the legends it is again the metre which brings the +_soma_, or an archer, as is stated in one doubtful passage[36]. + +What stands out most clearly in _soma_-laudations is that the +_soma_-hymns are not only quite mechanical, but that they presuppose a +very complete and elaborate ritual, with the employment of a number of +priests, of whom the _hotars_ (one of the various sets of priests) +alone number five in the early and seven in the late books; with a +complicated service; with certain divinities honored at certain hours; +and other paraphernalia of sacerdotal ceremony; while Indra, most +honored with Soma, and Agni, most closely connected with the execution +of sacrifice, not only receive the most hymns, but these hymns are, +for the most part, palpably made for ritualistic purposes. It is this +truth that the ritualists have seized upon and too sweepingly applied. +For in every family book, besides this baksheesh verse, occur the +older, purer hymns that have been retained after the worship for which +they were composed had become changed into a trite making of phrases. + +Hillebrandt has failed to show that the Iranian _haoma_ is the moon, +so that as a starting-point there still is plant and drink-worship, +not moon-worship. At what precise time, therefore, the _soma_ was +referred to the moon is not so important. Since drink-worship stands +at one end of the series, and moon-worship at the other, it is +antecedently probable that here and there there may be a doubt as to +which of the two was intended. Some of the examples cited by +Hillebrandt may indeed be referable to the latter end of the series +rather than to the former; but that the author, despite the learning +and ingenuity of his work, has proved his point definitively, we are +far from believing. It is just like the later Hindu speculation to +think out a subtle connection between moon and _soma_-plant because +each was yellow, and swelled, and went through a sieve (cloud), etc. +But there is a further connecting link in that the divinity ascribed +to the intoxicant led to a supposition that it was brought from the +sky, the home of the gods; above all, of the luminous gods, which the +yellow _soma_ resembled. Such was the Hindu belief, and from this as a +starting-point appears to have come the gradual identification of +_soma_ with the moon, now called Soma. For the moon, even under the +name of Gandharva, is not the object of especial worship. + +The question so ably discussed by Hillebrandt is, however, one of +considerable importance from the point of view of the religious +development. If _soma_ from the beginning was the moon, then there is +only one more god of nature to add to the pantheon. But if, as we +believe in the light of the Avesta and Veda itself, _soma_ like +_haoma_, was originally the drink-plant (the root _su_ press, from +which comes _soma_, implies the plant), then two important facts +follow. First, in the identification of yellow _soma_-plant with +yellow moon in the latter stage of the Rig Veda (which coincides with +the beginning of the Brahmanic period) there is a striking +illustration of the gradual mystical elevation of religion at the +hands of the priests, to whom it appeared indecent that mere drink +should be exalted thus; and secondly, there is the significant fact +that in the Indic and Iranian cult there was a direct worship of +deified liquor, analogous to Dionysiac rites, a worship which is not +unparalleled in other communities. Again, the surprising identity of +worship in Avesta and Veda, and the fact that hymns to the earlier +deities, Dawn, Parjanya, etc, are frequently devoid of any relation to +the _soma_-cult not only show that Bergaigne's opinion that the whole +Rig Veda is but a collection of hymns for _soma_-worship as handed +down in different families must be modified; but also that, as we have +explained _apropos_ of Varuna, the Iranian cult must have branched off +from the Vedic cult (whether, as Haug thought, on account of a +religious schism or not); that the hymns to the less popular deities +(as we have defined the word) make the first period of Vedic cult; and +that the special liquor-cult, common to Iran and India, arose after +the first period of Vedic worship, when, for example, Wind, Parjanya, +and Varuna were at their height, and before the priests had exalted +mystically Agni or Soma, and even Indra was as yet undeveloped. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: viii. 38. 4; i. 108. 3; Bergaigne, ii. 293.] + + [Footnote 2: On this point Bergaigne deprecates the + application of the ritualistic method, and says in words + that cannot be too emphasized: "Mais qui ne voit que de + telles exptications n'expliquent rien, ou plutôt que le + détail du rituel ne peut trouver son explication que dans le + mythe, bien loin de pouvoir servir lui-mêmes à expliquer le + mythe?... Ni le ciel seul ni la terre seule, mais la terre + et le ciel étroitement unis et presque confondus, voilà le + vrai domaine de la mythologie védique, mythologie dont le + rituel n'est que la reproduction" (i. p. 24).] + + [Footnote 3: i. 58. 4; v. 7. 7; vi. 3. 4.] + + [Footnote 4: iii. 14. 4; i. 71. 9; vi. 3. 7; 6. 2; iv. 1. + 9.] + + [Footnote 5: Or of time or order.] + + [Footnote 6: Or 'Finder-of-beings.'] + + [Footnote 7: _Herabkunft des Feuers und des Göttertrankes_.] + + [Footnote 8: RV. vi. 16. 13: "Thee, Agni, from out the sky + Atharvan twirled," _nir amanthata_ (cf. Promantheus). In x. + 462 the Bhrigus, [Greek: phleghyai], discover fire.] + + [Footnote 9: Compare v. 2. 1. Sometimes Agni is "born with + the fingers," which twirl the sticks (iii. 26. 3; iv. 6. + 8).] + + [Footnote 10: Compare ii. 1: "born in flame from water, + cloud, and plants ... thou art the creator."] + + [Footnote 11: Bergaigne, i. p. 32 ff. The question of + priestly names (loc. cit. pp. 47-50), should start with + Bharata as [Greek: purphoros], a common title of Agni (ii. + 7; vi. 16. 19-21). So Bhrigu is the 'shining' one; and + Vasishtha is the 'most shining' (compare Vasus, not good but + shining gods). The priests got their names from their god, + like Jesuits. Compare Gritsamada in the Bhrigu family (book + ii.); Viçv[=a]-mitra, 'friend of all,' in the Bharata family + (book iii.); Gautama V[=a]madeva belonging to Angirasas + (book iv.); Atri 'Eater,' epithet of Agni in RV. (book v.); + Bharadv[=a]ja 'bearing food' (book vi.); Vasishtha (book + vii.); and besides these Jamadagni and Kaçyapa, + black-toothed (Agni).'] + + [Footnote 12: De Isid. et Osir. 46. Compare Windischmann, + _Ueber den Somacultus der Arier_ (1846), and Muir, _Original + Sanskrit Texts_, vol. ii. p. 471. Hillebrandt, _Vedische + Mythologie_, i. p. 450, believes _haoma_ to mean the moon, + as does _soma_ in some hymns of the Rig Veda (see below).] + + [Footnote 13: Compare Kuhn, _Herabkunft des Feuers und des + Göttertrankes_ (1859); Bergaigne, _La Religion Védique_, i. + 148 ff.; Haug's _[=A]itareya Br[=a]hmana_, Introduction, p. + 62; Whitney in _Jour. Am. Or. Soc_. III. 299; Muir, + _Original Sanskrit Texts_, vol. V. p. 258 ff., where other + literature is cited.] + + [Footnote 14: RV. X. 34. 1; IX. 98. 9; 82.3. The Vedic plant + is unknown (not the _sarcostemma viminale_).] + + [Footnote 15: RV. III. 43. 7; IV. 26.6 (other references in + Muir, _loc. cit._ p. 262.) Perhaps rain as _soma_ released by + lightning as a hawk (Bloomfield).] + + [Footnote 16: See the passages cited in Muir, _loc. cit_.] + + [Footnote 17: A complete account of _soma_ was given by the + Vedic texts will be found in Hillebrandt's _Vedische + Mythologie_, vol. I., where are described the different ways + of fermenting the juice of the plant.] + + [Footnote 18: Although so interpreted by Hillebrandt, _loc. + cit._ p. 312. The passage is found in RV. VI. 44. 23.] + + [Footnote 19: _Loc. cit._ pp. 340, 450.] + + [Footnote 20: Compare IX. 79. 5, where the same verb is used + of striking, urging out the _soma_-juice, _r[=a]sa_.] + + [Footnote 21: Compare IX. 32. 2, where "Trita's maidens urge + on the golden steed with the press-stones, _índu_ as a drink + for Indra."] + + [Footnote 22: On account of the position and content of this + hymn, Hillebrandt regards it as addressed to + Soma-Brihaspati.] + + [Footnote 23: So the sun in I. 163. 9, II. 'Sharpening his + horns' is used of fire in i. 140. 6; v. 2. 9.] + + [Footnote 24: VI. 16. 39; vii. 19. I; VIII. 60. 13.] + + [Footnote 25 3: IX. 63. 8-9; 5. 9. Soma is identified with + lightning in ix. 47. 3.] + + [Footnote 26: _Hukhratus, verethrajao, hvaresa_.] + + [Footnote 27: Or: wise.] + + [Footnote 28 3: Or: strength. Above, 'shared riches,' + perhaps, for 'got happiness.'] + + [Footnote 29: Or: thine, indeed, are the laws of King + Varuna.] + + [Footnote 30: Or: brilliant and beloved as Mitra (Mitra + means friend); Aryaman is translated 'bosom-friend'--both + are [=A]dityas.] + + [Footnote 31: Or: an thou willest for us to live we shall + not die.] + + [Footnote 32: Or: lordly plant, but not the moon.] + + [Footnote 33: Some unessential verses in the above metre are + here omitted.] + + [Footnote 34: Or: shining.] + + [Footnote 35: The same ideas are prominent in viii. 48, + where Soma is invoked as '_soma_ that has been drunk,' + _i.e.,_ the juice of the ('three days fermented') plant.] + + [Footnote 36: In the fourth book, iv. 27. 3. On this myth, + with its reasonable explanation as deduced from the ritual, + see Bloomfield, JAOS. xvi. I ff. Compare also Muir and + Hillebrandt, loc. cit.] + + * * * * * + + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE RIG VEDA (CONCLUDED).--YAMA AND OTHER GODS, VEDIC PANTHEISM, +ESCHATOLOGY. + + +In the last chapter we have traced the character of two great gods of +earth, the altar-fire and the personified kind of beer which was the +Vedic poets' chief drink till the end of this period. With the +discovery of _sur[=a], humor ex hordeo_ (oryzaque; Weber, +_V[=a]japeya_, p. 19), and the difficulty of obtaining the original +_soma_-plant (for the plant used later for _soma_, the _asclepias +acida_, or _sarcostemma viminale_, does not grow in the Punj[=a]b +region, and cannot have been the original _soma_), the status of +_soma_ became changed. While _sur[=a]_ became the drink of the people, +_soma_, despite the fact that it was not now so agreeable a liquor, +became reserved, from its old associations, as the priests' (gods') +drink, a sacrosanct beverage, not for the vulgar, and not esteemed by +the priest, except as it kept up the rite. + +It has been shown that these gods, earthly in habitation, absorbed the +powers of the older and physically higher divinities. The ideas that +clustered about the latter were transferred to the former. The +altar-fire, Agni, is at once earth-fire, lightning, and sun. The drink +_soma_ is identified with the heavenly drink that refreshes the earth, +and from its color is taken at last to be the terrestrial form of its +aqueous prototype, the moon, which is not only yellow, but even goes +through cloud-meshes just as _soma_ goes through the sieve, with all +the other points of comparison that priestly ingenuity can devise. + +Of different sort altogether from these gods is the ancient +Indo-Iranian figure that now claims attention. The older religion had +at least one object of devotion very difficult to reduce to terms of a +nature-religion. + + +YAMA + +Exactly as the Hindu had a half-divine ancestor, Manu, who by the +later priests is regarded as of solar origin, while more probably he +is only the abstract Adam (man), the progenitor of the race; so in +Yama the Hindu saw the primitive "first of mortals." While, however, +Mitra, Dyaus, and other older nature-gods, pass into a state of +negative or almost forgotten activity, Yama, even in the later epic +period, still remains a potent sovereign--the king of the dead. + +In the Avesta Yima is the son of the 'wide-gleaming' Vivanghvant, the +sun, and here it is the sun that first prepares the _soma (haoma)_ for +man. And so, too, in the Rig Veda it is Yama the son of Vivasvant (X. +58. 1; 60. 10) who first "extends the web" of (_soma_) sacrifice (VII. +33. 9, 12). The Vedic poet, not influenced by later methods of +interpretation, saw in Yama neither sun nor moon, nor any other +natural phenomenon, for thus he sings, differentiating Yama from them +all: "I praise with a song Agni, P[=u]shan, Sun and Moon, Yama in +heaven, Trita, Wind, Dawn, the Ray of Light, the Twin Horsemen" (X. +64. 3); and again: "Deserving of laudation are Heaven and Earth, the +four-limbed Agni, Yama, Aditi," etc. (X. 92. 11). + +Yama is regarded as a god, although in the Rig Veda he is called only +'king' (X. 14. 1, 11); but later he is expressly a god, and this is +implied, as Ehni shows, even in the Rig Veda: 'a god found Agni' and +'Yama found Agni' (X. 51. 1 ff.). His primitive nature was that of the +'first mortal that died,' in the words of the Atharva Veda. It is +true, indeed, that at a later period even gods are spoken of as +originally 'mortal,'[1] but this is a conception alien from the early +notions of the Veda, where 'mortal' signifies no more than 'man.' Yama +was the first mortal, and he lives in the sky, in the home that "holds +heroes," _i.e._, his abode is where dead heroes congregate (I. 35. 6; +X. 64. 3)[2]. The fathers that died of old are cared for by him as he +sits drinking with the gods beneath a fair tree (X. 135. 1-7). The +fire that devours the corpse is invoked to depart thither (X. 16. 9). +This place is not very definitely located, but since, according to one +prevalent view, the saints guard the sun, and since Yama's abode in +the sky is comparable with the sun in one or two passages, it is +probable that the general idea was that the departed entered the sun +and there Yama received him (I. 105. 9, 'my home is there where are +the sun's rays'; X. 154. 4-5, 'the dead shall go, O Yama, to the +fathers, the seers that guard the sun'). 'Yama's abode' is the same +with 'sky' (X. 123. 6); and when it is said, 'may the fathers hold up +the pillar (in the grave), and may Yama build a seat for thee there' +(X. 18. 13), this refers, not to the grave, but to heaven. And it is +said that 'Yama's seat is what is called the gods' home' (X. 135. +7)[3]. But Yama does not remain in the sky. He comes, as do other +Powers, to the sacrifice, and is invited to seat himself 'with +Angirasas and the fathers' at the feast, where he rejoices with them +(X. 14. 3-4; 15. 8). And either because Agni devours corpses for Yama, +or because of Agni's part in the sacrifice which Yama so joyfully +attends, therefore Agni is especially mentioned as Yama's friend (X. +21. 5), or even his priest (_ib_. 52. 3). Yama stands in his relation +to the dead so near to death that 'to go on Yama's path' is to go on +the path of death; and battle is called 'Yama's strife.' It is even +possible that in one passage Yama is directly identified with death +(X. 165. 4, 'to Yama be reverence, to death'; I. 38. 5; _ib_. 116. +2)[4]. There is always a close connection between Varuna and Yama, and +perhaps it is owing to this that parallel to 'Varuna's fetters' is +found also 'Yama's fetter,' i.e., death (x. 97. 16). + +As Yama was the first to die, so was he the first to teach man the +road to immortality, which lies through sacrifice, whereby man attains +to heaven and to immortality. Hence the poet says, 'we revere the +immortality born of Yama' (i. 83. 5). This, too, is the meaning of the +mystic verse which speaks of the sun as the heavenly courser 'given by +Yama,' for, in giving the way to immortality, Yama gives also the +sun-abode to them that become immortal. In the same hymn the sun is +identified with Yama as he is with Trita (i. 163. 3). This particular +identification is due, however, rather to the developed pantheistic +idea which obtains in the later hymns. A parallel is found in the next +hymn: "They speak of Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni ... that which is one, +the priests speak of in many ways, and call him Agni, Yama, Fire" (or +Wind, i. 164. 46). + +Despite the fact that one Vedic poet speaks of Yama's name as 'easy to +understand' (x. 12. 6), no little ingenuity has been spent on it, as +well as on the primitive conception underlying his personality. +Etymologically, his name means Twin, and this is probably the real +meaning, for his twin sister Yami is also a Vedic personage. The later +age, regarding Yama as a restrainer and punisher of the wicked, +derived the name from _yam_ the restrainer or punisher, but such an +idea is quite out of place in the province of Vedic thought. The +Iranian Yima also has a sister of like name, although she does not +appear till late in the literature. + +That Yama's father is the sun, Vivasvant (Savitar, 'the artificer,' +Tvashtar, x. 10. 4-5),[5] is clearly enough stated in the +Rik; and that he was the first mortal, in the Atharvan. Men come from +Yama, and Yama comes from the sun as 'creator,' just as men elsewhere +come from Adam and Adam comes from the Creator. But instead of an +Hebraic Adam and Eve there are in India a Yama and Yam[=i], brother +and sister (wife), who, in the one hymn in which the latter is +introduced _(loc. cit.),_ indulge in a moral conversation on the +propriety of wedlock between brother and sister. This hymn is +evidently a protest against a union that was unobjectionable to an +older generation. In the Yajur Veda Yami is wife and sister both. But +sometimes, in the varying fancies of the Vedic poets, the artificer +Tvashtar is differentiated from Vivasvant, the sun; as he is in +another passage, where Tvashtar gives to Vivasvant his daughter, and +she is the mother of Yama[6]. + +That men are the children of Yama is seen in X. 13. 4, where it is +said, 'Yama averted death for the gods; he did not avert death for +(his) posterity.' In the Brahmanic tradition men derive from the sun +(T[=a]itt. S. VI. 5. 6. 2[7]) So, in the Iranian belief, Yima is +looked upon, according to some scholars, as the first man. The funeral +hymn to Yama is as follows: + + Him who once went over the great mountains[8] and spied out + a path for many, the son of Vivasvant, who collects men, + King Yama, revere ye with oblations. Yama the first found us + a way ... There where our old fathers are departed.... Yama + is magnified with the Angirasas.... Sit here, O Yama, with + the Angirasas and with the fathers.... Rejoice, O king, in + this oblation. Come, O Yama, with the venerable Angirasas. I + call thy father, Vivasvant, sit down at this sacrifice. + +And then, turning to the departed soul: + + Go forth, go forth on the old paths where are gone our old + fathers; thou shalt see both joyous kings, Yama and God + Varuna. Unite with the fathers, with Yama, with the + satisfaction of desires, in highest heaven.... Yama will + give a resting place to this spirit. Run past, on a good + path, the two dogs of Saram[=a], the four-eyed, spotted + ones; go unto the fathers who rejoice with Yama. + +Several things are here noteworthy. In the first place, the Atharva +Veda reads, "who first of mortals died[9]," and this is the meaning of +the Rig Veda version, although, as was said above, the mere fact that +Varuna is called a god and Yama a king proves nothing[10]. But it is +clearly implied here that he who crossed the mountains and 'collected +men,' as does Yima in the Iranian legend, is an ancient king, as it is +also implied that he led the way to heaven. The dogs of Yama are +described in such a way as to remind one of the dogs that guard the +path the dead have to pass in the Iranian legend, and of Kerberus, +with whose very name the adjective 'spotted' has been compared[11]. +The dogs are elsewhere described as white and brown and as barking +(VII. 55. 2), and in further verses of the hymn just quoted (X. 14) +they are called "thy guardian dogs, O Yama, the four-eyed ones who +guard the path, who look on men ... broad-nosed, dark messengers of +Yama, who run among the people." + +These dogs are due to the same fantasy that creates a Kerberus, the +Iranian dogs[12], or other guardians of the road that leads to heaven. +The description is too minute to make it probable that the Vedic poet +understood them to be 'sun and moon,' as the later Brahmanical +ingenuity explains them, and as they have been explained by modern +scholarship. It is not possible that the poet, had he had in mind any +connection between the dogs and the sun and moon (or 'night and day'), +would have described them as 'barking' or as 'broad-nosed and dark'; +and all interpretation of Yama's dogs must rest on the interpretation +of Yama himself[13]. + +Yama is not mentioned elsewhere[14] in the Rig Veda, except in the +statement that 'metres rest on Yama,' and in the closing verses of the +burial hymn: "For Yama press the _soma_, for Yama pour oblation; the +sacrifice goes to Yama; he shall extend for us a long life among the +gods," where the pun on Yama (_yamad á_), in the sense of 'stretch +out,' shows that as yet no thought of 'restrainer' was in the poet's +mind, although the sense of 'twin' is lost from the name. + +In recent years Hillebrandt argues that because the Manes are +connected with Soma (as the moon), and because Yama was the first to +die, therefore Yama was the moon. Ehni, on the other hand, together +with Bergaigne and some other scholars, takes Yama to be the sun. +Müller calls him the 'setting-sun[15].' The argument from the Manes +applies better to the sun than to the moon, but it is not conclusive. +The Hindus in the Vedic age, as later, thought of the Manes living in +stars, moon, sun, and air; and, if they were not good Manes but dead +sinners, in the outer edge of the universe or under ground. In short, +they are located in every conceivable place[17]. + +The Yama, 'who collects people,' has been rightly compared with the +Yima, who 'made a gathering of the people,' but it is doubtful whether +one should see in this an Aryan trait; for [Greek: Aidaes Agaesilaos] +is not early and popular, but late (Aeschylean), and the expression +may easily have arisen independently in the mind of the Greek poet. +From a comparative point of view, in the reconstruction of Yama there +is no conclusive evidence which will permit one to identify his +original character either with sun or moon. Much rather he appears to +be as he is in the Rig Veda, a primitive king, not historically so, +but poetically, the first man, fathered of the sun, to whom he +returns, and in whose abode he collects his offspring after their +inevitable death on earth. In fact, in Yama there is the ideal side of +ancestor-worship. He is a poetic image, the first of all fathers, and +hence their type and king. Yama's name is unknown outside of the +Indo-Iranian circle, and though Ehni seeks to find traces of him in +Greece and elsewhere,[18] this scholar's identifications fail, because +he fails to note that similar ideas in myths are no proof of their +common origin. + +It has been suggested that in the paradise of Yama over the mountains +there is a companion-piece to the hyperboreans, whose felicity is +described by Pindar. The nations that came from the north still kept +in legend a recollection of the land from whence they came. This +suggestion cannot, of course, be proved, but it is the most probable +explanation yet given of the first paradise to which the dead revert. +In the late Vedic period, when the souls of the dead were not supposed +to linger on earth with such pleasure as in the sky, Yama's abode is +raised to heaven. Later still, when to the Hindu the south was the +land of death, Yama's hall of judgment is again brought down to earth +and transferred to the 'southern district.' + +The careful investigation of Scherman[19] leads essentially to the +same conception of Yama as that we have advocated. Scherman believes +that Yama was first a human figure, and was then elevated to, if not +identified with, the sun. Scherman's only error is in disputing the +generally-received opinion, one that is on the whole correct, that +Yama in the early period is a kindly sovereign, and in later times +becomes the dread king of horrible hells. Despite some testimony to +the contrary, part of which is late interpolation in the epic, this is +the antithesis which exists in the works of the respective periods. + +The most important gods of the era of the Rig Veda we now have +reviewed. But before passing on to the next period it should be +noticed that no small number of beings remains who are of the air, +devilish, or of the earth, earthy. Like the demons that injure man by +restraining the rain in the clouds, so there are _bh[=u]ts_, ghosts, +spooks, and other lower powers, some malevolent, some good-natured, +who inhabit earth; whence demonology. There is, furthermore, a certain +chrematheism, as we have elsewhere[20] ventured to call it, which +pervades the Rig Veda, the worship of more or less personified things, +differing from pantheism in this,[21] that whereas pantheism assumes a +like divinity in all things, this kind of theism assumes that +everything (or anything) has a separate divinity, usually that which +is useful to the worshipper, as, the plough, the furrow, etc. In later +hymns these objects are generally of sacrificial nature, and the +stones with which _soma_ is pressed are divine like the plant. Yet +often there is no sacrificial observance to cause this veneration. +Hymns are addressed to weapons, to the war-car, as to divine beings. +Sorcery and incantation is not looked upon favorably, but nevertheless +it is found. + +Another class of divinities includes abstractions, generally female, +such as Infinity, Piety, Abundance, with the barely-mentioned +Gung[=u], R[=a]k[=a], etc. (which may be moon-phases). The +most important of these abstractions[22] is 'the lord of strength,' a +priestly interpretation of Indra, interpreted as religious strength or +prayer, to whom are accredited all of Indra's special acts. +Hillebrandt interprets this god, Brahmanaspati or Brihaspati, as the +moon; Müller, somewhat doubtfully, as fire; while Roth will not allow +that Brihaspati has anything to do with natural phenomena, but +considers him to have been from the beginning 'lord of prayer.' With +this view we partly concur, but we would make the important +modification that the god was lord of prayer only as priestly +abstraction Indra in his higher development. It is from this god is +come probably the head of the later trinity, Brahm[=a], through +personified _brahma_, power; prayer, with its philosophical +development into the Absolute. Noteworthy is the fact that some of the +Vedic Aryans, despite his high pretensions, do not quite like +Brihaspati, and look on him as a suspicious novelty. If one study +Brihaspati in the hymns, it will be difficult not to see in him simply +a sacerdotal Indra. He breaks the demon's power; crushes the foes of +man; consumes the demons with a sharp bolt; disperses darkness; drives +forth the 'cows'; gives offspring and riches; helps in battle; +discovers Dawn and Agni; has a band (like Maruts) singing about him; +he is red and golden, and is identified with fire. Although 'father of +gods,' he is begotten of Tvashtar, the artificer.[23] + +Weber has suggested (V[=a]japeya Sacrifice, p. 15), that Brihaspati +takes Indra's place, and this seems to be the true solution, Indra as +interpreted mystically by priests. In RV. i. 190, Brihaspati is looked +upon by 'sinners' as a new god of little value. Other minor deities +can be mentioned only briefly, chiefly that the extent of the pantheon +may be seen. For the history of religion they are of only collective +importance. The All-gods play an important part in the sacrifice, a +group of 'all the gods,' a priestly manufacture to the end that no god +may be omitted in laudations that would embrace all the gods. The +later priests attempt to identify these gods with the clans, 'the +All-gods are the clans' (_Çat. Br._ v. 5. 1.10), on the basis of a +theological _pun_, the clans, _viças_, being equated with the word for +all, _viçve_. Some modern scholars follow these later priests, but +without reason. Had these been special clan-gods, they would have had +special names, and would not have appeared in a group alone. + +The later epic has a good deal to say about some lovely nymphs called +the Apsarasas, of whom it mentions six as chief (Urvaç[=i], Menak[=a], +etc.).[24] They fall somewhat in the epic from their Vedic estate, but +they are never more than secondary figures, love-goddesses, beloved of +the Gandharvas who later are the singing guardians of the moon, and, +like the lunar stations, twenty-seven in number. The Rik knows at +first but one Gandharva (an inferior genius, mentioned in but one +family-book), who guards Soma's path, and, when Soma becomes the moon, +is identified with him, ix. 86. 36. As in the Avesta, Gandharva is +(the moon as) an evil spirit also; but always as a second-rate power, +to whom are ascribed magic (and madness, later). He has virtually no +cult except in _soma_-hymns, and shows clearly the first Aryan +conception of the moon as a demoniac power, potent over women, and +associated with waters. + +Mountains, and especially rivers, are holy, and of course are deified. +Primitive belief generally deifies rivers. But in the great river-hymn +in the Rig Veda there is probably as much pure poetry as prayer. The +Vedic poet half believed in the rivers' divinity, and sings how they +'rush forth like armies,' but it will not do to inquire too strictly +in regard to his belief. + +He was a poet, and did not expect to be catechized. Of female +divinities there are several of which the nature is doubtful. As Dawn +or Storm have been interpreted Saram[=a] and Sarany[=u], both meaning +'runner.' The former is Indra's dog, and her litter is the dogs of +Yama. One little poem, rather than hymn, celebrates the 'wood-goddess' +in pretty verses of playful and descriptive character. + +Long before there was any formal recognition of the dogma that all +gods are one, various gods had been identified by the Vedic poets. +Especially, as most naturally, was this the case when diverse gods +having different names were similar in any way, such as Indra and +Agni, whose glory is fire; or Varuna and Mitra, whose seat is the sky. +From this casual union of like pairs comes the peculiar custom of +invoking two gods as one. But even in the case of gods not so +radically connected, if their functions were mutually approximate, +each in turn became credited with his neighbor's acts. If the traits +were similar which characterized each, if the circles of activity +overlapped at all, then those divinities that originally were tangent +to each other gradually became concentric, and eventually were united. +And so the lines between the gods were wiped out, as it were, by their +conceptions crowding upon one another. There was another factor, +however, in the development of this unconscious, or, at least, +unacknowledged, pantheism. Aided by the likeness or identity of +attributes in Indra, Savitar, Agni, Mitra, and other gods, many of +which were virtually the same under a different designation, the +priests, ever prone to extravagance of word, soon began to attribute, +regardless of strict propriety, every power to every god. With the +exception of some of the older divinities, whose forms, as they are +less complex, retain throughout the simplicity of their primitive +character, few gods escaped this adoration, which tended to make them +all universally supreme, each being endowed with all the attributes of +godhead. One might think that no better fate could happen to a god +than thus to be magnified. But when each god in the pantheon was +equally glorified, the effect on the whole was disastrous. In fact, it +was the death of the gods whom it was the intention of the seers to +exalt. And the reason is plain. From this universal praise it resulted +that the individuality of each god became less distinct; every god was +become, so to speak, any god, so far as his peculiar attributes made +him a god at all, so that out of the very praise that was given to him +and his confreres alike there arose the idea of the abstract godhead, +the god who was all the gods, the one god. As a pure abstraction one +finds thus Aditi, as equivalent to 'all the gods,'[25] and then the +more personal idea of the god that is father of all, which soon +becomes the purely personal All-god. It is at this stage where begins +conscious premeditated pantheism, which in its first beginnings is +more like monotheism, although in India there is no monotheism which +does not include devout polytheism, as will be seen in the review of +the formal philosophical systems of religion. + +It is thus that we have attempted elsewhere[26] to explain that phase +of Hindu religion which Müller calls henotheism. + +Müller, indeed, would make of henotheism a new religion, but this, the +worshipping of each divinity in turn as if it were the greatest and +even the only god recognized, is rather the result of the general +tendency to exaltation, united with pantheistic beginnings. Granting +that pure polytheism is found in a few hymns, one may yet say that +this polytheism, with an accompaniment of half-acknowledged +chrematheism, passed soon into the belief that several divinities were +ultimately and essentially but one, which may be described as +homoiotheism; and that the poets of the Rig Veda were unquestionably +esoterically unitarians to a much greater extent and in an earlier +period than has generally been acknowledged. Most of the hymns of the +Rig Veda were composed under the influence of that unification of +deities and tendency to a quasi-monotheism, which eventually results +both in philosophical pantheism, and in the recognition at the same +time of a personal first cause. To express the difference between +Hellenic polytheism and the polytheism of the Rig Veda the latter +should be called, if by any new term, rather by a name like +pantheistic polytheism, than by the somewhat misleading word +henotheism. What is novel in it is that it represents the fading of +pure polytheism and the engrafting, upon a polytheistic stock, of a +speculative homoiousian tendency soon to bud out as philosophic +pantheism. + +The admission that other gods exist does not nullify the attitude of +tentative monotheism. "Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods?" +asks Moses, and his father-in-law, when converted to the new belief, +says: "Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods."[27] But +this is not the quasi-monotheism of the Hindu, to whom the other gods +were real and potent factors, individually distinct from the one +supreme god, who represents the All-god, but is at once abstract and +concrete. + +Pantheism in the Rig Veda comes out clearly only in one or two +passages: "The priests represent in many ways the (sun) bird that is +one"; and (cited above) "They speak of him as Indra, Mitra, Varuna, +Agni, ... that which is but one they call variously." So, too, in the +Atharvan it is said that Varuna (here a pantheistic god) is "in the +little drop of water,"[28] as in the Rik the spark of material fire is +identified with the sun. + +The new belief is voiced chiefly in that portion of the Rig Veda which +appears to be latest and most Brahmanic in tone. + +Here a supreme god is described under the name of "Lord of Beings," +the "All-maker," "The Golden Germ," the "God over gods, the spirit of +their being" (x. 121). The last, a famous hymn, Müller entitles "To +the Unknown God." It may have been intended, as has been suggested, +for a theological puzzle,[29] but its language evinces that in +whatever form it is couched--each verse ends with the refrain, 'To +what god shall we offer sacrifice?' till the last verse answers the +question, saying, 'the Lord of beings'--it is meant to raise the +question of a supreme deity and leave it unanswered in terms of a +nature-religion, though the germ is at bottom fire: "In the beginning +arose the Golden Germ; as soon as born he became the Lord of All. He +established earth and heaven--to what god shall we offer sacrifice? He +who gives breath, strength, whose command the shining gods obey; whose +shadow is life and death.... When the great waters went everywhere +holding the germ and generating light, then arose from them the one +spirit (breath) of the gods.... May he not hurt us, he the begetter of +earth, the holy one who begot heaven ... Lord of beings, thou alone +embracest all things ..." + +In this closing period of the Rig Veda--a period which in many ways, +the sudden completeness of caste, the recognition of several Vedas, +etc., is much farther removed from the beginning of the work than it +is from the period of Brahmanic speculation--philosophy is hard at +work upon the problems of the origin of gods and of being. As in the +last hymn, water is the origin of all things; out of this springs +fire, and the wind which is the breath of god. So in the great hymn of +creation: "There was then neither not-being nor being; there was no +atmosphere, no sky. What hid (it)? Where and in the protection of +what? Was it water, deep darkness? There was no death nor immortality. +There was no difference between night and day. That One breathed ... +nothing other than this or above it existed. Darkness was concealed in +darkness in the beginning. Undifferentiated water was all this +(universe)." Creation is then declared to have arisen by virtue of +desire, which, in the beginning was the origin of mind;[30] and "the +gods," it is said further, "were created after this." Whether entity +springs from non-entity or vice versa is discussed in another hymn of +the same book.[31] The most celebrated of the pantheistic hymns is +that in which the universe is regarded as portions of the deity +conceived as the primal Person: "Purusha (the Male Person) is this +all, what has been and will be ... all created things are a fourth of +him; that which is immortal in the sky is three-fourths of him." The +hymn is too well known to be quoted entire. All the castes, all gods, +all animals, and the three (or four) Vedas are parts of him.[32] + +Such is the mental height to which the seers have raised themselves +before the end of the Rig Veda. The figure of the Father-god, +Praj[=a]pati, 'lord of beings,' begins here; at first an epithet of +Savitar, and finally the type of the head of a pantheon, such as one +finds him to be in the Br[=a]hmanas. In one hymn only (x. 121) is +Praj[=a]pati found as the personal Father-god and All-god. At a time +when philosophy created the one Universal Male Person, the popular +religion, keeping pace, as far as it could, with philosophy, invented +the more anthropomorphized, more human, Father-god--whose name is +ultimately interpreted as an interrogation, God Who? This trait lasts +from now on through all speculation. The philosopher conceived of a +first source. The vulgar made it a personal god. + +One of the most remarkable hymns of this epoch is that on V[=a]c, +Speech, or The Word. Weber has sought in this the prototype of the +Logos doctrine (below). The Word, V[=a]c (feminine) is introduced as +speaking (x. 125): + + I wander with the Rudras, with the Vasus,[33] with the + [=A]dityas, and with all the gods; I support Mitra, + Va['r]una, Indra-Agni, and the twin Açvins ... I give wealth + to him that gives sacrifice, to him that presses the _soma_. + I am the queen, the best of those worthy of sacrifice ... + The gods have put me in many places ... I am that through + which one eats, breathes, sees, and hears ... Him that I + love I make strong, to be a priest, a seer, a wise man. 'Tis + I bend Rudra's bow to hit the unbeliever; I prepare war for + the people; I am entered into heaven and earth. I beget the + father of this (all) on the height; my place is in the + waters, the sea; thence I extend myself among all creatures + and touch heaven with my crown. Even I blow like the wind, + encompassing all creatures. Above heaven and above earth, so + great am I grown in majesty. + +This is almost Vedantic pantheism with the Vishnuite doctrine of +'special grace' included. + +The moral tone of this period--if period it may be called--may best be +examined after one has studied the idea which the Vedic Hindu has +formed of the life hereafter. The happiness of heaven will be typical +of what he regards as best here. Bliss beyond the grave depends in +turn upon the existence of the spirit after death, and, that the +reader may understand this, we must say a few words in regard to the +Manes, or fathers dead. "Father Manu," as he is called,[34] was the +first 'Man.' Subsequently he is the secondary parent as a kind of +Noah; but Yama, in later tradition his brother, has taken his place as +norm of the departed fathers, Pitaras. + +These Fathers (Manes), although of different sort than the gods, are +yet divine and have many godly powers, granting prayers and lending +aid, as may be seen from this invocation: "O Fathers, may the +sky-people grant us life; may we follow the course of the living" (x. +57. 5). One whole hymn is addressed to these quasi-divinities (x. 15): + + Arise may the lowest, the highest, the middlemost Fathers, + those worthy of the _soma_, who without harm have entered + into the spirit (-world); may these Fathers, knowing the + seasons, aid us at our call. This reverence be to-day to the + Fathers, who of old and afterwards departed; those who have + settled in an earthly sphere,[35] or among peoples living in + fair places (the gods?). I have found the gracious Fathers, + the descendant(s) and the wide-step[36] of Vishnu; those + who, sitting on the sacrificial straw, willingly partake of + the pressed drink, these are most apt to come hither.... + Come hither with blessings, O Fathers; may they come hither, + hear us, address and bless us.... May ye not injure us for + whatever impiety we have as men committed.... With those who + are our former Fathers, those worthy of _soma_, who are come + to the _soma_ drink, the best (fathers), may Yama rejoicing, + willingly with them that are willing, eat the oblations as + much as is agreeable (to them). Come running, O Agni, with + these (fathers), who thirsted among the gods and hastened + hither, finding oblations and praised with songs. These + gracious ones, the real poets, the Fathers that seat + themselves at the sacrificial heat; who are real eaters of + oblation; drinkers of oblation; and are set together on one + chariot with Indra and the gods. Come, O Agni, with these, a + thousand, honored like gods, the ancient, the original + Fathers who seat themselves at the sacrificial heat.... + Thou, Agni, didst give the oblations to the Fathers, that + eat according to their custom; do thou (too) eat, O god, the + oblation offered (to thee). Thou knowest, O thou knower (or + finder) of beings, how many are the Fathers--those who are + here, and who are not here, of whom we know, and of whom we + know not. According to custom eat thou the well-made + sacrifice. With those who, burned in fire or not burned, + (now) enjoy themselves according to custom in the middle of + the sky, do thou, being the lord, form (for us) a spirit + life, a body according to (our) wishes.[37] + +Often the Fathers are invoked in similar language in the hymn to the +"All-gods" mentioned above, and occasionally no distinction is to be +noticed between the powers and attributes of the Fathers and those of +the gods. The Fathers, like the luminous gods, "give light" (x. 107. +1). Exactly like the gods, they are called upon to aid the living, and +even 'not to harm' (iii. 55. 2; x. 15. 6). According to one verse, the +Fathers have not attained the greatness of the gods, who impart +strength only to the gods.[38] + +The Fathers are kept distinct from the gods. When the laudations +bestowed upon the former are of unequivocal character there is no +confusion between the two.[39] + +The good dead, to get to the paradise awaiting them, pass over water +(X. 63. 10), and a bridge (ix. 41. 2). Here, by the gift of the gods, +not by inherent capacity, they obtain immortality. He that believes on +Agni, sings: "Thou puttest the mortal in highest immortality, O Agni"; +and, accordingly, there is no suggestion that heavenly joys may cease; +nor is there in this age any notion of a _Götterdämmerung_. +Immortality is described as "continuing life in the highest sky," +another proof that when formulated the doctrine was that the soul of +the dead lives in heaven or in the sun.[40] + +Other cases of immortality granted by different gods are recorded by +Muir and Zimmer. Yet in one passage the words, "two paths I have heard +of the Fathers (exist), of the gods and of mortals," may mean that the +Fathers go the way of mortals or that of gods, rather than, as is the +usual interpretation, that mortals have two paths, one of the Fathers +and one of the gods,[41] for the dead may live on earth or in the air +as well as in heaven. When a good man dies his breath, it is said, +goes to the wind, his eye to the sun, etc.[42]--each part to its +appropriate prototype--while the "unborn part" is carried +"to the world of the righteous," after having been burned and heated +by the funeral fire. All these parts are restored to the soul, +however, and Agni and Soma return to it what has been injured. With +this Muir compares a passage in the Atharva Veda where it is said that +the Manes in heaven rejoice with all their limbs.[43] We dissent, +therefore, wholly from Barth, who declares that the dead are conceived +of as "resting forever in the tomb, the narrow house of clay." The +only passage cited to prove this is X. 18. 10-13, where are the words +(addressed to the dead man at the burial): "Go now to mother earth ... +she shall guard thee from destruction's lap ... Open wide, O earth, be +easy of access; as a mother her son cover this man, O earth," etc. +Ending with the verse quoted above: "May the Fathers hold the pillar +and Yama there build thee a seat."[44] The following is also found in +the Rig Veda bearing on this point: the prayer that one may meet his +parents after death; the statement that a generous man goes to the +gods; and a suggestion of the later belief that one wins immortality +by means of a son.[45] + +The joys of paradise are those of earth; and heaven is thus described, +albeit in a late hymn:[46] "Where is light inexhaustible; in the world +where is placed the shining sky; set me in this immortal, unending +world, O thou that purifiest thyself (Soma); where is king (Yama), the +son of Vivasvant, and the paradise of the sky;[47] where are the +flowing waters; there make me immortal. Where one can go as he will; +in the third heaven, the third vault of the sky; where are worlds full +of light, there make me immortal; where are wishes and desires +and the red (sun)'s highest place; where one can follow his own habits +[48] and have satisfaction; there make me immortal; where exist +delight, joy, rejoicing, and joyance; where wishes are obtained, there +make me immortal."[49] Here, as above, the saints join the Fathers, +'who guard the sun.' + +There is a 'bottomless darkness' occasionally referred to as a place +where evil spirits are to be sent by the gods; and a 'deep place' is +mentioned as the portion of 'evil, false, untruthful men'; while Soma +casts into 'a hole' (abyss) those that are irreligious.[50] + +As darkness is hell to the Hindu, and as in all later time the demons +are spirits of darkness, it is rather forced not to see in these +allusions a misty hell, without torture indeed, but a place for the +bad either 'far away,' as it is sometimes said _(par[=a]váti)_, or +'deep down,' 'under three earths,' exactly as the Greek has a hell +below and one on the edge of the earth. Ordinarily, however, the gods +are requested simply to annihilate offenders. It is plain, as Zimmer +says, from the office of Yama's dogs, that they kept out of paradise +unworthy souls; so that the annihilation cannot have been imagined to +be purely corporeal. But heaven is not often described, and hell +never, in this period. Yet, when the paradise desired is described, it +is a place where earthly joys are prolonged and intensified. Zimmer +argues that a race which believes in good for the good hereafter must +logically believe in punishment for the wicked, and Scherman, +strangely enough, agrees with this pedantic opinion.[51] If either of +these scholars had looked away from India to the western Indians he +would have seen that, whereas almost all American Indians believe in a +happy hereafter for good warriors, only a very few tribes have any +belief in punishment for the bad. At most a Niflheim awaits the +coward. Weber thinks the Aryans already believed in a personal +immortality, and we agree with him. Whitney's belief that hell was not +known before the Upanishad period (in his translations of the _Katha +Upanishad_) is correct only if by hell torture is meant, and if the +Atharvan is later than this Upanishad, which is improbable. + +The good dead in the Rig Veda return with Yama to the sacrifice to +enjoy the _soma_ and viands prepared for them by their descendants. +Hence the whole belief in the necessity of a son in order to the +obtaining of a joyful hereafter. What the rite of burial was to the +Greek, a son was to the Hindu, a means of bliss in heaven. Roth +apparently thinks that the Rig Veda's heaven is one that can best be +described in Dr. Watt's hymn: + + There is a land of pure delight + Where saints immortal reign, + Eternal day excludes the night, + And pleasures banish pain; + +and that especial stress should be laid on the word 'pure.' But there +is very little teaching of personal purity in the Veda, and the poet +who hopes for a heaven where he is to find 'longing women,' 'desire +and its fulfillment' has in mind, in all probability, purely impure +delights. It is not to be assumed that the earlier morality surpassed +that of the later day, when, even in the epic, the hero's really +desired heaven is one of drunkenness and women _ad libitum_. Of the +'good man' in the Rig Veda are demanded piety toward gods and manes +and liberality to priests; truthfulness and courage; and in the end of +the work there is a suggestion of ascetic 'goodness' by means of +_tapas_, austerity.[52] Grassman cites one hymn as dedicated to + +'Mercy.' It is really (not a hymn and) not on mercy, but a poem +praising generosity. This generosity, however (and in general this is +true of the whole people), is not general generosity, but liberality +to the priests.[53] The blessings asked for are wealth (cattle, +horses, gold, etc.), virile power, male children ('heroic offspring') +and immortality, with its accompanying joys. Once there is a tirade +against the friend that is false to his friend (truth in act as well +as in word);[54] once only, a poem on concord, which seems to partake +of the nature of an incantation. + +Incantations are rare in the Rig Veda, and appear to be looked upon as +objectionable. So in VII. 104 the charge of a 'magician' is furiously +repudiated; yet do an incantation against a rival wife, a mocking hymn +of exultation after subduing rivals, and a few other hymns of like +sort show that magical practices were well known.[55] + +The sacrifice occupies a high place in the religion of the Rig Veda, +but it is not all-important, as it is later. Nevertheless, the same +presumptuous assumption that the gods depend on earthly sacrifice is +often made; the result of which, even before the collection was +complete (IV. 50), was to teach that gods and men depended on the will +of the wise men who knew how properly to conduct a sacrifice, the +key-note of religious pride in the Brahmanic period. + +Indra depends on the sacrificial _soma_ to accomplish his great works. +The gods first got power through the sacrificial fire and _soma_.[56] +That images of the gods were supposed to be powerful may be inferred +from the late verses, "who buys this Indra," etc. (above), but +allusions to idolatry are elsewhere extremely doubtful.[57] + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Compare T[=a]itt. S. VII. 4.2.1. The gods win + immortality by means of 'sacrifice' in this later + priest-ridden period.] + + [Footnote 2: Ludwig (IV. p. 134) wrongly understands a hell + here.] + + [Footnote 3: 'Yama's seat' is here what it is in the epic, + not a chapel (Pischel), but a home.] + + [Footnote 4: This may mean 'to Yama (and) to death.' In the + Atharva Veda, V. 24. 13-14, it is said that Death is the + lord of men; Yama, of the Manes.] + + [Footnote 5: It is here said, also, that the 'Gandharva in + the waters and the water-woman' are the ties of + consanguinity between Yama and Yam[=i], which means, + apparently, that their parents were Moon and Water; a late + idea, as in viii. 48. 13 (unique).] + + [Footnote 6: The passage, X. 17, 1-2, is perhaps meant as a + riddle, as Bloomfield suggests (JAOS. XV. p. 172). At any + rate, it is still a dubious passage. Compare Hillebrandt, + _Vedische Mythologie_, I. p. 503.] + + [Footnote 7: Cited by Scherman, _Visionslitteratur_, p. + 147.] + + [Footnote 8: Possibly, 'streams.'] + + [Footnote 9: AV. XVIII. 3. 13.] + + [Footnote 10: Compare AV. VI. 88. 2: "King Varuna and God + Brihaspati," where both are gods.] + + [Footnote 11: [Greek: Kerberos](=Çabala)=_Ç[=a]rvara_. + Saram[=a] is storm or dawn, or something else that means + 'runner.'] + + [Footnote 12: Here the fiend is expelled by a four-eyed dog + or a white one which has yellow ears. See the _Sacred Books + of the East_, IV. p. IXXXVII.] + + [Footnote 13: Scherman proposes an easy solution, namely to + cut the description in two, and make only part of it refer + to the dogs! (_loc. cit_. p. 130).] + + [Footnote 14: The dogs may be meant in I. 29. 3, but compare + II. 31. 5. Doubtful is I. 66. 8, according to Bergaigne, + applied to Yama as fire.] + + [Footnote 15: _India_, p. 224.] + + [Footnote 17: Barth, p. 23, cites I. 123. 6; X. 107. 2; 82. + 2, to prove that stars are souls of dead men. These passages + do not prove the point, but it may be inferred from X. 68. + 11. Later on it is a received belief. A moon-heaven is found + only in VIII. 48.] + + [Footnote 18: Especially with Ymir in Scandinavian + mythology.] + + [Footnote 19: _Visionslitteratur_, 1892.] + + [Footnote 20: _Henotheism in the Rig Veda_, p. 81.] + + [Footnote 21: This religious phase is often confounded + loosely with pantheism, but the distinction should be + observed. Parkman speaks of (American) Indian 'pantheism'; + and Barth speaks of ritualistic 'pantheism,' meaning thereby + the deification of different objects used in sacrifice (p. + 37, note). But chrematheism is as distinct from pantheism as + it is from fetishism.] + + [Footnote 22: Some seem to be old; thus Aramati, piety, has + an Iranian representative, [=A]rma[=i]t[=i]. As masculine + abstractions are to be added Anger, Death, etc.] + + [Footnote 23: Compare iv. 50; ii. 23 and 24; v. 43. 12; x. + 68. 9; ii. 26. 3; 23. 17; x. 97. 15. For interpretation + compare Hillebrandt, _Ved. Myth._ i. 409-420; Bergaigne, _La + Rel, Vèd._ i. 304; Muir, OST, v. 272 ff. (with previous + literature).] + + [Footnote 24: _Mbh[=a]_.i. 74. 68. Compare Holtzmann, ZDMG. + xxxiii. 631 ff.] + + [Footnote 25: i. 89. 10: "Aditi is all the gods and men; + Aditi is whatever has been born; Aditi is whatever will be + born."] + + [Footnote 26: _Henotheism in the Rig Veda_ (Drisler + Memorial).] + + [Footnote 27: Ex. xv. 11; xviii. 11.] + + [Footnote 28: RV. x. 114. 5; i. 164. 46; AV. iv. 16. 3.] + + [Footnote 29: Bloomfield, JAOS. xv. 184.] + + [Footnote 30: "Desire, the primal seed of mind," x. 129. 4.] + + [Footnote 31: x. 72 (contains also the origin of the gods + from Aditi).] + + [Footnote 32: x. 90, Here _chand[=a][.m]si_, carmina, is + probably the Atharvan.] + + [Footnote 33: Rudras, Vasus, and [=A]dityas, the three + famous groups of gods. The Vasus are in Indra's train, the + 'shining,' or, perhaps, 'good' gods.] + + [Footnote 34: ii. 33. 13; x. 100. 5, etc. If the idea of + manus=bonus be rejected, the Latin _manes_ may be referred + to _m[=a]navas_, the children of Manu.] + + [Footnote 35: Or: "in an earthly place, in the atmosphere, + or," etc.] + + [Footnote 36: That is where the Fathers live. This is the + only place where the Fathers are said to be _náp[=a]t_ + (descendants) of Vishnu, and here the sense may be "I have + discovered _Náp[=a]t_ (fire?)" But in i. 154. 5 Vishnu's + worshippers rejoice in his home.] + + [Footnote 37: Or: "form as thou wilt this body (of a corpse) + to spirit life."] + + [Footnote 38: x. 56. 4; otherwise, Grassmann.] + + [Footnote 39: vi. 73. 9 refers to ancestors on earth, not in + heaven.] + + [Footnote 40: Compare Muir, OST. v. 285, where i. 125. 5 is + compared with x. 107. 2: "The gift-giver becomes immortal; + the gift-giver lives in the sky; he that gives horses lives + in the sun." Compare Zimmer, _Altind. Leben_ p. 409; Geiger, + _Ostiran. Cultur_, p. 290.] + + [Footnote 41: x. 88. 15, word for word: "two paths heard of + the Fathers I, of the gods and of mortals." Cited as a + mystery, Brih. [=A]ran. Up. vi. 2. 2.] + + [Footnote 42: x. 16. 3: "if thou wilt go to the waters or to + the plants," is added after this (in addressing the soul of + the dead man). Plant-souls occur again in x. 58. 7.] + + [Footnote 43: A V. XVIII.4.64; Muir, Av. _loc. cit._ p. 298. + A passage of the Atharvan suggests that the dead may have + been exposed as in Iran, but there is no trace of this in + the Rig Veda (Zimmer, _loc. cit._ p. 402).] + + [Footnote 44: Barth, _Vedic Religions_, p. 23; _ib._, the + narrow 'house of clay,' RV. VII. 89. 1.] + + [Footnote 45: I. 24. 1; I. 125.6; VII. 56.24; cited by + Müller, _Chips_, I. p. 45.] + + [Footnote 46: IX. 113. 7 ff.] + + [Footnote 47: _Avar[=o]dhana[.m] divás_, 'enclosure of the + sky.'] + + [Footnote 48: Literally, 'where custom' (obtains), _i.e._, + where the old usages still hold.] + + [Footnote 49: The last words are to be understood as of + sensual pleasures (Muir, _loc. cit._ p. 307, notes 462, + 463).] + + [Footnote 50: RV. II. 29. 6; VII. 104. 3, 17; IV. 5. 5; IX. + 73. 8. Compare Mulr, _loc. cit_. pp. 311-312; and Zimmer, + _loc. cit._ pp. 408, 418. Yama's 'hero-holding abode' is not + a hell, as Ludwig thinks, but, as usual, the top vault of + heaven.] + + [Footnote 51: _loc. cit._ p. 123.] + + [Footnote 52: X. 154. 2; 107. 2. Compare the mad ascetic, + _múni_, VIII. 17. 14.] + + [Footnote 53: X. 117. This is clearly seen in the seventh + verse, where is praised the 'Brahman who talks,' _i.e._, can + speak in behalf of the giver to the gods (compare verse + three).] + + [Footnote 54: X. 71. 6.] + + [Footnote 55: Compare X. 145; 159. In X. 184 there is a + prayer addressed to the goddesses Sin[=i]v[=a]l[=i] and + Sarasvat[=i] (in conjunction with Vishnu, Tvashtar, the + Creator, Praj[=a]pati, and the Horsemen) to make a woman + fruitful.] + + [Footnote 56: II. 15. 2; X. 6. 7 (Barth, _loc. cit._ p. 36). + The sacrifice of animals, cattle, horses, goats, is + customary; that of man, legendary; but it is implied in X. + 18.8 (Hillebrandt, ZDMG. Xl p. 708), and is ritualized in + the next period (below).] + + [Footnote 57: Phallic worship may be alluded to in that of + the 'tail-gods,' as Garbe thinks, but it is deprecated. One + verse, however, which seems to have crept in by mistake, is + apparently due to phallic influence (VIII. 1. 34), though + such a cult was not openly acknowledged till Çiva-worship + began, and is no part of Brahmanism.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE RELIGION OF THE ATHARVA VEDA. + + +The hymns of the Rig Veda inextricably confused; the deities of an +earlier era confounded, and again merged together in a pantheism now +complete; the introduction of strange gods; recognition of a hell of +torture; instead of many divinities the One that represents all the +gods, and nature as well; incantations for evil purposes and charms +for a worthy purpose; formulae of malediction to be directed against +'those whom I hate and who hate me'; magical verses to obtain +children, to prolong life, to dispel 'evil magic,' to guard against +poison and other ills; the paralyzing extreme of ritualistic reverence +indicated by the exaltation to godhead of the 'remnant' of sacrifice; +hymns to snakes, to diseases, to sleep, time, and the stars; curses on +the 'priest-plaguer'--such, in general outline, is the impression +produced by a perusal of the Atharvan after that of the Rig Veda. How +much of this is new? + +The Rig Veda is not lacking in incantations, in witchcraft practices, +in hymns to inanimate things, in indications of pantheism. But the +general impression is produced, both by the tone of such hymns as +these and by their place in the collection, that they are an addition +to the original work. On the other hand, in reading the Atharvan hymns +the collective impression is decidedly this, that what to the Rig is +adventitious is essential to the Atharvan. + +It has often been pointed out, however, that not only the practices +involved, but the hymns themselves, in the Atharvan, may have existed +long before they were collected, and that, while the Atharvan +collection, as a whole, takes historical place after the Rig Veda, +there yet may be comprised in the former much which is as old as any +part of the latter work. It is also customary to assume that such +hymns as betoken a lower worship (incantations, magical formulae, +etc.) were omitted purposely from the Rig Veda to be collected in the +Atharvan. That which eventually can neither be proved nor disproved +is, perhaps, best left undiscussed, and it is vain to seek scientific +proof where only historic probabilities are obtainable. Yet, if a +closer approach to truth be attractive, even a greater probability +will be a gain, and it becomes worth while to consider the problem a +little with only this hope in view. + +Those portions of the Rig Veda which seem to be Atharvan-like are, in +general, to be found in the later books (or places) of the collection. +But it would be presumptuous to conclude that a work, although almost +entirely given up to what in the Rig Veda appears to be late, should +itself be late in origin. By analogy, in a nature-religion such as was +that of India, the practice of demonology, witchcraft, etc., must have +been an early factor. But, while this is true, it is clearly +impossible to postulate therefrom that the hymns recording all this +array of cursing, deviltry, and witchcraft are themselves early. The +further forward one advances into the labyrinth of Hindu religions the +more superstitions, the more devils, demons, magic, witchcraft, and +uncanny things generally, does he find. Hence, while any one +superstitious practice may be antique, there is small probability for +assuming a contemporaneous origin of the hymns of the two collections. +The many verses cited, apparently pell-mell, from the Rig Veda, might, +it is true, revert to a version older than that in which they are +found in the Rig Veda, but there is nothing to show that they were not +taken from the Rig Veda, and re-dressed in a form that rendered them +in many cases more intelligible; so that often what is respectfully +spoken of as a 'better varied reading' of the Atharvan may be better, +as we have said in the introductory chapter, only in lucidity; and the +lucidity be due to tampering with a text old and unintelligible. +Classical examples abound in illustrations. + +Nevertheless, although an antiquity equal to that of the whole Rig +Veda can by no means be claimed for the Atharvan collection (which, at +least in its tone, belongs to the Brahmanic period), yet is the mass +represented by the latter, if not contemporaneous, at any rate so +venerable, that it safely may be assigned to a period as old as that +in which were composed the later hymns of the Rik itself. But in +distinction from the hymns themselves the weird religion they +represent is doubtless as old, if not older, than that of the Rig +Veda. For, while the Rig Vedic _soma-_cult is Indo-Iranian, the +original Atharvan (fire) cult is even more primitive, and the basis of +the work, from this point of view, may have preceded the composition +of Rik hymns. This Atharvan religion--if it may be called so--is, +therefore, of exceeding importance. It opens wide the door which the +Rik puts ajar, and shows a world of religious and mystical ideas which +without it could scarcely have been suspected. Here magic eclipses +Soma and reigns supreme. The wizard is greater than the gods; his +herbs and amulets are sovereign remedies. Religion is seen on its +lowest side. It is true that there is 'bad magic' and 'good magic' +(the existence of the former is substantiated by the maledictions +against it), but what has been received into the collection is +apparently the best. To heal the sick and procure desirable things is +the object of most of the charms and incantations--but some of the +desirable things are disease and death of one's foes. On the higher +side of religion, from a metaphysical point of view, the Atharvan is +pantheistic. It knows also the importance of the 'breaths,'[1] the +vital forces; it puts side by side the different gods and says that +each 'is lord.' It does not lack philosophical speculation which, +although most of it is puerile, sometimes raises questions of wider +scope, as when the sage inquires who made the body with its wonderful +parts--implying, but not stating the argument, from design, in its +oldest form.[2] + +Of magical verses there are many, but the content is seldom more than +"do thou, O plant, preserve from harm," etc. Harmless enough, if +somewhat weak, are also many other hymns calculated to procure +blessings: + + Blessings blow to us the wind, + Blessings glow to us the sun, + Blessings be to us the day, + Blest to us the night appear, + Blest to us the dawn shall shine, + +is a fair specimen of this innocuous sort of verse.[3] Another example +may be seen in this hymn to a king: "Firm is the sky; firm is the +earth; firm, all creation; firm, these hills; firm the king of the +people (shall be)," etc.[4] In another hymn there is an incantation to +release from possible ill coming from a foe and from inherited ill or +sin.[5] A free spirit of doubt and atheism, already foreshadowed in +the Rig Veda, is implied in the prayer that the god will be merciful +to the cattle of that man "whose creed is 'Gods exist.'"[6] +Serpent-worship is not only known, but prevalent.[7] The old gods +still hold, as always, their nominal places, albeit the system is +pantheistic, so that Varuna is god of waters; and Mitra with Varuna, +gods of rain.[8] As a starting-point of philosophy the dictum of the +Rig Veda is repeated: 'Desire is the seed of mind,' and 'love, _i.e._, +desire, was born first.' Here Aditi is defined anew as the one in +whose lap is the wide atmosphere-- she is parent and child, gods and +men, all in all--'may she extend to us a triple shelter.' As an +example of curse against curse may be compared II. 7: + + The sin-hated, god-born plant, that frees from the curse as + waters (wash out) the spot, has washed away all curses, the + curse of my rival and of my sister; (that) which the Brahman + in anger cursed, all this lies under my feet ... With this + plant protect this (wife), protect my child, protect our + property ... May the curse return to the curser ... We smite + even the ribs of the foe with the evil (_mantra_) eye. + +A love-charm in the same book (II. 30) will remind the classical +student of Theocritus' second idyl: 'As the wind twirls around grass +upon the ground, so I twirl thy mind about, that thou mayst become +loving, that thou mayst not depart from me,' etc. In the following +verses the Horsemen gods are invoked to unite the lovers. +Characteristic among bucolic passages is the cow-song in II. 26, the +whole intent of which is to ensure a safe return to the cows on their +wanderings: 'Hither may they come, the cattle that have wandered far +away,' etc. + +The view that there are different conditions of Manes is clearly +taught in XVIII. 2. 48-49, where it is said that there are three +heavens, in the highest of which reside the Manes; while a distinction +is made at the same time between 'fathers' and 'grandfathers,' the +fathers' fathers, 'who have entered air, who inhabit earth and +heaven.' Here appears nascent the doctrine of 'elevating the Fathers,' +which is expressly taught in the next era. The performance of rites in +honor of the Manes causes them to ascend from a low state to a higher +one. In fact, if the offerings are not given at all, the spirits do +not go to heaven. In general the older generations of Manes go up +highest and are happiest. The personal offering is only to the +immediate fathers. + +If, as was shown in the introductory chapter, the Atharvan represents +a geographical advance on the part of the Vedic Aryans, this fact +cannot be ignored in estimating the primitiveness of the collection. +Geographical advance, acquaintance with other flora and fauna than +those of the Rig Veda, means--although the argument of silence must +not be exaggerated--a temporal advance also. And not less significant +are the points of view to which one is led in the useful little work +of Scherman on the philosophical hymns of the Atharvan. Scherman +wishes to show the connection between the Upanishads and Vedas. But +the bearing of his collection is toward a closer union of the two +bodies of works, and especially of the Atharvan, not to the greater +gain in age of the Upanishads so much as to the depreciation in +venerableness of the former. If the Atharvan has much more in common +with the Br[=a]hmanas and Upanishads than has the Rig Veda, it is +because the Atharvan stands, in many respects, midway in time between +the era of Vedic hymnology and the thought of the philosophical +period. The terminology is that of the Br[=a]hmanas, rather than that +of the Rig Veda. The latter knows the great person; the Atharvan, and +the former know the original great person, _i.e._., the _tausa movens_ +under the _causa efficiens_, etc. In the Atharvan appears first the +worship of Time, Love, 'Support' (Skambha), and the 'highest _brahma_. +The cult of the holy cow is fully recognized (XII. 4 and 5). The late +ritualistic terms, as well as linguistic evidence, confirm the fact +indicated by the geographical advance. The country is known from +western Balkh to eastern Beh[=a]r, the latter familiarly.[9] In a +word, one may conclude that on its higher side the Atharvan is later +than the Rig Veda, while on its lower side of demonology one may +recognize the religion of the lower classes as compared with that of +the two upper classes--for the latter the Rig Veda, for the +superstitious people at large the Atharvan, a collection +of which the origin agrees with its application. For, if it at first +was devoted to the unholy side of fire-cult, and if the fire-cult is +older than the _soma_-cult, then this is the cult that one would +expect to see most affected by the conservative vulgar, who in India +hold fast to what the cultured have long dropped as superstition, or, +at least, pretended to drop; though the house-ritual keeps some magic +in its fire-cult. + +In that case, it may be asked, why not begin the history of Hindu +religion with the Atharvan, rather than with the Rig Veda? Because the +Atharvan, as a whole, in its language, social conditions, geography, +'remnant' worship, etc., shows that this literary collection is +posterior to the Rik collection. As to individual hymns, especially +those imbued with the tone of fetishism and witchcraft, any one of +them, either in its present or original form, may outrank the whole +Rik in antiquity, as do its superstitions the religion of the Rik--if +it is right to make a distinction between superstition and religion, +meaning by the former a lower, and by the latter a more elevated form +of belief in the supernatural. + +The difference between the Rik-worshipper and Atharvan-worshipper is +somewhat like that which existed at a later age between the +philosophical Çivaite and Durg[=a]ite. The former revered Çiva, but +did not deny the power of a host of lesser mights, whom he was ashamed +to worship too much; the latter granted the all-god-head of Çiva, but +paid attention almost exclusively to some demoniac divinity. +Superstition, perhaps, always precedes theology; but as surely does +superstition outlive any one form of its protean rival. And the simple +reason is that a theology is the real belief of few, and varies with +their changing intellectual point of view; while superstition is the +belief unacknowledged of the few and acknowledged of the many, nor +does it materially change from age to age. The rites employed among +the clam-diggers on the New York coast, the witch-charms they use, the +incantations, cutting of flesh, fire-oblations, meaningless formulae, +united with sacrosanct expressions of the church, are all on a par +with the religion of the lower classes as depicted in Theocritus and +the Atharvan. If these mummeries and this hocus-pocus were collected +into a volume, and set out with elegant extracts from the Bible, there +would be a nineteenth century Atharva Veda. What are the necessary +equipment of a Long Island witch? First, "a good hot fire," and then +formulae such as this:[10] + + "If a man is attacked by wicked people and how to banish + them: + + "Bedgoblin and all ye evil spirits, I, N.N., forbid you my + bedstead, my couch; I, N.N., forbid you in the name of God + my house and home; I forbid you in the name of the Holy + Trinity my blood and flesh, my body and soul; I forbid you + all the nail-holes in my house and home, till you have + travelled over every hill, waded through every water, have + counted all the leaves of every tree, and counted all the + stars in the sky, until the day arrives when the mother of + God shall bare her second son." + +If this formula be repeated three times, with the baptismal name of +the person, it will succeed! + + "To make one's self invisible: + + "Obtain the ear of a black cat, boil it in the milk of a + black cow, wear it on the thumb, and no one will see you." + +This is the Atharvan, or fire-and witch-craft of to-day--not differing +much from the ancient. It is the unchanging foundation of the many +lofty buildings of faith that are erected, removed, and rebuilt upon +it--the belief in the supernatural at its lowest, a belief which, in +its higher stages, is always level with the general intellect of those +that abide in it. + +The latest book of the Atharvan is especially for the warrior-caste, +but the mass of it is for the folk at large. It was long before it was +recognized as a legitimate Veda. It never stands, in the older period +of Brahmanism, on a par with the S[=a]man and Rik. In the epic period +good and bad magic are carefully differentiated, and even to-day the +Atharvan is repudiated by southern Br[=a]hmans. But there is no doubt +that _sub rosa_, the silliest practices inculcated and formulated in +the Atharvan were the stronghold of a certain class of priests, or +that such priests were feared and employed by the laity, openly by the +low classes, secretly by the intelligent. + +In respect of the name the magical cult was referred, historically +with justice, to the fire-priests, Atharvan and Angiras, though little +application to fire, other than in _soma_-worship, is apparent. Yet +was this undoubtedly the source of the cult (the fire-cult is still +distinctly associated with the Atharva Veda in the epic), and the name +is due neither to accident nor to a desire to invoke the names of +great seers, as will Weber.[11] The other name of Brahmaveda may have +connection with the 'false science of Brihaspati,' alluded to in a +Upanishad.[12] This seer is not over-orthodox, and later he is the +patron of the unorthodox C[=a]rv[=a]kas. It was seen above that the +god Brihaspati is also a novelty not altogether relished by the Vedic +Aryans. + +From an Aryan point of view how much weight is to be placed on +comparisons of the formulae in the Atharvan of India with those of +other Aryan nations? Kuhn has compared[13] an old German magic formula +of healing with one in the Atharvan, and because each says 'limb to +limb' he thinks that they are of the same origin, particularly since +the formula is found in Russian. The comparison is interesting, but it +is far from convincing. Such formulae spring up independently all over +the earth. + +Finally, it is to be observed that in this Veda first occurs the +implication of the story of the flood (xix. 39. 8), and the saving of +Father Manu, who, however, is known by this title in the Rik. The +supposition that the story of the flood is derived from Babylon, +seems, therefore, to be an unnecessary (although a permissible) +hypothesis, as the tale is old enough in India to warrant a belief in +its indigenous origin.[14] + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: XV. 15.] + + [Footnote 2: X. 2.] + + [Footnote 3: VII. 69. Compare RV. VII. 35, and the epic + (below).] + + [Footnote 4: X. 173.] + + [Footnote 5: V. 30.] + + [Footnote 6: XI. 2. 28.] + + [Footnote 7: XI. 9; VIII. 6 and 7, with tree-worship.] + + [Footnote 8: V. 24. 4-5. On 'the one god' compare X. 8. 28; + XIII. 4. 15. Indra as S[=u]rya, in VII. 11; cf. xiii. 4; + XVII. 1. 24. Pantheism in X. 7. 14. 25. Of charms, compare + ii. 9, to restore life; III. 6, a curse against 'whom I + hate'; III. 23, to obtain offspring. On the stars and night, + see hymn at XIX. 8 and 47. In V. 13, a guard against poison; + _ib._ a hymn to a drum; _ib._ 31, a charm to dispel evil + magic; VI. 133, magic to produce long life; V. 23, against + worms, etc., etc. Aditi, VII. 6. 1-4 (partly Rik).] + + [Footnote 9: Compare Muir, OST. II. 447 ff.] + + [Footnote 10: This old charm is still used among the + clam-diggers of Canarsie, N.Y.] + + [Footnote 11: _Ind. Lit_^2 p. 164.] + + [Footnote 12: _M[=a]it. Up._. vii. 9. He is 'the gods' + Brahm[=a]' (Rik.)] + + [Footnote 13: _Indische und germanische Segenssprüche_; KZ. + xiii. 49.] + + [Footnote 14: One long hymn, xii. 1, of the Atharvan is to + earth and fire (19-20). In the Rik, _átharvan_ is + fire-priest and bringer of fire from heaven; while once the + word may mean fire itself (viii. 9, 7). The name Brahmaveda + is perhaps best referred to _brahma_ as fire (whence + 'fervor,' 'prayer,' and again 'energy,' 'force'). In + distinction from the great _soma_-sacrifices, the fire-cult + always remains the chief thing in the domestic ritual. The + present Atharvan formulae have for the most part no visible + application to fire, but the name still shows the original + connection.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +EARLY HINDU DIVINITIES COMPARED WITH THOSE OF OTHER ARYANS. + + +Nothing is more usual than to attempt a reconstruction of Aryan ideas +in manners, customs, laws, and religious conceptions, by placing side +by side similar traits of individual Aryan nations, and stating or +insinuating that the result of the comparison shows that one is +handling primitive characteristics of the whole Aryan body. It is of +special importance, therefore, to see in how far the views and +practices of peoples not Aryan may be found to be identical with those +of Aryans. The division of the army into clans, as in the Iliad and +the Veda; the love of gambling, as shown by Greeks, Teutons, and +Hindus; the separation of captains and princes, as is illustrated by +Teuton and Hindu; the belief in a flood, common to Iranian, Greek, and +Hindu; in the place of departed spirits, with the journey over a river +(Iranian, Hindu, Scandinavian, Greek); in the after-felicity of +warriors who die on the field of battle (Scandinavian, Greek, and +Hindu); in the reverence paid to the wind-god (Hindu, Iranian, and +Teutonic, V[=a]ta-Wotan); these and many other traits at different +times, by various writers, have been united and compared to illustrate +primitive Aryan belief and religion. + +The traits of the Five Nations of the Veda for this reason may be +compared very advantageously with the traits of the Five Nations of +the Iroquois Indians, the most united and intelligent of American +native tribes. Their institutions are not yet extinct, and they have +been described by missionaries of the 17th century and by some modern +writers, to whom can be imputed no hankering after Aryan primitive +ideas.[1] It is but a few years back since the last _avat[=a]r_ of the +Iroquois' incarnate god lived in Onondaga, N.Y. + +First, as an illustration of the extraordinary development of memory +among rhapsodes, Vedic students, and other Aryans; among the Iroquois +"memory was tasked to the utmost, and developed to an extraordinary +degree," says Parkman, who adds that they could repeat point by point +with precision any address made to them.[2] Murder was compromised for +by _Wehrgeld_, as among the Vedic, Iranic, and Teutonic peoples. The +Iroquois, like all Indians, was a great gambler, staking all his +property[3] (like the Teutons and Hindus). In religion "A mysterious +and inexplicable power resides in inanimate things ... Lakes, rivers, +and waterfalls [as conspicuously in India] are sometimes the +dwelling-place of spirits; but more frequently they are themselves +living beings, to be propitiated by prayers and offerings."[4] The +greatest spirit among the Algonquins is the descendant of the moon, +and son of the west-wind (personified). After the deluge (thus the +Hindus, etc.) this great spirit (Manabozho, _mana_ is Manu?) restored +the world; some asserting that he created the world out of water. But +others say that the supreme spirit is the sun (Le Jeune, Relation, +1633). The Algonquins, besides a belief in a good spirit (_manitou_), +had also a belief in a malignant _manitou_, in whom the missionaries +recognized the devil (why not Ormuzd and Ahriman?). One tribe invokes +the 'Maker of Heaven,' the 'god of waters,' and also the 'seven +spirits of the wind' (so, too, seven is a holy number in the Veda, +etc.). + +The Iroquois, like the Hindu (later), believe that the earth rests on +the back of a turtle or tortoise[5], and that this is ruled over by +the sun and moon, the first being a good spirit; the second, +malignant. The good spirit interposes between the malice of the moon +and mankind, and it is he who makes rivers; for when the earth was +parched, all the water being held back from earth under the armpit of +a monster frog, he pierced the armpit and let out the water (exactly +as Indra lets out the water held back by the demon). According to +some, this great spirit created mankind, but in the third generation a +deluge destroyed his posterity[6]. The good spirit among the Iroquois +is the one that gives good luck (perhaps Bhaga). These Indians believe +in the immortality of the soul. Skillful hunters, brave warriors, go, +after death, to the happy hunting-grounds (as in India and +Scandinavia); the cowardly and weak are doomed to live in dreary +regions of mist and darkness (compare Niflheim and the Iranian +eschatology?). To pass over other religious correspondences, the +sacrifice of animals, use of amulets, love-charms, magic, and sorcery, +which are all like those of Aryans (to compare, also, are the burying +or exposing of the dead and the Hurons' funeral games), let one take +this as a good illustration of the value of 'comparative Aryan +mythology': + +According to the Aryan belief the soul of the dead passes over a +stream, across a bridge, past a dog or two, which guard the gate of +paradise. The Hindu, Iranian, Greek, and Scandinavian, all have the +dog, and much emphasis has been laid on the 'Aryan' character of this +creed. The native Iroquois Indians believed that "the spirits on their +journey (to heaven) were beset with difficulties and perils. There was +a swift river to be crossed on a log that shook beneath the feet, +while a ferocious dog opposed their passage[7]." Here is the Persians' +narrow bridge, and even Kerberos himself! + +It is also interesting to note that, as the Hindus identify with the +sun so many of their great gods, so the Iroquois "sacrifices to some +superior spirit, or to the sun, with which the superior spirits were +constantly confounded by the primitive Indian[8]." + +Weber holds that because Greek and Hindu gave the name 'bear' to a +constellation, therefore this is the "primitive Indo-Germanic name of +the star[9]." But the Massachusetts Indians "gave their own name for +bear to the Ursa major" (Williams' 'Key,' cited Palfrey, I. p. 36; so +Lafitau, further west). + +Again, three, seven, and even 'thrice-seven,' are holy not only in +India but in America. + +In this new world are found, to go further, the analogues of Varuna in +the monotheistic god Viracocha of the Peruvians, to whom is addressed +this prayer: "Cause of all things! ever present, helper, creator, ever +near, ever fortunate one! Thou incorporeal one above the sun, +infinite, and beneficent[10]"; of the Vedic Snake of the Deep, in the +Mexican Cloud-serpent; of the Vedic Lightning-bird, who brings fire +from heaven, in the Indian Thunder-bird, who brings fire from +heaven[11]; of the preservation of one individual from a flood (in the +epic, Manu's 'Seven Seers') in the same American myth, even including +the holy mountain, which is still shown[12]; of the belief that the +sun is the home of departed spirits, in the same belief all over +America;[13] of the belief that stars are the souls of the dead, in +the same belief held by the Pampas;[14] and even of the late Brahmanic +custom of sacrificing the widow (suttee), in the practice of the +Natchez Indians, and in Guatemala, of burning the widow on the pyre of +the dead husband.[15] The storm wind (Odin) as highest god is found +among the Choctaws; while 'Master of Breath' is the Creeks' name for +this divinity. Huraka (hurricane, ouragon, ourage) is the chief god in +Hayti.[16] An exact parallel to the vague idea of hell at the close of +the Vedic period, with the gradual increase of the idea, alternating +with a theory of reincarnation, may be found in the fact that, in +general, there is no notion of punishment after death among the +Indians of the New World; but that, while the good are assisted and +cared for after death by the 'Master of Breath,' the Creeks believe +that the liar, the coward, and the niggard (Vedic sinners _par +excellence!_) are left to shift for themselves in darkness; whereas +the Aztecs believed in a hell surrounded by the water called 'Nine +Rivers,' guarded by a dog and a dragon; and the great Eastern American +tribes believe that after the soul has been for a while in heaven it +can, if it chooses, return to earth and be born again as a man, +utilizing its old bones (which are, therefore, carefully preserved by +the surviving members of the family) as a basis for a new body.[17] + +To turn to another foreign religion, how tempting would it be to see +in Nutar the 'abstract power' of the Egyptian, an analogue of _brahma_ +and the other 'power' abstractions of India; to recognize Brahm[=a] in +El; and in Nu, sky, and expanse of waters, to see Varuna; especially +when one compares the boat-journey of the Vedic seer with R[=a]'s boat +in Egypt. Or, again, in the twin children of R[=a] to see the Açvins; +and to associate the mundane egg of the Egyptians with that of the +Brahmans.[18] Certainly, had the Egyptians been one of the Aryan +families, all these conceptions had been referred long ago to the +category of 'primitive Aryan ideas.' But how primitive is a certain +religious idea will not be shown by simple comparison of Aryan +parallels. It will appear more often that it is not 'primitive,' but, +so to speak, per-primitive, aboriginal with no one race, but with the +race of man. When we come to describe the religions of the wild tribes +of India it will be seen that among them also are found traits common, +on the one hand, to the Hindu, and on the other to the wild tribes of +America. With this warning in mind one may inquire at last in how far +a conservative judgment can find among the Aryans themselves an +identity of original conception in the different forms of divinities +and religious rites. Foremost stand the universal chrematheism, +worship of inanimate objects regarded as usefully divine, and the cult +of the departed dead. This latter is almost universal, perhaps +pan-Aryan, and Weber is probably right in assuming that the primitive +Aryans believed in a future life. But Benfey's identification of +Tartaras with the Sanskrit Tal[=a]tala, the name of a special hell in +very late systems of cosmogony, is decidedly without the bearing he +would put upon it. The Sanskrit word may be taken directly from the +Greek, but of an Aryan source for both there is not the remotest +historical probability. + +When, however, one comes to the Lord of the Dead he finds himself +already in a narrower circle. Yama is the Persian Yima, and the name +of Kerberos may have been once an adjective applied to the dog that +guarded the path to paradise; but other particular conceptions that +gather about each god point only to a period of Indo-Iranian unity. + +Of the great nature-gods the sun is more than Aryan, but doubtless was +Aryan, for S[=u]rya is Helios, but Savitar is a development especially +Indian. Dy[=a]ús-pitar is Zeús-pater, Jupiter.[19] Trita, scarcely +Triton, is the Persian Thraetaona who conquers Vritra, as does Indra +in India. The last, on the other hand, is to be referred only +hesitatingly to the demon A[=n]dra of the Avesta. Varuna, despite +phonetic difficulties, probably is Ouranos; but Asura (Asen?) is a +title of many gods in India's first period, while the corresponding +Ahura is restricted to the good spirit, [Greek: kat hexochên]. The +seven [=A]dityas are reflected in the _Amesha Çpentas_ of Zoroastrian +Puritanism, but these are mere imitations, spiritualized and moralized +into abstractions. Bhaga is Slavic Bogu and Persian Bagha; Mitra is +Persian Mithra. The Açvins are all but in name the Greek gods +Dioskouroi, and correspond closely in detail (riding on horses, +healing and helping, originally twins of twilight). Tacitus gives a +parallel Teutonic pair (Germ. 43). Ushas, on the other hand, while +etymologically corresponding to Aurora, Eos, is a specially Indian +development, as Eos has no cult. V[=a]ta, Wind, is an aboriginal god, +and may perhaps be Wotan, Odin.[20] Parjanya, the rain-god, as Bühler +has shown, is one with Lithuanian Perkúna, and with the northern +Fiögyu. The 'fashioner,' Tvashtar (sun) is only Indo-Iranian; +Thw[=a]sha probably being the same word. + +Of lesser mights, Angiras, name of fire, may be Persian _angaros_, +'fire-messenger' (compare [Greek: haggelos]), perhaps originally one +with Sk. _ang[=a]ra_, 'coal.'[21] Hebe has been identified with +_yavy[=a]_, young woman, but this word is enough to show that Hebe has +naught to do with the Indian pantheon. The Gandharva, moon, is +certainly one with the Persian Gandarewa, but can hardly be identical +with the Centaur. Saram[=a] seems to have, together with S[=a]rameya, +a Grecian parallel development in Helena (a goddess in Sparta), +Selene, Hermes; and Sarany[=u] may be the same with Erinnys, but these +are not Aryan figures in the form of their respective developments, +though they appear to be so in origin. It is scarcely possible that +Earth is an Aryan deity with a cult, though different Aryan (and +un-Aryan) nations regarded her as divine. The Maruts are especially +Indian and have no primitive identity as gods with Mars, though the +names may be radically connected. The fire-priests, Bhrigus, are +supposed to be one with the [Greek: phlegixu]. The fact that the fate +of each in later myth is to visit hell would presuppose, however, an +Aryan notion of a torture-hell, of which the Rig Veda has no +conception. The Aryan identity of the two myths is thereby made +uncertain, if not implausible. The special development in India of the +fire-priest that brings down fire from heaven, when compared with the +personification of the 'twirler' (Promantheus) in Greece, shows that +no detailed myth was current in primitive times.[22] The name of the +fire-priest, _brahman_ = fla(g)men(?), is an indication of the +primitive fire-cult in antithesis to the _soma_-cult, which latter +belongs to the narrower circle of the Hindus and Persians. Here, +however, in the identity of names for sacrifice (_yajna, yaçna_) and +of _barhis_, the sacrificial straw, of _soma = haoma_, together with +many other liturgical similarities, as in the case of the metres, one +must recognize a fully developed _soma_-cult prior to the separation +of the Hindus and Iranians. + +Of demigods of evil type the _Y[=a]tus_ are both Hindu and Iranian, +but the priest-names of the one religion are evil names in the other, +as the _devas_, gods, of one are the _daevas_, demons, of the +other.[23] There are no other identifications that seem at +all certain in the strict province of religion, although in myth the +form of Manus, who is the Hindu Noah, has been associated with +Teutonic Mannus, and Greek Minos, noted in Thucydides for his +sea-faring. He is to Yama (later regarded as his brother) as is Noah +to Adam. + +We do not lay stress on lack of equation in proper names, but, as +Schrader shows (p. 596 ff.), very few comparisons on this line have a +solid phonetic foundation. Minos, Manu; Ouranos, Varuna; Wotan, +V[=a]ta, are dubious; and some equate flamen with blôtan, sacrifice. + +Other wider or narrower comparisons, such as Neptunus from _náp[=a]t +ap[=a]m,_ seem to us too daring to be believed. Apollo (_sapary_), +Aphrodite (Apsaras), Artamis (non-existent _[r.]tam[=a]l_), P[=a]n +(_pavana_), have been cleverly compared, but the identity of forms has +scarcely been proved. Nor is it important for the comparative +mythologist that Okeanus is 'lying around' (_[=a]çáy[=a]na_). More +than that is necessary to connect Ocean mythologically with the demon +that surrounds (swallows) the waters of the sky. The Vedic parallel is +rather Ras[=a], the far-off great 'stream.' It is rarely that one +finds Aryan equivalents in the land of fairies and fays. Yet are the +Hindu clever artizan Ribhus[24] our 'elves,' who, even to this day, +are distinct from fairies in their dexterity and cleverness, as every +wise child knows. + +But animism, as simple spiritism, fetishism, perhaps ancestor-worship, +and polytheism, with the polydaemonism that may be called +chrematheism, exists from the beginning of the religious history, +undisturbed by the proximity of theism, pantheism, or atheism; exactly +as to-day in the Occident, beside theism and atheism, exist spiritism +and fetishism (with their inherent magic), and even ancestor-worship, +as implied by the reputed after-effect of parental curses. + +When the circle is narrowed to that of the Indo-Iranian connection the +similarity in religion between the Veda and Avesta becomes much more +striking than in any other group, as has been shown. It is here that +the greatest discrepancy in opinion obtains among modern scholars. +Some are inclined to refer all that smacks of Persia to a remote +period of Indo-Iranian unity, and, in consequence, to connect all +tokens of contact with the west with far-away regions out of India. It +is scarcely possible that such can be the case. But, on the other +hand, it is unhistorical to connect, as do some scholars, the worship +of _soma_ and Varuna with a remote period of unity, and then with a +jump to admit a close connection between Veda and Avesta in the Vedic +period. The Vedic Aryans appear to have lived, so to speak, hand in +glove with the Iranians for a period long enough for the latter to +share in that advance of Varuna-worship from polytheism to +quasi-monotheism which is seen in the Rig Veda. This worship of Varuna +as a superior god, with his former equals ranged under him in a group, +chiefly obtains in that family (be it of priest or tribe, or be the +two essentially one from a religious point of view) which has least to +do with pure _soma_-worship, the inherited Indo-Iranian cult; and the +Persian Ahura, with the six spiritualized equivalents of the old Vedic +[=A]dityas, can have come into existence only as a direct +transformation of the latter cult, which in turn is later than the +cult that developed in one direction as chief of gods a Zeus; in +another, a Bhaga; in a third, an Odin. On the other hand, in the +gradual change in India of Iranic gods to devils, _asuras_, there is +an exact counterpart to the Iranian change of meaning from _deva_ to +_daeva_. But if this be the connection, it is impossible to assume a +long break between India and the west, and then such a sudden tie as +is indicated by the allusions in the Rig Veda to the Persians and +other western lands. The most reasonable view, therefore, appears to +be that the Vedic and Iranian Aryans were for a long time in contact, +that the contact began to cease as the two peoples separated to east +and west, but that after the two peoples separated communication was +sporadically kept up between them by individuals in the way of trade +or otherwise. This explains the still surviving relationship as it is +found in later hymns and in thank-offerings apparently involving +Iranian personages. + +They that believe in a monotheistic Varuna-cult preceding the Vedic +polytheism must then ignore the following facts: The Slavic equivalent +of Bhaga and the Teutonic equivalent of V[=a]ta are to these +respective peoples their highest gods. They had no Varuna. Moreover, +there is not the slightest proof that Ouranos in Greece[25] was ever a +god worshipped as a great god before Zeus, nor is there any +probability that to the Hindu Dyaus Pitar was ever a great god, in the +sense that he ever had a special cult as supreme deity. He is +physically great, and physically he is father, as is Earth mother, but +he is religiously great only in the Hellenic-Italic circle, where +exists no Uranos-cult[26]. Rather is it apparent that the Greek raised +Zeus, as did the Slav Bhaga, to his first head of the pantheon. Now +when one sees that in the Vedic period Varuna is the type of +[=A]dityas, to which belong Bhaga and Mitra as distinctly less +important personages, it is plain that this can mean only that Varuna +has gradually been exalted to his position at the expense of the other +gods. Nor is there perfect uniformity between Persian and Hindu +conceptions. Asura in the Veda is not applied to Varuna alone. But in +the Avesta, Ahura is the one great spirit, and his six spirits are +plainly a protestant copy and modification of Varuna and his six +underlings. This, then, can mean--which stands in concordance with the +other parallels between the two religions--only that Zarathustra +borrows the Ahura idea from the Vedic Aryans at a time when Varuna was +become superior to the other gods, and when the Vedic cult is +established in its second phase[27]. To this fact points also the +evidence that shows how near together geographically were once the +Hindus and Persians. Whether one puts the place of separation at the +Kabul or further to the north-west is a matter of indifference. The +Persians borrow the idea of Varuna Asura, whose eye is the sun. They +spiritualize this, and create an Asura unknown to other nations. + +Of von Bradke's attempt to prove an original Dyaus Asura we have said +nothing, because the attempt has failed signally. He imagines that the +epithet Asura was given to Dyaus in the Indo-Iranian period, and that +from a Dyaus Pitar Asura the Iranians made an abstract Asura, while +the Hindus raised the other gods and depressed Dyaus Pitar Asura; +whereas it is quite certain that Varuna (Asura) grew up, out, and over +the other Asuras, his former equals. + +And yet it is almost a pity to spend time to demonstrate that +Varuna-worship was not monotheistic originally. We gladly admit that, +even if not a primitive monotheistic deity, Varuna yet is a god that +belongs to a very old period of Hindu literature. And, for a worship +so antique, how noble is the idea, how exalted is the completed +conception of him! Truly, the Hindus and Persians alone of Aryans +mount nearest to the high level of Hebraic thought. For Varuna beside +the loftiest figure in the Hellenic pantheon stands like a god beside +a man. The Greeks had, indeed, a surpassing aesthetic taste, but in +grandeur of religious ideas even the daring of Aeschylus becomes but +hesitating bravado when compared with the serene boldness of the Vedic +seers, who, first of their race, out of many gods imagined God. + +In regard to eschatology, as in regard to myths, it has been shown +that the utmost caution in identification is called for. It may be +surmised that such or such a belief or legend is in origin one with a +like faith or tale of other peoples. But the question whether it be +one in historical origin or in universal mythopoetic fancy, and this +latter be the only common origin, must remain in almost every case +unanswered[28]. This is by far not so entertaining, nor so picturesque +a solution as is the explanation of a common historical basis for any +two legends, with its inspiring 'open sesame' to the door of the +locked past. But which is truer? Which accords more with the facts as +they are collected from a wider field? As man in the process of +development, in whatever quarter of earth he be located, makes for +himself independently clothes, language, and gods, so he makes myths +that are more or less like those of other peoples, and it is only when +names coincide and traits that are unknown elsewhere are strikingly +similar in any two mythologies that one has a right to argue a +probable community of origin. + +But even if the legend of the flood were Babylonian, and the Asuras as +devils were due to Iranian influence--which can neither be proved nor +disproved--the fact remains that the Indian religion in its main +features is of a purely native character. + +As the most prominent features of the Vedic religion must be regarded +the worship of _soma_ of nature-gods that are in part already more +than this, of spirits, and of the Manes; the acknowledgment of a moral +law and a belief in a life hereafter. There is also a vaguer nascent +belief in a creator apart from any natural phenomenon, but the creed +for the most part is poetically, indefinitely, stated: 'Most +wonder-working of the wonder-working gods, who made heaven and +earth'(as above). The corresponding Power is Cerus in Cerus-Creator +(Kronos?), although when a name is given, the Maker, Dh[=a]tar, is +employed; while Tvashtar, the artificer, is more an epithet of the sun +than of the unknown creator. The personification of Dh[=a]tar as +creator of the sun, etc., belongs to later Vedic times, and foreruns +the Father-god of the last Vedic period. Not till the classical age +(below) is found a formal identification of the Vedic nature-gods with +the departed Fathers (Manes). Indra, for example, is invoked in the +Rig Veda to 'be a friend, be a father, be more fatherly than the +fathers';[29] but this implies no patristic side in Indra, who is +called in the same hymn (vs. 4) the son of Dyaus (his father); and +Dyaus Pitar no more implies, as say some sciolists, that Dyaus was +regarded as a human ancestor than does 'Mother Earth' imply a belief +that Earth is the ghost of a dead woman. + +In the Veda there is a nature-religion and an ancestor-religion. These +approach, but do not unite; they are felt as sundered beliefs. +Sun-myths, though by some denied _in toto_, appear plainly in the +Vedic hymns. Dead heroes may be gods, but gods, too, are natural +phenomena, and, again, they are abstractions. He that denies any one +of these sources of godhead is ignorant of India. + +Müller, in his _Ancient Sanskrit Literature_, has divided Vedic +literature into four periods, that of _chandas_, songs; _mantras_, +texts; _br[=a]hmanas;_ and _s[=u]tras_. The _mantras_ are in +distinction from _chandas_, the later hymns to the earlier gods.[30] +The latter distinction can, however, be established only on subjective +grounds, and, though generally unimpeachable, is sometimes liable to +reversion. Thus, Müller looks upon RV. VIII. 30 as 'simple and +primitive,' while others see in this hymn a late _mantra_. Between the +Rig Veda and the Br[=a]hmanas, which are in prose, lies a period +filled out in part by the present form of the Atharva Veda, which, as +has been shown, is a Veda of the low cult that is almost ignored by +the Rig Veda, while it contains at the same time much that is later +than the Rig Veda, and consists of old and new together in a manner +entirely conformable to the state of every other Hindu work of early +times. After this epoch there is found in the liturgical period, into +which extend the later portions of the Rig Veda (noticeably parts of +the first, fourth, eighth, and tenth books), a religion which, in +spiritual tone, in metaphysical speculation, and even in the +interpretation of some of the natural divinities, differs not more +from the bulk of the Rig Veda than does the social status of the time +from that of the earlier text. Religion has become, in so far as the +gods are concerned, a ritual. But, except in the building up of a +Father-god, theology is at bottom not much altered, and the +eschatological conceptions remain about as they were, despite a +preliminary sign of the doctrine of metempsychosis. In the Atharva +Veda, for the first time, hell is known by its later name (xii. 4. +36), and perhaps its tortures; but the idea of future punishment +appears plainly first in the Brahmanic period. Both the doctrine of +re-birth and that of hell appear in the earliest S[=u]tras, and +consequently the assumption that these dogmas come from Buddhism does +not appear to be well founded; for it is to be presumed whatever +religious belief is established in legal literature will have preceded +that literature by a considerable period, certainly by a greater +length of time than that which divides the first Brahmanic law from +Buddhism. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Compare the accounts of Lafitau; of the native + Iroquois, baptized as Morgan; and the works of Schoolcraft + and Parkman.] + + [Footnote 2: _Jesuits in North America_, Introduction, p. + lxi.] + + [Footnote 3: "Like other Indians, the Hurons were desperate + gamblers, staking their all,--ornaments, clothing, canoes, + pipes, weapons, and wives," _loc. cit._ p. xxxvi. Compare + Palfrey, of Massachusetts Indians. The same is true of all + savages.] + + [Footnote 4: _Ib._ p. lxvii.] + + [Footnote 5: Compare _Çat. Br_. VI. 1. 1, 12; VII. 5. 1, 2 + _sq_., for the Hindu tortoise in its first form. The + totem-form of the tortoise is well known in America. + (Brinton, _Myths of the New World_, p. 85.)] + + [Footnote 6: Charlevoix ap. Parkman.] + + [Footnote 7: Parkman, _loc. cit_. p. LXXII; Brinton, _Myths + of the New World_, p. 248. A good instance of bad comparison + in eschatology will be found in Geiger, _Ostir. Cult_. pp. + 274-275.] + + [Footnote 8: Parkman, _loc. cit_. p. LXXXVI.] + + [Footnote 9: _Sits. Berl. Akad_. 1891, p. 15.] + + [Footnote 10: Brinton, _American Hero Myths_, p. 174. The + first worship was Sun-worship, then Viracocha-worship arose, + which kept Sun-worship while it predicated a 'power beyond.] + + [Footnote 11: Brinton, _Myths of the New World_, pp. 85, + 203.] + + [Footnote 12: _Ib_. pp. 86, 202.] + + [Footnote 13: Brinton, _Myths of the New World_, p. 243. The + American Indians "uniformly regard the sun as heaven, the + soul goes to the sun."] + + [Footnote 14: _Ib._ p. 245.] + + [Footnote 15: _Ib._ p. 239-40.] + + [Footnote 16: _Ib._ p. 50, 51.] + + [Footnote 17: _Ib._ pp. 242, 248, 255; Schoolcraft, III. + 229.] + + [Footnote 18: Renouf, _Religion of Ancient Egypt_; pp. 103, + 113 ff.] + + [Footnote 19: Teutonic Tuisco is doubtful, as the identity + with Dyaus has lately been contested on phonetic grounds.] + + [Footnote 20: V[=a]ta, ventus, does not agree very well with + Wotan.] + + [Footnote 21: _[=A]it. Br._ III, 34. [Greek: haggaron pur] + is really tautological, but beacon fires gave way to + couriers and [Greek: haggaros] lost the sense of fire, as + did [Greek: haggelos].] + + [Footnote 22: But the general belief that fire (Agni, Ignis, + Slavic ogni) was first brought to earth from heaven by a + half-divine personality is (at least) Aryan, as Kuhn has + shown.] + + [Footnote 23: Compare the _kavis_ and _ugijs_ (poets and + priests) of the Veda with the evil spirits of the same names + in the Avesta, like _daeva_ = _deva_. Compare, besides, the + Indo-Iranian feasts, _medha_, that accompany this + Bacchanalian liquor-worship.] + + [Footnote 24: Ludwig interprets the three Ribhus as the + three seasons personified. Etymologically connected is + Orpheus, perhaps.] + + [Footnote 25: [Greek: o de chalkeos asphales aien edos menei + ouranos], Pind. N. vi. 5; compare Preller[4], p.40.] + + [Footnote 26: Wahrscheinlich sind Uranos und Kronos erst aus + dem Culte des Zeus abstrahirt worden. Preller[4], p. 43.] + + [Footnote 27: When Aryan deities are decadent, Trita, Mitra, + etc.] + + [Footnote 28: Spiegel holds that the whole idea of future + punishment is derived from Persia (_Eranische + Altherthumskunde_, I. p. 458), but his point of view is + naturally prejudiced. The allusion to the supposed + Babylonian coin, _man[=a]_, in RV. VIII. 78. 2, would + indicate that the relation with Babylon is one of trade, as + with Aegypt. The account of the flood may be drawn thence, + so may the story of Deucalion, but both Hindu and Hellenic + versions may be as native as is that of the American + redskins.] + + [Footnote 29: IV. 17. 17.] + + [Footnote 30: _loc. cit._ pp. 70, 480.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +BRAHMANISM. + + +Besides the Rig Veda and the Atharva Veda there are two others, called +respectively the S[=a]ma Veda and the Yajur Veda.[1] The former +consists of a small collection of verses, which are taken chiefly from +the eighth and ninth books of the Rig Veda, and are arranged for +singing. It has a few more verses than are contained in the +corresponding parts of the Rik, but the whole is of no added +importance from the present point of view. It is of course made +entirely for the ritual. Also made for the ritual is the Yajur Veda, +the Veda of sacrificial formulae. But this Veda is far more important. +With it one is brought into a new land, and into a world of ideas that +are strange to the Rik. The period represented by it is a sort of +bridge between the Rik and the Br[=a]hmanas. The Yajus is later than +Rik or Atharvan, belonging in its entirety more to the age of the +liturgy than to the older Vedic era. With the Br[=a]hmanas not only is +the tone changed from that of the Rig Veda; the whole moral atmosphere +is now surcharged with hocus-pocus, mysticism, religiosity, instead of +the cheerful, real religion which, however formal, is the soul of the +Rik. In the Br[=a]hmanas there is no freshness, no poetry. There is in +some regards a more scrupulous outward morality, but for the rest +there is only cynicism, bigotry, and dullness. It is true that each of +these traits may be found in certain parts of the Rig Veda, but it is +not true that they represent there the spirit of the age, as they do +in the Brahmanic period. Of this Brahmanic stoa, to which we now turn, +the Yajur Veda forms the fitting entrance. Here the priest is as much +lord as he is in the Br[=a]hmanas. Here the sacrifice is only the act, +the sacrificial forms (_yajus_), without the spirit. + +In distinction from the verse-Veda (the Rik), the Yajur Veda contains +the special formulae which the priest that attends to the erection of +the altar has to speak, with explanatory remarks added thereto. This +of course stamps the collection as mechanical; but the wonder is that +this collection, with the similar Br[=a]hmana scriptures that follow +it, should be the only new literature which centuries have to show.[2] +As explanatory of the sacrifice there is found, indeed, a good deal of +legendary stuff, which sometimes has a literary character. But nothing +is for itself; everything is for the correct performance of the +sacrifice.[3] + +The geographical centre is now changed, and instead of the Punj[=a]b, +the 'middle district' becomes the seat of culture. Nor is there much +difference between the district to which can be referred the rise of +the Yajur Veda and that of the Br[=a]hmanas. No less altered is the +religion. All is now symbolical, and the gods, though in general they +are the gods of the Rig Veda, are not the same as of old. The priests +have become gods. The old appellation of 'spirit,' _asura_, is +confined to evil spirits. There is no longer any such 'henotheism' as +that of the Rig Veda. The Father-god, 'lord of beings,' or simply 'the +father,' is the chief god. The last thought of the Rig Veda is the +first thought of the Yajur Veda. Other changes have taken place. The +demigods of the older period, the water-nymphs of the Rik, here become +seductive goddesses, whose increase of power in this art agrees with +the decline of the warrior spirit that is shown too in the whole mode +of thinking. Most important is the gradual rise of Vishnu and the +first appearance of Çiva. Here _brahma_, which in the Rik has the +meaning 'prayer' alone, is no longer mere prayer, but, as in later +literature, holiness. In short, before the Br[=a]hmanas are reached +they are perceptible in the near distance, in the Veda of Formulae, +the Yajus;[4] for between the Yajur Veda and the Br[=a]hmanas there is +no essential difference. The latter consist of explanations of the +sacrificial liturgy, interspersed with legends, bits of history, +philosophical explanations, and other matter more or less related to +the subject. They are completed by the Forest Books, [=A]ranyakas, +which contain the speculations of the later theosophy, the Upanishads +(below). It is with the Yajur Veda and its nearly related literature, +the Br[=a]hmanas, that Brahmanism really begins. Of these latter the +most important in age and content are the Br[=a]hmanas (of the Rig +Veda and Yajur Veda), called [=A]itareya and Çata-patha, the former +representing the western district, the latter, in great part, a more +eastern region. + +Although the 'Northerners' are still respectfully referred to, yet, as +we have just said, the people among whom arose the Br[=a]hmanas are +not settled in the Punj[=a]b, but in the country called the 'middle +district,' round about the modern Delhi. For the most part the +Punj[=a]b is abandoned; or rather, the literature of this period does +not emanate from the Aryans that remained in the Punj[=a]b, but from +the still emigrating descendants of the old Vedic people that used to +live there. Some stay behind and keep the older practices, not in all +regards looked upon as orthodox by their more advanced brethren, who +have pushed east and now live in the country called the land of the +Kurus and Pa[.n]c[=a]las.[5] They are spread farther east, along the +banks of the Jumna and Ganges, south of Nep[=a]l; while some are still +about and south of the holy Kurukshetra or 'plain of Kurus.' East of +the middle district the Kosalas and Videhas form, in opposition to the +Kurus and Pa[.n]c[=a]las, the second great tribe (Tirh[=u]t). There +are now two sets of 'Seven Rivers,' and the holiness of the western +group is perceptibly lessened. Here for the first time are found the +_Vr[=a]tya_-hymns, intended to initiate into the Brahmanic order +Aryans who have not conformed to it, and speak a dialectic +language.[6] From the point of view of language and geography, no less +than from that of the social and spiritual conditions, it is evident +that quite a period has elapsed since the body of the Rig Veda was +composed. The revealed texts are now ancient storehouses of wisdom. +Religion has apparently become a form; in some regards it is a farce. + +"There are two kinds of gods; for the gods are gods, and priests that +are learned in the Veda and teach it are human gods." This sentence, +from one of the most important Hindu prose works,[7] is the key to the +religion of the period which it represents; and it is fitly followed +by the further statement, that like sacrifice to the gods are the fees +paid to the human gods the priests.[8] Yet with this dictum, so +important for the understanding of the religion of the age, must be +joined another, if one would do that age full justice: 'The sacrifice +is like a ship sailing heavenward; if there be a sinful priest in it, +that one priest would make it sink' (_Çat. Br_. IV. 2. 5. 10). For +although the time is one in which ritualism had, indeed, become more +important than religion, and the priest more important than the gods, +yet is there no lack of reverential feeling, nor is morality regarded +as unimportant. The first impression, however, which is gained from +the literature of this period is that the sacrifice is all in all; +that the endless details of its course, and the petty questions in +regard to its arrangement, are not only the principal objects of care +and of chief moment, but even of so cardinal importance that the whole +religious spirit swings upon them. But such is not altogether the +case. It is the truth, yet is it not the whole truth, that in these +Br[=a]hmanas religion is an appearance, not a reality. The sacrifice +is indeed represented to be the only door to prosperity on earth and +to future bliss; but there is a quiet yet persistent belief that at +bottom a moral and religious life is quite as essential as are the +ritualistic observances with which worship is accompanied. + +To describe Brahmanism as implying a religion that is purely one of +ceremonies, one composed entirely of observances, is therefore not +altogether correct. In reading a liturgical work it must not be +forgotten for what the work was intended. If its object be simply to +inculcate a special rite, one cannot demand that it should show +breadth of view or elevation of sentiment. Composed of observances +every work must be of which the aim is to explain observances. In +point of fact, religion (faith and moral behavior) is here assumed, +and so entirely is it taken for granted that a statement emphasizing +the necessity of godliness is seldom found. + +Nevertheless, having called attention to the religious spirit that +lies latent in the pedantic Br[=a]hmanas, we are willing to +admit that the age is overcast, not only with a thick cloud of +ritualism, but also with an unpleasant mask of phariseeism. There +cannot have been quite so much attention paid to the outside of the +platter without neglect of the inside. And it is true that the priests +of this period strive more for the completion of their rites than for +the perfection of themselves. It is true, also, that occasionally +there is a revolting contempt for those people who are not of especial +service to the priest. There are now two godlike aristocrats, the +priest and the noble. The 'people' are regarded as only fit to be the +"food of the nobility." In the symbolical language of the time the +bricks of the altar, which are consecrated, are the warrior caste; the +fillings, in the space between the bricks, are not consecrated; and +these "fillers of space" are "the people" (_Çat. Br_. VI. 1. 2. 25). +Yet is religion in these books not dead, but sleeping; to wake again +in the Upanishads with a fuller spiritual life than is found in any +other pre-Christian system. Although the subject matter of the +Br[=a]hmanas is the cult, yet are there found in them numerous +legends, moral teachings, philosophical fancies, historical items, +etymologies and other adventitious matter, all of which are helpful in +giving a better understanding of the intelligence of the people to +whom is due all the extant literature of the period. Long citations +from these ritualistic productions would have a certain value, in +showing in native form the character of the works, but they would make +unendurable reading; and we have thought it better to arrange the +multifarious contents of the chief Br[=a]hmanas in a sort of order, +although it is difficult always to decide where theology ends and +moral teachings begin, the two are here so interwoven. + + +BRAHMANIC THEOLOGY AND THE SACRIFICE. + +While in general the pantheon of the Rig Veda and Atharva Veda is that +of the Br[=a]hmanas, some of the older gods are now reduced in +importance, and, on the other hand, as in the Yajur Veda, some gods +are seen to be growing in importance. 'Time,' deified in the Atharvan, +is a great god, but beside him still stand the old rustic divinities; +and chrematheism, which antedates even the Rig Veda, is still +recognized. To the 'ploughshare' and the 'plough' the Rig Veda has an +hymn (IV. 57. 5-8), and so the ritual gives them a cake at the +sacrifice (_Çun[=a]ç[=i]rya, Çat. Br._ II. 6. 3. 5). The number of the +gods, in the Rig Veda estimated as thirty-three, or, at the end of +this period, as thousands, remains as doubtful as ever; but, in +general, all groups of deities become greater in number. Thus, in TS. +I. 4. 11. 1, the Rudras alone are counted as thirty-three instead of +eleven; and, _ib._ V. 5. 2. 5, the eight Vasus become three hundred +and thirty-three; but it is elsewhere hinted that the number of the +gods stands in the same relation to that of men as that in which men +stand to the beasts; that is, there are not quite so many gods as men +(_Çat. Br._ II. 3. 2. 18). + +Of more importance than the addition of new deities is the subdivision +of the old. As one finds in Greece a [Greek: Zeus katachthonios] +beside a [Greek: Zeus xenios], so in the Yajur Veda and Br[=a]hmanas +are found (an extreme instance) hail 'to K[=a]ya,' and hail 'to +Kasm[=a]i,' that is, the god Ka is differentiated into two divinities, +according as he is declined as a noun or as a pronoun; for this is the +god "Who?" as the dull Br[=a]hmanas interpreted that verse of the Rig +Veda which asks 'to whom (which, as) god shall we offer sacrifice?' +(M[=a]it. S. III. 12. 5.) But ordinarily one divinity like Agni is +subdivided, according to his functions, as 'lord of food,' 'lord of +prayer,' etc.[9] + +In the Br[=a]hmanas different names are given to the chief god, but he +is most often called the Father-god (Praj[=a]pati, 'lord of +creatures,' or the Father, _pit[=a]_). His earlier Vedic type is +Brihaspati, the lord of strength, and, from another point of +view, the All-god.[10] The other gods fall into various groups, the +most significant being the triad of Fire, Wind, and Sun.[11] Not much +weight is to be laid on the theological speculations of the time as +indicative of primitive conceptions, although they may occasionally +hit true. For out of the number of inane fancies it is reasonable to +suppose that some might coincide with historic facts. Thus the +All-gods of the Rig Veda, by implication, are of later origin than the +other gods, and this, very likely, was the case; but it is a mere +guess on the part of the priest. The _Çatapatha_, III. 6. 1. 28, +speaks of the All-gods as gods that gained immortality on a certain +occasion, _i.e._, became immortal like other gods. So the [=A]dityas +go to heaven before the Angirasas (_[=A][=i]t. Br_. IV. 17), but this +has no such historical importance as some scholars are inclined to +think. The lesser gods are in part carefully grouped and numbered, in +a manner somewhat contradictory to what must have been the earlier +belief. Thus the 'three kinds of gods' are now Vasus, of earth, +Rudras, of air, and [=A]dityas, of sky, and the daily offerings are +divided between them; the morning offering belonging only to the +Vasus, the mid-day one only to (Indra and) the Rudras, the third to +the [=A]dityas with the Vasus and Rudras together.[12] Again, the +morning and mid-day pressing belong to the gods alone, and strict rule +is observed in distinguishing their portion from that of the Manes +(_Çat. Br_. IV. 4. 22). The difference of sex is quite ignored, so +that the 'universal Agni' is identified with (mother) earth; as is +also, once or twice, P[=u]shan (_ib._ III. 8. 5. 4; 2. 4. 19; II. 5. +4. 7). As the 'progenitor,' Agni facilitates connubial union, and is +called "the head god, the progenitor among gods, the lord of beings" +(_ib._ III. 4. 3. 4; III. 9. 1. 6). P[=u]shan is interpreted to mean +cattle, and Brihaspati is the priestly caste (_ib_. III. 9. 1. 10 +ff.). The base of comparison is usually easy to find. 'The earth +nourishes,' and 'P[=u]shan nourishes,' hence Pushan is the earth; or +'the earth belongs to all' and Agni is called 'belonging to all' +(universal), hence the two are identified. The All-gods, merely on +account of their name, are now the All; Aditi is the 'unbounded' earth +(_ib_. III. 9. 1. 13; IV. 1. 1. 23; i. 1. 4. 5; III. 2. 3. 6). Agni +represents all the gods, and he is the dearest, the closest, and the +surest of all the gods (_ib_. I. 6. 2. 8 ff.). It is said that man on +earth fathers the fire (that is, protects it), and when he dies the +fire that he has made his son on earth becomes his father, causing him +to be reborn in heaven (_ib_. II. 3. 3. 3-5; VI. 1. 2. 26). + +The wives of the gods _(dev[=a]n[=a]m patn[=i]r yajati)_, occasionally +mentioned in the Rig Veda, have now an established place and cult +apart from that of the gods (_ib_. I. 9. 2. 11). The fire on the +hearth is god Agni in person, and is not a divine or mystic type; but +he is prayed to as a heavenly friend. Some of these traits are old, +but they are exaggerated as compared with the more ancient theology. +When one goes on a journey or returns from one, 'even if a king were +in his house' he should not greet him till he makes homage to his +hearth-fires, either with spoken words or with silent obeisance. For +Agni and Praj[=a]pati are one, they are son and father (_ib_. II. 4. +1. 3, 10; VI. 1. 2. 26). The gods have mystic names, and these 'who +will dare to speak?' Thus, Indra's mystic name is Arjuna (_ib_. II. 1. +2. 11). In the early period of the Rig Veda the priest dares to speak. +The pantheism of the end of the Rig Veda is here decided and +plain-spoken, as it is in the Atharvan. As it burns brightly or not +the fire is in turn identified with different gods, Rudra, Varuna, +Indra, and Mitra (_ib_. II. 3. 2. 9 ff.). Agni is all the gods and the +gods are in men (_ib_. III. 1. 3. 1; 4. 1. 19; II. 3. 2. 1: Indra and +King Yama dwell in men). And, again, the Father (Praj[=a]pati) is the +All; he is the year of twelve months and five seasons(_ib_. I. 3. 5. +10). Then follows a characteristic bit. Seventeen verses are to be +recited to correspond to the 'seventeenfold' Praj[=a]pati. But 'some +say' twenty-one verses; and he may recite twenty-one, for if 'the +three worlds' are added to the above seventeen one gets twenty, and +the sun (_ya esa tapati_) makes the twenty-first! As to the number of +worlds, it is said (_ib_. I. 2. 4. 11, 20-21) that there are three +worlds, and possibly a fourth. + +Soma is now the moon, but as being one half of Vritra, the evil demon. +The other half became the belly of creatures (_ib_. I. 6. 3. 17). +Slightly different is the statement that Soma was Vritra, IV. 2. 5. +15. In _[=A]it. Br._ I. 27, King Soma is bought of the Gandharvas by +V[=a]c, 'speech,' as a cow.[13] With phases of the moon Indra and Agni +are identified. One is the deity of the new; the other, of the full +moon; while Mitra is the waning, and Varuna the waxing moon (_Çat. +Br._ II. 4. 4. 17-18). This opposition of deities is more fully +expressed in the attempt to make antithetic the relations of the gods +and the Manes, thus: 'The gods are represented by spring, summer, and +rains; the Fathers, by autumn, winter, and the dewy season; the gods, +by the waxing; the Fathers, by the waning moon; the gods, by day; the +Fathers, by night; the gods, by morning; the Fathers, by afternoon' +(_Çat. Br._ II. 1.-31; _ib_. II. 4. 2. 1. ff.: 'The sun is the light +of the gods; the moon, of the Fathers; fire, of men'). Between morning +and afternoon, as representative of gods and Manes respectively, +stands midday, which, according to the same authority (II. 4. 2. 8), +represents men. The passage first cited continues thus: 'The seasons +are gods and Fathers; gods are immortal; the Fathers are mortal.' In +regard to the relation between spring and the other seasons, the fifth +section of this passage may be compared: 'Spring is the priesthood; +summer, the warrior-caste; the rains are the (_viç_) people.'[14] + +Among the conspicuous divine forms of this period is the Queen of +Serpents, whose verses are chanted over fire; but she is the earth, +according to some passages (_[=A]it. Br._. V. 23; _Çat. Br._ II. 1. 4. +30; IV. 6. 9. 17). In their divine origin there is, indeed, according +to the theology now current, no difference between the powers of light +and of darkness, between the gods and the 'spirits,' _asuras, i.e._, +evil spirits. Many tales begin with the formula: 'The gods and evil +spirits, both born of the Father-god' (_Çat. Br._ I. 2. 4. 8). Weber +thinks that this implies close acquaintance with Persian worship, a +sort of tit-for-tat; for the Hindu would in that case call the holy +spirit, _ahura_, of the Persian a devil, just as the Persian makes an +evil spirit, _daeva_, out of the Hindu god, _deva_. But the relations +between Hindu and Persian in this period are still very uncertain. It +is interesting to follow out some of the Brahmanic legends, if only to +see what was the conception of the evil spirits. In one such +theological legend the gods and the (evil) spirits, both being sons of +the Father-god, inherited from him, respectively, mind and speech; +hence the gods got the sacrifice and heaven, while the evil spirits +got this earth. Again, the two entered on the inheritance of their +father in time, and so the gods have the waxing moon, and the evil +spirits, the waning moon (_ib._ III 2. 1. 18; I. 7. 2. 22). + +But what these Asuras or (evil) spirits really are may be read easily +from the texts. The gods are the spirits of light; the Asuras are the +spirits of darkness. Therewith is indissolubly connected the idea that +sin and darkness are of the same nature. So one reads that when the +sun rises it frees itself 'from darkness, from sin,' as a snake from +its slough (_ib._ II. 3. I. 6). And in another passage it is said that +darkness and illusion were given to the Asuras as their portion by the +Father-god _(ib._ II. 4. 2. 5). With this may be compared also the +frequent grouping of The Asuras or Rakshas with darkness (_e.g., ib._ +III. 8. 2. 15; IV. 3. 4. 21). As to the nature of the gods the +evidence is contradictóry. Both gods and evil spirits were originally +soulless and mortal. Agni (Fire) alone was immortal, and it was only +through him that the others continued to live. They became immortal by +putting in their inmost being the holy (immortal) fire (_ib._ II. 2. +2. 8). On the other hand, it is said that Agni was originally without +brightness; and Indra, identified with the sun, was originally dark +(_ib._ IV. 5.4.3; III. 4. 2. 15). The belief in an originally human +condition of the gods (even the Father-god was originally mortal) is +exemplified in a further passage, where it is said that the gods used +to live on earth, but they grew tired of man's endless petitions and +fled; also in another place, where it is stated that the gods used to +drink together with men visibly, but now they do so invisibly (_ib_. +II. 3. 4. 4; III. 6. 2. 26). How did such gods obtain their supremacy? +The answer is simple, 'by sacrifice' (_Çat. Br_. III. 1. 4. 3; +_[=A]it. Br_. II. I. I). So now they live by sacrifice: 'The sun would +not rise if the priest did not make sacrifice' (_Çat. Br_. II. 3. 1. +5). Even the order of things would change if the order of ceremonial +were varied: Night would be eternal if the priests did so and so; the +months would not pass, one following the other, if the priests walked +out or entered together, etc. (_ib._ IV. 3. 1. 9-10). It is by a +knowledge of the Vedas that one conquers all things, and the sacrifice +is part and application of this knowledge, which in one passage is +thus reconditely subdivided: 'Threefold is knowledge, the Rig Veda, +the Yajur Veda, and the S[=a]ma Veda.[15] The Rig Veda, _i.e_., the +verses sung, are the earth; the Yajus is air; the S[=a]man is the sky. +He conquers earth, air, and sky respectively by these three Vedas. The +Rik and S[=a]man are Indra and are speech; the Yajus is Vishnu and +mind' (_ib._ IV. 6. 7. 1 ff.). An item follows that touches on a +modern philosophical question. Apropos of speech and mind: 'Where +speech (alone) existed everything was accomplished and known; but +where mind (alone) existed nothing was accomplished or known' (_ib._ +I. 4. 4. 3-4, 7). Mind and speech are male and female, and as +yoke-fellows bear sacrificed to the gods; to be compared is the +interesting dispute between mind and speech (_ib._ 5. 8). As dependent +as is man on what is given by the gods, so dependent are the gods on +what is offered to them by men (_T[=a]itt. Br._ II. 2. 7. 3; _Çat. +Br._ I. 2. 5. 24). Even the gods are now not native to heaven. They +win heaven by sacrifice, by metres, etc. (_Çat. Br._ IV. 3. 2. 5). + +What, then, is the sacrifice? A means to enter into the godhead of the +gods, and even to control the gods; a ceremony where every word was +pregnant with consequences;[16] every movement momentous. There are +indications, however, that the priests themselves understood that much +in the ceremonial was pure hocus-pocus, and not of such importance as +it was reputed to be. But such faint traces as survive of a freer +spirit objecting to ceremonial absurdities only mark more clearly the +level plain of unintelligent superstition which was the feeding-ground +of the ordinary priests. + +Some of the cases of revolted common-sense are worth citing. +Conspicuous as an authority on the sacrifice, and at the same time as +a somewhat recalcitrant priest, is Y[=a]j[.n]avalkya, author and +critic, one of the greatest names in Hindu ecclesiastical history. It +was he who, apropos of the new rule in ethics, so strongly insisted +upon after the Vedic age and already beginning to obtain, the rule +that no one should eat the flesh of the (sacred) cow ('Let no one eat +beef.... Whoever eats it would be reborn (on earth) as a man of ill +fame') said bluntly: 'As for me I eat (beef) if it is good (firm).[17] +It certainly required courage to say this, with the especial warning +against beef, the meat of an animal peculiarly holy (_Çat. Br._ III. +I. 2. 21). It was, again, Y[=a]jñavalkya (_Çat. Br_., I. 3. I. 26), +who protested against the priests' new demand that the benefit of the +sacrifice should accrue in part to the priest; whereas it had +previously been understood that not the sacrificial priest but the +sacrificer (the worshipper, the man who hired the priest and paid the +expenses) got all the benefit of the ceremony. Against the priests' +novel and unjustifiable claim Y[=a]jñavalkya exclaims: 'How can people +have faith in this? Whatever be the blessing for which the priests +pray, this blessing is for the worshipper (sacrificer) alone.[18] It +was Y[=a]jñavalkya, too, who rebutted some new superstition involving +the sacrificer's wife, with the sneer, 'who cares whether the wife,' +etc. (_kas tad [=a]driyeta, ib._ 21). These protestations are naïvely +recorded, though it is once suggested that in some of his utterances +Y[=a]jñavalkya was not in earnest (_ib._ IV. 2. 1. 7). The high mind +of this great priest is contrasted with the mundane views of his +contemporaries in the prayers of himself and of another priest; for it +is recorded that whereas Y[=a]jñavalkya's prayer to the Sun was 'give +me light' (or 'glory,' _varco me dehi_), that of [=A]upoditeya was +'give me cows' (_ib_. I. 9. 3. 16). The chronicler adds, after citing +these prayers, that one obtains whatever he prays for, either +illumination or wealth.[19] Y[=a]jñavalkya, however, is not the only +protestant. In another passage, _ib_. ii. 6. 3. 14-17, the sacrificer +is told to shave his head all around, so as to be like the sun; this +will ensure his being able to 'consume (his foes) on all sides like +the sun,' and it is added: But [=A]suri said, 'What on earth has it to +do with his head? Let him not shave.'[20] + +'Eternal holiness' is won by him that offers the sacrifice of the +seasons. Characteristic is the explanation, 'for such an one wins the +year, and a year is a complete whole, and a complete whole is +indestructible (eternal); hence his holiness is indestructible, and he +thereby becomes a part of a year and goes to the gods; but as there is +no destruction in the gods, his holiness is therefore indestructible' +(_ib._ ii. 6. 3. 1). + +Not only a man's self but also his Manes are benefited by means of +sacrifice.[21] He gives the Manes pleasure with his offering, but he +also raises their estate, and sends them up to live in a higher +world.[22] The cosmological position of the Manes are the +_av[=a]ntaradiças_, that is, between the four quarters; though, +according to some, there are three kinds of them, _soma_-Manes, +sacrifice-Manes (Manes of the sacrificial straw), and the burnt, +_i.e_., the spirits of those that have been consumed in fire. They +are, again, identified with the seasons, and are expressly mentioned +as the guardians of houses, so that the Brahmanic Manes are at once +Penates, Lares, and Manes.[23] + +The sacrifice is by no means meant as an aid to the acquirement of +heavenly bliss alone. Many of the great sacrifices are for the gaining +of good things on earth. In one passage there is described a ceremony, +the result of which is to be that the warrior, who is the sacrificer, +may say to a man of the people "fetch out and give me your store" +(_ib._ i. 3. 2. 15; iv. 3. 3. 10). Everybody sacrifices, even the +beasts erect altars and fires![24] That one should sacrifice without +the ulterior motive of gain is unknown. Brahmanic India knows no +thank-offering. Ordinarily the gain is represented as a compensating +gift from the divinity, whom the sacrificer pleases with his +sacrifice. Very plainly is this expressed. "He offers the sacrifice to +the god with this text: 'Do thou give to me (and) I (will) give to +thee; do thou bestow on me (and) I (will) bestow on thee'" (_V[=a]j. +S._ iii. 50; _Çat. Br_. ii. 5. 3. 19). But other ends are +accomplished. By the sacrifice he may injure his enemy, but in +offering it, if he leaves too much over, that part accrues to the good +of his foe (_Çat. Br_. i. 2. 1.7; 9. 1. 18). + +The sacrifice is throughout symbolical. The sacrificial straw +represents the world; the metre used represents all living creatures, +etc.,--a symbolism frequently suggested by a mere pun, but often as +ridiculously expounded without such aid. The altar's measure is the +measure of metres. The cord of regeneration (badge of the twice-born, +the holy cord of the high castes) is triple, because food is +threefold, or because the father and mother with the child make three +(_Çat. Br._ iii. 5. 1. 7 ff.; 2. 1. 12); the _jagati_ metre contains +the living world, because this is called _jagat_ (_ib._ i. 8. 2. 11). + +Out of the varied mass of rules, speculations, and fancies, a few of +general character may find place here, that the reader may gain a +collective impression of the religious literature of the time. + +The fee for the sacrifice is mentioned in one place as one thousand +cows. These must be presented in groups of three hundred and +thirty-three each, three times, with an odd one of three colors. This +is on account of the holy character of the numeral three. 'But +[=A]suri (apparently fearful that this rule would limit the fee) said +"he may give more"' (_Çat. Br._ iv. 5. 8. 14). As to the fee, the +rules are precise and their propounders are unblushing. The priest +performs the sacrifice for the fee alone, and it must consist of +valuable garments, kine, horses,[25] or gold--when each is to be given +is carefully stated. Gold is coveted most, for this is 'immortality,' +'the seed of Agni,' and therefore peculiarly agreeable to the pious +priest.[26] For his greed, which goes so far that he proclaims that he +who gives a thousand kine obtains all things of heaven (_ib._ iv. 5. +1. 11), the priest has good precept to cite, for the gods of heaven, +in all the tales told of them, ever demand a reward from each other +when they help their neighbor-gods. Nay, even the gods require a +witness and a vow, lest they injure each other. Discord arose among +them when once they performed the guest-offering; they divided into +different parties, Agni with the Vasus, Soma with the Rudras, Varuna +with the [=A]dityas, and Indra with the Maruts. But with discord came +weakness, and the evil spirits got the better of them. So they made a +covenant with each other, and took Wind as witness that they would not +deceive each other. This famous covenant of the gods is the prototype +of that significant covenant made by the priest, that he would not, +while pretending to beseech } good for the sacrificer,[27] secretly do +him harm (as he could by altering the ceremonial).[28] The theory of +the fee, in so far as it affects the sacrifices, is that the gods, the +Manes, and men all exist by what is sacrificed. Even the gods seek +rewards; hence the priests do the same.[29] The sacrificer sacrifices +to get a place in _devaloka_ (the world of the gods). The sacrifice +goes up to the world of gods, and after it goes the fee which the +sacrificer (the patron) gives; the sacrificer follows by catching hold +of the fee given to the priests (_ib._. i. 9. 3. 1). It is to be +noted, moreover, that sacrificing for a fee is recognized as a +profession. The work (sacrifice is work, 'work is sacrifice,' it is +somewhere said) is regarded as a matter of business. There are three +means of livelihood occasionally referred to, telling stories, singing +songs, and reciting the Veda at a sacrifice (_Çat. Br_. iii. 2. 4. +16). + +As an example of the absurdities given as 'the ways of knowledge' +(absurdities which are necessary to know in order to a full +understanding of the mental state under consideration) may be cited +_Çat. Br_. iv. 5. 8. 11, where it is said that if the sacrificial cow +goes east the sacrificer wins a good world hereafter; if north, he +becomes more glorious on earth; if west, rich in people and crops; if +south, he dies; 'such are the ways of knowledge.' In the same spirit +it is said that the sun rises east because the priest repeats certain +verses _([=A]it. Br_. i. 7. 4). No little stress is laid on +geographical position. The east is the quarter of the gods; the north, +of men; the south, of the dead (Manes; _Çat. Br_. i. 2. 5. 17); while +the west is the region of snakes, according to _ib_. iii. 1. 1. 7. On +account of the godly nature of the east ("from the east came the gods +westward to men," _ib_. ii. 6. 1. 11) the sacrificial building, like +occidental churches, is built east and west, not north and south. The +cardinal points are elsewhere given to certain gods; thus the north is +Rudra's.[30] + +It has been said that the theological ideas are not clear. This was +inevitable, owing to the tendency to identify various divinities. +Especially noticeable is the identification of new or local gods with +others better accredited, Rudra and Agni, etc. Rudra is the god of +cattle, and when the other gods went to heaven by means of sacrifice +he remained on earth; his local names are Çarva, Bhava, 'Beast-lord,' +Rudra, Agni (_Çat. Br_. i. 7. 3. 8; M[=a]it. S. i. 6. 6). Indra is the +Vasu of the gods. The gods are occasionally thirty-four in number, +eight Vasus, eleven Rudras, twelve [=A]dityas, heaven and earth, and +Praj[=a]pati as the thirty-fourth; but this Praj[=a]pati is the All +and Everything (_Çat. Br_. i. 6. 4. 2; iv. 5. 7. 2 ff.). Of these +gods, who at first were all alike and good, three became superior, +Agni, Indra, and S[=u]rya. But, again, the Sun is death, and Agni is +head of all the gods. Moreover, the Sun is now Indra; the Manes are +the seasons, and Varuna, too, is the seasons, as being the year (_Çat. +Br._ iv. 5. 4. 1; i. 6. 4. 18; iv. 4. 5. 18). Aditi, as we have said, +is the Earth; the fee for an offering to her is a cow. Why? Because +Earth is a cow and Aditi is Earth; Earth is a mother and a cow is a +mother. Hence the fee is a cow.[31] + +The tales of the gods, for the most part, are foolish. But they show +well what conception the priests had of their divinities. + +Man's original skin was put by the gods upon the cow; hence a cow runs +away from a man because she thinks he is trying to get back his skin. +The gods cluster about at an oblation, each crying out 'My name,' +_i.e._, each is anxious to get it. The gods, with the evil +spirits--'both sons of the Father'--attract to themselves the plants; +Varuna gets the barley by a pun. They build castles to defend +themselves from the evil spirits. Five gods are picked out as worthy +of offerings: Aditi, Speech, Agni, Soma, the Sun (five, because the +seasons are five and the regions are five). Indra and Wind have a +dispute of possession; Praj[=a]pati, the Father, decides it. The +heavenly singers, called the Gandharvas, recited the Veda to entice +(the divine female) Speech to come to them; while the gods, for the +same purpose, created the lute, and sang and played to her. She came +to the gods; hence the weakness of women in regard to such things. +Indra is the god of sacrifice; the stake of the sacrifice is Vishnu's; +V[=a]yu (Wind) is the leader of beasts; Bhaga is blind;[32] P[=u]shan +(because he eats mush) is toothless. The gods run a race to see who +shall get first to the sacrifice, and Indra and Agni win; they are the +warrior-caste among the gods, and the All-gods are the people (_viçve, +viç._). Yet, again, the Maruts are the people, and Varuna is the +warrior-caste; and, again, Soma is the warrior-caste. The Father-god +first created birds, then reptiles and snakes. As these all died he +created mammalia; these survived because they had food in themselves; +hence the Vedic poet says 'three generations have passed away.'[33] + +Varuna is now quite the god of night and god of purification, as a +water-god. Water is the 'essence (sap) of immortality,' and the bath +of purification at the end of the sacrifice (_avabh[r.]tha_) stands in +direct relation to Varuna. The formula to be repeated is: "With the +gods' help may I wash out sin against the gods; with the help of men +the sin against men" (_Çat. Br_. iv. 4. 3. 15; ii. 5. 2. 47). Mitra +and Varuna are, respectively, intelligence and will, priest and +warrior; and while the former may exist without the latter, the latter +cannot live without the former, 'but they are perfect only when they +coöperate' (_ib_. iv. 1. 4. 1). + +Of the divine legends some are old, some new. One speaks of the +sacrifice as having been at first human, subsequently changing to +beast sacrifice, eventually to a rice offering, which last now +represents the original sacrificial animal, man.[34] Famous, too, is +the legend of the flood and Father Manu's escape from it (_Çat. Br_. +i. 8. 1. 1 ff.). Again, the Vedic myth is retold, recounting the rape +of _soma_ by the metrical equivalent of fire (_T[=a]itt. Br_. i. 1. 3. +10; _Çat. Br_. i. 8. 2. 10). Another tale takes up anew the old story +of Cupid and Psyche (Pur[=u]ravas and Urvaç[=i]); and another that of +the Hindu Prometheus story, wherein M[=a]tariçvan fetches fire from +heaven, and gives it to mortals (_T[=a]itt. Br_. iii. 2. 3. 2; _Çat. +Br_. xi. 5. 1. 1; i. 7. 1. 11).[35] + +Interesting, also, is the tale of Vishnu having been a dwarf, and the +tortoise _avatar_, not of Vishnu, but of Praj[=a]pati; also the +attempt of the evil spirits to climb to heaven, and the trick with +which Indra outwitted them.[36] For it is noticeable that the evil +spirits are as strong by nature as are the gods, and it is only by +craft that the latter prevail.[37] + +Seldom are the tales of the gods indecent. The story of Praj[=a]pati's +incest with his daughter is a remnant of nature worship which +survives, in more or less anthropomorphic form, from the time of the +Rig Veda (x. 61.) to that of mediaeval literature,[38] and is found in +full in the epic, as in the Brahmanic period; but the story always +ends with the horror of the gods at the act.[39] + +Old legends are varied. The victory over Vritra is now expounded thus: +Indra, who slays Vritra, is the sun. Vritra is the moon, who swims +into the sun's mouth on the night of the new moon. The sun rises after +swallowing him, and the moon is invisible because he is swallowed ("he +who knows this swallows his foes"). The sun vomits out the moon, and +the latter is then seen in the west, and increases again, to serve the +sun as food. In another passage it is said that when the moon is +invisible he is hiding in plants and waters (_Çat. Br._ i. 6. 3. 17; +4. 18-20). + + +BRAHMANIC RELIGION. + +When the sacrifice is completed the priest returns, as it were, to +earth, and becomes human. He formally puts off his sacrificial vow, +and rehabilitates himself with humanity, saying, "I am even he that I +am."[40] As such a man, through service to the gods become a divine +offering, and no longer human, was doubtless considered the creature +that first served as the sacrificial animal. Despite protestant +legends such as that just recorded, despite formal disclaimers, human +sacrifice existed long after the period of the Rig Veda, where it is +alluded to; a period when even old men are exposed to die.[41] The +_anaddh[=a]purusha_ is not a fiction; for that, on certain occasions, +instead of this 'man of straw' a real victim was offered, is shown by +the ritual manuals and by Brahmanic texts.[42] Thus, in _Çat. Br_. vi. +2. 1. 18: "He kills a man first.... The cord that holds the man is the +longest." It is noteworthy that also among the American Indians the +death of a human victim by fire was regarded as a religious ceremony, +and that, just as in India the man to be sacrificed was allowed almost +all his desires for a year, so the victim of the Indian was first +greeted as brother and presented with gifts, even with a wife.[43] + +But this, the terrible barbaric side of religious worship, is now +distinctly yielding to a more humane religion. The 'barley ewe'[44] is +taking the place of a bloodier offering. It has been urged that the +humanity[45] and the accompanying silliness of the Brahmanic period as +compared with the more robust character of the earlier age are due to +the weakening and softening effects of the climate. But we doubt +whether the climate of the Punj[=a]b differs as much from that of +Delhi and Patna as does the character of the Rig Veda from that of the +Br[=a]hmanas. We shall protest again when we come to the subject of +Buddhism against the too great influence which has been claimed for +climate. Politics and society, in our opinion, had more to do with +altering the religions of India than had a higher temperature and +miasma. As a result of ease and sloth--for the Brahmans are now the +divine pampered servants of established kings, not the energetic peers +of a changing population of warriors--the priests had lost the +inspiration that came from action; they now made no new hymns; they +only formulated new rules of sacrifice. They became intellectually +debauched and altogether weakened in character. Synchronous with this +universal degradation and lack of fibre, is found the occasional +substitution of barley and rice sacrifices for those of blood; and it +may be that a sort of selfish charity was at work here, and the priest +saved the beast to spare himself. But there is no very early evidence +of a humane view of sacrifice influencing the priests. + +The Brahman is no Jain. One must read far to hear a note of the +approaching _ahims[=a]_ doctrine of 'non-injury.' At most one finds a +contemptuous allusion, as in a pitying strain, to the poor plants and +animals that follow after man in reaping some sacrificial benefit from +a ceremony.[46] It does not seem to us that a recognized respect for +animal life or kindness to dumb creatures lies at the root of proxy +sacrifice, though it doubtless came in play. But still less does it +appear probable that, as is often said, aversion to beast-sacrifice is +due to the doctrine of _karma_, and re-birth in animal form. The +_karma_ notion begins to appear in the Brahmanas, but not in the +_sams[=a]ra_ shape of transmigration. It was surely not because the +Hindu was afraid of eating his deceased grandmother that he first +abstained from meat. For, long after the doctrine of _karma_ and +_sams[=a]ra_[47] is established, animal sacrifices are not only +permitted but enjoined; and the epic characters shoot deer and even +eat cows. We think, in short, that the change began as a sumptuary +measure only. In the case of human sacrifice there is doubtless a +civilized repugnance to the act, which is clearly seen in many +passages where the slaughter of man is made purely symbolical. The +only wonder is that it should have obtained so long after the age of +the Rig Veda. But like the stone knife of sacrifice among the Romans +it is received custom, and hard to do away with, for priests are +conservative. Human sacrifice must have been peculiarly horrible from +the fact that the sacrificer not only had to kill the man but to eat +him, as is attested by the formal statement of the liturgical +works.[48] But in the case of other animals (there are five +sacrificial animals, of which man is first) we think it was a question +of expense on the part of the laity. When the _soma_ became rare and +expensive, substitutes were permitted and enjoined. So with the great +sacrifices. The priests had built up a great complex of forms, where +at every turn fees were demanded. The whole expense, falling on the +one individual to whose benefit accrued the sacrifice, must have been +enormous; in the case of ordinary people impossible. But the priests +then permitted the sacrifice of substitutes, for their fees still +remained; and even in the case of human sacrifice some such caution +may have worked, for ordinarily it cost 'one thousand cattle' to buy a +man to be sacrificed. A proof of this lies in the fact that animal +sacrifices were not forbidden at any time, only smaller (cheaper) +animals took the place of cattle. In the completed Brahmanic code the +rule is that animals ought not to be killed except at sacrifice, and +practically the smaller creatures were substituted for cattle, just as +the latter had gradually taken the place of the old horse (and man) +sacrifice. + +If advancing civilization results in an agreeable change of morality +in many regards, it is yet accompanied with wretched traits in others. +The whole silliness of superstition exceeds belief. Because +Bh[=a]llabheya once broke his arm on changing the metre of certain +formulae, it is evident to the priest that it is wrong to trifle with +received metres, and hence "let no one do this hereafter." There is a +compensation on reading such trash in the thought that all this +superstition has kept for us a carefully preserved text, but that is +an accident of priestly foolishness, and the priest can be credited +only with the folly. Why is 'horse-grass' used in the sacrifice? +Because the sacrifice once ran away and "became a horse." Again one is +thankful for the historical side-light on the horse-sacrifice; but the +witlessness of the unconscious historian can but bring him into +contempt.[49] Charms that are said against one are of course cast out +by other charms. If one is not prosperous with one name he takes +another. If the cart creaks at the sacrifice it is the voice of evil +spirits; and a formula must avert the omen. _Soma_-husks are liable to +turn into snakes; a formula must avert this catastrophe. Everything +done at the sacrifice is godly; _ergo_, everything human is to be done +in an inhuman manner, and, since in human practice one cuts his left +finger-nails first and combs the left side of the beard first, at the +sacrifice he must cut nails and beard first on the other side, for +"whatever is human at a sacrifice is useless" (_vy[r.]ddhain v[=a]i +tad yajñasya yad m[=a]nu[s.]am_). Of religious puns we have given +instances already. Agni says: "prop me on the propper for that is +proper" (_hita_), etc, etc.[50] One of these examples of depraved +superstition is of a more dangerous nature. The effect of the +sacrifice is covert as well as overt. + +The word is as potent as the act. Consequently if the sacrificer +during the sacrifice merely mutter the words "let such an one die," he +must die; for the sacrifice is holy, godly; the words are divine, and +cannot be frustrated (_Çat. Br_. iii. 1. 4. 1; iv. 1. 1. 26). + +All this superstition would be pardonable if it were primitive. But +that it comes long after the Vedic poets have sung reveals a +continuance of stupidity which is marvellous. Doubtless those same +poets were just as superstitious, but one would think that with all +the great literature behind them, and the thoughts of the philosophers +just rising among them, these later priests might show a higher level +of intelligence. But in this regard they are to India what were the +monks of mediaeval times to Europe. + +We turn now to the ethical side of religion. But, before leaving the +sacrifice, one point should be explained clearly. The Hindu sacrifice +can be performed only by the priest, and he must be of the highest +caste. No other might or could perform it. For he alone understood the +ancient texts, which to the laity were already only half intelligible. +Again, as Barth has pointed out, the Hindu sacrifice is performed only +for one individual or his family. It was an expensive rite (for the +gaining of one object), addressed to many gods for the benefit of one +man. To offset this, however, one must remember that there were +popular fêtes and sacrifices of a more general nature, to which many +were invited and in which even the lower castes took part; and these +were also of remote antiquity. + +Already current in the Br[=a]hmanas is the phrase 'man's debts.' +Either three or four of such moral obligations were recognized, debts +to the gods, to the seers, to the Manes, and to men. Whoever pays +these debts, it is said, has discharged all his duties, and by him all +is obtained, all is won. And what are these duties? To the gods he +owes sacrifices; to the seers, study of the Vedas; to the Manes, +offspring; to man, hospitality (_Çat. Br_. i. 7. 2. 1 ff.; in +_T[=a]itt. Br_. vi. 3. 10. 5, the last fails). Translated into modern +equivalents this means that man must have faith and good works. But +more really is demanded than is stated here. First and foremost is the +duty of truthfulness. Agni is the lord of vows among the gods (RV. +viii. 11. 1; _Çat. Br_. iii. 2. 2. 24), and speech is a divinity +(Sarasvat[=i] is personified speech, _Çat. Br_. iii. 1. 4. 9, etc). +Truth is a religious as well as moral duty. "This (All) is two-fold, +there is no third; all is either truth or untruth; now truth alone is +the gods (_satyam eva dev[=a]s_) and untruth is man."[51] Moreover, +"one law the gods observe, truth" (_Çat. Br_. i. 1.1. 4; iii. 3. 2. 2; +4. 2. 8). There is another passage upon this subject: "To serve the +sacred fire means truth; he who speaks truth feeds the fire; he who +speaks lies pours water on it; in the one case he strengthens his +vital (spiritual) energy, and becomes better; in the other he weakens +it and becomes worse" (_ib_. ii. 2. 2. 19). The second sin, expressly +named and reprobated as such, is adultery. This is a sin against +Varuna.[52] In connection with this there is an interesting passage +implying a priestly confessional. At the sacrifice the sacrificer's +wife is formally asked by the priest whether she is faithful to her +husband. She is asked this that she may not sacrifice with guilt on +her soul, for "when confessed the guilt becomes less."[53] If it is +asked what other moral virtues are especially inculcated besides truth +and purity the answer is that the acts commonly cited as +self-evidently sins are murder, theft, and abortion; incidentally, +gluttony, anger, and procrastination.[54] + +As to the moral virtue of observing days, certain times are allowed +and certain times are not allowed for worldly acts. But every day is +in part a holy-day to the Hindu. The list of virtues is about the +same, therefore, as that of the decalogue--the worship of the right +divinity; the observance of certain seasons for prayer and sacrifice; +honor to the parents; abstinence from theft, murder, adultery. Envy +alone is omitted.[55] + +What eschatological conceptions are strewn through the literature of +this era are vague and often contradictory. The souls of the departed +are at one time spoken of as the stars (_T[=a]itt. S_. v. 4. 1. 3.); at +another, as uniting with gods and living in the world of the gods +_(Çal. Br._. ii. 6. 4. 8). + +The principle of _karma_ if not the theory, is already known, but the +very thing that the completed philosopher abhors is looked upon as a +blessing, viz., rebirth, body and all, even on earth.[56] Thus in one +passage, as a reward for knowing some divine mystery (as often +happens, this mystery is of little importance, only that 'spring is +born again out of winter'), the savant is to be 'born again in this +world' _(punar ha v[=a] 'asmin loke bhavati, Çat. Br._ i. 5. 3. 14). +The esoteric wisdom is here the transfer of the doctrine of +metempsychosis to spring. Man has no hope of immortal life (on +earth);[57] but, by establishing the holy fires, and especially by +establishing in his inmost soul the immortal element of fire, he lives +the full desirable length of life (_ib_. ii. 2. 2. 14. To the later +sage, length of life is undesirable). But in yonder world, where the +sun itself is death, the soul dies again and again. All those on the +other side of the sun, the gods, are immortal; but all those on this +side are exposed to this death. When the sun wishes, he draws out the +vitality of any one, and then that one dies; not once, but, being +drawn up by the sun, which is death, into the very realm of death (how +different to the conception of the sun in the Rig Veda!) he dies over +and over again.[58] But in another passage it is said that when the +sacrificer is consecrated he 'becomes one of the deities'; and one +even finds the doctrine that one obtains 'union with Brahm[=a],' which +is quite in the strain of the Upanishads; but here such a saying can +refer only to the upper castes, for "the gods talk only to the upper +castes" (_Çal. Br._. xi. 4. 4. 1; iii. 1. 1. 8-10). The dead man is +elsewhere represented as going to heaven 'with his whole body,' and, +according to one passage, when he gets to the next world his good and +evil are weighed in a balance. There are, then, quite diverse views in +regard to the fate of a man after death, and not less various are the +opinions in regard to his reward and punishment. According to the +common belief the dead, on leaving this world, pass between two fires, +_agniçikhe_ raging on either side of his path. These fires burn the +one that ought to be burned (the wicked), and let the good pass by. +Then the spirit (or the man himself in body) is represented as going +up on one of two paths. Either he goes to the Manes on a path which, +according to later teaching, passes southeast through the moon, or he +goes northeast (the gods' direction) to the sun, which is his 'course +and stay.' In the same chapter one is informed that the rays of the +sun are the good (dead), and that every brightest light is the +Father-god. The general conception here is that the sun or the stars +are the destination of the pious. On the other hand it is said that +one will enjoy the fruit of his acts here on earth, in a new birth; or +that he will 'go to the next world'; or that he will suffer for his +sins in hell. The last is told in legendary form, and appears to us to +be not an early view retained in folk-lore, but a late modification of +an old legend. Varuna sends his son Bhrigu to hell to find out what +happens after death, and he finds people suffering torture, and, +again, avenging themselves on those that have wronged them. But, +despite the resemblance between this and Grecian myth, the fact that +in the whole compass of the Rik (in the Atharvan perhaps in v. 19) +there is not the slightest allusion to torture in hell, precludes, to +our mind, the possibility of this phase having been an ancient +inherited belief.[59] + +Annihilation or a life in under darkness is the first (Rik) hell. The +general antithesis of light (as good) and darkness (as bad) is here +plainly revealed again. Sometimes a little variation occurs. Thus, +according to _Çat. Br._ vi. 5. 4. 8, the stars are women-souls, +perhaps, as elsewhere, men also. The converse notion that darkness is +the abode of evil appears at a very early date: "Indra brought down +the heathen, _dasyus_, into the lowest darkness," it is said in the +Atharva Veda (ix. 2. 17).[60] + +In the later part of the great 'Br[=a]hmana of the hundred paths' +there seems to be a more modern view inculcated in regard to the fate +of the dead. Thus, in vi. 1. 2. 36, the opinion of 'some,' that the +fire on the altar is to bear the worshipper to the sky, is objected +to, and it is explained that he becomes immortal; which antithesis is +in purely Upanishadic style, as will be seen below. + + +BRAHMANIC THEORIES OF CREATION. + +In Vedic polytheism, with its strain of pantheism, the act of creating +the world[61] is variously attributed to different gods. At the end of +this period theosophy invented the god of the golden germ, the great +Person (known also by other titles), who is the one (pantheistic) god, +in whom all things are contained, and who himself is contain in even +the smallest thing. The Atharvan transfers the same idea in its +delineation of the pantheistic image to Varuna, that Varuna who is the +seas and yet is contained "in the drop of water" (iv. 16), a Varuna as +different to the Varuna of the Rik as is the Atharvan Indra to his +older prototype. Philosophically the Rik, at its close, declares that +"desire is the seed of mind," and that "being arises from not-being." + +In the Br[=a]hmanas the creator is the All-god in more anthropomorphic +form. The Father-god, Praj[=a]pati, or Brahm[=a] (personal equivalent +of _brahma_) is not only the father of gods, men, and devils, but he +is the All. This Father-god of universal sovereignty, Brahm[=a], +remains to the end the personal creator. It is he who will serve as +creator for the Puranic S[=a]nkhya philosophy, and even after the rise +of the Hindu sects he will still be regarded in this light, although +his activity will be conditioned by the will of Vishnu or Çiva. In +pure philosophy there will be an abstract First Cause; but as there is +no religion in the acknowledgment of a First Cause, this too will soon +be anthropomorphized. + +The Br[=a]hmanas themselves present no clear picture of creation. All +the accounts of a personal creator are based merely on +anthropomorphized versions of the text 'desire is the seed.' +Praj[=a]pati wishes offspring, and creates. There is, on the other +hand, a philosophy of creation which reverts to the tale of the +'golden germ.'[62] The world was at first water; thereon floated a +cosmic golden egg (the principle of fire). Out of this came Spirit +that desired; and by desire he begat the worlds and all things. It is +improbable that in this somewhat Orphic mystery there lies any +pre-Vedic myth. The notion comes up first in the golden germ and +egg-born bird (sun) of the Rik. It is not specially Aryan, and is +found even among the American Indians.[63] It is this Spirit with +which the Father-god is identified. But guess-work philosophy then +asks what upheld this god, and answers that a support upheld all +things. So Support becomes a god in his turn, and, since he must reach +through time and space, this Support, Skambha, becomes the All-god +also; and to him as to a great divinity the Atharvan sings some of its +wildest strains. When once speculation is set going in the +Br[=a]hmanas, the result of its travel is to land its followers in +intellectual chaos.[64] The gods create the Father-god in one passage, +and in another the Father-god creates the gods. The Father creates the +waters, whence rises the golden egg. But, again, the waters create the +egg, and out of the egg is born the Father. A farrago of +contradictions is all that these tales amount to, nor are they +redeemed even by a poetical garb.[65] + +In the period immediately following the Br[=a]hmanas, or toward the +end of the Brahmanic period, as one will, there is a famous +distinction made between the gods. Some gods, it is said, are +spirit-gods; some are work-gods. They are born of spirit and of works, +respectively. The difference, however, is not essential, but +functional; so that one may conclude from this authority, the Nirukta +(a grammatical and epexigetical work), that all the gods have a like +nature; and that the spirit-gods, who are the older, differ only in +lack of specific functions from the work-gods. A not uninteresting +debate follows this passage in regard to the true nature of the gods. +Some people say they are anthropomorphic; others deny this. "And +certainly what is seen of the gods is not anthropomorphic; for +example, the sun, the earth, etc."[66] In such a period of theological +advance it is matter of indifference to which of a group of gods, all +essentially one, is laid the task of creation. And, indeed, from the +Vedic period until the completed systems of philosophy, all creation +to the philosopher is but emanation; and stories of specific acts of +creation are not regarded by him as detracting from the creative +faculty of the First Cause. The actual creator is for him the factor +and agent of the real god. On the other hand, the vulgar worshipper of +every era believed only in reproduction on the part of an +anthropomorphic god; and that god's own origin he satisfactorily +explained by the myth of the golden egg. The view depended in each +case not on the age but on the man. + +If in these many pages devoted to the Br[=a]hmanas we have produced +the impression that the religious literature of this period is a +confused jumble, where unite descriptions of ceremonies, formulae, +mysticism, superstitions, and all the output of active bigotry; an +_olla podrida_ which contains, indeed, odds and ends of sound +morality, while it presents, on the whole, a sad view of the +latter-day saints, who devoted their lives to making it what it is; we +have offered a fairly correct view of the age and its priests, and the +rather dreary series of illustrations will not have been collected in +vain. We have given, however, no notion at all of the chief object of +this class of writings, the liturgical details of the sacrifices +themselves. Even a résumé of one comparatively short ceremony would be +so long and tedious that the explication of the intricate formalities +would scarcely be a sufficient reward. With Hillebrandt's patient +analysis of the New-and Full-Moon sacrifice,[67] of which a sketch is +given by von Schroeder in his _Literatur und Cultur_, the curious +reader will be able to satisfy himself that a minute description of +these ceremonies would do little to further his knowledge of the +religion, when once he grasps the fact that the sacrifice is but show. +Symbolism without folk-lore, only with the imbecile imaginings of a +daft mysticism, is the soul of it; and its outer form is a certain +number of formulae, mechanical movements, oblations, and +slaughterings. + +But we ought not to close the account of the era without giving +counter-illustrations of the legendary aspect of this religion; for +which purpose we select two of the best-known tales, one from the end +of the Br[=a]hmana that is called the [=A]itareya; the other from the +beginning of the Çatapatha; the former in abstract, the latter in +full. + + +THE SACRIFICE OF DOGSTAIL (_[=A]it. Br._ vii. 13). + +Hariçcandra, a king born in the great race of Ikshv[=a]ku, had no son. +A sage told him what blessings are his who has a son: 'He that has no +son has no place in the world; in the person of a son a man is reborn, +a second self is begotten.' Then the king desired a son, and the sage +instructed him to pray to Varuna for one, and to offer to sacrifice +him to the god. This he did, and a son, Rohita, at last was born to +him. God Varuna demanded the sacrifice. But the king said: 'He is not +fit to be sacrificed, so young as he is; wait till he is ten days +old.' The god waited ten days, and demanded the sacrifice. But the +king said: 'Wait till his teeth come.' The god waited, and then +demanded the sacrifice. But the king said: 'Wait till his teeth fall +out'; and when the god had waited, and again demanded the sacrifice, +the father said: 'Wait till his new teeth come.' But, when his teeth +were come and he was demanded, the father said: 'A warrior is not fit +to be sacrificed till he has received his armor' (_i.e._, until he is +knighted). So the god waited till the boy had received his armor, and +then he demanded the sacrifice. Thereupon, the king called his son, +and said unto him: 'I will sacrifice thee to the god who gave thee to +me.' But the son said, 'No, no,' and took his bow and fled into the +desert. Then Varuna caused the king to be afflicted with dropsy.[68] +When Rohita heard of this he was about to return, but Indra, disguised +as a priest, met him, and said: 'Wander on, for the foot of a wanderer +is like a flower; his spirit grows, and reaps fruit, and all his sins +are forgiven in the fatigue of wandering.'[69] So Rohita, thinking +that a priest had commanded him, wandered; and every year, as he would +return, Indra met him, and told him still to wander. On one of these +occasions Indra inspires him to continue on his journey by telling him +that the _krita_ was now auspicious; using the names of dice +afterwards applied to the four ages.[70] Finally, after six years, +Rohita resolved to purchase a substitute for sacrifice. He meets a +starving seer, and offers to buy one of his sons (to serve as +sacrifice), the price to be one hundred cows. The seer has three sons, +and agrees to the bargain; but "the father said, 'Do not take the +oldest,' and the mother said, 'Do not take the youngest,' so Rohita +took the middle son, Dogstail." Varuna immediately agrees to this +substitution of Dogstail for Rohita, "since a priest is of more value +than a warrior." + +The sacrifice is made ready, and Viçv[=a]mitra (the Vedic seer) is the +officiating priest. But no one would bind the boy to the post. 'If +thou wilt give me another hundred cows I will bind him,' says the +father of Dogstail. But then no one would kill the boy. 'If thou wilt +give me another hundred cows I will kill him,' says the father. The +[=A]pri verses[71] are said, and the fire is carried around the boy. +He is about to be slain. Then Dogstail prays to 'the first of gods,' +the Father-god, for protection. But the Father-god tells him to pray +to Agni, 'the nearest of the gods.' Agni sends him to another, and he +to another, till at last, when the boy has prayed to all the gods, +including the All-gods, his fetters drop off; Hariçcandra's dropsy +ceases, and all ends well.[72] Only, when the avaricious father +demands his son back, he is refused, and Viçv[=a]mitra adopts the boy, +even dispossessing his own protesting sons. For fifty of the latter +agree to the exaltation of Dogstail; but fifty revolt, and are cursed +by Viçv[=a]mitra, that their sons' sons should become barbarians, the +Andhras, Pundras, Çabaras, Pulindas, and M[=u]tibas, savage races (of +this time), one of which can be located on the southeast coast. The +conclusion, and the matter that follows close on this tale, is +significant of the time, and of the priest's authority. For it is said +that 'if a king hears this story he is made free of sin,' but he can +hear it only from a priest, who is to be rewarded for telling it by a +gift of one thousand cows, and other rich goods. + +The matter following, to which we have alluded, is the use of +sacrificial formulae to defeat the king's foes, the description of a +royal inauguration, and, at this ceremony, the oath which the king has +to swear ere the priest will anoint him (he is anointed with milk, +honey, butter, and water, 'for water is immortality'): "I swear that +thou mayst take from me whatever good works I do to the day of my +death, together with my life and children, if ever I should do thee +harm."[73] + +When the priest is secretly told how he may ruin the king by a false +invocation at the sacrifice, and the king is made to swear that if +ever he hurts the priest the latter may rob him of earthly and +heavenly felicity, the respective positions of the two, and the +contrast between this era and that of the early hymns, become +strikingly evident. It is not from such an age as this that one can +explain the spirit of the Rig Veda. + +The next selection is the famous story of the flood, which we +translate literally in its older form.[74] The object of the legend in +the Br[=a]hmana is to explain the importance of the Id[=a] (or Il[=a]) +ceremony, which is identified with Id[=a], Manu's daughter. + +"In the morning they brought water to Manu to wash with, even as they +bring it to-day to wash hands with. While he was washing a fish came +into his hands. The fish said, 'Keep me, and I will save thee.' 'What +wilt thou save me from?' 'A flood will sweep away all creatures on +earth. I will save thee from that.' 'How am I to keep thee?' 'As long +as we are small,' said he (the fish), 'we are subject to much +destruction; fish eats fish. Thou shalt keep me first in a jar. When I +outgrow that, thou shalt dig a hole, and keep me in it. When I outgrow +that, thou shalt take me down to the sea, for there I shall be beyond +destruction.' + +"It soon became a (great horned fish called a) _jhasha_, for this +grows the largest, and then it said: 'The flood will come this summer +(or in such a year). Look out for (or worship) me, and build a ship. +When the flood rises, enter into the ship, and I will save thee.' +After he had kept it he took it down to the sea. And the same summer +(year) as the fish had told him he looked out for (or worshipped) the +fish; and built a ship. And when the flood rose he entered into the +ship. Then up swam the fish, and Manu tied the ship's rope to the horn +of the fish; and thus he sailed swiftly up toward the mountain of the +north. 'I have saved thee' said he (the fish). 'Fasten the ship to a +tree. But let not the water leave thee stranded while thou art on the +mountain (top). Descend slowly as the water goes down.' So he +descended slowly, and that descent of the mountain of the north is +called the 'Descent of Manu.' The flood then swept off all the +creatures of the earth, and Manu here remained alone. Desirous of +posterity, he worshipped and performed austerities. While he was +performing a sacrifice, he offered up in the waters clarified butter, +sour milk, whey and curds. Out of these in a year was produced a +woman. She arose when she was solid, and clarified butter collected +where she trod. Mitra and Varuna met her, and said: 'Who art thou?' +'Manu's daughter,' said she. 'Say ours,' said they. 'No,' said she; 'I +am my father's.' They wanted part in her. She agreed to this, and she +did not agree; but she went by them and came to Manu. Said Manu: 'Who +art thou?' 'Thy daughter,' said she. 'How my daughter, glorious +woman?' She said: 'Thou hast begotten me of the offering, which thou +madest in the water, clarified butter, sour milk, whey, and curds. I +am a blessing; use me at the sacrifice. If thou usest me at the +sacrifice, thou shalt become rich in children and cattle. Whatever +blessing thou invokest through me, all shall be granted to thee.' So +he used her as the blessing in the middle of the sacrifice. For what +is between the introductory and final offerings is the middle of the +sacrifice. With her he went on worshipping and performing austerities, +wishing for offspring. Through her he begot the race of men on earth, +the race of Manu; and whatever the blessing he invoked through her, +all was granted unto him. + +"Now she is the same with the Id[=a] ceremony; and whoever, knowing +this, performs sacrifice with the Id[=a], he begets the race that Manu +generated; and whatever blessing he invokes through her, all is +granted unto him." + +There is one of the earliest _avatar_ stories in this tale. Later +writers, of course, identify the fish with Brahm[=a] and with Vishnu. +In other early Br[=a]hmanas the _avatars_ of a god as a tortoise and a +boar were known long before they were appropriated by the Vishnuites. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: In _[=A]it. Br_. I. 22, there is an unexplained + antithesis of Rik, Yajus, S[=a]man, Veda, and Brahma; where + the commentator takes Veda to be Atharva Veda. The priests, + belonging respectively to the first three Vedas, are for the + Rig Veda, the Hotar priest, who recites; for the S[=a]man, + the Udg[=a]tar, 'the singer'; for the Y[=a]jus, the + Adhvaryu, who attends to the erection of the altar, etc. + Compare Müller, ASL. p. 468.] + + [Footnote 2: It is the only literature of its time except + (an important exception) those fore-runners of later + S[=u]tra and epic which one may suppose to be in process of + formation long before they come to the front.] + + [Footnote 3: There are several schools of this Veda, of + which the chief are the V[=a]jasaneyi, or 'White Yajus,' + collection; the T[=a]ittir[=i]ya collection; and the + M[=a]itr[=a]yan[=i] collection; the first named being the + latest though the most popular, the last two being the + foremost representatives of the 'Black Yajus.'] + + [Footnote 4: The different traits here recorded are given + with many illustrative examples by Schroeder, in his + _Literatur und Cultur_, p. 90 ff.] + + [Footnote 5: Compare Weber, _Ind. Streifen_, II. 197.] + + [Footnote 6: Weber, _Lit_. p. 73.] + + [Footnote 7: The _Çata-patha Br[=a]hmana_ (or "Br[=a]mana of + the hundred paths") II. 2. 2. 6; 4.3.14.] + + [Footnote 8: The chief family priest, it is said in the + _Çat. Br_. II. 4. 4. 5, is a man of great influence. + Sometimes one priest becomes religious head of two clans (an + extraordinary event, however; only one name is reported) and + then how exalted is his position. Probably, as in the later + age of the drama, the chief priest often at the same time + practically prime minister. It is said in another part of + the same book that although the whole earth is divine, yet + it is the priest that makes holy the place of sacrifice + (III. 1. 1. 4). In this period murder is defined as killing + a priest; other cases are not called murder. Weber, _IS_. X. + 66.] + + [Footnote 9: Barth, _loc. cit._ p. 42.] + + [Footnote 10: He has analogy with Agni in being made of + 'seven persons (males),' _Çat. Br._ X. 2. 2. 1.] + + [Footnote 11: Compare M[=a]it. S. IV. 2. 12, 'sons of + Praj[=a]pati, Agni, V[=a]yu, S[=u]rya.'] + + [Footnote 12: _Çat. Br._ I. 3. 4. 12; IV. 3. 5. 1.] + + [Footnote 13: Interesting is the fact that only priests may + eat sacrificial food and drink _soma_ at this period. When + even the king should drink _soma_, he is made to drink some + transubstantiated liquor which, the priests inform him, has + been 'made into _soma_' for him by magic, for the latter is + too holy for any warrior really to drink (VII. 19; VIII. + 20). But in the more popular feasts there are indications + that this rule is often broken. Compare Weber, + _R[=a]jas[=u]ya_ p. 98.] + + [Footnote 14: For the relations of the different castes at + this period, see Weber, in the tenth volume of the _Indische + Studien_.] + + [Footnote 15: The Atharvan is not yet recognized as a Veda.] + + [Footnote 16: And even the pronunciation of a word or the + accent is fateful. The famous godly example of this is where + Tvashtar, the artificer, in anger mispronounced + _indra-çátru_ as _indraçatru,_ whereby the meaning was + changed from 'conqueror of Indra' to 'Indra-conquered,' with + unexpected result (_Çat. Br._ I. 6. 3. 8; _T[=a]itt. S._ II. + 4. 12. 1).] + + [Footnote 17: The word is _a[.m]sala_, strong, or 'from the + shoulder' (?). In III. 4. 1. 2 one cooks an ox or a goat for + a very distinguished guest, as a sort of guest-sacrifice. So + the guest is called 'cow-killer' (Weber, _Ved. Beiträge_, p. + 36).] + + [Footnote 18: Compare _ib_. I. 9. 1. 21, "let the priest not + say 'guard me (or us),' but 'guard this worshipper + (sacrificer),' for if he says 'me' he induces no blessing at + all; the blessing is not for the priest, but for the + sacrificer." In both passages, most emphatically, + _yajam[=a]nasy[=a]iva_, 'for the sacrificer alone.'] + + [Footnote 19: _Ya[.m] k[=a]ma[.m] k[=a]mayate so 'sm[=a]i + k[=a]ma[h.] sam[r.]dhyate_.] + + [Footnote 20: [=A]suri's name as a theologian is important, + since the S[=a]nkhya philosophy is intimately connected with + him; if this [=A]suri be not another man with the same name + (compare Weber, _Lit_. p. 152).] + + [Footnote 21: The regular sacrifices to the Manes are daily + and monthly; funerals and 'faith-feasts,' _çr[=a]ddha_, are + occasional additions.] + + [Footnote 22: Each generation of Manes rises to a better + (higher) state if the offerings continue. As a matter of + ceremonial this means that the remoter generations of + fathers are put indefinitely far off, while the immediate + predecessors of a man are the real beneficiaries; they climb + up to the sky on the offering.] + + [Footnote 23: Compare _Çat. Br_. i. 8. 1. 40; ii. 6. 1. 3, + 7, 10, 42; ii. 4. 2. 24; v. 5. 4. 28.] + + [Footnote 24: This passage (_ib_. ii. 1. 2. 7) is preceded + by a typical argument for setting up the fires under the + Pleiades, the wives of the Great Bear stars. He may do or he + may not do so--the reasons contradict each other, and all of + them are incredibly silly.] + + [Footnote 25: This last fee is not so common. For an + oblation to S[=u]rya the fee is a white horse or a white + bull; either of them representing the proper form of the sun + (_Çat. Br_. ii. 6. 3. 9); but another authority specifies + twelve oxen and a plough (T[=a]itt. S. i. 8. 7).] + + [Footnote 26: _Çat. Br_. ii. 1. 1. 3; 2. 3. 28; iv. 3. 4. + 14; 5. 1. 15; four kinds of fees, _ib_. iv. 3. 4. 6, 7, 24 + ff. (Milk is also 'Agni's seed,' _ib_. ii. 2. 4. 15).] + + [Footnote 27: Yet in _[=A]it. Br_. iii. 19, the priest is + coolly informed how he may be able to slay his patron by + making a little change in the invocations. Elsewhere such + conduct is reprobated.] + + [Footnote 28: For other covenants, see the epic (chapter on + Hinduism).] + + [Footnote 29: _Çat. Br_. iii. 4. 2. 1 ff.; iii. 6. 2. 25; + iv. 3. 3. 3; iv. 4.1.17; 6. 6. 3; 7. 6, etc.; iii. 8. 2. 27; + 3. 26; _[=A]it. Br._. i. 24.] + + [Footnote 30: _ib_. ii. 6. 2. 5. Here Rudra (compare Çiva + and Hekate of the cross-roads) is said to go upon + 'cross-roads'; so that his sacrifice is on cross-roads--one + of the new teachings since the time of the Rig Veda. Rudra's + sister, Ambik[=a], _ib_. 9, is another new creation, the + genius of autumnal sickness.] + + [Footnote 31: _Çat. Br_. ii. 2. 1. 21. How much non-serious + fancy there may be here it is difficult to determine. It + seems impossible that such as follows can have been meant in + earnest: "The sacrifice, _pray[=a]ja,_ is victory, _jaya_, + because _yaja_ = _jaya_. With this knowledge one gets the + victory over his rivals" (_ib_. i. 5. 3. 3, 10).] + + [Footnote 32: Although Bhaga is here (_Çat. Br_. i. 7. 4. 6-7, + _endho bhagas_) interpreted as the Sun, he is evidently the same + with Good Luck [Greek: typhlhos ghar ho Êlohhytos] or wealth.] + + [Footnote 33: _Çat. Br_. iii. 1. 2. 13 ff.; l. 1. 2. 18; + iii. 6. 1. 8 ff.; ii. 5. 2. 1; iv. 2. 1. 11; iii. 4.4. 3 + ff.; 2. 3. 6-12, 13-14; iv. 5. 5. 12; 1.3. 13 ff.; iii. 2. + 4. 5-6; 3. 2. 8; 7. 1. 17; iv. 2. 5. 17; 4. 1. 15; i. 7. 4. + 6-7; ii. 4. 3. 4 ff.; li. 5.2.34; 5. 1. 12; 5. 1. 1 ff.; RV. + viii. 104. 14. The reader must distinguish, in the name of + Brahm[=a], the god from the priest, and this from + _brahm[=a]_, prayer. The first step is _brahma_--force, + power, prayer; then this is, as a masculine Brahm[=a], the + one who prays, that is, prayer, the Brahman priest, as, in + the Rig Veda, x. 141. 3. Brihaspati is the 'Brahm[=a] of + gods.' The next (Brahmanic) step is deified _brahma_, the + personal Brahm[=a] as god, called also Father-god + (Praj[=a]pati) or simply The Father (_pit[=a]_).] + + [Footnote 33: _Çat. Br_. iii. 1. 2. 13 ff.; l. 1. 2. 18; + iii. 6. 1. 8 ff.; ii. 5. 2. 1; iv. 2. 1. 11; iii. 4.4. 3 + ff.; 2. 3. 6-12, 13-14; iv. 5. 5. 12; 1.3. 13 ff.; iii. 2. + 4. 5-6; 3. 2. 8; 7. 1. 17; iv. 2. 5. 17; 4. 1. 15; i. 7. 4. + 6-7; ii. 4. 3. 4 ff.; li. 5.2.34; 5. 1. 12; 5. 1. 1 ff.; RV. + viii. 104. 14. The reader must distinguish, in the name of + Brahm[=a], the god from the priest, and this from + _brahm[=a]_, prayer. The first step is _brahma_--force, + power, prayer; then this is, as a masculine Brahm[=a], the + one who prays, that is, prayer, the Brahman priest, as, in + the Rig Veda, x. 141. 3. Brihaspati is the 'Brahm[=a] of + gods.' The next (Brahmanic) step is deified _brahma_, the + personal Brahm[=a] as god, called also Father-god + (Praj[=a]pati) or simply The Father (_pit[=a]_).] + + [Footnote 34: Compare _M[=a]it. S_ iii. 10. 2; _[=A]it. + Br_. ii. 8; _Çat. Br_. i. 2. 3. 5; vi. 2. 1. 39; 3. 1. 24; + ii. 5. 2. 16, a ram and ewe 'made of barley.' On human + sacrifices, compare Müller, ASL. p. 419; Weber. ZDMG. xviii. + 262 (see the Bibliography); _Streifen_, i.54.] + + [Footnote 35: Weber has translated some of these legends. + _Ind. Streifen_, i. 9 ff.] + + [Footnote 36: _T[=a]itt. Br_. iii. 2. 9. 7; _Çat. Br_. i. 2. + 5. 5; ii. 1. 2. 13 ff.; vii. 5. 1. 6.] + + [Footnote 37: Compare _M[=a]it. S_. i. 9. 8; _Çat. Br_. i. + 6. 1. 1 ff. The seasons desert the gods, and the demons + thrive. In _Çat. Br._ i. 5. 4. 6-11, the Asuras and Indra + contend with numbers.] + + [Footnote 38: Müller, ASL. p. 529.] + + [Footnote 39: _M[=a]it. S_. iv. 2. 12; _Çat. Br_. i. 7. 4. + 1; ii. 1. 2. 9; vi. 1. 3. 8; _[=A]it. Br_. iii. 33. Compare + Muir, OST. iv. p. 45. At a later period there are frequently + found indecent tales of the gods, and the Br[=a]hmanas + themselves are vulgar enough, but they exhibit no special + lubricity on the part of the priests.] + + [Footnote 40: _Idam aham ya èv[=a] smi so asmi, Çat. Br_. i. + 1. 1. 6; 9. 3. 23.] + + [Footnote 41: RV. viii. 51. 2; Zimmer, _loc. cit_. p. 328.] + + [Footnote 42: Compare Weber, _Episch. in Vedisch. Ritual_, + p. 777 (and above). The man who is slaughtered must be + neither a priest nor a slave, but a warrior or a man of the + third caste (Weber, _loc. cit_. above).] + + [Footnote 43: _Le Mercier_, 1637, ap. Parkman, _loc. cit_. + p. 80. The current notion that the American Indian burns his + victims at the stake merely for pleasure is not incorrect. + He frequently did so, as he does so to-day, but in the + seventeenth century this act often is part of a religious + ceremony. He probably would have burned his captive, anyway, + but he gladly utilized his pleasure as a means of + propitiating his gods. In India it was just the other way.] + + [Footnote 44: Substitutes of metal or of earthen victims are + also mentioned.] + + [Footnote 45: That the Vedic rite of killing the sacrificial + beast (by beating and smothering) was very cruel may be seen + in the description, _[=A]it. Br_. ii. 6.] + + [Footnote 46: _Çat. Br._ i. 5. 2. 4.] + + [Footnote 47: _Sams[=a]ra_ is transmigration; _karma_, + 'act,' implies that the change of abode is conditioned by + the acts of a former life. Each may exclude the other; but + in common parlance each implies the other.] + + [Footnote 48: Weber, _Indischt Streifen_, i. p. 72.] + + [Footnote 49: _Çat. Br_. i. 7. 3. 19: iii. 4. 1. 17.] + + [Footnote 50: _Çaf. Br_. iii. 5. 4. 10; 6. 2. 24; 5. 3. 17 + (compare 6. 4. 23-24; 3. 4. 11; 2. 1. 12); iii. 1. 2. 4; 3. + 14; i. 7. 2. 9; vi. 1. 2. 14. The change of name is + interesting. There is a remark in another part of the same + work to the effect that when a man prospers in life they + give his name also to his son, grandson, _and to his father + and grandfather_ (vi. 1. 2. 13). On the other hand, it was + the custom of the Indian kings in later ages to assume the + names of their prosperous grandfathers (JRAS. iv. 85).] + + [Footnote 51: Were it not for the first clause it would be + more natural to render the original 'The gods are truth + alone, and men are untruth.'] + + [Footnote 52: In _Çat. Br_. ii. 4. 2. 5-6 it is said that + the Father-god gives certain rules of eating to gods, Manes, + men, and beasts: "Neither gods, Manes, nor beasts transgress + the Father's law, only some men do."] + + [Footnote 53: _Çat. Br_. ii. 5. 2. 20. Varuna seizes on her + paramour, when she confesses. _T[.a]itt. Br_. i. 6. 5. 2. + The guilt confessed becomes less "because it thereby becomes + truth" (right).] + + [Footnote 54: See _Çat. Br._. ii. 4. 2. 6; 4. 1. 14; 1. 3. + 9; 3. 1. 28: "Who knows man's morrow? Then let one not + procrastinate." "Today is self, this alone is certain, + uncertain is the morrow."] + + [Footnote 55: Some little rules are interesting. The + Pythagorean abstinence from _m[=a][s.][=a]s_, beans, for + instance, is enjoined; though this rule is opposed by Barku + V[=a]rshna, _Çat. Br_. i. 1. 1. 10, on the ground that no + offering to the gods is made of beans; "hence he said 'cook + beans for me.'"] + + [Footnote 56: Animals may represent gods. "The bull is a + form of Indra," and so if the bull can be made to roar + (_Çat. Br._ ii. 5. 3. 18), then one may know that Indra is + come to the sacrifice. "Man is born into (whatever) world is + made (by his acts in a previous existence)," is a short + formula (_Çat. Br._. vi. 2. 2. 27), which represents the + _karma_ doctrine in its essential principle, though the + 'world' is here not this world, but the next. Compare Weber, + ZDMG. ix. 237 ff.; Muir, OST. v. 314 ff.] + + [Footnote 57: Though youth may be restored to him by the + Açvins, _Çat. Br._. iv. i. 5. 1 ff. Here the Horsemen are + identified with Heaven and Earth (16).] + + [Footnote 58: _Cal. Br_. ii. 3. 3. 7. Apropos of the + Brahmanic sun it may be mentioned that, according to _Ait. + Br._ iii. 44, the sun never really sets. "People think that + he sets, but in truth he only turns round after reaching the + end of the day, and makes night below, day above; and when + they think he rises in the morning, he having come to the + end of the night, turns round, and makes day below, night + above. He never really sets. Whoever knows this of him, that + he never sets, obtains union and likeness of form with the + sun, and the same abode as the sun's." Compare Muir, OST. v. + 521. This may be the real reason why the Rig Veda speaks of + a dark and light sun.] + + [Footnote 59: _Çat. Br._. i. 4. 3. 11-22 ('The sinner shall + suffer and go quickly to yonder world'); xi. 6. 1 (compare + Weber, _loc. cit._ p. 20 ff.; ZDMG. ix. 237), the Bhrigu + story, of which a more modern form is found in the Upanishad + period. For the course of the sun, the fires on either side + of the way, the departure to heaven 'with the whole body,' + compare _Çat. Br._ i. 9. 3. 2-15; iv. 5. 1. 1; vi. 6. 2. 4; + xi. 2. 7. 33; Weber, _loc. cit._: Muir, _loc. cit._ v. p. + 314. Not to have all one's bones in the next world is a + disgrace, as Muir says, and for that reason they are + collected at burial. Compare the custom as described by the + French missionaries here. The American Indian has to have + all his bones for future use, and the burying of the + skeleton is an annual religious ceremony.] + + [Footnote 60: Compare RV. iv. 28. 4: 'Thou Indra madest + lowest the heathen.' Weber has shown, _loc. cit._, that the + general notion of the Br[=a]hmanas is that all are born + again in the next world, where they are rewarded or punished + according as they are good or bad; whereas in the Rig Veda + the good rejoice in heaven, and the bad are annihilated. + This general view is to be modified, however, by such + side-theories as those just mentioned, that the good (or + wise) may be reborn on earth, or be united with gods, or + become sunlight or stars (the latter are 'watery' to the + Hindu, and this may explain the statement that the soul is + 'in the midst of waters').] + + [Footnote 61: There is in this age no notion of the repeated + creations found in later literature. On the contrary, it is + expressly said in the Rig Veda, vi. 48. 22, that heaven and + earth are created but once: "Only once was heaven created, + only once was earth created," Zimmer, AIL. 408.] + + [Footnote 62: When the principle of life is explained it is + in terms of sun or fire. Thus Praj[=a]pati, Lord of beings, + or Father-god, is first an epithet of Savitar, RV. iv. 53. + 2; and the golden germ must be fire.] + + [Footnote 63: Schoolcraft, _Historical and Statistical + Information_, i. 32. As examples of the many passages where + 'water is the beginning' may be cited _Çat. Br._ vi. 7. 1. + 17; xi. 1. 6. 1. The sun, born as Aditi's eighth son, is the + bird, 'egg-born,' RV. x. 72. 8.] + + [Footnote 64: Among the new curators of Atharvan origin are, + for instance, the sun under the name of Rohita, Desire + (Love), etc., etc.] + + [Footnote 65: Illustrations of these contradictions may be + found in plenty _apud_ Muir iv. p. 20 ff.] + + [Footnote 66: Nirukta, vii. 4; Muir, _loc. cit._ p. 131 and + v. 17.] + + [Footnote 67: _Neu-und Vollmonds Opfer_, 1880. The + _D[=i]ksh[=a]_, or initiation, has been described by + Lindner; the _R[=a]jas[=u]ya_ and _Vajapeya_, by Weber.] + + [Footnote 68: The water-sickness already imputed to this god + in the Rig Veda. This tale and that of Bhrigu (referred to + above) show an ancient trait in the position of Varuna, as + chief god.] + + [Footnote 69: This is the germ of the pilgrimage doctrine + (see below).] + + [Footnote 70: Perhaps (M. ix. 301) interpolated; or the + first allusion to the Four Ages.] + + [Footnote 71: These (compare _afri_, 'blessing,' in the + Avesta) are verses in the Rig Veda introducing the + sacrifice. They are meant as propitiations, and appear to be + an ancient part of the ritual.] + + [Footnote 72: A group of hymns in the first book of the Rig + Veda are attributed to Dogstail. At any rate, they do allude + to him, and so prove a moderate antiquity (probably the + middle period of the Rik) for the tale. The name, in + Sanskrit Çunasçepa, has been ingeniously starred by Weber as + Cynosoura; the last part of each compound having the same + meaning, and the first part being even phonetically the same + _çunas, [Greek: kunhos]_.] + + [Footnote 73: _Ait. Br._ viii. 10, 15, 20.] + + [Footnote 74: The epic has a later version. This earlier + form is found in _Çat. Br._ i. 8. 1. For the story of the + flood among the American Indians compare Schoolcraft + (_Historical and Statistical Information_), i. 17.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +BRAHMANIC PANTHEISM.--THE UPANISHADS. + + +In the Vedic hymns man fears the gods, and imagines God. In the +Br[=a]hmanas man subdues the gods, and fears God. In the Upanishads +man ignores the gods, and becomes God.[1] + +Such in a word is the theosophic relations between the three periods +represented by the first Vedic Collection, the ritualistic +Br[=a]hmanas, and the philosophical treatises called Upanishads. Yet +if one took these three strata of thought to be quite independent of +each other he would go amiss. Rather is it true that the Br[=a]hmanas +logically continue what the hymns begin; that the Upanishads logically +carry on the thought of the Br[=a]hmanas. And more, for in the oldest +Upanishads are traits that connect this class of writings (if they +were written) directly, and even closely with the Vedic hymns +themselves; so that one may safely assume that the time of the first +Upanishads is not much posterior to that of the latest additions made +to the Vedic collections, though this indicates only that these +additions were composed at a much later period than is generally +supposed.[2] In India no literary period subsides with the rise of its +eventually 'succeeding' period. All the works overlap. Parts of the +Br[=a]hmanas succeed, sometimes with the addition of whole books, +their proper literary successors, the Upanishads. Vedic hymns are +composed in the Brahmanic period.[3] The prose S[=u]tras, which, in +general, are earlier, sometimes post-date metrical Ç[=a]stra-rules. +Thus it is highly probable that, whereas the Upanishads began before +the time of Buddha, the Çatapatha Br[=a]hmana (if not others of this +class) continued to within two or three centuries of our era; that the +legal S[=u]tras were, therefore, contemporary with part of the +Br[=a]hmanic period;[4] and that, in short, the end of the Vedic +period is so knit with the beginning of the Br[=a]hmanic, while the +Br[=a]hmanic period is so knit with the rise of the Upanishads, +S[=u]tras, epics, and Buddhism, that one cannot say of any one: 'this +is later,' 'this is earlier'; but each must be taken only for a phase +of indefinitely dated thought, exhibited on certain lines. It must +also be remembered that by the same class of works a wide geographical +area may be represented; by the Br[=a]hmanas, west and east; by the +S[=u]tras, north and south; by the Vedic poems, northwest and east to +Benares (AV.); by the epics, all India, centred about the holy middle +land near Delhi. + +The meaning of Upanishad as used in the compositions themselves, is +either, as it is used to-day, the title of a philosophical work; that +of knowledge derived from esoteric teaching; or the esoteric teaching +itself. Thus _brahma upanishad_ is the secret doctrine of _brahma_, +and 'whoever follows this _upanishad_' means whoever follows this +doctrine. This seems, however, to be a meaning derived from the nature +of the Upanishads themselves, and we are almost inclined to think that +the true significance of the word was originally that in which alone +occurs, in the early period, the combination _upa-ni-[s.]ad_, and this +is purely external: "he makes the common people _upa-ni-s[=a]din," +i.e_., 'sitting below' or 'subject,' it is said in _Çat. Br_. ix. 4. +3. 3 (from the literal meaning of 'sitting below').[5] Instead, +therefore, of seeing in _upan[=i]sad_, Upanishad, the idea of a +session, of pupils sitting down to hear instruction (the prepositions +and verb are never used in this sense), it may be that the Upanishads +were at first _subsidiary_ works of the ritualistic Br[=a]hmanas +contained in the [=A]ranyakas or Forest Books, that is, appendices to +the Br[=a]hmana, ostensibly intended for the use of pious +forest-hermits (who had passed beyond the need of sacrifice); and +this, in point of fact, is just what they were; till their growth +resulted in their becoming an independent branch of literature. The +usual explanation of 'Upanishad,' however, is that it represents the +instruction given to the pupil 'sitting under' the teacher. + +Although at present between two and three hundred Upanishads are +known, at least by name, to exist, yet scarcely a dozen appear to be +of great antiquity. Some of these are integral parts of Br[=a]hmanas, +and apparently were added to the ritualistic works at an early +period.[6] + +While man's chief effort in the Brahmanic period seems to be by +sacrifice and penance to attain happiness hereafter, and to get the +upper hand of divine powers; while he recognizes a God, who, though +supreme, has yet, like the priest himself, attained his supremacy by +sacrifice and penance; while he dreams of a life hereafter in heavenly +worlds, in the realm of light, though hardly seeking to avoid a +continuation of earthly re-births; nevertheless he frees himself at +times from ritualistic observances sufficiently to continue the +questioning asked by his Vedic ancestors, and to wonder whither his +immortal part is definitively going, and whether that spirit of his +will live independently, or be united with some higher power, such as +the sun or Brahm[=a]. + +The philosophical writings called Upanishads[7] take up this question +in earnest, but the answer is already assured, and the philosophers, +or poets, of this period seek less to prove the truth than to expound +it. The soul of man will not only join a heavenly Power. It is part of +that Power. Man's spirit (self) is the world-spirit. And what is this? +While all the Upanishads are at one in answering the first question, +they are not at one in the method by which they arrive at the same +result. There is no systematic philosophy; but a tentative, and more +or less dogmatic, logic. In regard to the second question they are +still less at one; but in general their answer is that the +world-spirit is All, and everything is a part of It or Him. Yet, +whether that All is personal or impersonal, and what is the relation +between spirit and matter, this is still an unsettled point. + +The methods and results of this half-philosophical literature will +most easily be understood by a few examples. But, before these are +given, it will be necessary to emphasize the colloquial and scrappy +nature of the teaching. Legend, parable, ritualistic absurdities, +belief in gods, denial of gods, belief in heaven, denial of heaven, +are all mingled, and for a purpose. For some men are able, and some +are unable, to receive the true light of knowledge. But man's fate +depends on his knowledge. The wise man becomes hereafter what his +knowledge has prepared him to be. Not every spirit is fitted for +immortality, but only the spirit of them that have wisely desired it, +or, rather, not desired it; for every desire must have been +extinguished before one is fitted for this end. Hence, with advancing +belief in absorption and pantheism, there still lingers, and not as a +mere superfluity, the use of sacrifice and penance. Rites and the +paraphernalia of religion are essential till one learns that they are +unessential. Desire will be gratified till one learns that the most +desirable thing is lack of desire. But so long as one desires even the +lack of desire he is still in the fetters of desire. The way is long +to the extinction of emotion, but its attainment results in happiness +that is greater than delight; in peace that surpasses joy. + +In the exposition of this doctrine the old gods are retained as +figures. They are not real gods. But they are existent forms of God. +They are portions of the absolute, a form of the Eternal, even as man +is a form of the same. Absolute being, again, is described as +anthropomorphic. 'This is that' under a certain form. Incessantly made +is the attempt to explain the identity of the absolute with phenomena. +The power _brahma_, which is originally applied to prayer, is now +taken as absolute being, and this, again, must be equated with the +personal spirit (ego, self, _[=a]tm[=a]_). One finds himself back in +the age of Vedic speculation when he reads of prayer (or penance) and +power as one. For, as was shown above, the Rig Veda already recognizes +that prayer is power. There the word for power, _brahma_, is used only +as equivalent of prayer, and Brihaspati or Brahmanaspati is literally +the 'god of power,' as he is interpreted by the priests. The +significance of the other great word of this period, namely +_[=a]tm[=a]_, is not at all uncertain, but to translate it is +difficult. It is breath, spirit, self, soul. Yet, since in its +original sense it corresponds to spiritus (comparable to athmen), the +word spirit, which also signifies the real person, perhaps represents +it best. We shall then render _brahma_ and _[=a]tm[=a]_ by the +absolute and the ego or spirit, respectively; or leave them, which is +perhaps the best way, in their native form. The physical breath, +_pr[=a]na,_ is occasionally used just like _[=a]tm[=a]._ Thus it is +said that all the gods are one god, and this is _pr[=a]na,_ identical +with _brahma_ (Brihad [=A]ranyaka Upanishad, 3.9.9); or _pr[=a]na_ is +so used as to be the same with spirit, though, on the other hand, +'breath is born of spirit' (Praçna Up. 3.3), just as in the Rig Veda +(above) it is said that all comes from the breath of God. + +One of the most instructive of the older Upanishads is the +Ch[=a]ndogya. A sketch of its doctrines will give a clearer idea of +Upanishad philosophy than a chapter of disconnected excerpts: + +All this (universe) is _brahma_. Man has intelligent force (or will). +He, after death, will exist in accordance with his will in life. This +spirit in (my) heart is that mind-making, breath-bodied, light-formed, +truth-thoughted, ether-spirited One, of whom are all works, all +desires, all smells, and all tastes; who comprehends the universe, who +speaks not and is not moved; smaller than a rice-corn, smaller than a +mustard-seed, ... greater than earth, greater than heaven. This +(universal being) is my ego, spirit, and is _brahma,_ force (absolute +being). After death I shall enter into him (3.14).[8] This all is +breath (==spirit in 3.15.4). + +After this epitome of pantheism follows a ritualistic bit: + +Man is sacrifice. Four and twenty years are the morning libation; the +next four and forty, the mid-day libation; the next eight and forty, +the evening libation. The son of Itar[=a], knowing this, lived one +hundred and sixteen years. He who knows this lives one hundred and +sixteen years (3.16). + +Then, for the abolition of all sacrifice, follows a chapter which +explains that man may sacrifice symbolically, so that, for example, +gifts to the priests (a necessary adjunct of a real sacrifice) here +become penance, liberality, rectitude, non-injury, truth-speaking +(_ib._ 17. 4). There follows then the identification of _brahma_ with +mind, sun, breath, cardinal points, ether, etc, even puns being +brought into requisition, _Ka_ is _Kha_ and _Kha_ is _Ka_ (4. 10. +5);[9] earth, fire, food, sun, water, stars, man, are _brahma_, and +_brahma_ is the man seen in the moon (4. 12. I). And now comes the +identity of the impersonal _brahma_ with the personal spirit. The man +seen in the eye is the spirit; this is the immortal, unfearing +_brahma_ (4. 15. I = 8. 7. 4). He that knows this goes after death to +light, thence to day, thence to the light moon, thence to the season, +thence to the year, thence to the sun, thence to the moon, thence to +lightning; thus he becomes divine, and enters _brahma_. They that go +on this path of the gods that conducts to _brahma_ do not return to +human conditions _(ib._ 15. 6). + +But the Father-god of the Br[=a]hmanas is still a temporary creator, +and thus he appears now (_ib._ 17): The Father-god brooded over[10] +the worlds, and from them extracted essences, fire from earth, wind +from air, sun from sky. These three divinities (the triad, fire, wind, +and sun) he brooded over, and from them extracted essences, the Rig +Veda from fire, the Yajur Veda from wind, the S[=a]ma Veda from sun. +In the preceding the northern path of them that know the absolute +(_brahma_) has been described, and it was said that they return no +more to earth. Now follows the southern path of them that only partly +know _brahma_: + +"He that knows the oldest, _jye[s.]tham_ and the best, _çre[s]tham,_ +becomes the oldest and the best. Now breath is oldest and best" (then +follows the famous parable of the senses and breath, 5. 1. I). This +(found elsewhere) is evidently regarded as a new doctrine, for, after +the deduction has been made that, because a creature can live without +senses, and even without mind, but cannot live without breath, +therefore the breath is the 'oldest and best,' the text continues, 'if +one told this to a dry stick, branches would be produced and leaves +put forth' (5. 2. 3).[11]] The path of him that partly knows the +_brahma_ which is expressed in breath, etc, is as follows: He goes to +the moon, and, when his good works are used up, he (ultimately mist) +rains down, becoming seed, and begins life over again on earth, to +become like the people who eat him (5. 10. 6); they that are good +become priests, warriors, or members of the third estate; while the +bad become dogs, hogs, or members of the low castes.[12] A story is +now told, instructive as illustrating the time. Five great doctors of +the law came together to discuss what is Spirit, what is _brahma_. In +the end they are taught by a king that the universal Spirit is one's +own spirit (5. 18. 1). + +It is interesting to see that, although the Rig Veda distinctly says +that 'being was born of not-being' (_ásatas sád aj[=a]yata_, X. 72. +3),[13] yet not-being is here derived quite as emphatically from +being. For in the philosophical explanation of the universe given in +6. 2. 1 ff. one reads: "Being alone existed in the beginning, one, and +without a second. Others say 'not-being alone' ... but how could being +be born of not-being? Being alone existed in the beginning."[14] This +being is then represented as sentient. "It saw (and desired), 'may I +be many,' and sent forth fire (or heat); fire (or heat) desired and +produced water; water, food (earth); with the living spirit the +divinity entered fire, water, and earth" (6. 3). As mind comes +from food, breath from water, and speech from fire, all that makes a +man is thus derived from the (true) being (6. 7. 6); and when one dies +his speech is absorbed into mind, his mind into breath, his breath +into fire (heat), and heat into the highest godhead (6. 8. 7). This is +the subtle spirit, that is the Spirit, that is the True, and this is +the spirit of man. Now comes the grand conclusion of the Ch[=a]ndogya. +He who knows the ego escapes grief. What is the ego? The Vedas are +names, and he that sees _brahma_ in the Vedas is indeed (partly) wise; +but speech is better than a name; mind is better than speech; will is +better than mind; meditation, better than will; reflection, than +meditation; understanding, than reflection; power, than understanding; +food, than power; water, than food; heat (fire), than water; ether, +than heat; memory, than ether; hope, than memory; breath (=spirit), +than hope. In each let one see _brahma_; ego in All. Who knows this is +supreme in knowledge; but more supreme in knowledge is he that knows +that in true (being) is the highest being. True being is happiness; +true being is ego; ego is all; ego is the absolute.[15] + +The relativity o£ divinity is the discovery of the Upanishads. And the +relativity of happiness hereafter is the key-note of their religious +philosophy. Pious men are of three classes, according to the completed +system. Some are good men, but they do not know enough to appreciate, +intellectually or spiritually, the highest. Let this class meditate on +the Vedas. They desire wealth, not freedom. The second class wish, +indeed, to emancipate themselves; but to do so step by step; not to +reach absolute _brahma_, but to live in bliss hereafter. Let these +worship the Spirit as physical life. They will attain to the +bliss of the realm of light, the realm of the personal creator. But +the highest class, they that wish to emancipate themselves at once, +know that physical life is but a form of spiritual life; that the +personal creator is but a form of the Spirit; that the Spirit is +absolute _brahma_; and that in reaching this they attain to +immortality. These, then, are to meditate on spirit as the highest +Spirit, that is, the absolute. To fear heaven as much as hell, to know +that knowledge is, after all, the key to _brahma_; that _brahma_ is +knowledge; this is the way to emancipation. The gods are; but they are +forms of the ego, and their heaven is mortal. It is false to deny the +gods. Indra and the Father-god exist, just as men exist, as transient +forms of _brahma_. Therefore, according to the weakness or strength of +a man's mind and heart (desire) is he fitted to ignore gods and +sacrifice. To obtain _brahma_ his desires must be weak, his knowledge +strong; but sacrifice is not to be put away as useless. The +disciplinary teaching of the sacrifice is a necessary preparation for +highest wisdom. It is here that the Upanishads, which otherwise are to +a great extent on the highway to Buddhism, practically contrast with +it. Buddhism ignores the sacrifice and the stadia in a priest's life. +The Upanishads retain them, but only to throw them over at the end +when one has learned not to need them. Philosophically there is no +place for the ritual in the Upanishad doctrine; but their teachers +stood too much under the dominion of the Br[=a]hmanas to ignore the +ritual. They kept it as a means of perfecting the knowledge of what +was essential. + +So 'by wisdom' it is said 'one gets immortality.' The Spirit develops +gradually in man; by means of the mortal he desires the immortal; +whereas other animals have only hunger and thirst as a kind of +understanding, and they are reborn according to their knowledge as +beasts again. Such is the teaching of another of the Upanishads, the +[=A]itareya [=A]ranyaka. + +This Upanishad contains some rather striking passages: "Whatever man +attains, he desires to go beyond it; if he should reach heaven itself +he would desire to go beyond it" (2. 3. 3. 1). "_Brahma_ is the A, +thither goes the ego" (2. 3. 8. 7). "A is the whole of Speech, and +Speech is Truth, and Truth is Spirit" (2. 3. 6. 5-14).[16] "The Spirit +brooded over the water, and form (matter) was born" (2. 4. 3. 1 ff.); +so physically water is the origin of all things" (2. 1. 8. 1).[17] +"Whatever belongs to the father belongs to the son, whatever belongs +to the son belongs to the father" (_ib_.). "Man has three births: he +is born of his mother, reborn in the person of his son, and finds his +highest birth in death" (2. 5). + +In the exposition of these two Upanishads one gets at once the sum of +them all. The methods, the illustrations, even the doctrines, differ +in detail; but in the chief end and object of the Upanishads, and in +the principle of knowledge as a means of attaining _brahma_, they are +united. This it is that causes the refutation of the Vedic 'being from +not-being.' It is even said in the [=A]itareya that the gods +worshipped breath (the spirit) as being and so became gods (great); +while devils worshipped spirit as not-being, and hence became +(inferior) devils (2. 1. 8. 6). + +It was noticed above that a king instructed priests. This interchange +of the rôles of the two castes is not unique. In the K[=a]ush[=i]taki +Upanishad (4. 19), occurs another instance of a warrior teaching a +Brahman. This, with the familiar illustration of a Gandh[=a]ra +(Kandahar) man, the song of the Kurus, and the absence of Brahmanic +literature as such in the list of works, cited vii. 1, would indicate +that the Ch[=a]ndogya was at least as old as the Br[=a]hmana +literature.[18] + +In their present form several differences remain to be pointed out +between the Vedic period and that of the Upanishads. The goal of the +soul, the two paths of gods and of _brahma_, have been indicated. As +already explained, the road to the absolute _brahma_ lies beyond the +path to the conditioned _brahma_. Opposed to this is the path that +leads to the world of heaven, whence, when good works have been +exhausted, the spirit descends to a new birth on earth. The course of +this second path is conceived to be the dark half of the moon, and so +back to man. Both roads lead first to the moon, then one goes on to +_brahma_, the other returns to earth. It will be seen that good works +are regarded as buoying a man up for a time, till, like gas in a +balloon, they lose their force, and he sinks down again. What then +becomes of the virtue of a man who enters the absolute _brahma,_ and +descends no more? He himself goes to the world where there is "no +sorrow and no snow," where he lives forever (_Brihad [=A]ran_. 5. 10); +but "his beloved relations get his virtue, and the relations he does +not love get his evil" (_K[=a]ush[=i]t. Up_. 1. 4). In this Upanishad +fire, sun, moon, and lightning die out, and reappear as _brahma_. This +is the doctrine of the _Götterdämmerung_, and succession of aeons with +their divinities (2. 12). Here again is it distinctly stated that +_pr[=a]na_, breath, is _brahma_; that is, spirit is the absolute (2. +13). + +What becomes of them that die ignorant of the ego? They go either to +the worlds of evil spirits, which are covered with darkness--the same +antithesis of light and darkness, as good and evil, that was seen in +the Br[=a]hmanas--or are reborn on earth again like the wicked +(_[=I]ç[=a]_, 3). + +It is to be noted that at times all the parts of a man are +said to become immortal. For just as different rivers enter the ocean +and their names and forms are lost in it, so the sixteen parts of a +man sink into the godhead and he becomes without parts and immortal +(_Praçna Up_. 6. 5); a purely pantheistic view of absorption, in +distinction from the Vedic view of heaven, which latter, in the form +of immortal joy hereafter, still lingers in the earlier Upanishads. + +It is further to be observed as the crowning point of these +speculations that, just as the bliss of emancipation must not be +desired, although it is desirable, so too, though knowledge is the +fundamental condition of emancipation, yet is delight in the true a +fatal error: "They that revere what is not knowledge enter into blind +darkness; they that delight in knowledge come as it were into still +greater darkness" (_Iç[=a]_, 9). Here, what is not real knowledge +means good works, sacrifice, etc. But the sacrifice is not discarded. +To those people capable only of attaining to rectitude, sacrifices, +and belief in gods there is given some bliss hereafter; but to him +that is risen above this, who knows the ego (Spirit) and real being, +such bliss is no bliss. His bliss is union with the Spirit. + +This is the completion of Upanishad philosophy. Before it is a stage +where bliss alone, not absorption, is taught.[19] But what is the ego, +spirit or self (_[=a]tm[=a]_)? First of all it is conscious; next it +is not the Person, for the Person is produced by the _[=a]tm[=a]_. +Since this Person is the type of the personal god, it is evident that +the ego is regarded as lying back of personality. Nevertheless, the +teachers sometimes stop with the latter. The developed view is that +the immortality of the personal creator is commensurate only with that +of the world which he creates. It is for this reason that in the +Mundaka (1. 2. 10) it is said that fools regard fulfillment of desire +in heavenly happiness as the best thing; for although they have their +'reward in the top of heaven, yet, when the elevation caused by their +good works ends, as it will end, when the buoyant power of good works +is exhausted, then they drop down to earth again. Hence, to worship +the creator as the _[=a]tm[=a]_ is indeed productive of temporary +pleasure, but no more. "If a man worship another divinity, +_devat[=a]_, with the idea that he and the god are different, he does +not know" (_Brihad [=A]ran. Up_. 1. 4. 10). "Without passion and +without parts" is the _brahma (Mund_. 2. 2. 9). The further doctrine, +therefore, that all except _brahma_ is delusion is implied here, and +the "extinction of gods in _brahma_" is once or twice formulated.[20] +The fatal error of judgment is to imagine that there is in absolute +being anything separate from man's being. When personified, this being +appears as the supreme Person, identical with the ego, who is lord of +what has been and what will be. By perceiving this controlling spirit +in one's own spirit (or self) one obtains eternal bliss; "when +desires cease, the mortal becomes immortal; he attains _brahma_ here" +in life (_Katha Up_. 2. 5. 12; 6. 14; _Br. [=A]ran. Up_. 4. 4. 7). + +How inconsistent are the teachings of the Upanishads in regard to +cosmogonic and eschatological matters will be evident if one contrast +the statements of the different tracts not only with those of other +writings of the same sort, but even with other statements in the same +Upanishads. Thus the Mundaka teaches first that Brahm[=a], the +personal creator, made the world and explained _brahma_ (1. 1. 1). It +then defines _brahma_ as the Imperishable, which, like a spider, sends +out a web of being and draws it in again (_ib_. 6, 7). It states with +all distinctness that the (neuter) _brahma_ comes from The (masculine) + +One who is all-wise, all-knowing (_ib_. 9). This heavenly Person is +the imperishable ego; it is without form; higher than the imperishable +(1. 2. 10 ff.; 2. 1. 2); greater than the great (3. 2. 8). Against +this is then set (2. 2. 9) the great being _brahma_, without passions +or parts, _i. +e_., without intelligence such as was predicated of the +_[=a]tm[=a]_; and (3. 1. 3) then follows the doctrine of the personal +'Lord, who is the maker, the Person, who has his birth in _brahma' +(purusho brahmayonis_). That this Upanishad is pantheistic is plain +from 3. 2. 6, where Ved[=a]nta and Yoga are named. According to this +tract the wise go to _brahma_ or to ego (3. 2. 9 and 1. 2. 11), while +fools go to heaven and return again. + +On the same plane stands the [=I]ç[=a], where _[=a]tm[=a]_, ego, +Spirit, is the True, the Lord, and is in the sun. Opposed to each +other here are 'darkness' and 'immortality,' as fruit, respectively, +of ignorance and wisdom. + +In the K[=a]ush[=i]taki Upanishad, taken with the meaning put into it +by the commentators, the wise man goes to a very different sort of +_brahma_--one where he is met by nymphs, and rejoices in a kind of +heaven. This _brahma_ is of two sorts, absolute and conditioned; but +it is ultimately defined as 'breath.' Whenever it is convenient, +'breath' is regarded by the commentators as ego, 'spirit'; but one can +scarcely escape the conviction that in many passages 'breath' was +meant by the speaker to be taken at its face value. It is the vital +power. With this vital power (breath or spirit) one in dreamless sleep +unites. Indra has nothing higher to say than that he is breath +(spirit), conscious and immortal. Eventually the soul after death +comes to Indra, or gains the bright heaven. But here too the doctrine +of the dying out of the gods is known (as in _T[=a]tt_. 3. 10. 4). +Cosmogonically all here springs from water (1. 4, 6, 7; 2. 1, 12; 3. +1, 2; 4. 20). + +Most striking are the contradictions in the Brihad [=A]ranyaka: "In +the beginning there was only nothing; this (world) was covered with +death, that is hunger;[21] he desired," etc. (1. 2. 1). "In the +beginning there was only ego (_[=a]tm[=a])." [=A]tm[=a]_ articulated +"I am," and (finding himself lonely and unhappy) divided himself into +male and female,[22] whence arose men, etc. (1. 4. 1). Again: "In the +beginning there was only _brahma_; this (neuter) knew _[=a]tm[=a] ... +brahma_ was the one and only ... it created" (1. 4. 10-11); followed +immediately by "he created" (12). And after this, in 17, one is +brought back to "in the beginning there was only _[=a]tm[=a]_; he +desired 'let me have a wife.'" + +In 2. 3. 1 ff. the explicitness of the differences in _brahma_ makes +the account of unusual value. It appears that there are two forms of +_brahma_, one is mortal, with form; the other is immortal, without +form. Whatever is other than air and the space between (heaven and +earth) is mortal and with form. This is being, its essence is in the +sun. On the other hand, the essence of the immortal is the person in +the circle (of the sun). In man's body breath and ether are the +immortal, the essence of which is the person in the eye. There is a +visible and invisible _brahma ([=a]tm[=a])_; the real _brahma_ is +incomprehensible and is described only by negations (3. 4. 1; 9. 26). +The highest is the Imperishable (_neuter_), but this sees, hears, and +knows. It is in this that ether (as above) is woven (3. 8. 11). After +death the wise man goes to the world of the gods (1. 5. 16); he +becomes the _[=a]tm[=a]_ of all beings, just like that deity (1. 5. +20); he becomes identical ('how can one know the knower?' +_vijñ[=a]tar_) in 2. 4. 12-13; and according to 3. 2. 13, the doctrine +of _sams[=a]ra_ is extolled ("they talked of _karma_, extolled _karma_ +secretly"), as something too secret to be divulged easily, even to +priests. + +That different views are recognized is evident from _Taitt_. 2. 6: "If +one knows _brahma_ as _asat_ he becomes only _asat_ (non-existence); +if he knows that '_brahma_ is' (_i.e._, a _sad brahma_), people know +him as thence existing." Personal _[=a]tm[=a]_ is here insisted on +("He wished 'may I be many'"); and from _[=a]tm[=a]_, the conscious +_brahma_, in highest heaven, came the ether (2. 1, 6). Yet, +immediately afterwards: "In the beginning was the non-existent; thence +arose the existent; and That made for himself an ego (spirit, +conscious life, _[=a]tm[=a]; tad [=a]tm[=a]nain svayam akuruta_, 2. +7). In man _brahma_ is the sun-_brahma_. Here too one finds the +_brahma[n.]a[h.] parimaras_ (3. 10. 4 = K[=a]ush[=i]t. 2. 12, +_d[=a]iva_), or extinction of gods in _brahma_. But what that _brahma_ +is, except that it is bliss, and that man after death reaches 'the +bliss-making _[=a]tm[=a],_' it is impossible to say (3. 6; 2. 8). +Especially as the departed soul 'eats and sits down singing' in heaven +(3. 10. 5). + +The greatest discrepancies in eschatology occur perhaps in the +[=A]itareya [=A]ranyaka. After death one either "gets _brahma_" (i. 3. +1. 2), "comes near to the immortal spirit" (1. 3. 8. 14), or goes to +the "heavenly world." Knowledge here expressly conditions the +hereafter; so much so that it is represented not (as above) that fools +go to heaven and return, but that all, save the very highest, are to +recognize a personal creator (Praj[=a]pati) in breath (=ego=_brahma_), +and then they will "go to the heavenly world" (2. 3. 8. 5), "become +the sun" (2. 1. 8. 14), or "go to gods" (2. 2. 4. 6). Moreover after +the highest wisdom has been revealed, and the second class of men has +been disposed of, the author still returns to the 'shining sky,' +_svarga_, as the best promise (3). Sinners are born again (2. 1. 1. 5) +on earth, although hell is mentioned (2. 3. 2. 5). The origin of world +is water, as usual (2. 1. 8. 1). The highest teaching is that all was +_[=a]tm[=a],_ who sent forth worlds (_lok[=a]n as[r.]jata_), and +formed the Person (as guardian of worlds), taking him from waters. +Hence _[=a]tm[=a],_ Praj[=a]pati (of the second-class thinkers), and +_brahma_ are the same. Knowledge is _brahma_ (2. 4. 1. 1; 6. 1. 5-7). + +In the Kena, where the best that can be said in regard to _brahma_ is +that he is _tadvana_, the one that 'likes this' (or, perhaps, is 'like +this'), there is no absorption into a world-spirit. The wise 'become +immortal'; 'by knowledge one gets immortality'; 'who knows this stands +in heaven' (1. 2; 2. 4; 4. 9). The general results are about those +formulated by Whitney in regard to the Katha: knowledge gives +continuation of happiness in heaven; the punishment of the unworthy is +to continue _sams[=a]ra_, the round of rebirths. Hell is not mentioned +in the [=A]itareya Upanishad itself but in the [=A]ranyaka[23] (2. 3. +2. 5). That, however, a union with the universal _[=a]tm[=a]_ (as well +as heaven) is desired, would seem to be the case from several of the +passages cited above, notably Brihad [=A]ran., i. 5. 20 (_sa +eva[.m]vit sarve[s.][=a]m bh[=u]t[=a]n[=a]m [=a]tm[=a] bhavati, +Yath[=a] i[s.][=a] devat[=a]ivam sa_); 'he that knows this becomes the +_[=a]tm[=a]_ of all creatures, as is that divinity so is he'; though +this is doubtless the _[=a]nandamaya [=a]tm[=a]_, or joy-making Spirit +(T[=a]itt. 2. 8). + +Again two forms of _brahma_ are explained (M[=a]it. Up. 6. 15 ff.): +There are two forms of _brahma_, time and not-time. That which was +before the sun is not-time and has no parts. Time and parts begin with +the sun. Time is the Father-god, the Spirit. Time makes and dissolves +all in the Spirit. He knows the Veda who knows into what Time itself +is dissolved. This manifest time is the ocean of creatures. But +_brahma_ exists before and after time.[24] + +As an example of the best style of the Upanishads we will cite a +favorite passage (given no less than four times in various versions) +where the doctrine of absorption is most distinctly taught under the +form of a tale. It is the famous + + +DIALOGUE OF Y[=A]JÑAVALKYA AND M[=A]ITREY[=I].[25] + +Y[=a]jñavalkya had two wives, M[=a]itrey[=i] and K[=a]ty[=a]yani. Now +M[=a]itrey[=i] was versed in holy knowledge (_brahma_), but +K[=a]ty[=a]yani had only such knowledge as women have. But when +Y[=a]jñavalkya was about to go away into the forest (to become a +hermit), he said: 'M[=a]itrey[=i], I am going away from this +place. Behold, I will make a settlement between thee and that +K[=a]ty[=a]yani.' Then said M[=a]itrey[=i]: 'Lord, if this whole earth +filled with wealth were mine, how then? should I be immortal by reason +of this wealth?' 'Nay,' said Y[=a]jñavalkya. 'Even as is the life of +the rich would be thy life; by reason of wealth one has no hope of +immortality.' Then said M[=a]itrey[=i]: 'With what I cannot be +immortal, what can I do with that? whatever my Lord knows even that +tell me.' And Y[=a]jñavalkya said: 'Dear to me thou art, indeed, and +fondly speakest. Therefore I will explain to thee and do thou regard +me as I explain.' And he said: 'Not for the husband's sake is a +husband dear, but for the ego's sake is the husband dear. Not for the +wife's sake is a wife dear; but for the ego's sake is a wife dear; not +for the son's sake are sons dear, but for the ego's sake are sons +dear; not for wealth's sake is wealth dear, but for the ego's sake is +wealth dear; not for the sake of the Brahman caste is the Brahman +caste dear, but for the sake of the ego is the Brahman caste dear; not +for the sake of the Warrior caste is the Warrior caste dear, but for +love of the ego is the Warrior caste dear; not for the sake of the +worlds are worlds dear, but for the sake of the ego are worlds dear; +not for the sake of gods are gods dear, but for the ego's sake are +gods dear; not for the sake of _bh[=u]ts_ (spirits) are _bh[=u]ts_ +dear, but for the ego's sake are _bhuts_ dear; not for the sake of +anything is anything dear, but for love of one's self (ego) is +anything (everything) dear; the ego (self) must be seen, heard, +apprehended, regarded, M[=a]itrey[=i], for with the seeing, hearing, +apprehending, and regarding of the ego the All is known.... Even as +smoke pours out of a fire lighted with damp kindling wood, even so out +of the Great Being is blown out all that which is, Rig Veda, Yajur +Veda, S[=a]ma Veda, Atharva (Angiras) Veda, Stories, Tales, Sciences, +Upanishads, food, drink, sacrifices; all creatures that exist are +blown (breathed) out of this one (Great Spirit) alone. As in the +ocean all the waters have their meeting-place; as the skin is the +meeting-place of all touches; the tongue, of all tastes; the +nose, of all smells; the mind, of all precepts; the heart, of all +knowledges; ... as salt cast into water is dissolved so that one +cannot seize it, but wherever one tastes it is salty, so this +Great Being, endless, limitless, is a mass of knowledge. It arises out +of the elements and then disappears in them. After death there is no +more consciousness.[26] I have spoken.' Thus said Y[=a]jñavalkya. Then +said M[=a]itrey[=i]: 'Truly my Lord has bewildered me in saying that +after death there is no more consciousness.' And Y[=a]jñavalkya said: +'I say nothing bewildering, but what suffices for understanding. For +where there is as it were duality (_dv[=a]itam_), there one sees, +smells, hears, addresses, notices, knows another; but when all the +universe has become mere ego, with what should one smell, see, hear, +address, notice, know any one (else)? How can one know him through +whom he knows this all, how can he know the knower (as something +different)? The ego is to be described by negations alone, the +incomprehensible, imperishable, unattached, unfettered; the ego +neither suffers nor fails. Thus, M[=a]itrey[=i], hast thou been +instructed. So much for immortality.' And having spoken thus +Y[=a]jñavalkya went away (into the forest). + +Returning to the Upanishad, of which an outline was given in the +beginning of this chapter, one finds a state of things which, in +general, may be said to be characteristic of the whole Upanishad +period. The same vague views in regard to cosmogony and eschatology +obtain in all save the outspoken sectarian tracts, and the same +uncertainty in regard to man's future fate prevails in this whole +cycle.[27] A few extracts will show this. According to the +Ch[=a]ndogya (4. 17. 1), a personal creator, the old Father-god of the +Br[=a]hmanas, Praj[=a]pati, made the elements proceed from the worlds +he had 'brooded' over (or had done penance over, _abhyatapat_). In 3. +19. 1, not-being was first; this became being (with the mundane egg, +etc.). In sharp contradiction (6. 2. 1): 'being was the first thing, +it willed,' etc., a conscious divinity, as is seen in _ib_. 3. 2, +where it is a 'deity,' producing elements as 'deities' (_ib._ 8. 6) +which it enters 'with the living _[=a]tm[=a]_,' and so develops names +and forms (so _T[=a]itt_. 2. 7). The latter is the prevailing view of +the Upanishad. In 1. 7. 5 ff. the _[=a]tm[=a]_ is the same with the +universal _[=a]tm[=a]_; in 3. 12. 7, the _brahma_ is the same with +ether without and within, unchanging; in 3. 13. 7, the 'light above +heaven' is identical with the light in man; in 3. 14. 1, all is +_brahma_ (neuter), and this is an intelligent universal spirit. Like +the ether is the _[=a]tm[=a]_ in the heart, this is _brahma_ (_ib_. 2 +ff.); in 4. 3. air and breath are the two ends (so in the argument +above, these are immortal as distinguished from all else); in 4. 10. 5 +_yad v[=a]v[=a] ka[.m] tad eva kham_ (_brahma_ is ether); in 4. 15. 1, +the ego is _brahma_; in 5. 18. 1 the universal ego is identified with +the particular ego (_[=a]tm[=a]_); in 6. 8 the ego is the True, with +which one unites in dreamless sleep; in 6. 15. 1, into _par[=a] +devat[=a]_ or 'highest divinity' enters man's spirit, like salt in +water (_ib_. 13). In 7. 15-26, a view but half correct is stated to be +that 'breath' is all, but it is better to know that _yo bh[=u]m[=a]_ +_tad am[r.]tam_, the immortal (all) is infinity, which rests in its +own greatness, with a corrective 'but perhaps it doesn't' (_yadi v[=a] +na_). This infinity is ego and _[=a]tm[=a]_.[28] + +What is the reward for knowing this? One obtains worlds, unchanging +happiness, _brahma_; or, with some circumnavigation, one goes to the +moon, and eventually reaches _brahma_ or obtains the worlds of the +blessed (5. 10. 10). The round of existence, _sams[=a]ra_, is +indicated at 6. 16, and expressly stated in 5. 10. 7 (insects have +here a third path). Immortality is forcibly claimed: 'The living one +dies not' (6. 11. 3). He who knows the sections 7. 15 to 26 becomes +_[=a]tm[=a]nanda_ and "lord of all worlds"; whereas an incorrect view +gives perishable worlds. In one Upanishad there is a verse (_Çvet_. 4. +5) which would indicate a formal duality like that of the +S[=a]nkhyas;[29] but in general one may say that the Upanishads are +simply pantheistic, only the absorption into a world-soul is as yet +scarcely formulated. On the other hand, some of the older Upanishads +show traces of an atheistic and materialistic (_asad_) philosophy, +which is swallowed up in the growing inclination to personify the +creative principle, and ultimately is lost in the erection of a +personal Lord, as in the latest Upanishads. This tendency to +personify, with the increase of special sectarian gods, will lead +again, after centuries, to the rehabilitation of a triad of gods, the +_trim[=u]rti_, where unite Vishnu, Çiva, and, with these, who are more +powerful, Brahm[=a], the Praj[=a]pati of the Veda, as the All-god of +purely pantheistic systems. In the purer, older form recorded above, +the _purusha_ (Person) is sprung from the _[=a]tm[=a]_. There is no +distinction between matter and spirit. Conscious being (_sat_) wills, +and so produces all. Or _[=a]tm[=a]_ comes first; and this is +conscious _sat_ and the cause of the worlds; which _[=a]tm[=a]_ +eventually becomes the Lord. The _[=a]tm[=a]_ in man, owing to his +environment, cannot see whole, and needs the Yoga discipline of +asceticism to enable him to do so. But he is the same ego which is the +All. + +The relation between the absolute and the ego is through will. "This +(neuter) _brahma_ willed, 'May I be many,' and created" _(Ch[=a]nd_., +above). Sometimes the impersonal, and sometimes the personal "spirit +willed" _(T[=a]iit._ 2. 6). And when it is said, in _Brihad [=A]ran_. +1. 4. 1, that "In the beginning ego, spirit, _[=a]tm[=a],_ alone +existed," one finds this spirit (self) to be a form of _brahma (ib._ +10-11). Personified in a sectarian sense, this spirit becomes the +divinity Rudra Çiva, the Blessed One (_Çvet[=a]çvatara,_ 3. 5. +11).[30] + +In short, the teachers of the Upanishads not only do not declare +clearly what they believed in regard to cosmogonic and eschatological +matters, but many of them probably did not know clearly what they +believed. Their great discovery was that man's spirit was not +particular and mortal, but part of the immortal universal. Whether +this universal was a being alive and a personal _[=a]tm[=a]_, or +whether this personal being was but a transient form of impersonal, +imperishable being;[31] and whether the union with being, _brahma_, +would result in a survival of individual consciousness,--these are +evidently points they were not agreed upon, and, in all probability, +no one of the sages was certain in regard to them. Crass +identifications of the vital principle with breath, as one with ether, +which is twice emphasized as one of the two immortal things, were +provisionally accepted. Then breath and immortal spirit were made one. +Matter had energy from the beginning, _brahma_; or was chaos, _asat_, +without being. But when _asat_ becomes _sat_, that _sat_ becomes +_brahma_, energized being, and to _asat_ there is no return. In +eschatology the real (spirit, or self) part of man (ego) either +rejoices forever as a conscious part of the conscious world-self, or +exists immortal in _brahma_--imperishable being, conceived as more or +less conscious.[32] + +The teachers recognize the limitations of understanding: "The gods are +in Indra, Indra is in the Father-god, the Father-god (the Spirit) is +in _brahma_"--"But in what is _brahma?_" And the answer is, "Ask not +too much" (_Brihad. [=A]ran. Up_. 3. 6). + +These problems will be those of the future formal philosophy. Even the +Upanishads do not furnish a philosophy altogether new. Their doctrine +of _karma_ their identification of particular ego and universal ego, +is not original. The 'breaths,' the 'nine doors,' the 'three +qualities,' the _purusha_ as identical with ego, are older even than +the Br[=a]hmanas (Scherman, _loc. cit_. p. 62). + +It is not a new philosophy, it is a new religion that the Upanishads +offer.[33] This is no religion of rites and ceremonies, although the +cult is retained as helpful in disciplining and teaching; it is a +religion for sorrowing humanity. It is a religion that comforts the +afflicted, and gives to the soul 'that peace which the world cannot +give.' In the sectarian Upanishads this bliss of religion is ever +present. "Through knowing Him who is more subtile than subtile, who is +creator of everything, who has many forms, who embraces everything, +the Blessed Lord--one attains to peace without end" (_Çvet_. 4. +14-15). These teachers, who enjoin the highest morality +('self-restraint, generosity, and mercy' are God's commandments in +_Brihad [=A]ran_. 5. 2) refuse to be satisfied with virtue's reward, +and, being able to obtain heaven, 'seek for something beyond.' And +this they do not from mere pessimism, but from a conviction that they +will find a joy greater than that of heaven, and more enduring, in +that world where is "the light beyond the darkness" (_Çvet_. 3. 8); +"where shines neither sun, moon, stars, lightning, nor fire, but all +shines after Him that shines alone, and through His light the universe +is lighted" (_Mund_. 2. 2. 10). This, moreover, is not a future joy. +It is one that frees from perturbation in this life, and gives relief +from sorrow. In the Ch[=a]ndogya (7. 1. 3) a man in grief comes +seeking this new knowledge of the universal Spirit; "For," says he, "I +have heard it said that he who knows the Spirit passes beyond grief." +So in the [=I]ç[=a], though this is a late sectarian work, it is +asked, "What sorrow can there be for him to whom Spirit alone has +become all things?' (7). Again, "He that knows the joy of _brahma_, +whence speech with mind turns away without apprehending it, fears not" +(_T[=a]itt_. 2. 4); for "fear comes only from a second" (_Brihad +[=A]ran. Up_. 1. 4. 2), and when one recognizes that all is one he no +longer fears death (_ib_. 4. 4. 15). + +Such is the religion of these teachers. In the quiet assumption that +life is not worth living, they are as pessimistic as was Buddha. But +if, as seems to be the case, the Buddhist believed in the eventual +extinction of his individuality, their pessimism is of a different +sort. For the teacher of the Upanishads believes that he will attain +to unending joy; not the rude happiness of 'heaven-seekers,' but the +unchanging bliss of immortal peace. For him that wished it, there was +heaven and the gods. These were not denied; they were as real as the +"fool" that desired them. But for him that conquered passion, and knew +the truth, there was existence without the pain of desire, life +without end, freedom from rebirth. The spirit of the sage becomes one +with the Eternal; man becomes God. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Compare _Çal. Br._ ii. 4. 2. 1-6, where the + Father-god gives laws of conduct; and Kaush[=i]taki Brahmana + Upanishad, 3. 8: "This spirit (breath) is guardian of the + world, the lord of the world; he is my spirit" (or, myself), + _sa ma [=a]tm[=a]_. The Brahmanic priest teaches that he is a + god like other gods, and goes so far as to say that he may + be united with a god after death. The Upanishad philosopher + says 'I am God.'] + + [Footnote 2: Compare Scherman, _Philosophische Hymnen_, p. + 93; above, p. 156.] + + [Footnote 3: Or, in other words, the thought of the + Brahmanic period (not necessarily of extant Br[=a]hmanas) is + synchronous with part of the Vedic collection.] + + [Footnote 4: The last additions to this class of literature + would, of course, conform in language to their models, just + as the late Vedic Mantras conform as well as their composers + can make them to the older song or _chandas_ style.] + + [Footnote 5: Cited by Müller in SBE. i. _Introd_. p. + lxxxii.] + + [Footnote 6: Compare Weber, _Ind. Lit_. p. 171; Müller, + _loc. cit._ p. lxviii.] + + [Footnote 7: The relation between the Br[=a]hmanas (ritual + works discussed in the last chapter) and the early + Upanishads will be seen better with the help of a concrete + example. As has been explained before, Rig Veda means to the + Hindu not only the 'Collection' of hymns, but all the + library connected with this collection; for instance, the + two Br[=a]hmanas (of the Rig Veda), namely, the Aitareya and + the K[=a]ush[=i]taki (or Ç[=a]nkh[=a]yana). Now, each of + these Br[=a]hmanas concludes with an [=A]ranyaka, that is, a + Forest-Book (_ara[n.]ya_, forest, solitude); and in each + Forest Book is an Upanishad. For example, the third book of + the K[=a]ush[=i]taki [=A]ranyaka is the K[=a]ush[=i]taki + Upanishad. So the Ch[=a]ndogya and Brihad [=A]ranyaka belong + respectively to the S[=a]man and Yajus.] + + [Footnote 8: This teaching is ascribed to Ç[=a]ndilya, to + whose heresy, as opposed to the pure Vedantic doctrinc of + Çankara, we shall have to revert in a later chapter. The + heresy consists, in a word, in regarding the individual + spirit as at any time distinct from the Supreme Spirit, + though Ç[=a]ndilya teaches that it is ultimately absorbed + into the latter.] + + [Footnote 9: "God' Who' is air, air (space) is God 'Who'," + as if one said 'either is aether.'] + + [Footnote 10: 'Did penance over,' as one doing penance + remains in meditation. 'Brooded' is Müller's apt word for + this _abhi-tap._] + + [Footnote 11: Compare _Brihad [=A]ran. Up_. 6. 3. 7.] + + [Footnote 12: This is the _karma_ or _sams[=a]ra_ doctrine.] + + [Footnote 13: In J.U.B. alone have we noticed the formula + asserting that 'both being and not-being existed in the + beginning' (1. 53. 1; JAOS. XVI. 130).] + + [Footnote 14: Opposed is 3. 19. 1 and _T[=a]itt. Up_. 2. 7. + 1 (_Br_. II. 2. 9. 1, 10): "Not-being was here in the + beginning. From it arose being." And so _Çat. Br_. VI. 1. 1. + 1 (though in word only, for here not-being is the seven + spirits of God!)] + + [Footnote 15: As the Vedic notion of not-being existing + before being is refuted, so the Atharvan homage to Time as + Lord is also derided (_Çvet._ 6) in the Upanishads. The + supreme being is above time, as he is without parts (_ib_.). + In this later Upanishad wisdom, penance, and the grace of + God are requisite to know _brahma_.] + + [Footnote 16: This Vedic [Greek: Adgos] doctrine is + conspicuous in the Br[=a]hmana. Compare _Çat. Br_. VII. 5. + 2. 21: "V[=a]c ([Greek: Adgos]) is the Unborn one; from + V[=a]c the all-maker made creatures." See Weber, _Ind. + Stud_. IX. 477 ff.] + + [Footnote 17: Compare J.U.B. i. 56. 1, 'Water (alone) + existed in the beginning.' This is the oldest and latest + Hindu explanation of the matter of the physical universe. + From the time of the Vedas to mediaeval times, as is + recorded by the Greek travellers, water is regarded as the + original element.] + + [Footnote 18: The Gandh[=a]ra might indicate a late + geographical expansion as well as an early heritage, so that + this is not conclusive.] + + [Footnote 19: Gough, _Philosophy of the Upanishads_, has + sought to show that the pure Vedantism of Çankara is the + only belief taught in the Upanishads, ignoring the weight of + those passages that oppose his (in our view) too sweeping + assertion.] + + [Footnote 20: See the Parimara described, _[=A]it. Br_. + VIII. 28. Here _brahma_ is wind, around which die five + divinities--lightning in rain, rain in moon, moon in sun, + sun in fire, fire in wind--and they are reborn in reverse + order. The 'dying' is used as a curse. The king shall say, + 'When fire dies in wind then may my foe die,' and he will + die; so when any of the other gods dies around _brahma_.] + + [Footnote 21: Compare sterben, starve.] + + [Footnote 22: The androgynous creator of the Br[=a]hmanas.] + + [Footnote 23: We cannot, however, quite agree with Whitney + who, _loc. cit._ p. 92, and Journal, xiii, p. ciii ff., + implies that belief in hell comes later than this period. + This is not so late a teaching. Hell is Vedic and + Brahmanic.] + + [Footnote 24: This, in pantheistic style, is expressed thus + (Çvet. 4): "When the light has arisen there is no day no + night, neither being nor not-being; the Blessed One alone + exists there. There is no likeness of him whose name is + Great Glory."] + + [Footnote 25: Brihad [=A]ranyaka Upanishad, 2.4; 4. 5.] + + [Footnote 26: _Na pretya sa[.m]jñ[=a] 'sti._] + + [Footnote 27: Some of the Upanishads have been tampered + with, so that all of the contradictions may not be due to + the composers. Nevertheless, as the uncertainty of opinion + in regard to cosmogony is quite as great as that in respect + of absorption, all the vagueness cannot properly be + attributed to the efforts of later systematizers to bring + the Upanishads into their more or less orthodox Vedantism.] + + [Footnote 28: In 4. 10. 5 _kam_ is pleasure, one with ether + as _brahma_, not as wrongly above, p. 222, the god Ka.] + + [Footnote 29: This Upanishad appears to be sectarian, + perhaps an early Çivaite tract (dualistic), if the allusion + to Rudra Çiva, below, be accepted as original.] + + [Footnote 30: As is foreshadowed in the doctrine of grace by + V[=a]c in the Rig Veda, in the _Çvet_, the _Katha_, and the + _Mund_. Upanishads (_K. 2. 23; M_. 3. 2. 3), but nowhere + else, there enters, with the sectarian phase, that radical + subversion of the Upanishad doctrine which becomes so + powerful at a later date, the teaching that salvation is a + gift of God. "This Spirit is not got by wisdom; the Spirit + chooses as his own the body of that man whom He chooses."] + + [Footnote 31: See above. As descriptive of the immortal + conscious Spirit, there is the famous verse: "If the slayer + thinks to slay, if the slain thinks he is slain; they both + understand not; this one (the Spirit) slays not, and is not + slain" (_Katha_, 2. 19); loosely rendered by Emerson, 'If + the red slayer think he slays,' etc.] + + [Footnote 32: The fact remarked by Thibaut that radically + different systems of philosophy are built upon the + Upanishads is enough to show how ambiguous are the + declarations of the latter.] + + [Footnote 33: Compare Barth, _Religions_, p. 76.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE POPULAR BRAHMANIC FAITH + + +For a long time after the Vedic age there is little that gives one an +insight into the views of the people. It may be presumed, since the +orthodox systems never dispensed with the established cult, that the +form of the old Vedic creed was kept intact. Yet, since the real +belief changed, and the cult became more and more the practice of a +formality, it becomes necessary to seek, apart from the inherited +ritual, the faith which formed the actual religion of the people. +Inasmuch as this phase of Hindu belief has scarcely been touched upon +elsewhere, it may be well to state more fully the object of the +present chapter. + +We have shown above that the theology of the Vedic period had +resulted, before its close, in a form of pantheism, which was +accompanied, as is attested by the Atharva Veda, with a demonology and +witch-craft religion, the latter presumably of high antiquity. +Immediately after this come the esoteric Br[=a]hmanas, in which the +gods are, more or less, figures in the eyes of the priests, and the +form of a Father-god rises into chief prominence, being sometimes +regarded as the creative force, but at all times as the moral +authority in the world. At the end of this period, however, and +probably even before this period ended, there is for the first time, +in the Upanishads, a new religion, that, in some regards, is esoteric. +Hitherto the secrets of religious mysteries had been treated as hidden +priestly wisdom, not to be revealed. But, for the most part, this +wisdom is really nonsense; and when it is said in the Br[=a]hmanas, at +the end of a bit of theological mystery, that it is a secret, or +that 'the gods love that which is secret,' one is not persuaded by the +examples given that this esoteric knowledge is intellectually +valuable. But with the Upanishads there comes the antithesis of +inherited belief and right belief. The latter is public property, +though it is not taught carelessly. The student is not initiated into +the higher wisdom till he is drilled in the lower. The most unexpected +characters appear in the rôle of instructors of priests, namely, +women, kings, and members of the third caste, whose deeper wisdom is +promulgated oftentimes as something quite new, and sometimes is +whispered in secret. Pantheism, _sams[=a]ra_,[1] and the eternal bliss +of the individual spirit when eventually it is freed from further +transmigration,--these three fundamental traits of the new religion +are discussed in such a way as to show that they had no hold upon the +general public, but they were the intellectual wealth of a few. Some +of the Upanishads hide behind a veil of mystery; yet many of them, as +Windisch has said, are, in a way, popular; that is, they are intended +for a general public, not for priests alone. This is especially the +case with the pantheistic Upanishads in their more pronounced form. +But still it is only the very wise that can accept the teaching. It is +not the faith of the people. + +Epic literature, which is the next living literature of the Brahmans, +after the Upanishads, takes one, in a trice, from the beginnings of a +formal pantheism, to a pantheism already disintegrated by the newer +worship of sectaries. Here the impersonal _[=a]tm[=a]_, or nameless +Lord, is not only an anthropomorphic Çiva, as in the late Upanishads, +where the philosophic _brahma_ is equated with a long recognized type +of divinity, but _[=a]tm[=a]_ is identified with the figure of a +theomorphic man. + +Is there, then, nothing with which to bridge this gulf? + +In our opinion the religion of the law-books, as a legitimate phase of +Hindu religion, has been too much ignored. The religion of Upanishad +and Ved[=a]nta, with its attractive analogies with modern speculation, +has been taken as illustrative of the religion of a vast period, to +the discrediting of the belief represented in the manuals of law. To +these certainly the name of literature can scarcely be applied, but in +their rapport with ordinary life they will be found more apt than are +the profounder speculations of the philosophers to reflect the +religious belief taught to the masses and accepted by them. + +The study of these books casts a broad light upon that interval +between the Vedic and epic periods wherein it is customary to imagine +religion as being, in the main, cult or philosophy. Nor does the +interest cease with the yield of necessarily scanty yet very +significant facts in regard to eschatological and cosmogonic views. +The gods themselves are not what they are in the rites of the cunning +priests or in the dogmas of the sages. In the Hindu law there is a +reversion to Vedic belief; or rather not a reversion, but here one +sees again, through the froth of rites and the murk of philosophy, the +under-stream of faith that still flows from the old fount, if somewhat +discolored, and waters the heart of the people. + +At just what time was elaborated the stupendous system of rites, which +are already traditional in the Br[=a]hmanas, can never be known. Some +of these rites have to do with special ceremonies, such as the royal +inauguration, some are stated _soma_-sacrifices.[2] Opposed to these +_soma_-feasts is the simpler and older fire-cult, which persists in +the house-rituals. All of these together make up a sightly array of +sacrifices.[3] The _soma_-ritual is developed in the Br[=a]hmanas. But +with this class of works there must have been from ancient times +another which treated of the fire-ritual, and of which the more modern +representatives are the extant S[=u]tras. It is with S[=u]tras that +legal literature begins, but these differ from the ritualistic +S[=u]tras. Yet both are full of religious meat. In these collections, +even in the more special, there is no arrangement that corresponds to +western ideas of order. In a completed code, for example, there is a +rough distribution of subjects under different heads, but the attempt +is only tentative, and each work presents the appearance of a +heterogeneous mass of regulations and laws, from which one must pick +out the law for which he is seeking. The earlier legal works were in +prose; the later evolved codes, of which there is a large number, in +metre. It is in these two classes of house-ritual and law-ritual, +which together constitute what is called Smriti, tradition-ritual (in +distinction from the so-called Çruti, revelation-ritual), that one may +expect to find the religion of the time; not as inculcated by the +promoters of mystery, nor yet as disclosed by the philosopher, but as +taught (through the priest) to the people, and as accepted by them for +their daily guidance in matters of every-day observance. We glance +first at the religious observances, for here, as in the case of the +great sacrifices, a detailed examination would be of no more value +than a collective impression; unless, indeed, one were hunting for +folk-lore superstitions, of which we can treat now only in the mass. +It is sufficient to understand that, according to the house-ritual +(_g[r.]hya-s[=u]tra_) and the law-ritual (_dharma-s[=u]tra_, and +_dharma-ç[=a]stra_),[4] for every change in life there was an +appropriate ceremony and a religious observance; for every day, +oblations (three at least); for every fortnight and season, a +sacrifice. Religious formulae were said over the child yet unborn. +From the moment of birth he was surrounded with observances.[5] At +such and such a time the child's head was shaved; he was taken out to +look at the sun; made to eat from a golden spoon; invested with the +sacred cord, etc, etc. When grown up, a certain number of years were +passed with a Guru, or tutor, who taught the boy his Veda; and to whom +he acted as body-servant (a study and office often cut short in the +case of Aryans who were not priests). Of the sacraments alone, such as +the observances to which we have just alluded, there are no less than +forty according to Gautama's laws (the name-rite, eating-rite, etc.). +The pious householder who had once set up his own fire, that is, got +married, must have spent most of his time, if he followed directions, +in attending to some religious ceremony. He had several little rites +to attend to even before he might say his prayers in the morning; and +since even to-day most of these personal regulations are dutifully +observed, one may assume that in the full power of Brahmanhood they +were very straitly enforced.[6] + +It is, therefore, important to know what these works, so closely in +touch with the general public, have to say in regard to religion. What +they inculcate will be the popular theology of completed Brahmanism. +For these books are intended to give instruction to all the Aryan +castes, and, though this instruction filtrates through the hands of +the priest, one may be sure that the understanding between king and +priest was such as to make the code the real norm of justice and +arbiter of religious opinions. For instance, when one reads that the +king is a prime divinity, and that, _quid pro quo_, the priest may be +banished, but never may be punished corporally by the king, because +the former is a still greater divinity, it may be taken for granted +that such was received opinion. When we come to take up the Hinduism +of the epic we shall point out that that work contains a religion more +popular even than that of the legal literature, for one knows that +this latter phase of religion was at first not taught at all, but grew +up in the face of opposition. But for the present, before the rise of +epic 'Hinduism,' and before taking up the heretical writings, it is a +great gain to be able to scan a side of religion that may be called +popular in so far as it evidently is the faith which not only was +taught to the masses, but which, as is universally assumed in the law, +the masses accept; whereas philosophers alone accept the _[=a]tm[=a]_ +religion of the Upanishads, and the Br[=a]hmanas are not intended for +the public at all, but only for initiated priests. + +What, then, is the religious belief and the moral position of the +Hindu law-books? In how far has philosophy affected public religion, +and in what way has a reconciliation been affected between the +contradictory beliefs in regard to the gods; in regard to the value of +works on the one hand, and of knowledge on the other; in regard to +hell as a means of punishment for sin on the one hand, and +reincarnation (_sams[=a]ra_) on the other; in regard to heaven as a +reward of good deeds on the one hand, and absorption into God on the +other; in regard to a personal creator on the one hand, and a First +Cause without personal attributes on the other? + +For the philosophical treatises are known and referred to in the early +codes; so that, although the completed systems post-dated the +S[=u]tras, the cosmical and theological speculations of the earlier +Upanishads were familiar to the authors of the legal systems. + +The first general impression produced by a perusal of the law-books is +that the popular religion has remained unaffected by philosophy. And +this is correct in so far as that it must be put first in describing +the codes, which, in the main, in keeping the ancient observances, +reflect the inherited faith. When, therefore, one says that +pantheism[7] succeeded polytheism in India, he must qualify the +assertion. The philosophers are pantheists, but what of the vulgar? Do +they give up polytheism; are they inclined to do so, or are they +taught to do so? No. For there is no formal abatement in the rigor of +the older creed. Whatever the wise man thought, and whatever in his +philosophy was the instruction which he imparted to his peers, when he +dealt with the world about him he taught his intellectual inferiors a +scarcely modified form of the creed of their fathers. How in his own +mind this wise man reconciled the two sets of opinion has been shown +above. The works of sacrifice, with all the inherited belief implied +by them, were for him preparatory studies. The elasticity of his +philosophy admitted the whole world of gods, as a temporary reality, +into his pantheistic scheme. It was, therefore, neither the hypocrisy +of the Roman augur, nor the fear of results that in his teaching held +him to the inheritance he had received. Gods, ghosts, demons, and +consequently sacrifices, rites, ordeals, and formulae were not +incongruous with his philosophical opinions. He himself believed in +these spiritual powers and in the usefulness of serving them. It is +true that he believed in their eventual doom, but so far as man was +concerned they were practically real. There was, therefore, not only +no reason why the sage should not inculcate the old rites, but there +was every reason why he should. Especially in the case of pious but +ignorant people, whose wisdom was not yet developed to a full +appreciation of divine relativity, was it incumbent on him to keep +them, the lower castes, to the one religion that they could +comprehend. + +It is thus that the apparent inconsistency in exoteric and esoteric +beliefs explains itself. For the two are not contradictory. They do +not exclude each other. Hindu pantheism includes polytheism with its +attendant patrolatry, demonology, and consequent ritualism.[8] + +With rare exceptions it was only the grosser religion that the vulgar +could understand; it was only this that they were taught and believed. + +Thus the old Vedic gods are revered and worshipped by name. The Sun, +Indra, and all the divinities embalmed in ritual, are placated and +'satiated' with offerings, just as they had been satiated from time +immemorial. But no hint is given that this is a form; or that the +Vedic gods are of less account than they had been. Moreover, it is not +in the inherited formulae of the ritual alone that this view is +upheld. To be sure, when philosophical speculation is introduced, the +Father-god comes to the fore; Brahm[=a][9] sits aloft, indulgently +advising his children, as he does in the intermediate stage of the +Br[=a]hmanas; and _[=a]tm[=a] (brahma)_ too is recognized to be the +real being of Brahm[=a], as in the Upanishads.[10] But none of this +touches the practice of the common law, where the ordinary man is +admonished to fear Yama's hell and Varuna's bonds, as he would have +been admonished before the philosopher grew wiser than the Vedic +seers. Only personified Right, Dharma, takes his seat with shadowy +Brahm[=a] among the other gods.[11] + +What is the speech which the judge on the bench is ordered to repeat +to the witnesses? Thus says the law-giver Manu: "When the witnesses +are collected together in the court, in the presence of the plaintiff +and defendant, the (Brahman) judge should call upon them to speak, +kindly addressing them in the following manner: 'Whatever you know has +been done in this affair ... declare it all. A witness who in +testifying speaks the truth reaches the worlds where all is plenty ... +such testimony is honored by Brahm[=a]. One who in testifying speaks +an untruth is, all unwilling, bound fast by the cords of Varuna,[12] +till an hundred births are passed.' ... (Then, speaking to one +witness): 'Spirit (soul) is the witness for the Spirit, and the Spirit +is likewise the refuge of the Spirit. Despise not, therefore, thine +own spirit (or soul), the highest witness of man. Verily, the wicked +think 'no one sees us,' but the gods are looking at them, and also the +person within (conscience). _Dyaus, Earth, the Waters_, (the person in +the) heart, _Moon, Sun, Fire, Yama, Wind, Night, the twin Twilights_, +and Dharma know the conduct of all corporeal beings.... Although, O +good man, thou regardest thyself, thinking, 'I am alone,' yet the holy +one (saint) who sees the evil and the good, stands ever in thy heart. +It is in truth god Yama, the son of Vivasvant, who resideth in thy +heart; if thou beest not at variance with him (thou needest) not (to) +go to the Ganges and to the (holy land of) the Kurus (to be +purified).'" + +Here there is no abatement in Vedic polytheism, although it is circled +round with a thin mist from later teachings. In the same way the +ordinary man is taught that at death his spirit (soul) will pass as a +manikin out of his body and go to Yama to be judged; while the feasts +to the Manes, of course, imply always the belief in the individual +activity of dead ancestors. Such expressions as 'The seven daughters +of +Varuna' (_sapta v[=a]ru[n.][=i]r im[=a]s,_ [=A]çv. _Grih. S_. 2. 3. 3) +show that even in detail the old views are still retained. There is no +advance, except in superstitions,[13] on the main features of the old +religion. So the same old fear of words is found, resulting in new +euphemisms. One must not say 'scull,' _kap[=a]la_, but call it +_bhag[=a]la_, 'lucky' (Gaut. 9. 21); a factor in the making of African +languages also, according to modern travellers. Images of the gods are +now over-recognized by the priest, for they must be revered like the +gods themselves (_ib_. 12; P[=a]r. _Grih. S_. 3. 14. 8. etc.). Among +the developed objects of the cult serpents now occupy a prominent +place. They are mentioned as worshipful in the Br[=a]hmanas. In the +S[=u]tra period offerings are made to snakes of earth, air, and +heaven; the serpents are 'satiated' along with gods, plants, demons, +etc. (Ç[=a][.n]kh. 4. 9. 3; 15. 4; [=A]çv. 2. 1. 9; 3. 4. 1; +P[=a]rask. 2. 14. 9) and blood is poured out to them ([=A]çv. 4. 8. +27.).[14] But other later divinities than those of the earliest Veda, +such as Wealth (Kubera), and Dharma, have crept into the ritual. With +the Vedic gods appears as a divinity in Kh[=a]d. 1. 5. 31 the love-god +K[=a]ma, of the Atharvan; while on the other hand Rudra the beast-lord +(Paçupati, Lord of Cattle), the 'kindly' Çiva, appears as 'great god,' +whose names are Çankara, Prish[=a]taka, Bhava, Çarva, Ugra, Iç[=a]na +(Lord); who has all names and greatness, while he yet is described in +the words of the older text as 'the god that desires to kill' ([=A]çv. +2. 2. 2; 4. 8. 9, 19,[15] 29, 32; _[=A]it. Br_. 3. 34). On the other +hand Vishnu is also adored, and that in connection with the [Greek: +logos], or V[=a]c (_ib_. 3. 3. 4). Quite in Upanishad manner--for it +is necessary to show that these were then really known--is the formula +'thou art a student of _pr[=a][n.]a_ (Breath,) and art given over to +Ka' (_ib_. 1. 20. 8.), or _'whom?'_ In [=A]çval[=a]yana no Upanishads +are given in the list of literature, which includes the 'Eulogies of +men,' Itih[=a]sas, Pur[=a]nas, and even the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata (3. 3. +1; 4. 4). But in 1. 13. 1, _Upanishad-rites_ (and that of a very +domestic nature) are recognized, which would corroborate the +explanation of Upanishad given above, as being at first a subsidiary +work, dealing with minor points.[16] Something of the sciolism of the +Upanishads seems to lie in the prayer that of the four paths on which +walk the gods the mortal may be led in that which bestows 'freedom +from death' (P[=a]r. 3. 1. 2); and many of the teachers famous in the +Upanishads are now revered by name like gods ([=A]çv. 3. 4. 4, etc.). + +On turning from these domestic S[=u]tras to the legal S[=u]tras it +becomes evident that the pantheistic doctrine of the Upanishads, and +in part the Upanishads themselves, were already familiar to the +law-makers, and that they influenced, in some degree, the doctrines of +the law, despite the retention of the older forms. Not only is +_sams[=a]ra_ the accepted doctrine, but the _[=a]tm[=a]_, as if in a +veritable Upanishad, is the object of religious devotion. Here, +however, this quest is permitted only to the ascetic, who presumably +has performed all ritualistic duties and passed through the stadia +that legally precede his own. + +Of all the legal S[=u]tra-writers Gautama is oldest, and perhaps is +pre-buddhistic. Turning to his work one notices first that the +M[=i]m[=a]msist is omitted in the list of learned men (28. 49);[17] +but since the Upanishads and Ved[=a]nta are expressly mentioned, it is +evident that the author of even the oldest S[=u]tra was acquainted +with whatever then corresponded to these works.[18] The opposed +teaching of hell versus _sams[=a]ra_ is found in Gautama. But there is +rather an interesting attempt to unite them. Ordinarily it is to hell +and heaven that reference is made, _e.g_., 'the one that knows the law +obtains the heavenly world' (28. 52); 'if one speak untruth to a +teacher, even in thought, even in respect to little things, he slays +seven men after and before him' (seven descendants and seven +ancestors, 23. 31). So in the case of witnesses: 'heaven (is the +fruit) for speaking the truth; otherwise hell' (13. 7); 'for stealing +(land) hell' (is the punishment, _ib_. 17). Now and then comes the +philosophical doctrine: 'one does not fall from the world of +Brahm[=a]' (9. 74); 'one enters into union and into the same world +with Brahm[=a]' (8. 25). + +But in 21. 4-6 there occurs the following statement: 'To be an outcast +is to be deprived of the works of the twice-born, and hereafter to be +deprived of happiness; this some (call) hell.' It is evident here that +the expression _asiddhis_ (deprivation of success or happiness) is +placed optionally beside _naraka_ (hell) as the view of one set of +theologians compared with that of another; 'lack of obtaining success, +_i.e_., reward' stands parallel to 'hell.' In the same chapter, where +Manu says that he who assaults a Brahman "obtains hell for one hundred +years" (M. xi. 207), Gautama (21. 20) says "for one hundred years, +lack of heaven" (_asvargyam_), which may mean hell or the deprivation +of the result of merit, _i.e_., one hundred years will be deducted +from his heavenly life. In this case not a new and better birth but +heaven is assumed to be the reward of good acts. Now if one turns to +11. 29-30 he finds both views combined. In the parallel passage in +[=A]pastamba only better or worse re-births are promised as a reward +for good or evil (2. 5. 11. 10-11); but here it is said: "The castes +and orders that remain by their duty, having died, having enjoyed the +fruits of their acts, with the remnant of their (merit) obtain +re-birth, having an excellent country, caste, and family; having long +life, learning, good conduct, wealth, happiness, and wisdom. They of +different sort are destroyed in various ways." Here, heavenly joys +(such as are implied by _ni[h.]çreyasam_ in 26) are to be enjoyed +first, and a good birth afterwards, and by implication one probably +has to interpret the next sentence to mean 'they are sent to hell and +then re-born in various low births.' This, too, is Manu's rule +(below). At this time the sacred places which purify are in great +vogue, and in Gautama a list of them is given (19. 14), viz.: "all +mountains, all rivers, holy pools, places of pilgrimage (_i.e_., +river-fords, _tirth[=a]ni_), homes of saints, cow-pens, and altars." +Of these the _tirthas_ are particularly interesting, as they later +become of great importance, thousands of verses in the epic being +devoted to their enumeration and praise. + +Gautama says also that ascetics, according to some teachers, need not +be householders first (3. 1), and that the Brahman ascetic stays at +home during the rainy season, like the heretic monks (_ib_. 13). If +one examine the relative importance of the forms and spirit of +religion as taught in this, the oldest _dharma-s[=u]tra_,[19] he will +be impressed at first with the tremendous weight laid on the former as +compared with the latter. But, as was said apropos of the Brahmanic +literature, one errs who fails to appreciate the fact that these works +are intended not to give a summary of religious conduct, but to +inculcate ceremonial rules. Of the more importance, therefore, is the +occasional pause which is made to insist, beyond peradventure, on the +superiority of moral rules. A very good instance of this is found in +Gautama. He has a list of venial sins. Since lying is one of the most +heinous offences to a Hindu lawgiver, and the penances are severe, all +the treatises state formally that an untruth uttered in fun, or when +one is in danger, or an oath of the sort implied by Plato: [Greek: +_aphrodision orkon ou phasin einai_],--all these are venial, and so +are lies told to benefit a (holy) cow, or to aid a priest; or told +from religious motives of any sort without self-interest. This is +almost the only example of looseness in morals as taught in the law. +But the following case shows most plainly the importance of morality +as opposed to formal righteousness. After all the forty sacraments (to +which allusion was made above), have been recounted, there are given +'eight good qualities of the soul,' viz., mercy, forbearance, freedom +from envy, purity, calmness, correct behavior, freedom from greed and +from covetousness. Then follows: "He that has (performed) the forty +sacraments but has not the eight good qualities enters not into union +with Brahm[=a], nor into the heaven of Brahm[=a].[20] But he that has +(performed) only a part of the forty sacraments and has the eight good +qualities enters into union with Brahm[=a], and into the heaven of +Brahm[=a]." This is as near to heresy as pre-buddhistic Brahmanism +permitted itself to come. + +In the later legal S[=u]tra of the northern Vasistha[21] occurs a rule +which, while it distinctly explains what is meant by liberality, viz., +gifts to a priest, also recognizes the 'heavenly reward': "If gifts +are given to a man that does not know the Veda the divinities are not +satisfied" (3. 8). In the same work (6. 1) 'destruction' is the fate +of the sinner that lives without observance of good custom; yet is it +said in the same chapter (27): "If a twice-born man dies with the food +of a Ç[=u]dra (lowest caste) in his belly, he would become a village +pig, or he is born again in that (Ç[=u]dra's) family"; and, in respect +to sons begotten when he has in him such food: "Of whom the food, of +him are these sons; and he himself would not mount to heaven ... he +does not find the upward path" (29, 28). In _ib_. 8. 17 the Brahman +that observes all the rules 'does not fall from _brahmaloka,' i.e_., +the locality of Brahm[=a]. Further, in 10. 4: "Let (an ascetic) do +away with all (sacrificial) works; but let him not do away with one +thing, the Veda; for from doing away with the Veda (one becomes) a +Ç[=u]dra." But, in the same chapter: "Let (the ascetic) live at the +end of a village, in a temple ('god's house'), in a deserted house, or +at the root of a tree; there in his mind studying the knowledge (of +the _[=a]tm[=a]_) ... so they cite (verses): 'Sure is the freedom from +re-birth in the case of one that lives in the wood with passions +subdued ... and meditates on the supreme spirit' ... Let him not be +confined to any custom ... and in regard to this (freedom from worldly +pursuits) they cite these verses: 'There is no salvation (literally +'release') for a philologist (_na çabdaç[=a]str[=a]bhiratasya +mokshas_), nor for one that delights in catching (men) in the world, +nor for one addicted to food and dress, nor for one pleased with a +fine house. By means of prodigies, omens, astrology, palmistry, +teaching, and talking let him not seek alms ... he best knows +salvation who (cares for naught)' ... (such are the verses). Let him +neither harm nor do good to anything.... Avoidance of disagreeable +conduct, jealousy, presumption, selfishness, lack of belief, lack of +uprightness, self-praise, blame of others, harm, greed, distraction, +wrath, and envy, is a rule that applies to all the stadia of life. The +Brahman that is pure, and wears the girdle, and carries the gourd in +his hand, and avoids the food of low castes fails not of obtaining the +world of Brahm[=a]" (_ib_. 10. 18 ff.). Yama, the Manes, and evil +spirits (_asuras_) are referred to in the following chapter (20, 25); +and hell in the same chapter is declared to be the portion of such +ascetics as will not eat meat when requested to do so at a feast to +the Manes or gods (11. 34),--rather an interesting verse, for in +Manu's code the corresponding threat is that, instead of going to hell +'for as long, _i.e_., as many years, as the beast has hairs,' as here, +one shall experience 'twenty-one rebirths,' _i.e_., the hell-doctrine +in terms of _sams[=a]ra_; while the same image occurs in Manu in the +form 'he that slaughters beasts unlawfully obtains as many rebirths as +there are hairs on the beast' (v. 35. 38). The passive attitude +sometimes ascribed to the Manes is denied; they rejoice over a +virtuous descendant (11. 41); a bad one deprives them of the heaven +they stand in (16. 36). The authorities on morals are here, as +elsewhere, Manu and other seers, the Vedas, and the Father-god, who +with Yama gives directions to man in regard to lawful food, etc. (14. +30). The moral side of the code, apart from ritual impurities, +is given, as usual, by a list of good and bad qualities (above), +while formal laws in regard to theft, murder (especially of a +priest), adultery and drunkenness (20. 44; i. 20), with violation +of caste-regulations by intercourse with outcasts, are 'great +crimes.' Though older than [=A]pastamba, who mentions the +P[=u]rva-m[=i]m[=a]ms[=a], Vasistha, too, knows the Ved[=a]nta (3. +17), and the M[=i]m[=a]ms[=a] (_vikalpin--tarkin_, 3. 20, M. XII. +111). + +From the S[=u]tras of B[=a]udh[=a]yana's probably southern school +something of additional interest is to be gained. Here 'darkness' +takes the place of hell (2. 3. 5. 9), which, however, by a citation is +explained (in 2. 2. 3. 34) as 'Yama's hall.' A verse is cited to show +that the greatest sin is lack of faith (1. 5. 10. 6) and not going to +heaven is the reward of folly (_ib_. 7); while the reward of virtue is +to live in heaven for long (4. 8. 7). The same freedom in regard to +ascetics as occurs in other S[=u]tra works is to be found in this +author, not in the more suspicious final chapters, but in that part of +the work which is accepted as oldest,[22] and agrees with the data +found in the Br[=a]hmanas, where the pre-buddhistic monk is called +Bhikshu, 'beggar/or Sanny[=a]sin 'he that renounces,' just as these +terms are employed in the heretical writings. As among the Jains (and +Buddhists), the Brahmanic ascetic carries a few simple utensils, and +wanders about from house to house and village to village, begging +food. Some authorities (among the Brahmans) say that one may become an +ascetic as soon as he has completed his study, though ordinarily this +may be done only after passing through the householder stadium. On +becoming an ascetic the beggar takes the vow not to injure any living +thing (B[=a]udh. II.10.17.2. 11, 29), exactly as the Jain ascetic +takes the vow of non-injury. More than this, as will be seen below, +the details of the Brahman ascetic's vows are almost identical with +those of the Jain ascetic. He vows not to injure living beings, not to +lie, not to steal, to be continent, to be liberal; with the five minor +vows, not to get angry, to obey the Teacher, not to be rash, to be +cleanly and pure in eating.[23] To this ascetic order in the Brahman +priesthood may be traced the origin of the heretical monks. Even in +the Br[=a]hmanas occur the termini technici of the Buddhist +priesthood, notably the Çramana or ascetic monk, and the word +_buddha_, 'awakened' (_pratibudh_). The 'four orders' are those +enumerated as the householder, student, ascetic, and forest-hermit. If +one live in all four orders according to rule, and be serene, he will +come to peace, that is, salvation ([=A]pastamba, 2. 9. 21. I, 2). + +According to this later legal writer, who belongs to Southern +India,[24] it is only after one has passed through all the preceding +stadia that he may give up works (sacrifice, etc.) and devote himself +to seeking the [=a]tm[=a],'wandering about, without caring for earth +or heaven, renouncing truth and falsehood, pleasure and pain' (_ib_. +10, 13). There follows this passage one significant of the opposition +between purely Upanishad-ideas and those of the law-givers: +'Acquirement of peace (salvation) depends, it is said, on knowledge; +this is opposed by the codes. If on knowledge (depended) acquirement +of peace, even here (in this world) one would escape grief' (_ib._ +14-16). Further, in describing the forest-hermit's austerities (_ib._ +23. 4 ff.), verses from a Pur[=a]na are cited which are virtually +Upanishadic: 'The eight and eighty thousand seers who desired +offspring (went) south on Aryaman's path, and obtained (as their +reward) graves; (but) the eight and eighty thousand who did not desire +offspring (went) north on Aryaman's path and make for themselves +immortality,' that is to say 'abandon desire for offspring; and of the +two paths (which, as the commentator observes, are mentioned in the +Ch[=a]ndogya Upanishad), that which gives immortality instead of death +(graves) will be yours.' It is admitted that such ascetics have +miraculous powers; but the law-maker emphatically protests in the +following S[=u]tra against the supposition that a rule which stands +opposed to the received rites (marriage, sacrifice, etc.) is of any +power, and asserts that for the future life an endless reward +('fruit'), called in revelation 'heavenly,' is appointed (_ib._ 8-11). +The next chapter, however, limits, as it were, this dogma, for it is +stated that immortality is the re-birth of one's self in the body of +one's son, and a verse is cited: 'Thou procreatest progeny, and that's +thy immortality, O mortal,' with other verses, which teach that sons +that attend to the Vedic rites magnify the fame and heaven of their +ancestors, who 'live in heaven until the destruction of creation' +_([=a] bh[=u]tasamptav[=a]t_, 2. 9. 24. 5), But 'according to the +Bhavishyat-Pur[=a]na' after this destruction of creation 'they exist +again in heaven as the cause of seed' (_ib._) 6. And then follows a +quotation from the Father-god: 'We live with those people who do these +(following) things: (attend to) the three Vedas, live as students, +create children, sacrifice to the Manes, do penance, make sacrifice to +the gods, practice liberality; he that extols anything else becomes +air (or dust) and perishes' (_ib._) 8; and further: 'only they that +commit sin perish' (not their ancestors). + +The animus of this whole passage is apparent. The law-maker has to +contend with them that would reject the necessity of following in +order the traditional stadia of a priest's life; that imagine that by +becoming ascetics without first having passed through the preliminary +stadia they can by knowledge alone attain the bliss that is obtained +by union with _brahma_ (or Brahm[=a]). In other words the jurist has +to contend with a trait eminently anti-Brahmanistic, even Buddhistic. +He denies this value of knowledge, and therewith shows that what he +wishes to have inculcated is a belief in the temporary personal +existence of the Manes; in heaven till the end of the world-order; and +the annihilation of the wicked; while he has a confused or mixed +opinion in regard to one's own personal immortality, believing on the +one hand that there is a future existence in heaven with the gods, and +on the other (rather a materialistic view) that immortality is nothing +but continued existence in the person of one's descendants, who are +virtually one's self in another body: _dehatvam ev[=a]'nyat,_ "only +the body is different" (_ib_) 2. As to cosmogony it is stated to be +(not the emanation of an _[=a]tm[=a]_) but the "emission (creation) of +the Father-god and of the seers" (the latter being visible as stars, +_ib_. 13, 14). In this there is plainly a received popular opinion, +which reflects the Vedic and Brahmanic stage, and is opposed to the +philosophical views of the Upanishads, in other words of the first +Vedantic philosophy; while it is mixed up with the late doctrine of +the cataclysms, which ruin each succeeding^ creation. The equal +annihilation of the wicked (_dhvamsanti_) and unorthodox (_dhvamsate_) +is to be noticed. They are here subject neither to hell nor to +rebirth, but they "become dust and perish" (_ib_. 8. 9). + +Throughout the whole legal literature one will find this same +antithesis of views in regard to the fate of good and bad, although it +is seldom that annihilation is predicated of the latter. Usually hell +or rebirth are their fate--two views, which no one can really +reconcile. They are put side by side; exactly as in priestly +discussion in India and Europe it still remains an unsettled question +as to when the soul becomes immortal.[25] Occidental experience +teaches how easy it is for such views to stand together unattacked, +although they are the object of speculation. This passage is perhaps, +historically, the most satisfactory (as it is philosophically +unsatisfactory) that can be cited in answer to the questions that were +posed above. But from other parts of legal literature a few more +statements may be culled, to illustrate still further the lack of +uniformity not only in popular belief, but in the teaching provided +for the public. First from the same work of [=A]pastamba, in 2. 11. +29. 9-10 it is said that if a witness in court perjure himself he +shall be punished by the king, "and further, in passing to the next +world, hell" (is his portion); whereas "(the reward) for truth is +heaven, and praise on the part of all creatures." Now, let one compare +first _ib_. 2. 5. 11. 10-11: "Men of low castes are reborn in higher +castes in successive births, and men of high castes in low castes, if +they respectively perform and neglect their duties." And then this +Vedantic passage of the same author (1. 8. 22 ff.): "Let one (as +penance for sin) devote himself to the Yoga (mental discipline) which +has to do with the highest _[=a]tm[=a]_ ... Nothing is known higher +than the acquisition of _[=a]tm[=a]_. We shall (now) cite some +_[=a]tm[=a]_-acquisition-verses, viz.: All living creatures (are) the +citadel of him that rests in secret, the indestructible one, the +immaculate one. Immortal they that devote themselves to the moveless +one who has a movable dwelling ... the great one whose body is light, +universal, free ... the eternal (part) in all creatures, the wise, +immortal, unchanging one, limbless, voiceless, formless, touchless, +purest, the highest goal. He that everywhere devotes himself to Him +(_[=a]tm[=a]_ as Lord), and always lives accordingly; that by virtue +of Yoga recognizes Him, the subtile one, shall rejoice in the top of +heaven ... He, _[=a]tm[=a],_ comprehends all, embraces all, more +subtile than a lotus-thread and huger than the earth ... From him are +created all bodies; he is the root, he the Everlasting, the Eternal +One." + +This discipline it will be observed is enjoined as penance and to get +rid of faults, that is, to subdue the passions. As the same chapter +contains a list of the faults which are to be overcome before one +"arrives at peace" (salvation) they may be cited here: "Anger, joy, +wrath, greed, distraction, injury, threats, lying, over-eating, +calumny, envy, sexual desire, and hate, lack of studying _[=a]tm[=a],_ +lack of Yoga--the destruction of these (faults) is based on Yoga" +(mental concentration). On the other hand: "He that devotes himself, +in accordance with the law, to avoiding anger, joy, wrath, greed, +distraction, injury, threats, lies, over-eating, calumny and envy; and +practices liberality, renunciation, uprightness, kindness, subduing +(of the passions), self-control; and is at peace with all creatures; +and practices Yoga; and acts in an [=A]ryan (noble) way; and does not +hurt anything; and has contentment--qualities which, it is agreed, +appertain to all the (four) stadia--he becomes _s[=a]rvag[=a]min" +(ib._ 23.6), that is 'one belonging to the all-pervading' (All-soul). +There appears to be a contradiction between the former passage, where +Yoga is enjoined on ascetics alone; and this, where Yoga is part of +the discipline of all four stadia. But what was in the author's mind +was probably that all these vices and moral virtues are enumerated as +such for all; and he slips in mental concentration as a virtue for the +ascetic, meaning to include all the virtues he knows. + +A few further illustrations from that special code which has won for +itself a preeminent name, 'the law-book of Manu,'[26] will give in +epitome the popular religion as taught to the masses; withal even +better than this is taught in the S[=u]tras. For Father Manu's +law-book, as the Hindus call it, is a popular Ç[=a]stra or metrical[27] +composite of law and religion, which reflects the opinion of +Brahmanism in its geographical stronghold, whereas the S[=u]tras +emanate from various localities, north and south. To Manu there is but +one Holy Land, the Kurus' plain and the region round-about it (near +Delhi). + +The work takes us forward in time beyond even the latest S[=u]tras, +but the content is such as to show that formal Brahmanism in this +latest stage still keeps to its old norm and to Brahmanic models. + +It deserves therefore to be examined with care from several points of +view if one would escape from the belief of the philosopher to the +more general teaching. In this popular religion all morality is +conditioned by the castes,[28] which is true also to a certain degree +of the earlier Sutras, but the evil fruit of this plant is not there +quite so ripe as it is in the later code. The enormity of all crimes +depends on who commits them, and against whom they are committed. The +three upper castes alone have religious privileges. The lowest caste, +outcasts, women, and diseased persons are not allowed to hear the holy +texts or take part in ceremonies.[29] As to the rites, they are the +inherited ones, sacrifices to gods, offerings to Manes and spirits, +and all the ceremonies of house and individual, as explained above; +with especial and very minute rules of observance for each of the four +stadia of a priest's life.[30] There is no hint in any of this of the +importance of the knowledge of the _[=a]tm[=a]._ But in their proper +place the rules of morality and the higher philosophical views are +taught. The doctrine of re-birth is formally stated, and the +attainment of the world of Brahm[=a] _(brahma)_ by union of ceremonies +and knowledge is inculcated. The ascetic should seek, by meditation, +to go to Brahm[=a] (or _brahma_) for when he is utterly indifferent, +then, both here and after death, he gains everlasting happiness. +Therefore he should study the Vedas, but especially the teachings in +regard to the Supreme Spirit, and the Upanishads; studying the +Ved[=a]nta is a regular part of his final discipline (VI, 74-94). In +another part of the work the distinction made in the Upanishads is +upheld, that religious acts are of two sorts, one designed to procure +bliss, and cause a good man to reach equality with the gods; the other +performed without selfish motive; by which latter "even the five +elements are overcome," that is, the absorption into _brahma_ is +effected. For "among all virtuous acts the knowledge of the spirit, +_[=a]tm[=a],_ is highest; through this is obtained even immortality. +One that sees spirit in all things and all things in spirit sacrifices +to spirit and enters Brahm[=a] (or _brahma_)" "The spirit (or self) is +all divinities; the All is based on spirit." And in Upanishadic vein +the Person is then proclaimed as lord of gods, whom "some call fire, +some call Manu, some call Indra, some call air, and some call eternal +_brahma._" But though this be the view of the closing verses, yet in +the beginning of the work is this Person represented as being produced +from a First Cause. It would be out of place here to analyse the +conflicting philosophical views of the Manu code. Even his +commentators are uncertain whether he belonged to the pantheistic +Ved[=a]nta or dualistic S[=a]nkhya school. For them that believe in no +Manu the solution is simpler. Although Manu is usually called a +Puranic Sankhyan, yet are both schools represented, and that without +regard to incongruous teaching. Manu is no more Sankhyan than +Vedantic. Indeed in the main part of the work the teaching is clearly +more Vedantic. But it suffices here to point out that the +_[=a]tm[=a]_-philosophy and religion is not ignored; it is taught as +essential. Nevertheless, it is not taught in such a way as to indicate +that it is requisite for the vulgar. On the contrary, it is only when +one becomes an ascetic that he is told to devote himself to the +pursuit of the knowledge of _[=a]tm[=a]_. In one passage there is +evidence that two replies were given to this fundamental question in +regard to works and knowledge. For after enumerating a list of good +acts, among which are knowledge and Vedic ceremonies, it is asked +which among them most tends to deliverance. The answer is vital. Or it +should be, but it is given in an ambiguous form (xii. 85-6): "Amid all +these acts the knowledge of self, _[=a]tm[=a],_ is the highest, for it +produces immortality. Amid all these acts the one most productive of +happiness, both after death and in this life, is the Vedic ceremony." + +Knowledge gives real immortality; rites give temporary bliss. The +Upanishads teach that the latter is lower than the former, but each +answers the question. There were two answers, and Manu gives both. +That is the secret of many discrepancies in Hindu rules. The law-giver +cannot admit absolutely and once for all that the Vedic ceremony is of +no abiding use, as it can be of no use to one that accepts the higher +teaching. He keeps it as a training and allows only the ascetic to be +a philosopher indeed. But at the same time he gives as a sort of +peroration to his treatise some 'elegant extracts' from philosophical +works, which he believes theoretically, although practically he will +not allow them to influence his ritualism. He is a true Brahman +priest. + +It is this that is always so annoying in Brahmanic philosophy. For the +slavery of tradition is everywhere. Not only does the ritualist, while +admitting the force of the philosopher's reasons, remain by Vedic +tradition, and in consequence refuse to supplant 'revelation' with the +higher wisdom and better religion, which he sees while he will not +follow it; but even the philosopher must needs be 'orthodox,' and, +since the scriptures themselves are self-contradictory, he is obliged +to use his energies not in discovering truth, but in reconciling his +ancestors' dogmas, in order to the creation of a philosophical system +which shall agree with everything that has been said in the Vedas and +Upanishads. When one sees what subtlety and logical acumen these +philosophers possessed, he is moved to wonder what might have been the +outcome had their minds been as free as those of more liberal Hellas. +But unfortunately they were bound to argue within limits, and were as +much handicapped in the race of thought as were they that had to +conform to the teachings of Rome. For though India had no church, it +had an inquisitorial priestly caste, and the unbeliever was an +outcast. What is said of custom is true of faith: "Let one walk in the +path of good men, the path in which his father walked, in which his +grandfathers walked; walking in that path one does no wrong" (Manu iv. +178). Real philosophy, unhampered by tradition, is found only among +the heretics and in the sects of a later time. + +The gods of old are accepted by the orthodox as a matter of course, +although theoretically they are born of the All-god, who is without +the need of ceremonial rites. To the other castes the active and most +terrible deity is represented as being the priest himself. He not only +symbolizes the fire-god, to whom is offered the sacrifice, but he +actually is the divinity in person. Hence there is no greater merit +than in giving gifts to priests. As to eschatology, opinions are not +contrasted any more. They are put side by side. In morality truth, +purity, and harmlessness are chiefly inculcated. But the last +(ascribed by some scholars to Buddhistic influence) is not permitted +to interfere with animal sacrifices. + +Some of the rules for the life of a householder will show in brief the +moral excellence and theoretical uncertainty of Manu's law-code. The +following extracts are from the fourth, the Ten Commandments from the +sixth, and the description of the hells (twenty-two in all)[31] from +the fourth and twelfth books of Manu's code. These rules may be +accepted as a true reflexion of what was taught to the people by +stringent Brahmanism as yet holding aloof from Hinduism. + +A householder must live without giving any pain (to living creatures). +He must perform daily the ceremonies ordained in the Veda. In this way +he obtains heaven. Let him never neglect the offerings to seers, gods, +spirits (sprites), men, and Manes. Some offer sacrifice only in their +organs of sense (not in external offerings); some by knowledge alone. +Let him not explain law and rites to the Ç[=u]dra (slave) caste; if he +does so, he sinks into the hell Boundless. Let him not take presents +from an avaricious king who disobeys the law-codes; if he does so, he +goes to twenty-one hells (called Darkness, Dense-darkness, Frightful, +Hell, Thread of Death, Great Hell, Burning, Place of Spikes, +Frying-pan, River of Hell, etc., etc., etc.). Let him never despise a +warrior, a snake, or a priest. Let him never despise himself. Let him +say what is true and what is agreeable, but not disagreeable truth or +agreeable false-hood. Let him not dispute with anybody, but let him +say 'very well.' Let him not insult anybody. Remembering his former +births, and studying the Veda again and again, he gets endless +happiness. Let him avoid unbelief and censure of the Vedas, reviling +of gods, hatred, pride, anger, and cruelty. He that even threatens a +priest will go to the hell Darkness for one hundred years; if he +strikes him he will be born in twenty-one sinful rebirths (according +to another passage in the eleventh book he goes to hell for a thousand +years for the latter offence). Priests rule the world of gods. But +deceitful, hypocritical priests go to hell. Let the householder give +gifts, and he will be rewarded. One that gives a garment gets a place +in the moon; a giver of grain gets eternal happiness; a giver of the +Veda gets union with Brahm[=a] (_brahma_; these gifts, of course, are +all to priests). He that gives respectfully and he that receives +respectfully go to heaven; otherwise both go to hell. Let him, without +giving pain to any creature, slowly pile up virtue, as does an ant its +house, that he may have a companion in the next world. For after death +neither father, nor mother, nor son, nor wife, nor relations are his +companions; his virtue alone remains with him. The relations leave the +dead body, but its virtue follows the spirit: with his virtue as his +companion he will traverse the darkness that is hard to cross; and +virtue will lead him to the other world with a luminous form and +ethereal body. A priest that makes low connections is reborn as a +slave. The Father-god permits a priest to accept alms even from a bad +man. For fifteen years the Manes refuse to accept food from one that +despises a free gift. A priest that sins should be punished (that is, +mulcted, a priest may not be punished corporally), more than an +ordinary man, for the greater the wisdom the greater the offence. They +that commit the Five Great Sins live many years in hells, and +afterwards obtain vile births; the slayer of a priest becomes in turn +a dog, a pig, an ass, a camel, a cow, a goat, a sheep, etc, etc. A +priest that drinks intoxicating liquor becomes various insects, one +after another. A priest that steals becomes a spider, snake, etc, etc. +By repeating sinful acts men are reborn in painful and base births, +and are hurled about in hells; where are sword-leaved trees, etc, and +where they are eaten, burned, spitted, and boiled; and they receive +births in despicable wombs; rebirth to age, sorrow, and unquenchable +death. But to secure supreme bliss a priest must study the Veda, +practice austerity, seek knowledge, subdue the senses, abstain from +injury, and serve his Teacher. Which of these gives highest bliss? The +knowledge of the spirit is the highest and foremost, for it gives +immortality. The performance of Vedic ceremonies is the most +productive of happiness here and hereafter. The Ten Commandments for +the twice-born are: Contentment, patience, self-control, not to steal, +purity, control of passions, devotion (or wisdom), knowledge, +truthfulness, and freedom from anger. These are concisely summarized +again in the following: 'Manu declared the condensed rule of duty for +(all) the four castes to be: not to injure a living thing; to speak +the truth; not to steal; to be pure; to control the passions' (VI. 92; +X. 63). The 'non-injury' rule does not apply, of course, to sacrifice +(_ib_. III. 268). In the epic the commandments are given sometimes as +ten, sometimes as eight. + +In order to give a completed exposition of Brahmanism we have passed +beyond the period of the great heresies, to which we must soon revert. +But, before leaving the present division of the subject, we select +from the mass of Brahmanic domestic rites, the details of which offer +in general little that is worth noting, two or three ceremonies which +possess a more human interest, the marriage rite, the funeral rite, +and those strange trials, known among so many other peoples, the +ordeals. We sketch these briefly, wishing merely to illustrate the +religious side of each ceremony, as it appears in one or more of its +features. + + +THE MARRIAGE RITE. + +Traces of exogamy may be suspected in the bridegroom's driving off +with his bride, but no such custom, of course, is recognized in the +law. On the contrary, the groom is supposed to belong to the same +village, and special rites are enjoined 'if he be from another +village.' But again, in the early rule there is no trace of that taint +of family which the totem-scholars of to-day cite so loosely from +Hindu law. The girl is not precluded because she belongs to the same +family within certain degrees. The only restriction in the +House-rituals is that she shall have had "on the mother's and father's +side" wise, pious, and honorable ancestors for ten generations +([=A]çvl. I. 5). Then comes the legal restriction, which some scholars +call 'primitive,' that the wife must not be too nearly related. The +girl has her own ordeal (not generally mentioned among ordeals!): The +wooer that thus selects his bride (this he does if one has not been +found already either by his parents or by his own inclination) makes +eight balls of earth and calls on the girl to choose one ('may she get +that to which she is born'). If she select a ball made from the earth +of a field that bears two crops, she (or her child) will be rich in +grain; if from the cow-stall, rich in cattle; if from the place of +sacrifice, godly; if from a pool that does not dry, gifted; if from +the gambler's court, devoted to gambling; if from cross-roads, +unfaithful; if from a barren field, poor in grain; if from the +burying-ground, destructful of her husband. There are several forms of +making a choice, but we confine ourselves to the marriage.[32] In +village-life the bridegroom is escorted to the girl's house by young +women who tease him. The bridegroom presents presents to the bride, +and receives a cow. The bridegroom takes the bride's hand, saying 'I +take thy hand for weal' (Rig Veda, X. 85. 36), and leads her to a +certain stone, on which she steps first with the right foot (toe). +Then three times they circumambulate the fire, keeping it to the +right, an old Aryan custom for many rites, as in the _deisel_ of the +Kelts; the bride herself offering grain in the fire, and the groom +repeating more Vedic verses. They then take together the seven solemn +steps (with verses),[33] and so they are married. The groom, if of +another village, now drives away with the bride, and has ready Vedic +verses for every stage of the journey. After sun-down the groom points +out the north star, and admonishes the bride to be no less constant +and faithful. Three or twelve days they remain chaste, some say one +night; others say, only if he be from another village. The new husband +must now see to the house-fire, which he keeps ever burning, the sign +of his being a householder. + + +THE FUNERAL CEREMONY. + +Roth has an article in the Journal of the German Oriental Society +(VIII. 467) which is at once a description of one of the funeral hymns +o£ the Rig Veda (X. 18) with the later ritual, and a criticism of the +bearing of the latter on the former.[34] He shows here that the +ritual, so far from having induced the hymn, totally changes it. The +hymn was written for a burial ceremony. The later ritual knows only +cremation. The ritual, therefore, forces the hymn into its service, +and makes it a cremation-hymn. This is a very good (though very +extreme) example of the difference in age between the early hymns of +the Rig Veda and the more modern ritual. Müller, _ib_. IX. p. I +(_sic_), has given a thorough account of the later ritual and +ritualistic paraphernalia. We confine ourselves here to the older +ceremony. + +The scene of the Vedic hymn is as follows: The friends and relatives +stand about the corpse of a married man. By the side of the corpse +sits the widow. The hymn begins: "Depart, O Death, upon some other +pathway, upon thy path, which differs from the path of gods ... harm +not our children, nor our heroes.... These living ones are separated +from the dead; successful today was our call to the gods. (This man is +dead, but) _we_ go back to dancing and to laughter, extending further +our still lengthened lives." Then the priest puts a stone between the +dead and living: "I set up a wall for the living, may no one of these +come to this goal; may they live an hundred full harvests, and hide +death with this stone...." + +The matrons assembled are now bid to advance without tears, and make +their offerings to the fire, while the widow is separated from the +corpse of her husband and told to enter again into the world of the +living. The priest removes the dead warrior's bow from his hand: "Let +the women, not widows, advance with the ointment and holy butter; and +without tears, happy, adorned, let them, to begin with, mount to the +altar (verse 7, p. 274, below). Raise thyself, woman, to the world of +the living; his breath is gone by whom thou liest; come hither; of the +taker of thy hand (in marriage), of thy wooer thou art become the +wife[35] (verse 8). I take the bow from the hand of the dead for our +(own) lordship, glory, and strength." Then he addresses the dead: +"Thou art there, and we are here; we will slay every foe and every +attacker (with the power got from thee). Go thou now to Mother Earth, +who is wide opened, favorable, a wool-soft maiden to the good man; may +she guard thee from the lap of destruction. Open, O earth, be not +oppressive to him; let him enter easily; may he fasten close to thee. +Cover him like a mother, who wraps her child in her garment. Roomy and +firm be the earth, supported by a thousand pillars; from this time on +thou (man) hast thy home and happiness yonder; may a sure place remain +to him forever. I make firm the earth about thee; may I not be harmed +in laying the clod here; may the fathers hold this pillar for thee, +and Yama make thee a home yonder." + +In the Atharva Veda mention is made of a coffin, but none is noticed +here. + +Hillebrandt (_loc. cit_. xl. 711) has made it probable that the eighth +verse belongs to a still older ritual, according to which this verse +is one for human sacrifice, which is here ignored, though the text is +kept.[36] 'Just so the later ritual keeps all this text, but twists it +into a crematory rite. For in the later period only young children are +buried. Of burial there was nothing for adults but the collection of +bones and ashes. At this time too the ritual consists of three parts, +cremation, collection of ashes, expiation. How are these to be +reconciled with this hymn? Very simply. The rite is described and +verses from the hymn are injected into it without the slightest +logical connection. That is the essence of all the Brahmanic +ritualism. The later rite is as follows: Three altars are erected, +northwest, southwest, and southeast of a mound of earth. In the fourth +corner is the corpse; at whose feet, the widow. The brother of the +dead man, or an old servant, takes the widow's hand and causes her to +rise while the priest says "Raise thyself, woman, to the world of the +living." Then follows the removal of the bow; or the breaking of it, +in the case of a slave. The body is now burned, while the priest says +"These living ones are separated from the dead"; and the mourners +depart without looking around, and must at once perform their +ablutions of lustration. After a time the collection of bones is made +with the verse "Go thou now to Mother Earth" and "Open, O earth." Dust +is flung on the bones with the words "Roomy and firm be the earth"; +and the skull is laid on top with the verse "I make firm the earth +about thee." In other words the original hymn is fitted to the ritual +only by displacement of verses from their proper order and by a forced +application of the words. After all this comes the ceremony of +expiation with the use of the verse "I set up a wall" without +application of any sort. Further ceremonies, with further senseless +use of other verses, follow in course of time. These are all explained +minutely in the essay of Roth, whose clear demonstration of the +modernness of the ritual, as compared with the antiquity of the hymn +should be read complete. + +The seventh verse (above) has a special literature of its own, since +the words "let them, to begin with, mount the altar," have been +changed by the advocates of _suttee_, widow-burning, to mean 'to the +place of fire'; which change, however, is quite recent. The burning of +widows begins rather late in India, and probably was confined at first +to the pet wife of royal persons. It was then claimed as an honor by +the first wife, and eventually without real authority, and in fact +against early law, became the rule and sign of a devoted wife. The +practice was abolished by the English in 1829; but, considering the +widow's present horrible existence, it is questionable whether it +would not be a mercy to her and to her family to restore the right of +dying and the hope of heaven, in the place of the living death and +actual hell on earth in which she is entombed to-day. + + +ORDEALS.[37] + +Fire and water are the means employed in India to test guilt in the +earlier period. Then comes the oath with judgment indicated by +subsequent misfortune. All other forms of ordeals are first recognized +in late law-books. We speak first of the ordeals that have been +thought to be primitive Aryan. The Fire-ordeal: (1) Seven fig-leaves +are tied seven times upon the hands after rice has been rubbed upon +the palms; and the judge then lays a red-hot ball upon them; the +accused, or the judge himself, invoking the god (Fire) to indicate the +innocence or the guilt of the accused. The latter then walks a certain +distance, 'slowly through seven circles, each circle sixteen fingers +broad, and the space between the circles being of the same extent,' +according to some jurists; but other dimensions, and eight or nine +circles are given by other authorities. If the accused drop the ball +he must repeat the test. The burning of the hands indicates guilt. The +Teutonic laws give a different measurement, and state that the hand is +to be sealed for three days (manus sub sigillo triduum tegatur) before +inspection. This sealing for three days is paralleled by modern Indic +practice, but not by ancient law. In Greece there is the simple +[Greek: _mudrous airein cheroin_] (Ant. 264) to be compared. The +German sealing of the hand is not reported till the ninth century.[38] + +(2) Walking on Fire: There is no ordeal in India to correspond to the +Teutonic walking over six, nine, or twelve hot ploughshares. To lick a +hot ploughshare, to sit on or handle hot iron, and to take a short +walk over coals is _late_ Indic. The German practice also according to +Schlagintweit "war erst in späterer Zeit aufgekommen."[39] + +(3) Walking through Fire: This is a Teutonic ordeal, and (like the +conflict-ordeal) an Indic custom not formally legalized. The accused +walks directly into the fire. So [Greek: _pur dierpein] (loc. cit_.). + +Water-ordeals: (1) May better be reckoned to fire-ordeals. The +innocent plunges his hand into boiling water and fetches out a stone +(Anglo-Saxon law) or a coin (Indic law) without injury to his hand. +Sometimes (in both practices) the plunge alone is demanded. The depth +to which the hand must be inserted is defined by Hindu jurists. + +(2) The Floating-ordeal. The victim is cast into water. If he floats +he is guilty; if he drowns he is innocent. According to some Indic +authorities an arrow is shot off at the moment the accused is dropped +into the water, and a 'swift runner' goes after and fetches it back. +"If at his return he find the body of the accused still under water, +the latter shall be declared to be innocent."[40] According to Kaegi +this ordeal would appear to be unknown in Europe before the ninth +century. In both countries Water (in India, Varuna) is invoked not to +keep the body of a guilty man but to reject it (make it float). + +Food-ordeal: Some Hindu law-books prescribe that in the case of +suspected theft the accused shall eat consecrated rice. If the gums be +not hurt, no blood appear on spitting, and the man do not tremble, he +will be innocent. This is also a Teutonic test, but it is to be +observed that the older laws in India do not mention it. + +On the basis of these examples (not chosen in historical sequence) +Kaegi has concluded, while admitting that ordeals with a general +similarity to these have arisen quite apart from Aryan influence, that +there is here a bit of primitive Aryan law; and that even the minutiae +of the various trials described above are _un_-Aryan. This we do +not believe. But before stating our objections we must mention another +ordeal. + +The Oath: While fire and water are the usual means of testing crime in +India, a simple oath is also permitted, which may involve either the +accused alone or his whole family. If misfortune, within a certain +time (at once, in seven days, in a fortnight, or even half a year) +happen to the one that has sworn, he will be guilty. This oath-test is +also employed in the case of witnesses at court, perjury being +indicated by the subsequent misfortune (Manu, viii. 108).[41] + +Our objections to seeing primitive Aryan law in the minutiae of +ordeals is based on the gradual evolution of these ordeals and of +their minutiae in India itself. The earlier law of the S[=u]tras +barely mentions ordeals; the first 'tradition law' of Manu has only +fire, water, and the oath. All others, and all special descriptions +and restrictions, are mentioned in later books alone. Moreover, the +earliest (pre-legal) notice of ordeals in India describes the carrying +of hot iron (in the test of theft) as simply "bearing a hot axe," +while still earlier there is only walking through fire.[42] + +To the tests by oath, fire, and water of the code of Manu are soon +added in later law those of consecrated water, poison, and the +balance. Restrictions increase and new trials are described as one +descends the series of law-books (the consecrated food, the hot-water +test, the licking of the ploughshare, and the lot), Some of these +later forms have already been described. The further later tests we +will now sketch briefly. + +Poison: The earliest poison-test, in the code of Y[=a]jñavalkya (the +next after Manu), is an application of aconite-root, and as the poison +is very deadly, the accused is pretty sure to die. Other laws give +other poisons and very minute restrictions, tending to ease the +severity of the trial. + +The Balance-test: This is the opposite of the floating-test. The +man[43] stands in one scale and is placed in equilibrium with a weight +of stone in the other scale. He then gets out and prays, and gets in +again. If the balance sinks, he is guilty; if it rises, he is +innocent. + +The Lot-ordeal: This consists in drawing out of a vessel one of two +lots, equivalent respectively to _dharma_ and _adharma_, right and +wrong. Although Tacitus mentions the same ordeal among the Germans, it +is not early Indic law, not being known to any of the ancient legal +codes. + +One may claim without proof or disproof that these are all 'primitive +Aryan'; but to us it appears most probable that only the idea of the +ordeal, or at most its application in the simplest forms of water and +fire (and perhaps oath) is primitive Aryan, and that all else +(including ordeal by conflict) is of secondary growth among the +different nations. + +As an offset to the later Indic tendency to lighten the severity of +the ordeal may be mentioned the description of the floating-test as +seen by a Chinese traveller in India in the seventh century A.D.:[44] +"The accused is put into a sack and a stone is put into another sack. +The two sacks are connected by a cord and flung into deep water. If +the sack with the man sinks and the sack with the stone floats the +accused is declared to be innocent." + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Literally, transmigration, the doctrine of + metempsychosis, successive births; first, as in Plato: + [Greek: _metabolê tis tugchanei ousa kai metoikêois tê + psuchê ton topon tou enthende eis allon tochon_], then + _metabole_, from 'the other place,' back to earth; then, + with advancing speculation, fresh _metabole_ again, and so + on; a theory more or less clumsily united with the + bell-doctrine.] + + [Footnote 2: Weber has lately published two monographs on + the sacrifices, the R[=a]jas[=u]ya and the V[=a]japeya + rites, both full of interesting details and popular + features.] + + [Footnote 3: The traditional sacrifices are twenty-one in + number, divided into three classes of seven each. The formal + divisions are (1) oblations of butter, milk, corn, etc.; (2) + _soma_ sacrifices; (3) animal sacrifices, regarded as part + of the first two. The sacrifice of the new and full moon is + to be repeated on each occasion for thirty years. A + _sattra_, session, is a long sacrifice which may last a year + or more.] + + [Footnote 4: The latter are the metrical codes, a part of + Smriti (sm[r.]ti).] + + [Footnote 5: The Five Paramount Sacrifices (Observances) + are, according to Manu III. 70, study of the Veda (or + teaching it); sacrifice to the Manes and to the gods; + offerings of foods to ghosts (or spirits); and hospitality.] + + [Footnote 6: In the report of the Or. Congress for 1880, p. + 158 ff., Williams has a very interesting account of the + daily rites of the modern orthodox Hindu ('_Rig Veda in + Religious Service_').] + + [Footnote 7: We ignore here the later distinction between + the Ved[=a]nta and S[=a]nkhya systems. Properly speaking, + the latter is dualistic.] + + [Footnote 8: At a later date Buddha himself is admitted into + the Brahmanic pantheon as an _avatar_ of the All-god!] + + [Footnote 9: Sometimes regarded as one with Praj[=a]pati, + and sometimes treated as distinct from him.] + + [Footnote 10: Thus (for the priestly ascetic alone) in M. + vi. 79: 'Leaving his good deeds to his loved ones and his + evil deeds to his enemies, by force of meditation he goes to + the eternal _brahma_.' Here _brahma_; but in Gautama perhaps + Brahm[=a].] + + [Footnote 11: That is, when the latter are grouped as in the + following list. Our point is that, despite new faith and new + gods, Vedic polytheism is taught not as a form but as a + reality, and that in this period the people still believe as + of old in the old gods, though they also acknowledge new + ones (below).] + + [Footnote 12: Compare Manu, ix. 245: "Varuna is the lord of + punishment and holdeth a sceptre (punishment) even over + kings."] + + [Footnote 13: In new rites, for instance. Thus in P[=a]rask. + _Grih. S_. 3. 7 a silly and dirty rite 'prevents a slave + from running away'; and there is an ordeal for girls before + becoming engaged (below).] + + [Footnote 14: Blood is poured out to the demons in order + that they may take this and no other part of the sacrifice, + _[=A]it. Br_. ii. 7. 1.] + + [Footnote 15: Here. 4. 8. 19, Çiva's names are Hara, Mrida, + Çarva, Çiva, Bhava, Mah[=a]deva, Ugra, Bhima, Paçupati, + Rudra, Çankara, Içana.] + + [Footnote 16: These rites are described in 6. 4. 24 of the + _Brihad [=A]ranyaka Upanishad_ which consists both of + metaphysics and of ceremonial rules.] + + [Footnote 17: Especially mentioned in the later Vasistha + (see below); on _m[=i]m[=a]ms[=a]_ a branch of the + Ved[=a]nta system see below.] + + [Footnote 18: The commentator here (19. 12, cited by Bühler) + defines Ved[=a]nta as the part of the [=A]ranyakas which are + not Upanishads, that is, apparently as a local 'Veda-end' + (_veda-anta_), though this meaning is not admitted by some + scholars, who will see in _anta_ only the meaning 'goal, + aim.'] + + [Footnote 19: The Rudra (Çiva) invocation at 26. 12 ff. is + interpolated, according to Bühler.] + + [Footnote 20: Here there is plainly an allusion to the two + states of felicity of the Upanishads. Whether the law-giver + believes that the spirit will be united with Brahm[=a] or + simply live in his heaven he does not say.] + + [Footnote 21: Gautama, too, is probably a Northerner. The + S[=u]tra, it should be observed, are not so individual as + would be implied by the name of the teachers to whom they + are credited. They were each texts of a school, _carana_, + but they are attributed uniformly to a special teacher, who + represents the _cara[n.]a_, as has been shown by Müller. For + what is known in regard to the early 'S[=u]tra-makers' see + Bühler's introductions to volumes ii. and xiv. of the Sacred + Books.] + + [Footnote 22: Compare Bühler's Introduction, p. XXXV, SBE. + vol. XIV.] + + [Footnote 23: B[=a]udh. II. 18. 2-3. Compare Jacobi's + Introduction, p. XXIII ff. of SBE. vol. XXII.] + + [Footnote 24: Bühler (Introduction, p. XXXI) gives as the + district of the [=A]pastamb[=i]ya school parts of the Bombay + Presidency, the greater parts of the Niz[=a]m's possessions, + and parts of the Madras Presidency. Apastamba himself refers + to Northerners as if they were foreigners (_loc. cit.)_.] + + [Footnote 25: In India the latter question is: does the soul + immediately at death unite with the _[=a]tm[=a]_ or does it + travel to it. In Europe: does the soul wait for the Last + Day, or get to heaven immediately? Compare Maine, _Early Law + and Custom_, p. 71.] + + [Footnote 26: Thought by some scholars to have been + developed out of the code of The M[=a]navas; but ascribed by + the Hindus to Father Manu, as are many other verses of legal + character contained in the epic and elsewhere.] + + [Footnote 27: Although S[=u]tras may be metrical too in + part, yet is the complete metrical form, as in the case of + still later Ç[=a]stra, evidence that the work is intended + for the general public.] + + [Footnote 28: The priest alone, in the post-Vedic age, has + the right to teach the sacred texts; he has immunity from + bodily punishment; the right to receive gifts, and other + special privileges. The three upper castes have each the + right and duty of studying the sacred texts for a number of + years.] + + [Footnote 29: Weber has shown, _loc. cit_., that the + Ç[=u]dras did attend some of the more popular ceremonies, + and at first apparently even took a part in them.] + + [Footnote 30: The 'four orders' or stadia of a priest's + life, student, householder, hermit, ascetic, must not be + confused with the 'four (political) orders' (castes), + priest, warrior, farmer, slave--to which, from time to time, + were added many 'mixed castes,' as well as 'outcasts,' and + natural pariahs. At the time of Manu's code there were + already many of these half-assimilated groups.] + + [Footnote 31: Theoretically, twenty-one; but an extra one + has slipped in by mistake.] + + [Footnote 32: The girl is given or bought, or may make her + own choice among different suitors. Buying a wife is + reprehended by the early law-givers (therefore, customary). + The rite of marriage presupposes a grown girl, but + child-marriages also were known to the early law.] + + [Footnote 33: The groom 'releases her from Varuna's fetter,' + by symbolically loosening the hair. They step northeast, and + he says: 'One step for sap; two for strength; three for + riches; four for luck; five for children; six for the + seasons; seven for friendship. Be true to me--may we have + many long-lived sons.'] + + [Footnote 34: There is another funeral hymn, X. 16, in which + the Fire is invoked to burn the dead, and bear him to the + fathers; his corporeal parts being distributed 'eye to the + sun, breath to the wind,' etc.] + + [Footnote 35: See below.] + + [Footnote 36: Compare Weber, _Streifen_, I. 66; The king's + first wife lies with a dead victim, and is bid to come back + again to life. Levirate marriage is known to all the codes, + but it is reprehended by the same code that enjoins it. (M. + ix. 65.)] + + [Footnote 37: The ordeal is called _divyam_ + (_pram[=a][n.]am_) 'Gottesurtheil.' This means of + information is employed especially in a disputed debt and + deposit, and according to the formal code is to be applied + only in the absence of witnesses. The code also restricts + the use of fire, water, and poison to the slaves (Y[=a]j. + ii. 98).] + + [Footnote 38: Kaegi. _Alter und Herkunft des Germanischen + Gottesurtheils_, p. 50. We call especial attention to the + fact that the most striking coincidences in details of + practice are not early either in India or Germany.] + + [Footnote 39: Schlagintweit, _Die Gattesurtheile der + Indier_, p. 24.] + + [Footnote 40: This is the earliest formula. Later law-books + describe the length and strength of the bow, and some even + give the measure of distance to which the arrow must be + shot. Two runners, one to go and one to return, are + sometimes allowed. There is another water-ordeal "for + religious men." The accused is to drink consecrated water. + If in fourteen (or more or less) days no calamity happen to + him he will be innocent. The same test is made in the case + of the oath and of poison (below).] + + [Footnote 41: In the case of witnesses Manu gives seven days + as the limit. When one adopts the oath as an ordeal the + misfortune of the guilty is supposed to come 'quickly.' As + an ordeal this is not found in the later law. It is one of + the Greek tests (_loc. cit_.). When swearing the Hindu holds + water or holy-grass.] + + [Footnote 42: AV. ii. 12 is not a certain case of this, but + it is at least Brahmanic. The carrying of the axe is alluded + to in the Ch[=a]ndogya Upanishad (Schlagintweit, _Die + Gattesurtheile der Indier_, p. 6).] + + [Footnote 43: Y[=a]jñavalkya (_loc. cit_.) restricts this + test to women, children, priests, the old, blind, lame, and + sick. On _ph[=a]la_ for _agni, ib._ ii. 99, see ZDMG. ix. + 677.] + + [Footnote 44: Schlagintweit, _loc. cit_. p. 26 (Hiouen + Thsang).] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +JAINISM.[1] + + +One cannot read the Upanishads without feeling that he is already +facing an intellectual revolt. Not only in the later tracts, which are +inspired with devotion to a supreme and universal Lord, but even in +the oldest of these works the atmosphere, as compared with that of the +earlier Brahmanic period, is essentially different. The close and +stifling air of ritualism has been charged with an electrical current +of thought that must soon produce a storm. + +That storm reached a head in Buddhism, but its premonitory signs +appear in the Upanishads, and its first outbreak preceded the advent +of Gautama. Were it possible to draw a line of demarcation between the +Upanishads that come before and after Buddhism, it would be +historically more correct to review the two great schisms, Jainism and +Buddhism, before referring to the sectarian Upanishads. For these +latter in their present form are posterior to the rise of the two +great heresies. But, since such a division is practically uncertain in +its application, we have thought it better in our sketch of the +Upanishads and legal literature to follow to the end the course of +that agitated thought, which, starting with the great identification +of _jiva_, the individual spirit, and _[=a]tm[=a]_, the world-spirit, +the All, continues till it loses itself in a multiplication of +sectarian dogmas, where the All becomes the god that has been elected +by one communion of devotees.[2] + +The external characteristics of Upanishad thought are those of a +religion that has replaced formal acts by formal introspection. The +Yogin devotee, who by mystic communion desires absorption into the +world-spirit, replaces the Sanny[=a]sin and Yati ascetics, who would +accomplish the same end by renunciation and severe self-mortification. +This is a fresh figure on the stage of thought, where before were mad +Munis, beggars, and miracle-mongers. On this stage stands beside the +ascetic the theoretical theosophist who has succeeded in identifying +himself, soberly, not in frenzy, with God.[3] What were the practical +results of this teaching has been indicated in part already. The +futility of the stereotyped religious offices was recognized. But +these offices could not be discarded by the orthodox. With the lame +and illogical excuse that they were useful as discipline, though +unessential in reality, they were retained by the Brahman priest. Not +so by the Jain; still less so by the Buddhist. + +In the era in which arose the public revolt against the dogmatic +teaching of the Brahman there were more sects than one that have now +passed away forgotten. The eastern part of India, to which appertain +the later part of the Çatapatha Br[=a]hmana and the schismatic +heresies, was full of religious and philosophical controversy. The +great heretics were not innovators in heresy. The Brahmans permitted, +encouraged, and shared in theoretical controversy. There was nothing +in the tenets of Jainism or of Buddhism that from a philosophical +point of view need have caused a rupture with the Brahmans. + +But the heresies, nevertheless, do not represent the priestly caste, +so much as the caste most apt to rival and to disregard the claim of +the Brahman, viz., the warrior-caste. They were supported by kings, +who gladly stood against priests. To a great extent both Jainism and +Buddhism owed their success (amid other rival heresies with no less +claim to good protestantism) to the politics of the day. The kings of +the East were impatient of the Western church; they were pleased to +throw it over. The leaders in the 'reformation' were the younger sons +of noble blood. The church received many of these younger sons as +priests. Both Buddha and Mah[=a]v[=i]ra were, in fact, revolting +adherents of the Brahmanic faith, but they were princes and had +royalty to back them. + +Nor in the Brahmanhood of Benares was Brahmanhood at its strongest. +The seat of the Vedic cult lay to the westward, where it arose, in the +'holy land,' which received the Vedic Aryans after they had crossed +out of the Punj[=a]b. With the eastward course of conquest the +character of the people and the very orthodoxy of the priests were +relaxed. The country that gave rise to the first heresies was one not +consecrated to the ancient rites. Very slowly had these rites marched +thither, and they were, so to speak, far from their religious base of +supplies. The West was more conservative than the East. It was the +home of the rites it favored. The East was but a foster-father. New +tribes, new land, new growth, socially and intellectually,--all these +contributed in the new seat of Brahmanhood to weaken the hold of the +priests upon their speculative and now recalcitrant laity. So before +Buddha there were heretics and even Buddhas, for the title was +Buddha's only by adoption. But of most of these earlier sects one +knows little. Three or four names of reformers have been handed down; +half a dozen opponents or rivals of Buddha existed and vied +with him. Most important of these, both on account of his probable +priority and because of the lasting character of his school, was the +founder or reformer of Jainism, Mah[=a]v[=i]ra Jñ[=a]triputra,[4] who +with his eleven chief disciples may be regarded as the first open +seceders from Brahmanism, unless one assign the same date to the +revolt of Buddha. The two schisms have so much in common, especially +in outward features, that for long it was thought that Jainism was a +sub-sect of Buddhism. In their legends, in the localities in which +they flourished, and in many minutiae of observances they are alike. +Nevertheless, their differences are as great as the resemblance +between them, and what Jainism at first appeared to have got of +Buddhism seems now to be rather the common loan made by each sect from +Brahmanism. It is safest, perhaps, to rest in the assurance that the +two heresies were contemporaries of the sixth century B.C, and leave +unanswered the question which Master preceded the other, though we +incline to the opinion that the founder of Jainism, be he +Mah[=a]v[=i]ra or his own reputed master, P[=a]rçvan[=a]tha, had +founded his sect before Gautama became Buddha. But there is one good +reason for treating of Jainism before Buddhism,[5] and that is, that +the former represents a theological mean between Brahmanism and +Buddhism. + +Mah[=a]v[=i]ra, the reputed founder of his sect, was, like Buddha +and perhaps his other rivals, of aristocratic birth. His father is +called king, but he was probably hereditary chief of a district +incorporated as a suburb of the capital city of Videha, while by +marriage he was related to the king of Videha, and to the ruling house +of M[=a]gadha. His family name was Jñ[=a]triputra, or, in his own +Prakrit (Ardham[=a]gadh[=i]) dialect, N[=a]taputta; but by his sect he +was entitled the Great Hero, Mah[=a]v[=i]ra; the Conqueror, Jina; the +Great One, Vardham[=a]na (Vardahmana in the original), etc. His sect +was that of the Nirgranthas (Nigganthas), _i.e_., 'without bonds,' +perhaps the oldest name of the whole body. Later there are found no +less than seven sub-sects, to which come as eighth the Digambaras, in +contradistinction to all the seven Çvet[=a]mbara sects. These two +names represent the two present bodies of the church, one body being +the Çvet[=a]mbaras, or 'white-attire' faction, who are in the north +and west; the other, the Digambaras, or 'sky-attire,' _i.e_., naked +devotees of the south. The latter split off from the main body about +two hundred years after Mah[=a]v[=i]ra's death; as has been thought by +some, because the Çvet[=a]mbaras refused to follow the Digambaras in +insisting upon nakedness as the rule for ascetics.[6] The earlier +writings show that nakedness was recommended, but was not +compulsory.[7] Other designations of the main sects, as of the +sub-sects, are found. Thus, from the practice of pulling out the hairs +of their body, the Jains were derisively termed Luñcitakeças, or +'hair-pluckers.' The naked devotees of this school are probably the +gymnosophists of the Greek historians, although this general term may +have been used in describing other sects, as the practice of +dispensing with attire is common even to-day with many Hindu +devotees.[8] + +An account of the Jain absurdities in the way of speculation would +indeed give some idea of their intellectual frailty, but, as in the +case of the Buddhists, such an account has but little to do with their +religion. It will suffice to state that the 'ages' of the Brahmans +from whom Jain and Buddhist derived their general conceptions of the +ages, are here reckoned quite differently; and that the first Jina of +the long series of pre-historic prophets lived more than eight million +years and was five hundred bow-lengths in height. Monks and laymen now +appear at large in India, a division which originated neither with +Jain nor Buddhist,[9] though these orders are more clearly divided +among the heretics, from whom, again, was borrowed by the Hindu sects, +the monastic institution, in the ninth century (A.D.), in all the +older heretical completeness. Although atheistic the Jain worshipped +the Teacher, and paid some regard to the Brahmanical divinities, just +as he worships the Hindu gods to-day, for the atheistical systems +admitted gods as demi-gods or dummy gods, and in point of fact became +very superstitious. Yet are both founder-worship and superstition +rather the growth of later generations than the original practice. The +atheism of the Jain means denial of a divine creative Spirit.[10] + +Though at times in conflict with the Brahmans the Jains never departed +from India as did the Buddhists, and even Brahmanic priests in some +parts of India serve today in Jain temples. + +In metaphysics as in religion the Jain differs radically from the +Buddhist. He believes in a dualism not unlike that of the S[=a]nkhyas, +whereas Buddhistic philosophy has no close connection with this +Brahmanic system. To the Jain eternal matter stands opposed to eternal +spirits, for (opposed to pantheism) every material entity (even water) +has its own individual spirit. The Jain's Nirv[=a]na, as Barth has +said, is escape from the body, not escape from existence.[11] Like the +Buddhist the Jain believes in reincarnation, eight births, after one +has started on the right road, being necessary to the completion of +perfection. Both sects, with the Brahmans, insist on the non-injury +doctrine, but in this regard the Jain exceeds his Brahmanical +teacher's practice. Both heretical sects claim that their reputed +founders were the last of twenty-four or twenty-five prophets who +preceded the real founder, each successively having become less +monstrous (more human) in form. + +The Jain literature left to us is quite large[12] and enough has been +published already to make it necessary to revise the old belief in +regard to the relation between Jainism and Buddhism. + +We have said that Jainism stands nearer to Brahmanism (with which, +however, it frequently had quarrels) than does Buddhism.[13] The most +striking outward sign of this is the weight laid on asceticism, which +is common to Brahmanism and Jainism but is repudiated by Buddhism. +Twelve years of asceticism are necessary to salvation, as thinks the +Jain, and this self-mortification is of the most stringent sort. But +it is not in their different conception of a Nirv[=a]na release rather +than of annihilation, nor in the S[=a]nkhya-like[14] duality they +affect, nor yet in the prominence given to self-mortification that the +Jains differ most from the Buddhists. The contrast will appear more +clearly when we come to deal with the latter sect. At present we take +up the Jain doctrine for itself. + +The 'three gems' which, according to the Jains,[15] result in the +spirit's attainment of deliverance are knowledge, faith, and virtue, +or literally 'right knowledge, right intuition, and right practices.' +Right knowledge is a true knowledge of the relation of spirit and +not-spirit (the world consists of two classes, spirit and non-spirit), +the latter being immortal like the former. Right intuition is absolute +faith in the word of the Master and the declarations of the [=A]gamas, +or sacred texts. Right practices or virtue consists, according to the +Yogaç[=a]stra, in the correct fivefold conduct of one that has +knowledge and faith: (1) Non-injury, (2) kindness and speaking which +is true (in so far as the truth is pleasant to the hearer),[16] (3) +honorable conduct, typified by 'not stealing,' (4) chastity in word, +thought, and deed, (5) renunciation of earthly interests. + +The doctrine of non-injury found but modified approval among the +Brahmans. They limited its application in the case of +sacrifice, and for this reason were bitterly taunted by the Jains as +'murderers.' "Viler than unbelievers," says the Yogaç[=a]stra, quoting +a law of Manu to the effect that animals may be slain for sacrifice, +"all those cruel ones who make the law that teaches killing."[17] For +this reason the Jain is far more particular in his respect for life +than is the Buddhist. Lest animate things, even plants and +animalculae, be destroyed, he sweeps the ground before him as he goes, +walks veiled lest he inhale a living organism, strains water, and +rejects not only meat but even honey, together with various fruits +that are supposed to contain worms; not because of his distaste for +worms but because of his regard for life. Other arguments which, +logically, should not be allowed to influence him are admitted, +however, in order to terrify the hearer. Thus the first argument +against the use of honey is that it destroys life; then follows the +argument that honey is 'spit out by bees' and therefore it is +nasty.[18] + +The Jain differs from the Buddhist still more in ascetic practices. He +is a forerunner, in fact, of the horrible modern devotee whose +practices we shall describe below. The older view of seven hells in +opposition to the legal Brahmanic number of thrice seven is found (as +it is in the M[=a]rkandeya Pur[=a]na), but whether this be the rule we +cannot say.[19] It is interesting to see that hell is prescribed with +metempsychosis exactly as it is among the Brahmans.[20] Reincarnation +onearth and punishment in hells between reincarnation seems to be the +usual belief. The salvation which is attained by the practice of +knowledge, faith, and five-fold virtue, is not immediate, but it will +come after successive reincarnations; and this salvation is the +freeing of the eternal spirit from the bonds of eternal matter; in +other words, it is much more like the 'release' of the Brahman than it +is like the Buddhistic Nirv[=a]na, though, of course, there is no +'absorption,' each spirit remaining single. In the order of the +Ratnatraya or 'three gems' Çankara appears to lay the greatest weight +on faith, but in Hemacandra's schedule knowledge[21] holds the first +place. This is part of that Yoga, asceticism, which is the most +important element in attaining salvation.[22] + +Another division of right practices is cited by the Yogaç[=a]stra (I. +33 ff.): Some saints say that virtue is divided into five kinds of +care and three kinds of control, to wit, proper care in walking, +talking, begging for food, sitting, and performing natural functions +of the body--these constitute the five kinds of care, and the kinds of +control are those of thought, speech, and act. This teaching it is +stated, is for the monks. The practice of the laity is to accord with +the custom of their country. + +The chief general rules for the laity consist in vows of obedience to +the true god, to the law, and to the (present) Teacher; which are +somewhat like the vows of the Buddhist. God here is the Arhat, the +'venerable' founder of the sect. The laic has also five lesser vows: +not to kill, not to lie, not to steal, not to commit adultery or +fornication, to be content with little. + +According to the Ç[=a]stra already cited the laic must rise early in +the morning, worship the god's idol at home, go to the temple and +circumambulate the Jina idol three times, strewing flowers, and +singing hymnsand then read the Praty[=a]khy[=a]na (an old P[=u]rva, +gospel).[23] Further rules of prayer and practice guide him through +his day. And by following this rule he expects to obtain spiritual +'freedom' hereafter; but for his life on earth he is "without praise +or blame for this world or the next, for life or for death, having +meditation as his one pure wife" (iii. 150). He will become a god in +heaven, be reborn again on earth, and so, after eight successive +existences (the Buddhistic number), at last obtain salvation, release +(from bodies) for his eternal soul (153). + +As in the Upanishads, the gods, like men, are a part of the system of +the universe. The wise man goes to them (becomes a god) only to return +to earth again. All systems thus unite hell and heaven with the +_karma_ doctrine. But in this Jain work, as in so many of the orthodox +writings, the weight is laid more on hell as a punishment than on +rebirth. Probably the first Jains did not acknowledge gods at all, for +it is an early rule with them not to say 'God rains,' or use any such +expression, but to say 'the cloud rains'; and in other ways they avoid +to employ a terminology which admits even implicitly the existence of +divinities. Yet do they use a god not infrequently as an agent of +glorification of Mah[=a]v[=i]ra, saying in later writings that Indra +transformed himself, to do the Teacher honor; and often they speak of +the gods and goddesses as if these were regarded as spirits. Demons +and inferior beings are also utilized in the same way, as when it is +said that at the Teacher's birth the demons (spirits) showered gold +upon the town. + +The religious orders of the Çvet[=a]mbara sect contained nuns as well +as monks, although, as we have said, women are not esteemed very +favorably: "The world is greatly troubled by women. People say that +women are vessels of pleasure. But this leads them to pain, to +delusion, to death, to hell, to birth as hell-beings or brute-beasts." +Such is the decision in the [=A]e[=a]r[=a]nga S[=u]tra, or book of +usages for the Jain monk and nun. From the same work we extract a few +rules to illustrate the practices of the Jains. This literature is the +most tedious in the world, and to give the gist of the heretic +law-maker's manual will suffice. + +Asceticism should be practiced by monk and nun, if possible. But if +one finds that he cannot resist his passions, or is disabled and +cannot endure austerities, he may commit suicide; although this +release is sometimes reprehended, and is not allowable till one has +striven against yielding to such a means. But when the twelve years of +asceticism are passed one has assurance of reaching Nirv[=a]na, and so +may kill himself. Of Nirv[=a]na there is no description. It is +release, salvation, but it is of such sort that in regard to it +'speculation has no place,' and 'the mind cannot conceive of it' +(copied from the Upanishads). In other regards, in contrast to the +nihilistic Buddhist, the Jain assumes a doubtful attitude, so that he +is termed the 'may-be philosopher,' _sy[=a]dv[=a]din_,[24] in +opposition to the Buddhist, the philosopher of 'the void.' + +But if the Jain may kill himself, he may not kill or injure anything +else. Not even food prepared over a fire is acceptable, lest he hurt +the 'fire-beings,' for as he believes in water-beings, so he believes +in fire-beings, wind-beings, etc. Every plant and seed is holy with +the sacredness of life. He may not hurt or drive away the insects that +torment his naked flesh. 'Patience is the highest good,' he declares, +and the rules for sitting and lying conclude with the statement that +not to move at all, not to stir, is the best rule. To lie naked, +bitten by vermin, and not to disturb them, is religion. Like a true +Puritan, the Jain regards pleasure in itself as sinful. "What is +discontent, and what is pleasure? One should live subject to neither. +Giving up all gaiety, circumspect, restrained, one should lead a +religious life. Man! Thou art thine own friend; why longest thou for a +friend beyond thyself?... First troubles, then pleasures; first +pleasures, then troubles. These are the cause of quarrels." And again, +"Let one think, 'I am I.'" _i.e_., let one be dependent on himself +alone. When a Jain monk or nun hears that there is to be a festival +(perhaps to the gods, to Indra, Skahda, Rudra, Vishnu,[25] or the +demons, as in [=A]c[=a]r[=a]nga S[=u]tra, ii. 1. 2) he must not go +thither; he must keep himself from all frivolities and entertainments. +During the four months of the rainy season he is to remain in one +place,[26] but at other times, either naked or attired in a few +garments, he is to wander about begging. In going on his begging tour +he is not to answer questions, nor to retort if reviled. He is to +speak politely (the formulae for polite address and rude address are +given), beg modestly, and not render himself liable to suspicion on +account of his behavior when in the house of one of the faithful. +Whatever be the quality of the food he must eat it, if it be not a +wrong sort. Rice and beans are especially recommended to him. The +great Teacher Jñ[=a]triputra (Mah[=a]v[=i]ra), it is said, never went +to shows, pantomines, boxing-matches, and the like; but, remaining in +his parents' house till their death, that he might not grieve his +mother, at the age of twenty-eight renounced the world with the +consent of the government, and betook himself to asceticism; +travelling naked (after a year of clothes) into barbarous lands, but +always converting and enduring the reproach of the wicked. He was +beaten and set upon by sinful men, yet was he never moved to anger. +Thus it was that he became the Arhat, the Jina, the Kevalin (perfect +sage).[27] It is sad to have to add, however, that Mah[=a]v[=i]ra is +traditionally said to have died in a fit of apoplectic rage. + +The equipment of a monk are his clothes (or, better, none), his +alms-bowl, broom, and veil. He is 'unfettered,' in being without +desires and without injury to others. 'Some say that all sorts of +living beings may be slain, or abused, or tormented, or driven +away--the doctrine of the unworthy. The righteous man does not kill +nor cause others to kill. He should not cause the same punishment for +himself.' + +The last clause is significant. What he does to another living being +will be done to him. He will suffer as he has caused others to suffer. +The chain from emotion to hell--the avoidance of the former is on +account of the fear of the latter--is thus connected: He who knows +wrath knows pride; he who knows pride knows deceit; he who knows +deceit knows greed (and so on; thus one advances) from greed to love, +from love to hate, from hate to delusion, from delusion to conception, +from conception to birth, from birth to death, from death to hell, +from hell to animal existence, 'and he who knows animal existence +knows pain.' + +The five great vows, which have been thought by some scholars to be +copies of the Buddhistic rules, whereas they are really modifications +of the old Brahmanic rules for ascetics as explained in pre-Buddhistic +literature, are in detail as follows:[28] + +The First vow: I renounce all killing of living beings, whether +subtile or gross, whether movable or immovable. Nor shall I myself +kill living beings nor cause others to do it, nor consent to it. As +long as I live I confess and blame, repent and exempt myself of these +sins in the thrice threefold way,[29] in mind, speech, and body. + +The five 'clauses' that explain this vow are: (1) the Niggantha (Jain) +is careful in walking; (2) he does not allow his mind to act in a way +to suggest injury of living beings; (3) he does not allow his speech +to incite to injury; (4) he is careful in laying down his utensils; +(5) he inspects his food and drink lest he hurt living beings. + +The Second Vow: I renounce all vices of lying speech arising from +anger, or greed, or fear, or mirth. I confess (etc, as in the first +vow). + +The five clauses here explain that the Niggantha speaks only after +deliberation; does not get angry; renounces greed; renounces fear; +renounces mirth--lest through any of these he be moved to lie. + +The Third Vow: I renounce all taking of anything not given, either in +a village, or a town, or a wood, either of little or much, or small or +great, of living or lifeless things. I shall neither take myself what +is not given nor cause others to take it, nor consent to their taking +it. As long as I live I confess (etc., as in the first vow). + +The clauses here explain that the Niggantha must avoid different +possibilities of stealing, such as taking food without permission of +his superior. One clause states that he may take only a limited ground +for a limited time, _i.e_., he may not settle down indefinitely on a +wide area, for he may not hold land absolutely. Another clause insists +on his having his grant to the land renewed frequently. + +The Fourth Vow: I renounce all sexual pleasures, either with gods, or +men, or animals. I shall not give way to sensuality (etc). + +The clauses here forbid the Niggantha to discuss topics relating to +women, to contemplate the forms of women, to recall the pleasures and +amusements he used to have with women, to eat and drink too highly +seasoned viands, to lie near women. + +The Fifth Vow: I renounce all attachments, whether little or much, +small or great, living or lifeless; neither shall I myself form such +attachments, nor cause others to do so, nor consent to their doing so +(etc.). + +The five clauses particularize the dangerous attachments formed by +ears, eyes, smell, taste, touch. + +It has been shown above (following Jacobi's telling comparison of the +heretical vows with those of the early Brahman ascetic) that these +vows are taken not from Buddhism but from Brahmanism. Jacobi opines +that the Jains took the four first and that the reformer +Mah[=a]v[=i]ra added the fifth as an offset to the Brahmanical vow of +liberality.[30] The same writer shows that certain minor rules of the +Jain sect are derived from the same Brahmanical source. + +The main differences between the two Jain sects have been catalogued +in an interesting sketch by Williams,[31] who mentions as the chief +Jain stations of the north Delhi (where there is an annual gathering), +Jeypur, and [=A]jm[=i]r. To these Mathur[=a] on the Jumna should be +added.[32] The Çvet[=a]mbaras had forty-five or forty-six [=A]gamas, +eleven or twelve Angas, twelve Up[=a]ngas, and other scriptures of the +third or fourth century B.C., as they claim. They do not go naked +(even their idols are clothed), and they admit women into the order. +The Digambaras do not admit women, go naked, and have for sacred texts +later works of the fifth century A.D. The latter of course assert that +the scriptures of the former sect are spurious.[33] + +In distinction from the Buddhists the Jains of to-day keep up caste. +Some of them are Brahmans. They have, of course, a different +prayer-formula, and have no St[=u]pas or D[=a]gobas (to hold relics); +and, besides the metaphysical difference spoken of above, they differ +from the Buddhists in assuming that metempsychosis does not stop at +animal existence, but includes inanimate things (as these are regarded +by others). According to one of their own sect of to-day, +_ahi[.m]s[=a] paramo dharmas_, 'the highest law of duty is not to hurt +a living creature.'[34] + +The most striking absurdity of the Jain reverence for life has +frequently been commented upon. Almost every city of western India, +where they are found, has its beast-hospital, where animals are kept +and fed. An amusing account of such an hospital, called Pi[=n]jra Pol, +at Saurar[=a]shtra, Surat, is given in the first number of the +_Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_.[35] Five thousand rats were +supported in such a temple-hospital in Kutch.[36] + +Of all the great religious sects of India that of N[=a]taputta is +perhaps the least interesting, and has apparently the least excuse for +being.[37] The Jains offered to the world but one great moral truth, +withal a negative truth, 'not to harm,' nor was this verity invented +by them. Indeed, what to the Jain is the great truth is only a +grotesque exaggeration of what other sects recognized in a reasonable +form. Of all the sects the Jains are the most colorless, the most +insipid. They have no literature worthy of the name. They were not +original enough to give up many orthodox features, so that they seem +like a weakened rill of Brahmanism, cut off from the source, yet +devoid of all independent character. A religion in which the chief +points insisted upon are that one should deny God, worship man, and +nourish vermin, has indeed no right to exist; nor has it had as a +system much influence on the history of thought. As in the case of +Buddhism, the refined Jain metaphysics are probably a late growth. +Historically these sectaries served a purpose as early protestants +against ritualistic and polytheistic Brahmanism; but their real +affinity with the latter faith is so great that at heart they soon +became Brahmanic again. Their position geographically would make it +seem probable that they, and not the Buddhists, had a hand in the +making of the ethics of the later epic. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: We retain here and in Buddhism the usual + terminology. Strictly speaking, Jainism is to Jina (the + reformer's title) as is Bauddhism to Buddha, so that one + should say Jinism, Buddhism, or Jainism, Bauddhism. Both + titles, Jina and Buddha ('victor' and 'awakened'), were + given to each leader; as in general many other mutual titles + of honor were applied by each sect to its own head, Jina, + Arhat ('venerable'), Mah[=a]v[=i]ra ('great hero'), Buddha, + etc. One of these titles was used, however, as a title of + honor by the Jains, but to designate heretics by the Buddhists, + viz., T[=i]rthankara (T[=i]rthakara in the original), 'prophet' + (see Jacobi, SBE. xxii. Introd. p. xx).] + + [Footnote 2: It is possible, however, on the other hand, + that both Vishnuite and Çivaite sects (or, less anglicized, + Vaishnavas, Çaivas, if one will also say Vaidic for Vedic), + were formed before the end of the sixth century B.C. Not + long after this the divinities Çiva and Vishnu receive + especial honor.] + + [Footnote 3: The Beggar (Çramana, Bhikshu), the Renunciator + (Sanny[=a]s[=i]n), the Ascetic (Yati), are Brahmanic terms + as well as sectarian.] + + [Footnote 4: The three great reformers of this period are + Mah[=a]v[=i]ra, Buddha, and Gos[=a]la. The last was first a + pupil and then a rival of Mah[=a]v[=i]ra. The latter's + nephew, Jam[=a]li, also founded a distinct sect and became + his uncle's opponent, the speculative sectarian tendency + being as pronounced as it was about the same time in Hellas. + Gos[=a]la appears to have had quite a following, and his + sect existed for a long time, but now it is utterly + perished. An account of this reformer and of Jam[=a]li will + be found in Leumann's essay, _Indische Studien_, xvii. p. 98 + ff. and in the appendix to Rockhill's _Life of Buddha_.] + + [Footnote 5: The Nirgranthas (Jains) are never referred to + by the Buddhists as being a new sect, nor is their reputed + founder, N[=a]taputta, spoken of as their founder; whence + Jacobi plausibly argues that their real founder was older + than Mah[=a]v[=i]ra, and that the sect preceded that of + Buddha. Lassen and Weber have claimed, on the contrary, that + Jainism is a revolt against Buddhism. The identification of + N[=a]taputta (Jñ[=a]triputra) with Mah[=a]v[=i]ra is due to + Bühler and Jacobi (Kalpas[=u]tra, Introd. p.6).] + + [Footnote 6: According to Jacobi, ZDMG. xxxviii. 17, the + split in the party arose in this way. About 350 B.C. some + Jain monks under the leadership of Bhadrab[=a]hu went south, + and they followed stricter rules of asceticism than did + their fellows in the north. Both sects are modifications of + the original type, and their differences did not result in + sectarian separation till about the time of our era, at + which epoch arose the differentiating titles of sects that + had not previously separated into formal divisions, but had + drifted apart geographically.] + + [Footnote 7: Compare Jacobi, _loc. cit_. and Leumann's + account of the seven sects of the Çvet[=a]mbaras in the + essay in the _Indische Studien_ referred to above. At the + present day the Jains are found to the number of about a + million in the northwest (Çvet[=a]mbaras), and south + (Digambaras) of India. The original seat of the whole body + in its first form was, as we have said, near Benares, where + also arose and flourished Buddhism.] + + [Footnote 8: Hemacandra's Yogaç[=a]stra, edited by Windisch, + ZDMG. xxviii. 185 ff. (iii. 133). The Jain's hate of women + did not prevent his worshipping goddesses as the female + energy like the later Hindu sects. The Jains are divided in + regard to the possibility of woman's salvation. The + Yogaç[=a]stra alludes to women as 'the lamps that burn on + the road that leads to the gate of hell,' ii. 87. The + Digambaras do not admit women into the order, as do the + Çvet[=a]mbaras.] + + [Footnote 9: _Die Bharata-sage_, Leumann, ZDMG. xlviii. + p.65. See also above in the S[=u]tras. With the Jains there + is less of the monastic side of religion than with the + Buddhists.] + + [Footnote 10: Jains are sometimes called Arhats on account + of their veneration for the Arhat or chief Jina (whence + Jain). Their only real gods are their chiefs or Teachers, + whose idols are worshipped in the temples. Thus, like the + Buddhist and some Hindu sects of modern times, they have + given up God to worship man. Rather have they adopted an + idolatry of man and worship of womanhood, for they also + revere the female energy. Positivism has ancient models!] + + [Footnote 11: The Jain sub-sects did not differ much among + themselves in philosophical speculation. Their differences + were rather of a practical sort.] + + [Footnote 12: See the list of the Bertin MSS.; Weber, + _Berlin MSS_. vol. ii. 1892; and the thirty-third volume of + the German Oriental Journal, pp. 178, 693. For an account of + the literature see also Jacobi's introduction to the SBE. + vol. xxii; and Weber, _Ueber die heiligen Schriften der + Jaina_ in vols. xvi, xvii of the _Indische Studien_ + (translated by Smyth in the Indian Antiquary); and the + Bibliography (below).] + + [Footnote 13: A case of connection in legends between + Buddhist and Jain is mentioned below. Another is the history + of king Paêsi, elaborated in Buddhistic literature + (Tripitaka) and in the second Jain Up[=a]nga alike, as has + been shown by Leumann.] + + [Footnote 14: The Jain's spirit, however, is not a + world-spirit. He does not believe in an All-Spirit, but in a + plurality of eternal spirits, fire-spirits, wind-spirits, + plant-spirits, etc.] + + [Footnote 15: Compare Colebrooke's _Essays_, vol. II. pp. + 404, 444, and the Yogaç[=a]stra cited above.] + + [Footnote 16: This is not in the earlier form of the vow + (see below).] + + [Footnote 17: II. 37 and 41. Although the Brahman ascetic + took the vow not to kill, yet is he permitted to do so for + sacrifice, and he may eat flesh of animals killed by other + animals (Gautama, 3. 31).] + + [Footnote 18: _Loc. cit_. III. 37-38. The evening and night + are not times to eat, and for the same reason "The Gods eat + in the morning, the Seers at noon, the Fathers in the + afternoon, the devils at twilight and night" (_ib_. 58). For + at night one might eat a a living thing by mistake.] + + [Footnote 19: _Loc. cit_. II. 27.] + + [Footnote 20: The pun _m[=a][.m]sa, "Me eat_ will be + hereafter whose _meat_ I eat in this life" (Lanman), shows + that Jain and Brahman believed in a hell where the injured + avenged themselves (Manu, V. 55; HYÇ. III. 26), just as is + related in the Bhrigu story (above).] + + [Footnote 21: By intuition or instruction.] + + [Footnote 22: _Loc. cit_. I. 15 ff.] + + [Footnote 23: _Loc. cit_. 121 ff. Wilson, _Essays_, I. 319, + gives a description of the simple Jain ritual.] + + [Footnote 24: Who says "may be."] + + [Footnote 25: Mukunda.] + + [Footnote 26: This 'keeping _vasso_' is also a Brahmanic + custom, as Bühler has pointed out. But it is said somewhere + that at that season the roads are impossible, so that there + is not so much a conscious copying as a physical necessity + in keeping _vasso_; perhaps also a moral touch, owing to the + increase of life and danger of killing.] + + [Footnote 27: In the lives of the Jinas it is said that + Jñ[=a]triputra's (N[=a]taputta's) parents worshipped the + 'people's favorite,' P[=a]rçva, and were followers of the + Çramanas (ascetics). In the same work (which contains + nothing further for our purpose) it is said that Arhats, + Cakravarts, Baladevas, and Vasudevas, present, past, and + future, are aristocrats, born in noble families. The + heresies and sectaries certainly claim as much.] + + [Footnote 28: [=A]c[=a]r[=a]nga S. ii. 15. We give Jacobi's + translation, as in the verses already cited from this work.] + + [Footnote 29: Acting, commanding, consenting, past, present, + or future (Jacobi).] + + [Footnote 30: SBE. xxii. Introd. p. xxiv.] + + [Footnote 31: JRAS. xx. 279.] + + [Footnote 32: See Bühler, the last volume of the + _Epigraphica Indica_, and his other articles in the WZKM. v. + 59, 175. Jeypur, according to Williams, is the stronghold of + the Digambara Jains. Compare Thomas, JRAS. ix. 155, _Early + Faith of Açoka_.] + + [Footnote 33: The redaction of the Jain canon took place, + according to tradition, in 454 or 467 A.D. (possibly 527). + "The origin of the extant Jaina literature cannot be placed + earlier than about 300 B.C." (Jacobi, Introduction to _Jain + S[=u]tras_, pp. xxxvii, xliii). The present Angas + ('divisions') were preceded by P[=u]rvas, of which there are + said to have been at first fourteen. On the number of the + scriptures see Weber, _loc. cit_.] + + [Footnote 34: Williams, _loc. cit._ The prayer-formula is: + 'Reverence to Arhats, saints, teachers, subteachers, and all + good men.'] + + [Footnote 35: 'A place which is appropriated for the + reception of old, worn-out, lame, or disabled animals. At + that time (1823) they chiefly consisted of buffaloes and + cows, but there were also goats and sheep, and even cocks + and hens,' and also 'hosts of vermin.'] + + [Footnote 36: JRAS. 1834, p. 96. The town was taxed to + provide the food for the rats.] + + [Footnote 37: Because the Jains have reverted to idolatry, + demonology, and man-worship. But at the outset they appear + to have had two great principles, one, that there is no + divine power higher than man; the other, that all life is + sacred. One of these is now practically given up, and the + other was always taken too seriously.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +BUDDHISM. + + +While the pantheistic believer proceeded to anthropomorphize in a +still greater degree the _[=a]tm[=a]_ of his fathers, and eventually +landed in heretical sectarianism; while the orthodox Brahman simply +added to his pantheon (in Manu and other law-codes) the Brahmanic +figure of the Creator, Brahm[=a]; the truth-seeker that followed the +lines of the earlier philosophical thought arrived at atheism, and in +consequence became either stoic or hedonist. The latter school, the +C[=a]rv[=a]kas, the so-called disciples of Brihaspati, have, indeed, a +philosophy without religion. They simply say that the gods do not +exist, the priests are hypocrites; the Vedas, humbug; and the only +thing worth living for, in view of the fact that there are no gods, no +heaven, and no soul, is pleasure: 'While life remains let a man live +happily; let him not go without butter (literally _ghee_) even though +he run into debt,' etc.[1] Of sterner stuff was the man who invented a +new religion as a solace for sorrow and a refuge from the nihilism in +which he believed. + +Whether Jainism or Buddhism be the older heresy, and it is not +probable that any definitive answer to this question will ever be +given, one thing has become clear in the light of recent studies, +namely, the fact already shown, that to Brahmanism are due some of the +most marked traits of both the heretical sects. The founder of +Buddhism did not strike out a new system of morals; he was not a +democrat; he did not originate a plot to overthrow the Brahmanic +priesthood; he did not invent the order of monks.[2] There is, +perhaps, no person in history in regard to whom have arisen so many +opinions that are either wholly false or half false.[3] + +We shall not canvass in detail views that would be mentioned only to +be rejected. Even the brilliant study of Senart,[4] in which the +figure of Buddha is resolved into a solar type and the history of the +reformer becomes a sun-myth, deserves only to be mentioned and laid +aside. Since the publication of the canonical books of the southern +Buddhists there is no longer any question in regard to the human +reality of the great knight who illumined, albeit with anything but +heavenly light, the darkness of Brahmanical belief. Oldenberg[5] has +taken Senart seriously, and seriously answered him. But Napoleon and +Max Müller have each been treated as sun-myths, and Senart's essay is +as convincing as either _jeu d'esprit._ + +In Nep[=a]l, far from the site of Vedic culture, and generations after +the period of the Vedic hymns, was born a son to the noble family of +the Ç[=a]kyas. A warrior prince, he made at last exclusively his own +the lofty title that was craved by many of his peers, Buddha, the +truly wise, the 'Awakened.' + +The Ç[=a]kyas' land extended along the southern border of Nep[=a]l and +the northeast part of Oude (Oudh), between the Ir[=a]vat[=i] (Rapti) +river on the west and south, and the Rohini on the east; the district +which lies around the present Gorakhpur, about one hundred miles +north-northeast of Benares. The personal history of the later Buddha +is interwoven with legend from which it is not always easy to +disentangle the threads of truth. In the accounts preserved in regard +to the Master, one has first to distinguish the P[=a]li records of the +Southern Buddhists from the Sanskrit tales of the Northerners; and +again, it is necessary to discriminate between the earlier and +later traditions of the Southerners, who have kept in general the +older history as compared with the extravagant tradition preserved in +the Lalita Vistara, the Lotus of the Law, and the other works of the +North. What little seems to be authentic history is easily told; nor +are, for our present purpose, of much value the legends, which +mangonize the life of Buddha. They will be found in every book that +treats of the subject, and some of the more famous are translated in +the article on Buddha in the Encyclopædia Brittanica. We content +ourselves with the simplest and oldest account, giving such facts as +help to explain the religious significance of Buddha's life and work +among his countrymen. Several of these facts, Buddha's place in +society, and the geographical centre of Buddhistic activity, are +essential to a true understanding of the relations between Buddhism +and Brahmanism. + +Whether Buddha's father was king or no has rightly been questioned. +The oldest texts do not refer to him as a king's son, and this +indicates that his father, who governed the Ç[=a]kya-land, of which +the limits have just been specified,[6] was rather a feudal baron or +head of a small clan, than an actual king. The Ç[=a]kya power was +overthrown and absorbed into that of the king of Oude (Kosala) either +in Buddha's own life-time or immediately afterwards. It is only the +newer tradition that extols the power and wealth which the Master gave +up on renouncing worldly ties, a trait characteristic of all the later +accounts, on the principle that the greater was the sacrifice the +greater was the glory. Whether kings or mere chieftains, the Ç[=a]kyas +were noted as a family that cared little to honor the Brahmanic +priests. They themselves claimed descent from Ikshv[=a]ku, the ancient +seer-king, son of Manu, and traditionally first king of Ayodh[=a] +(Oude). They assumed the name of Gautama, one of the Vedic seers, and +it was by the name of 'the Ascetic Gautama' that Buddha was known to +his contemporaries; but his personal name was Siddh[=a]rtha 'he that +succeeds in his aim,' prophetic of his life! His mother's name +M[=a]y[=a] (illusion) has furnished Senart with material for his +sun-theory of Buddha; but the same name is handed down as that of a +city, and perhaps means in this sense 'the wonderful.' She is said to +have died when her son was still a boy. The boy Siddh[=a]rtha, then, +was a warrior _r[=a]jput_ by birth, and possibly had a very +indifferent training in Vedic literature, since he is never spoken of +as Veda-wise.[7] The future Buddha was twenty-nine when he resolved to +renounce the world. He was already married and had a son (R[=a]hula, +according to later tradition). The legends of later growth here begin +to thicken, telling how, when the future Buddha heard of the birth of +his son, he simply said 'a new bond has been forged to hold me to the +world'; and how his mind was first awakened to appreciation of sorrow +by seeing loathy examples of age, sickness, and death presented to him +as he drove abroad. Despite his father's tears and protests +Siddh[=a]rtha, or as one may call him now by his patronymic, the man +Gautama, left his home and family, gave up all possessions, and +devoted himself to self-mortification and Yoga discipline of +concentration of thought, following in this the model set by all +previous ascetics. He says himself, according to tradition, that it +was a practical pessimism which drove him to take this step. He was +not pleased with life, and the pleasures of society had no charm for +him. When he saw the old man, the sick man, the dead man, he became +disgusted to think that he too would be subject to age, sickness, and +death: "I felt disgust at old age; all pleasure then forsook me." In +becoming an ascetic Gautama simply endeavored to discover some means +by which he might avoid a recurrence of life, of which the +disagreeable side in his estimation outweighed the joy. He too had +already answered negatively the question Is life worth living? + +We must pause here to point out that this oldest and simplest account +of Gautama's resolve shows two things. It makes clear that Gautama at +first had no plan for the universal salvation of his race. He was +alert to 'save his own soul,' nothing more. We shall show presently +that this is confirmed by subsequent events in his career. The next +point is that this narration in itself is a complete refutation of the +opinion of those scholars who believe that the doctrine of _karma_ and +reincarnation arose first in Buddhism, and that the Upanishads that +preach this doctrine are not of the pre-Buddhistic period. The last +part of this statement of opinion is, of course, not touched by the +story of Gautama's renunciation, but the first assumption wrecks on +it. Why should Gautama have so given himself to Yoga discipline? Did +he expect to escape age, sickness, death, in this life by that means? +No. The assumption from the beginning is the belief in the doctrine of +reincarnation. It was in order to free himself from future returns of +these ills that Gautama renounced his home. But nothing whatever is +said of his discovering or inventing the doctrine of reincarnation. +Both hell and _karma_ are taken for granted throughout the whole early +Buddhistic literature. Buddha discovered neither of them, any more +than he discovered a new system of morality, or a new system of +religious life; although more credit accrues to him in regard to the +last because his order was opposed to that then prevalent; yet even +here he had antique authority for his discipline. + +To return to Gautama's[8] life. Legend tells how he fled away on his +horse Kanthaka, in search of solitude and the means of salvation, far +from his home to the abode of ascetics, for he thought: "Whence comes +peace? When the fire of desire is extinguished, when the fire of hate +is extinguished, when the fire of illusion is extinguished, when all +sins and all sorrows are extinguished, then comes peace." And the only +means to this end was the renunciation of desire, the discipline of +Yoga concentration, where the mind fixed on one point loses all else +from its horizon, and feels no drawing aside to worldly things. + +What then has Gautama done from the point of view of the Brahman? He +has given up his home to become an ascetic. But this was permitted by +usage, for, although the strict western code allowed it only to the +priest, yet it was customary among the other twice-born castes at an +earlier day, and in this part of India it awakened no surprise that +one of the military caste should take up the life of a philosopher. +For the historian of Indic religions this fact is of great +significance, since such practice is the entering wedge which was to +split the castes. One step more and not only the military caste but +the lower, nay the lowest castes, might become ascetics. But, again, +all ascetics were looked upon, in that religious society, as equal to +the priests. In fact, where Gautama lived there was rather more +respect paid to the ascetic than to the priest as a member of the +caste. Gautama was most fortunate in his birth and birth-place. An +aristocrat, he became an ascetic in a land where the priests were +particularly disregarded. He had no public opinion to contend against +when later he declared that Brahman birth and Brahman wisdom had no +value. On the contrary, he spoke to glad hearers, who heard repeated +loudly now as a religious truth what often they had said to themselves +despitefully in private. + +Gautama journeyed as a _muni_, or silent ascetic sage, till after +seven years he abandoned his teachers (for he had become a disciple of +professed masters), and discontentedly wandered about in M[=a]gadha +(Beh[=a]r), 'the cradle of Buddhism,' till he came to Uruvel[=a], +Bodhi Gay[=a].[9] Here, having found that concentration of mind, +Yoga-discipline, availed nothing, he undertook another method of +asceticism, self-torture. This he practiced for some time. But it +succeeded as poorly as his first plan, and he had nearly starved +himself to death when it occurred to him that he was no wiser than +before. Thereupon he gave up starvation as a means of wisdom and began +to eat. Five other ascetics, who had been much impressed by his +endurance and were quite ready to declare themselves his disciples, +now deserted him, thinking that as he had relaxed his discipline he +must be weaker than themselves. But Gautama sat beneath the sacred +fig-tree[10] and lo! he became illumined. In a moment he saw the Great +Truths. He was now the Awakened. He became Buddha. + +The later tradition here records how he was tempted of Satan. For +M[=a]ra (Death), 'the Evil One' as he is called by the Buddhists, +knowing that Buddha had found the way of salvation, tempted him to +enter into Nirv[=a]na at once, lest by converting others Buddha should +rob M[=a]ra of his power and dominion. This and the legend of storms +attacking him and his being protected by the king of snakes, +Mucalinda, is lacking in the earlier tradition. + +Buddha remains under the _bo_-tree fasting, for four times seven days, +or seven times seven, as says the later report. At first he resolves +to be a 'Buddha for himself.'[11] that is to save only himself, not to +be 'the universal Buddha,' who converts and saves the world. But the +God Brahm[=a] comes down from heaven and persuades him out of pity for +the world to preach salvation. In this legend stands out clearly the +same fact we have animadverted upon already. Buddha had at first no +intention of helping his fellows. He found his own road to salvation. +That sufficed. But eventually he was moved through pity for his kind +to give others the same knowledge with which he had been +enlightened.[12] + +Here is to be noticed with what suddenness Gautama becomes Buddha. It +is an early case of the same absence of study or intellectual +preparation for belief that is rampant in the idea of ictic +conversion. In a moment Gautama's eyes are opened. In ecstacy he +becomes illuminated with the light of knowledge. This idea is totally +foreign to Brahmanism. It is not so strange at an earlier stage, for +the Vedic poet often 'sees' his hymn,[13] that is, he is inspired or +illumined. But no Brahman priest was ever 'enlightened' with sudden +wisdom, for his knowledge was his wisdom, and this consisted in +learning interminable trifles. But the wisdom of Buddha was this: + + I. Birth is sorrow, age is sorrow, sickness is sorrow, death + is sorrow, clinging to earthly things is sorrow. + + II. Birth and re-birth, the chain of reincarnations, result + from the thirst for life together with passion and desire. + + III. The only escape from this thirst is the annihilation of + desire. + + IV. The only way of escape from this thirst is by following + the Eightfold Path: Right belief, right resolve, right word, + right act, right life, right effort, right thinking, right + meditation.[14] + +But Buddha is said to have seen more than these, the Four Great +Truths, and the Eightfold Path, for he was enlightened at the same +time (after several days of fasting) in regard to the whole chain of +causality which is elaborated in the later tradition. + +The general result of this teaching may be formulated thus, that most +people are foolishly optimistic and that the great awakening is to +become a pessimist. One must believe not only that pain is inseparable +from existence, but that the pleasures of life are only a part of its +pain. When one has got so far along the path of knowledge he traverses +the next stage and gets rid of desire, which is the root of +life,--this is a Vedic utterance,--till by casting off desire, +ignorance, doubt, and heresy, as add some of the texts,[15] one has +removed far away all unkindness and vexation of soul, feeling +good-will to all. + +Not only in this scheme but also in other less formal declarations of +Buddha does one find the key-note of that which makes his method of +salvation different alike to that of Jain or Brahman. Knowledge is +wisdom to the Brahman; asceticism is wisdom to the Jain; purity and +love is the first wisdom to the Buddhist. We do not mean that the +Brahman does not reach theoretically a plane that puts him on the same +level with Buddhism. We have pointed out above a passage in the work +of the old law-giver Gautama which might almost have been +uttered by Gautama Buddha: "He that has performed all the forty +sacraments and has not the eight good qualities enters not into union +with Brahm[=a] nor into the heaven of Brahm[=a]; but he that has +performed only a part of the forty sacraments and has the eight good +qualities, enters into union with Brahm[=a] and into the heaven of +Brahm[=a]"; and these eight good qualities are mercy, forbearance, +freedom from envy, purity, calmness, correct behavior, freedom from +greed and from covetousness. Nevertheless with the Brahman this is +adventitious, with the Buddhist it is essential. + +These Four Great Truths are given to the world first at Benares, +whither Buddha went in order to preach to the five ascetics that had +deserted him. His conversation with them shows us another side of +Buddhistic ethics. The five monks, when they saw Buddha approaching, +jeered, and said: "Here is the one that failed in his austerities." +Buddha tells them to acknowledge him as their master, and that he is +the Enlightened One. "How," they ask, "if you could not succeed in +becoming a Buddha by asceticism, can we suppose that you become one by +indulgence?" Buddha tells them that neither voluptuousness nor +asceticism is the road that leads to Nirv[=a]na; that he, Buddha, has +found the middle path between the two extremes, the note is struck +that is neither too high nor too low. The five monks are converted +when they hear the Four Great Truths and the Eightfold Path, and there +are now six holy ones on earth, Buddha and his five disciples. + +Significant also is the social status of Buddha's first conversion. It +is 'the rich youth' of Benares that flock about him,[16] of whom sixty +soon are counted, and these are sent out into all the lands to preach +the gospel, each to speak in his own tongue, for religion was from +this time on no longer to be hid behind the veil of an unintelligible +language. And it is not only the aristocracy of wealth that attaches +itself to the new teacher and embraces his doctrines with enthusiasm. +The next converts are a thousand Brahman priests, who constituted a +religious body under the leadership of three ascetic Brahmans. It is +described in the old writings how these priests were still performing +their Vedic rites when Buddha came again to Bodhi Gay[=a] and found +them there. They were overcome with astonishment as they saw his power +over the King of Snakes that lived among them. The gods--for Buddhism, +if not Buddha, has much to do with the gods--descend from heaven to +hear him, and other marvels take place. The Brahmans are all +converted. The miracles and the numbers may be stripped off, but thus +denuded the truth still remains as important as it is plain. Priests +of Brahman caste were among the first to adopt Buddhism. The popular +effect of the teaching must have been great, for one reads how, when +Buddha, after this great conversion, begins his victorious wanderings +in Beh[=a]r (M[=a]gadha), he converted so many of the young nobles +that--since conversion led to the immediate result of +renunciation--the people murmured, saying that Gautama (Gotama) was +robbing them of their youth.[17] + +From this time on Buddha's life was spent in wandering about and +preaching the new creed mainly to the people of Beh[=a]r and Oude +(K[=a]çi-Kosala, the realm of Benares-Oude), his course extending from +the (Ir[=a]vati) Rapti river in the north to R[=a]jagriha (_gaha,_ now +Rajgir) south of Beh[=a]r, while he spent the _vasso_ or rainy season +in one of the parks, many of which were donated to him by wealthy +members of the fraternity.[18] + +Wherever he went he was accompanied with a considerable number of +followers, and one reads of pilgrims from distant places coming to see +and converse with him. The number of his followers appears to have +been somewhat exaggerated by the later writers, since Buddha himself, +when prophesying of the next Buddha, the "Buddha of love" (Maitreya) +says that, whereas he himself has hundreds of followers, the next +Buddha will lead hundreds of thousands. + +Although, theoretically, all the castes give up their name, and, when +united in the Buddhistic brotherhood, become "like rivers that give up +their identity and unite in the one ocean," yet were most of the early +recruits, as has been said, from influential and powerful families; +and it is a tenet of Buddhism in regard to the numerous Buddhas, which +have been born[19] and are still to be born on earth, that no Buddha +can be born in a low caste. + +The reason for this lies as much as anything in the nature of the +Buddhistic system which is expressly declared to be "for the wise, not +for the foolish." It was not a system based as such on love or on any +democratic sentiment. It was a philosophical exposition of the causal +nexus of birth and freedom from re-birth. The common man, untrained in +logic, might adopt the teaching, but he could not understand it. The +"Congregation of the son of the Ç[=a]kyas"--such was the earliest name +for the Buddhistic brotherhood--were required only to renounce their +family, put on the yellow robe, assume the tonsure and other outward +signs, and be chaste and high-minded. But the teachers were instructed +in the subtleties of the 'Path,' and it needed no little training to +follow the leader's thought to its logical conclusion. + +Of Buddha's life, besides the circumstances already narrated little is +known. Of his disciples the best beloved was [=A]nanda, his own +cousin, whose brother was the Judas of Buddhism. The latter, Devadatta +by name, conspired to kill Buddha in order that he himself might get +the post of honor. But hell opened and swallowed him up. He appears to +have had convictions of Jain tendency, for before his intrigue he +preached against Buddha, and formulated reactionary propositions which +inculcated a stricter asceticism than that taught by the Master.[20] + +It has been denied that the early church contained lay members as well +as monks, but Oldenberg appears to have set the matter right (p. 165) +in showing that the laity, from the beginning, were a recognized part +of the general church. The monk (_bhikshu, bhikku_) was formally +enrolled as a disciple, wore the gown and tonsure, etc. The lay +brother, 'reverer' (_up[=a]saka_) was one that assented to the +doctrine and treated the monks kindly. There were, at first, only men +in the congregation, for Buddhism took a view as unfavorable to woman +as did Jainism. But at his foster-mother's request Buddha finally +admitted nuns as well as monks into his fold. When [=A]nanda asks how +a monk should act in presence of a woman Buddha says 'avoid to look at +her'; but if it be necessary to look, 'do not speak to her'; but if it +be necessary to speak, 'then keep wide awake, [=A]nanda.'[21] + +Buddha died in the fifth century. Rhys Davids, who puts the date later +than most scholars, gives, as the time of the great Nirv[=a]na, the +second decade from the end of the fourth century. On the other hand, +Bühler and Müller reckon the year as 477, while Oldenberg says 'about +480.'[22] From Buddha's own words, as reported by tradition, he was +eighty years old at the time of his death, and if one allots him +thirty-six years as his age when he became independent of masters, his +active life would be one of forty-four years. It was probably less +than this, however, for some years must be added to the first seven of +ascetic practices before he took the field as a preacher. + +The story of Buddha's death is told simply and clearly. He crossed the +Ganges, where at that time was building the town of Patna +(P[=a]taliputta, 'Palibothra'), and prophesied its future greatness +(it was the chief city of India for centuries after); then, going +north from R[=a]jagriha, in Beh[=a]r, and V[=a]iç[=a]l[=i], he +proceeded to a point east of Gorukhpur (Kasia). Tradition thus makes +him wander over the most familiar places till he comes back almost to +his own country. There, in the region known to him as a youth, weighed +down with years and ill-health, but surrounded by his most faithful +disciples, he died. Not unaffecting is the final scene.[23] + +'Now the venerable [=A]nanda (Buddha's beloved disciple) went into the +cloister-building, and stood leaning against the lintel of the door +and weeping at the thought: "Alas! I remain still but a learner, one +who has yet to work out his own perfection. And the Master is about to +pass away from me--he who is so kind." Then the Blessed One called the +brethren and said: "Where then, brethren, is [=A]nanda?" "The +venerable [=A]nanda (they replied) has gone into the cloister-building +and stands leaning against the lintel of the door, weeping." ... And +the Blessed One called a certain brother, and said "Go now, brother, +and call [=A]nanda in my name and say, 'Brother [=A]nanda, thy Master +calls for thee.'" "Even so, Lord," said that brother, and he went up +to where [=A]nanda was, and said to the venerable [=A]nanda: "Brother +[=A]nanda, thy Master calls for thee." "It is well, brother," said the +venerable [=A]nanda, and he went to the place where Buddha was. And +when he was come thither he bowed down before the Blessed One, and +took his seat on one side. Then the Blessed One said to the venerable +[=A]nanda, as he sat there by his side: "Enough, [=A]nanda, let not +thyself be troubled; weep not. Have I not told thee already that we +must divide ourselves from all that is nearest and dearest? How can it +be possible that a being born to die should not die? For a long time, +[=A]nanda, hast thou been very near to me by acts of love that is kind +and good and never varies, and is beyond all measure. (This Buddha +repeats three times.) Thou hast done well. Be earnest in effort. Thou, +too, shalt soon be free." ... When he had thus spoken, the venerable +[=A]nanda said to the Blessed One: "Let not the Blessed One die in +this little wattle and daub town, a town in the midst of the jungle, +in this branch township. For, Lord, there are other great cities such +as Benares (and others). Let the Blessed One die in one of them."' + +This request is refused by Buddha. [=A]nanda then goes to the town and +tells the citizens that Buddha is dying. 'Now, when they had heard +this saying, they, With their young men and maidens and wives were +grieved, and sad, and afflicted at heart. And some of them wept, +dishevelling their hair, and stretched forth their arms, and wept, +fell prostrate on the ground and rolled to and fro, in anguish at +the thought "Too soon will the Blessed One die! Too soon will the +Happy One pass away! Full soon will the Light of the world vanish +away!"' ... When Buddha is alone again with his disciples, 'then the +Blessed One addressed the brethren and said "It may be, brethren, that +there may be doubt or misgiving in the mind of some brother as to the +Buddha, the truth, the path or the way. Inquire, brethren, freely. Do +not have to reproach yourselves afterwards with this thought: 'Our +Teacher was face to face with us, and we could not bring ourselves to +inquire of the Blessed One when we were face to face with him.'" And +when he had thus spoken they sat silent. Then (after repeating these +words and receiving no reply) the Blessed One addressed the brethren +and said, "It may be that you put no questions out of reverence for +the Teacher. Let one friend communicate with another." And when he had +thus spoken the brethren sat silent. And the venerable [=A]nanda said: +"How wonderful a thing, Lord, and how marvellous. Verily, in this +whole assembly, there is not one brother who has doubt or misgiving as +to Buddha, the truth, the path or the way." Then Buddha said: "It is +out of the fullness of thy faith that thou hast spoken, [=A]nanda. But +I know it for certain." ... Then the Blessed One addressed the +brethren saying: "Behold, brethren, I exhort you saying, transitory +are all component things; toil without ceasing." And these were the +last words of Buddha.' + +It is necessary here to make pause for a moment and survey the +temporal and geographical circumstances of Buddha's life. His lifetime +covered the period of greatest intellectual growth in Athens. If, as +some think, the great book of doubt[24] was written by the Hebrew in +450, there would be in three lands, at least, about the same time the +same earnestly scornful skepticism in regard to the worn-out teachings +of the fathers. But at a time when, in Greece, the greatest minds were +still veiling infidelity as best they could, in India atheism was +already formulated. + +It has been questioned, and the question has been answered both +affirmatively and negatively, whether the climatic conditions of +Buddha's home were in part responsible for the pessimistic tone of his +philosophy. If one compare the geographical relation of Buddhism to +Brahmanism and to Vedism respectively with a more familiar geography +nearer home, he will be better able to judge in how far these +conditions may have influenced the mental and religious tone. Taking +Kabul and Kashmeer as the northern limit of the period of the Rig +Veda, there are three geographical centres. The latitude of the Vedic +poets corresponds to about the southern boundary of Tennessee and +North Carolina. The entire tract covered by the southern migration to +the time of Buddhism, extending from Kabul to a point that corresponds +to Benares (35° is a little north of Kabul and 25° is a little south +of Beh[=a]r), would be represented loosely in the United States by the +difference between the northern line of Mississippi and Key West. The +extent of Georgia about represents in latitude the Vedic province (35° +to 30°), while Florida (30° to 25°) roughly shows the southern +progress from the seat of old Brahmanism to the cradle of young +Buddhism. These are the extreme limits of Vedism, Brahmanism and +proto-Buddhism. South of this the country was known to Brahmanism only +to be called savage, and not before the late S[=u]tras (c. 300 B.C.) +is one brought as far south as Bombay in the West. The [=A]itareya +Br[=a]hmana, which represents the old centre of Brahmanism around +Delhi, knows of the [=A]ndhras, south of the God[=a]var[=i] river in +the southeast (about the latitude of Bombay and Hayti), only as outer +'Barbarians.' It is quite conceivable that a race of hardy +mountaineers, in shifting their home through generations from the +hills of Georgia and Tennessee to the sub-tropical region of Key West +(to Cuba), in the course of many centuries might become morally +affected. But it seems to us, although the miasmatic plains of Bengal +may perhaps present even a sharper contrast to the Vedic region than +do Key West and Cuba to Georgia, that the climate in effecting a moral +degradation (if pessimism be immoral) must have produced also the +effect of mental debility. Now to our mind there is not the slightest +proof for the asseveration, which has been repeated so often that it +is accepted by many nowadays as a truism, that Buddhism or even +post-Buddhistic literature shows any trace of mental decay.[25] There +certainly is mental weakness in the Br[=a]hmanas, but these cannot all +be accredited to the miasms of Bengal. They are the bones of a +religion already dead, kept for instruction in a cabinet; dry, dusty, +lifeless, but awful to the beholder and useful to the owner. Again, +does Buddhism lose in the comparison from an intellectual point of +view when set beside the mazy gropings of the Upanishads? We have +shown that dogma was the base of primal pantheism; of real logic there +is not a whit. We admire the spirit of the teachers in the Upanishads, +but we have very little respect for the logical ability of any early +Hindu teachers; that is to say, there is very little of it to admire. +The doctors of the Upanishad philosophy were poets, not dialecticians. +Poetry indeed waned in the extreme south, and no spirited or powerful +literature ever was produced there, unless it was due to foreign +influence, such as the religious poetry of Ramaism and the Tamil +_Sittars_. But in secondary subtlety and in the marking of +distinctions, in classifying and analyzing on dogmatic premises, as +well as in the acceptance of hearsay truths as ultimate verities--we +do not see any fundamental disparity in these regards between the mind +of the Northwest and that of the Southeast; and what superficial +difference exists goes to the credit of Buddhism. For if one must have +dogma it is something to have system, and while precedent theosophy +was based on the former it knew nothing of the latter. Moreover, in +Buddhism there is a greater intellectual vigor than in any phase of +Brahmanism (as distinct from Vedism). To cast off not only gods but +soul, and more, to deny the moral efficacy of asceticism this was a +leap into the void, to appreciate the daring of which one has but to +read himself into the priestly literature of Buddha's rivals, both +heterodox and orthodox. We see then in Buddhism neither a debauched +moral type, nor a weakened intellectuality. The pessimism of Buddhism, +so far as it concerns earth, is not only the same pessimism that +underlies the religious motive of Brahmanic pantheism, but it is the +same pessimism that pervades Christianity and even Hebraism. This +world is a sorry place, living is suffering; do thou escape from it. +The pleasures of life are vanity; do thou renounce them. "To die is +gain," says the apostle; and the Preacher: "I have seen all the works +that are done under the sun and behold all is vanity and vexation of +spirit. He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. For what hath +man of all his labor and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath +laboured under the sun? For all his days are sorrows and his travail +grief. That which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one +thing befalleth them: as the one dieth so dieth the other; yea, they +have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: +for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all +turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of man whether it goeth +upward? I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living +which are yet alive. The dead know not anything, their love and their +hatred and their envy is now perished; neither have they any more a +portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun. The +wandering of the desire, this also is vanity." + +The Preacher is a fairly good Buddhist. + +If pessimism be the conviction that life on earth is not worth living, +this view is shared alike by the greatest of earth's religions. If +pessimism be the view that all beauty ends with life and that beyond +it there is nothing for which it is worth while to live, then India +has no parallel to this Homeric belief. If, however, pessimism mean +that to have done with existence on earth is the best that can happen +to a man, but that there is bliss beyond, then this is the opinion of +Brahmanism, Jainism, and Christianity. Buddhism alone teaches that to +live on earth is weariness, that there is no bliss beyond, and that +one should yet be calm, pure, loving, and wise. + +How could such a religion inspire enthusiasm? How could it send forth +jubilant disciples to preach the gospel of joy? Yet did Buddhism do +even this. Not less happy and blissful than were they that received +the first comfort of pantheism were the apostles of Buddha. His +progress was a triumph of gladness. They that believed in him rejoiced +and hastened to their fellows with the good tidings. Was it then a new +morality, a new ethical code, that thus inspired them? Let one but +look at the vows and commandments respectively taken by and given to +the Buddhist monk, and he will see that in Buddhism there is no new +morality. + +The Ten Vows are as follows: + + I take the vow not to kill; not to steal; to abstain from + impurity; not to lie; to abstain from intoxicating drinks + which hinder progress and virtue; not to eat at forbidden + times; to abstain from dancing, singing, music and stage + plays; not to use garlands, scents, unguents, or ornaments; + not to use a high or broad bed; not to receive gold or + silver. + +The Eight Commandments are as follows: + + Do not kill; do not steal; do not lie; do not drink + intoxicating drinks; do not commit fornication or adultery; + do not eat unseasonable food at night; do not wear garlands + or use perfumes; sleep on a mat spread on the ground. + +The first five of these commands are given to every Buddhist, monk, or +layman; the last three are binding only on the monk.[26] + +These laws and rules were, however, as we have indicated in +the chapter on Jainism, the common property, with some unimportant +variations and exceptions, of the Brahman ascetic, the Jain, and the +Buddhist. There was surely nothing here to rouse especial interest. +No. But there was one side of Buddhism that was new, not absolutely +new, for it formed part of the moral possession of that early band +which we may call the congregation of the Spirit. The Brahman +theoretically had done away with penance and with prayer, with the +Vedic gods and with the Vedic rites. Yet was it impossible for him +practically to absolve the folk of these. The priest might admit that +he knew a better way to salvation, but he still led the people over +the hard old road, and he himself went that way also, because it was +the way of the fathers, because it was the only way for them that were +unwise, and perhaps, too, because it was the only way in which the +priest could keep his place as guide and leader of the people. + +Jainism smote down some of the obstacles that the Brahman had built +and kept. Mah[=a]v[=i]ra made the way to salvation shorter, but he did +not make it easier for the masses. Asceticism, self-mortification, +starvation, torture,--this was his means of gaining happiness +hereafter. + +But Buddha cut down all obstacles. He made the lowest equal with the +highest. It is true that he was no democrat. It is true that his +success depended, in great part, on political influence, on the +conversion of kings and nobles, men of his own class. It is true also +that Buddha at first, like every other Hindu theosophist, sought no +salvation for the world around him, but only for himself. But he was +moved with pity for the multitude. And why? The sages among them knew +no path to happiness save through life-long torture; the common people +knew only a religion of rites in which they took no interest, the very +words of which were unintelligible; and its priests in their eyes, if +not contemptible, at least were unsympathetic. And at the same time +the old caste-system oppressed and insulted them. It is evident that +the times were ripe for a more humane religion and a new distribution +of social privileges. Then Buddha arose and said: "He that is pure in +heart is the true priest, not he that knows the Veda. Like unto one +that standeth where a king hath stood and spoken, and standing and +speaking there deems himself for this a king, seems to me the man that +repeateth the hymns, which the wise men of old have spoken, and +standing in their place and speaking, deems himself for this a sage. +The Vedas are nothing, the priests are of no account, save as they be +morally of repute. Again, what use to mortify the flesh? Asceticism is +of no value. Be pure, be good; this is the foundation of wisdom--to +restrain desire, to be satisfied with little. He is a holy man who +doeth this. Knowledge follows this." + +Here is the essence of Buddhism, here is its power; and when one +reflects that Buddha added: "Go into all lands and preach this gospel; +tell them that the poor and lowly, the rich and high, are all one, and +that all castes unite in this religion, as unite the rivers in the +sea"--he will understand what key was used to open the hearts of +Buddha's kinsmen and people. + +But, it will be said, there is nothing in this of that extreme +pessimism, of which mention has just been made. True. And this, again, +is an important point to bear in mind, that whereas the logic of his +own system led Buddha into a formal and complete pessimism, which +denies an after-life to the man that finds no happiness in this, he +yet never insists upon this. He not only does not insist, but in his +talks with his questioners and disciples he uses all means to evade +direct inquiry in regard to the fate of man after death. He believed +that Nirv[=a]na (extinction of lust) led to cessation of being; he did +not believe in an immortal soul. But he urged no such negative +doctrine as this. What he urged repeatedly was that every one +accepting the undisputed doctrine of _karma_ or re-birth in its full +extent (i.e., that for every sin here, punishment followed in the +next existence), should endeavor to escape, if possible, from such an +endless course of painful re-births, and that to accomplish this it +was necessary first to be sober and good, then to be learned, but not +to be an ascetic. On the other hand the doctrine, in its logical +fullness, was a teaching only for the wise, not for fools. He imparted +it only to the wise. What is one to understand from this? Clearly, +that Buddha regarded the mass of his disciples as standing in need +merely of the Four Great Truths, the confession of which was the sign +of becoming a disciple; while to the strong and wise he reserved the +logical pessimism, which resulted from his first denials and the +premises of causality on which was created his complicated system. +Only thus can one comprehend the importance of Buddhism to his own +time and people, only in this light reconcile the discrepancy between +the accounts of a religion which roused multitudes to enthusiasm and +joy, while on the other hand it stood on the cold basis of complete +nihilism. Formally there was not an esoteric[27] and exoteric +Buddhism, but practically what the apostles taught, what Buddha +himself taught to the mass of his hearers was a release from the +bondage of the law and the freedom of a high moral code as the one +thing needful. But he never taught that sacrifice was a bad thing; he +never either took the priest's place himself or cast scorn upon the +Brahman caste: "Better even than a harmless[28] sacrifice is +liberality" he says, "better than liberality is faith and kindness +(non-injury) and truth, better than faith, kindness, and truth is +renunciation of the world and the search for peace; best of all, the +highest sacrifice and greatest good, is when one enters Nirv[=a]na, +saying "I shall not return again to earth." This is to be an Arhat +(Perfect Sage). + +These are Buddha's own words as he spoke with a Brahman priest,[29] +who was converted thereby and replied at once with the Buddhist's +confession of faith: "I take refuge in Buddha, in the doctrine, in the +church." + +A significant conversation! In many ways these words should be +corrective of much that is hazarded today in regard to Buddhism. There +is here no elaborate system of metaphysics. Wisdom consists in the +truth as it is in Buddha; and before truth stand, as antecedently +essential, faith and kindness; for so may one render the passive +non-injury of the Brahman as taught by the Buddhist. To have faith and +good works, to renounce the pomps and vanities of life, to show +kindness to every living thing, to seek for salvation, to understand, +and so finally to leave no second self behind to suffer again, this is +Buddha's doctrine. + +We have avoided thus far to define Nirv[=a]na. It has three distinct +meanings, eternal blissful repose (such was the Nirv[=a]na of the +Jains and in part of Buddhism), extinction and absolute annihilation +(such was the Nirv[=a]na of some Buddhists), and the Nirv[=a]na of +Buddha himself. Nirv[=a]na meant to Buddha the extinction of lust, +anger, and ignorance. He adopted the term, he did not invent it. He +was often questioned, but persistently refused to say whether he +believed that Nirv[=a]na implied extinction of being or not. We +believe that in this refusal to speak on so vital a point lies the +evidence that he himself regarded the 'extinction' or 'blowing out' +(this is what the word means literally) as resulting in annihilation. +Had he believed otherwise we think he would not have hesitated to say +so, for it would have strengthened his influence among them to whom +annihilation was not a pleasing thought. + +But one has no right to 'go behind the returns' as these are given by +Buddha. The later church says distinctly that Buddha himself did not +teach whether he himself, his ego, was to live after death or not; or +whether a permanent ego exists. It is useless, therefore, to inquire +whether Buddha's Nirv[=a]na be a completion, as Müller defines it, or +annihilation. To one Buddhistic party it was the one; to the other, +the other; to Buddha himself it was what may be inferred from his +refusal to make any declaration in regard to it. + +The second point of interest is not more easily disposed of. What to +the Buddhist is the spirit, the soul of man? It certainly is not an +eternal spirit, such as was the spirit of Brahmanic philosophy, or +that of the Jain. But, on the other hand, it is clear that something +survived after death till one was reborn for the last time, and then +entered Nirv[=a]na. The part that animates the material complex is to +the Buddhist an individuality which depends on the nature of its +former complex, home, and is destined to project itself upon futurity +till the house which it has built ceases to exist, a home rebuilt no +more to be its tabernacle. When a man dies the component parts of his +material personality fall apart, and a new complex is formed, of which +the individuality is the effect of the _karma_ of the preceding +complex. The new person is one's karmic self, but it is not one's +identical ego. There appears, therefore, even in the doctrine of +Nirv[=a]na, to lie something of that altruism so conspicuous in the +insistence on kindness and conversion of others. It is to save from +sorrow this son of one's acts that one should seek to find the end. +But there is no soul to save. + +We cannot insist too often on the fact that the religion of Buddha was +not less practical than human. He practiced, as he taught, that the +more one worked for others, was devoted to others, the less he cared +for himself, the less was he the victim of desire. Hence he says that +a true Nirv[=a]na may come even in one's own lifetime--the utter +surrender of one's self is Nirv[=a]na,[30] while the act of dying only +draws the curtain after the tragedy has ended. "Except," Buddha says, +"for birth, age, and death, there would be no need of Buddha." + +A review of Buddha's system of metaphysics is, therefore, doubly +unnecessary for our present purpose.[31] In the first place we believe +that most of the categories and metaphysical niceties of Buddhism, as +handed down, are of secondary origin; and, were this not so, it is +still evident that they were but the unimportant, intellectual +appendage of a religion that was based on anything but metaphysical +subtleties. Buddha, like every other teacher of his time, had to have +a 'system,' though whether the system handed down as his reverts to +him it is impossible to say. But Buddha's recondite doctrine was only +for the wise. "It is hard to learn for an ordinary person," says +Buddha himself. But it was the ordinary person that Buddhism took to +its bosom. The reason can be only the one we have given. For the last +stage before Arhat-ship Buddha had ready a complicate system. But he +did not inflict it on the ordinary person.[32] It was not an essential +but the completing of his teaching; in his own eyes truth as +represented by the Four Great Truths was the real doctrine. + +The religion of Buddha, for the mass of people, lies in the Four Great +Truths and their practical application to others, which implies +kindness and love of humanity. For Buddha, whatever may have been the +reluctance with which he began to preach, shows in all his teachings +and dealings with men an enduring patience under their rebuffs, a +brotherly sympathy with their weakness, and a divine pity for their +sorrows. Something, too, of divine anger with the pettiness and +meanness of the unworthy ones among his followers, as when, after +preaching with parable and exhortation to the wrangling brothers of +the monastery of Kosamb[=i], he left them, saying, "'Truly these fools +are infatuate; it is no easy task to administer instruction to them,' +and," it is added simply, "he rose from his seat and went away."[33] + +The significance of the church organization in the development of +Buddhism should not be under-estimated. Contrasted with the lack of an +organized ecclesiastical corporation among the Brahmans the Buddhistic +synod, or congregation, Sangha, exerted a great influence. In +different places there would be a park set apart for the Buddhist +monks. Here they had their monastery buildings, here they lived during +the rainy season, from this place out as a centre the monks radiated +through the country, not as lone mendicants, but as members of a +powerful fraternity. To this monastery came gifts, receipts of all +kinds that never would have been bestowed upon individuals. +Undoubtedly organization did much for the spread of Buddhism. Yet we +think its influence has been emphasized almost too much by some +scholars, or rather the effect has been represented as too radical. +For the monasteries, as represented by tradition, with their immense +wealth and political importance as allies of the heretical kings of +the East, are plainly of secondary growth. If one limit their national +and political importance to a period one or two hundred years after +the Master's time, he will not err in attributing to this cause, as +does Barth, the reason for the rapid rise and supremacy of Buddhism +over India. But the first beginnings of the institution were small, +and what is to be sought in the beginning of Buddhism is rather +the reason why the monasteries became popular, and what was the hold +which Buddha had upon the masses, and which induced the formation of +this great engine of religious war. And when this first question is +raised the answer must still be that the banding together of the monks +was not the cause but the effect of the popularity of Buddhism. The +first monasteries, as Barth well says, were only assemblies of pious +men who formed a spiritual band of religious thinkers, of men who +united themselves into one body to the end that they might study +righteousness, learning together how to imitate the Master in holiness +of living. But the members converted soon became so many that formal +assemblies became a necessity to settle the practical disputes and +theoretical questions which were raised by the new multitude of +believers, some of whom were more factious than devout. Brahmanism had +no need of this. The Brahman priest had his law in tradition; his life +and conduct were regulated by immemorial law. The corporations of +these priests were but temporary organizations for specific purposes. +They made no attempt to proselytize. Their members never exceeded the +bounds of the caste. The cause, then, of the rapid spread of Buddhism +at the beginning of its career lies only in the conditions of its +teaching and the influential backing of its founder. It was the +individual Buddha that captivated men; it was the teaching that +emanated from him that fired enthusiasm; it was his position as an +aristocrat that made him acceptable to the aristocracy, his magnetism +that made him the idol of the people. From every page stands out the +strong, attractive personality of this teacher and winner of hearts. +No man ever lived so godless yet so godlike. Arrogating to himself no +divinity, despairing of future bliss, but without fear as without +hope, leader of thought but despising lovingly the folly of the world, +exalted but adored, the universal brother, he wandered among men, +simply, serenely; with gentle irony subduing them that opposed him, to +congregation after congregation speaking with majestic sweetness, the +master to each, the friend of all. His voice was singularly vibrant +and eloquent;[34] his very tones convinced the hearer, his looks +inspired awe. From the tradition it appears that he must have been one +of those whose personality alone suffices to make a man not only a +leader but a god to the hearts of his fellows. When such an one speaks +he obtains hearers. It matters little what he says, for he influences +the emotions, and bends whoever listens to his will. But if added to +this personality, if encompassing it, there be the feeling in the +minds of others that what this man teaches is not only a verity, but +the very hope of their salvation; if for the first time they recognize +in his words the truth that makes of slaves free men, of classes a +brotherhood, then it is not difficult to see wherein lies the +lightning-like speed with which the electric current passes from heart +to heart. Such a man was Buddha, such was the essential of his +teaching; and such was the inevitable rapidity of Buddhistic +expansion, and the profound influence of the shock that was produced +by the new faith upon the moral consciousness of Buddha's people. + +The literature of early Buddhism consists of a number of historical +works embodying the life and teaching of the master, some of more +didactic and epigrammatic intent, and, in the writings of the Northern +Buddhists, some that have given up the verbose simplicity of the first +tracts in favor of tasteless and extravagant recitals more stagey than +impressive. The final collection of the sacred books (earlier is the +Suttanta division into Nik[=a]yas) is called Tripitaka, 'the three +baskets,' one containing the tracts on discipline; one, the talks of +Buddha; and one, partly metaphysical; called respectively Vinaya, +Sutta, and Abhidhamma. The Southern[35] P[=a]li redaction--for the +writings of the Northern[36] Buddhists are in Sanskrit--was commented +upon in the fifth century of this era by Buddha-gosha ('Buddha's +glory'), and appears to be older than the Sanskrit version of +Nep[=a]l. Some of the writings go back as far as the Second Council, +and their content, so far as it concerns Buddha's own words, in many +cases is doubtless a tradition that one should accept as +authoritative. The works on discipline, instead of being as dull as +one might reasonably expect of books that deal with the petty details +of a monastery, are of exceeding interest (although whole chapters +conform to the reasonable expectation), for they contain fragments of +the work and words of Buddha which give a clearer idea of his +personality and teaching than do his more extended, and perhaps less +original discourses. They throw a strong light also on the early +church, its recalcitrant as well as its obedient members, the quarrels +and schisms that appear to have arisen even before Buddha's death. +Thus in the _Mah[=a]vagga_ (ch. X) there is found an account of the +schism caused by the expulsion of some unworthy members. The brethren +are not only schismatic, some taking the side of those expelled, but +they are even insolent to Buddha; and when he entreats them for the +sake of the effect on the outer world to heal their differences,[37] +they tell him to his face that they will take the responsibility, and +that he need not concern himself with the matter. It is on this +occasion that Buddha says, "Truly, these fools are infatuate," leaves +them, and goes into solitude, rejoicing to be free from souls so +quarrelsome and contentious. Again these tracts give a picture of how +they should live that are truly Buddha's disciples. Buddha finds three +disciples living in perfect harmony, and asks them how they live +together so peaceably and lovingly. In quaint and yet dignified +language they reply, and tell him that they serve each other. He that +rises first prepares the meal, he that returns last at night puts the +room in order, etc. (_ib_. 4). Occasionally in the account of unruly +brothers it is evident that tradition must be anticipating, or that +many joined the Buddhist fraternity as an excuse from restraint. The +_Cullavagga_ opens with the story of two notorious renegades, 'makers +of strife, quarrelsome, makers of dispute, given to idle talk, and +raisers of legal questions in the congregation.' Such were the +infamous followers of Panduka and Lohitaka. Of a different sort, +Epicurean or rather frivolous, were the adherents of Assaji and +Punabbasu, who, according to another chapter of the _Cullavagga_ (I. +13), 'cut flowers, planted cuttings of flowers, used ointment and +scents, danced, wore garlands, and revelled wickedly.' A list of the +amusements in which indulged these flighty monks includes 'games +played with six and ten pieces, tossing up, hopping over diagrams, +dice, jackstraws,[38] ball, sketching, racing, marbles, wrestling,' +etc; to which a like list (_Tevijja_, II) adds chess or checkers +('playing with a board of sixty-four squares or one hundred squares'), +ghost stories, and unseemly wrangling in regard to belief ("I am +orthodox, you are heterodox"), earning a living by prognostication, by +taking omens 'from a mirror' or otherwise, by quack medicines, and by +'pretending to understand the language of beasts.' It is gratifying to +learn that the scented offenders described in the first-mentioned work +were banished from the order. According to the regular procedure, they +were first warned, then reminded, then charged; then the matter was +laid before the congregation, and they were obliged to leave the +order. Even the detail of Subhadda's insolence is not wanting in these +records _(Cull_. XI. 1. and elsewhere). No sooner was Buddha dead than +the traitor Subhadda cries out: "We are well rid of him; he gave us +too many rules. Now we may do as we like." On which the assembly +proceeded to declare in force all the rules that Buddha had given, +although he had left it to them to discard them when they would. The +Confessional (P[=a]timokkha), out of which have been evolved in +narrative form the Vinaya texts that contain it, concerns graded +offences, matters of expiation, rules regarding decency, directions +concerning robes, rugs, bowls, and other rather uninteresting topics, +all discussed in the form of a confession.[39] The church-reader goes +over the rules in the presence of the congregation, and asks at the +end of each section whether any one is guilty of having broken this +rule. If at the third repetition no one responds, he says, 'They are +declared innocent by their silence.' This was the first public +confessional, although, as we have shown above, the idea of a partial +remission of sin by means of confession to the priest is found in +Brahmanic literature.[40] The confession extends to very small +matters, but one sees from other texts that the early congregation +laid a great deal of weight on details, such as dress, as the sign of +a sober life. Thus in _Mah[=a]vagga_, V. 2 ff., certain Buddhists +dress in a worldly way. At one time one is informed of the color of +their heretical slippers, at another of the make of their wicked +gowns. All this is monastic, even in the discipline which 'sets back' +a badly behaved monk, gives him probation, forces him to be +subordinate. In _Cullavagga_, I. 9, there is an account of stupid +Seyyasaka, who was dull and indiscreet, and was always getting 'set +back' by the brethren. Finally they grow weary of probating him and +carry out the _nissaya_ against him, obliging him to remain under the +superintendence of others. For, according to Buddha's rule, a wise +novice was kept under surveillance, or rather under the authority of +others, for five years; a stupid uninformed monk, forever. Buddha's +relations with society are plainly set forth. One reads how his +devoted friend, King Seniya Bimbis[=a]ra, four years younger than +Buddha, and his protector (for he was King of M[=a]gadha), gives him a +park, perhaps the first donation of this sort, the origin of all the +monastic foundations: "The King of M[=a]gadha, Bimbis[=a]ra, thought +'here is this bamboo forest Venuvana, my pleasure-garden, which is +neither too near to the town nor too far from it.... What if I were to +give it to the fraternity?' ... And he took a golden vessel (of water) +and dedicated the garden to Buddha, saying, 'I give up the park to the +fraternity with Buddha at its head.' And the Blessed One accepted the +park" (_Mah[=a]vagga_, i. 22).[41] Another such park Buddha accepts +from the courtezan, Ambap[=a]li, whose conversation with Buddha and +dinner-party to him forms a favorite story with the monks (_Mah[=a]v._ +v. 30; _Cull_. ii). The protection offered by Bimbis[=a]ra made the +order a fine retreat for rogues. In _Mah[=a]v._ 1. 41 ff. one reads +that King Seniya Bimbis[=a]ra made a decree: "No one is to do any harm +to those ordained among the Ç[=a]kya-son's monks.[42] Well taught is +their doctrine. Let them lead a holy life for the sake of complete +extinction of suffering." But robbers and runaway slaves immediately +took advantage of this decree, and by joining the order put the police +at defiance. Even debtors escaped, became monks, and mocked their +creditors. Buddha, therefore, made it a rule that no robber, runaway +slave, or other person liable to arrest should be admitted into the +order. He ordained further that no son might join the order without +his parents' consent (_ib_. 54). Still another motive of false +disciples had to be combated. The parents of Up[=a]li thought to +themselves: "What shalt we teach Up[=a]li that he may earn his living? +If we teach him writing his fingers will be sore; if we teach him +arithmetic his mind will be sore; if we teach him money-changing his +eyes will be sore. There are those Buddhist monks; they live an easy +life; they have enough to eat and shelter from the rain; we will make +him a monk." Buddha, hearing of this, ordained that no one should be +admitted into the order under twenty (with some exceptions). + +The monks' lives were simple. They went out by day to beg, were locked +in their cells at night (_Mah[=a]v_. i. 53), were probated for light +offences, and expelled for very severe ones.[43] The people are +represented as murmuring against the practices of the monks at first, +till the latter were brought to more modest behavior. It is perhaps +only Buddhist animosity that makes the narrator say: "They did not +behave modestly at table.... Then the people murmured and said, 'These +Buddhist monks make a riot at their meals, _they act just like the +Brahman priests.'" (Mah[=a]v_. i. 25; cf. i. 70.) + +We turn from the Discipline to the Sermons. Here one finds everything, +from moral exhortations to a book of Revelations.[44] Buddha sometimes +is represented as entering upon a dramatic dialogue with those whom he +wishes to reform, and the talk is narrated. With what soft irony he +questions, with what apparent simplicity he argues! In the +_Tevijja_[45] the scene opens with a young Brahman. He is a pious and +religious youth, and tells Buddha that although he yearns for 'union +with Brahm[=a],'[46] he does not know which of the different paths +proposed by Brahman priests lead to Brahm[=a]. Do they all lead to +union with Brahm[=a]? Buddha answers: 'Let us see; has any one of +these Brahmans ever seen Brahm[=a]?' 'No, indeed, Gautama.' 'Or did +any one of their ancestors ever see Brahm[=a]?' 'No, Gautama.' 'Well, +did the most ancient seers ever say that they knew where is +Brahm[=a]?' 'No, Gautama.' 'Then if neither the present Brahmans know, +nor the old Brahmans knew where is Brahm[=a], the present Brahmans say +in point of fact, "We can show the way to union with what we know not +and have never seen; this is the straight path, this is the direct way +which leads to Brahm[=a]"--and is this foolish talk?' 'It is foolish +talk.' 'Then, as to yearning for union with Brahm[=a], suppose a man +should say, "How I long for, how I love the most beautiful woman in +this land," and the people should ask, "Do you know whether that +beautiful woman is a noble lady, or a Brahman woman, or of the trader +class, or a slave?" and he should say, "No"; and the people should +say, "What is her name, is she tall or short, in what place does she +live?" and he should say, "I know not," and the people should say, +"Whom you know not, neither have seen, her you love and long for?" and +he should say, "Yes,"--would not that be foolish? Then, after this is +assented to, Buddha suggests another parallel. 'A man builds a +staircase, and the people ask, "Do you know where is the mansion to +which this staircase leads?" "I do not know." "Are you making a +staircase to lead to something, taking it for a mansion, which you +know not and have never seen?" "Yes." Would not this be foolish +talk?... Now what think you, is Brahm[=a] in possession of wives and +wealth?' 'He is not.' + +'Is his mind full of anger or free from anger? Is his mind full of +malice or free from malice?' 'Free from anger and malice.' 'Is his +mind depraved or pure?' 'Pure.' 'Has he self-mastery?' 'Yes.' 'Now +what think you, are the Brahmans in possession of wives and wealth, do +they have anger in their hearts, do they bear malice, are they impure +in heart, are they without self-mastery?' 'Yes.' 'Can there then be +likeness between the Brahmans and Brahm[=a]?' 'No.' 'Will they then +after death become united to Brahm[=a] who is not at all like them?' +Then Buddha points out the path of purity and love. Here is no +negative 'non-injury,' but something very different to anything that +had been preached before in India. When the novice puts away hate, +passion, wrong-doing, sinfulness of every kind, then: 'He lets his +mind pervade the whole wide world, above, below, around and +everywhere, with a heart of love, far-reaching, grown great, and +beyond measure. And he lets his mind pervade the whole world with a +heart of pity, sympathy, and equanimity, far-reaching, grown great, +and beyond measure.' Buddha concludes (adopting for effect the +Brahm[=a] of his convert): 'That the monk who is free from anger, free +from malice, pure in mind, and master of himself should after death, +when the body is dissolved, become united to Brahm[=a] who is the +same--such a condition of things is quite possible' Here is no +metaphysics, only a new religion based on morality and intense +humanity, yet is the young man moved to say, speaking for himself and +the friend with him: 'Lord, excellent are the words of thy mouth. As +if one were to bring a lamp into the darkness, just so, Lord, has the +truth been made known to us in many a figure by the Blessed One. And +we come to Buddha as our refuge, to the doctrine and to the church. +May the Blessed One accept us as disciples, as true believers, from +this day forth, as long as life endures.' + +The god Brahm[=a] of this dialoge is for the time being playfully +accepted by Buddha as the All-god. To the Buddhist himself Brahm[=a] +and all the Vedic gods are not exactly non-existent, but they are dim +figures that are more like demi-gods, fairies, or as some English +scholars call them, 'angels.' Whether Buddha himself really believed +in them, cannot be asserted or denied. This belief is attributed to +him, and his church is very superstitious. Probably Buddha did not +think it worth while to discuss the question. He neither knew nor +cared whether cloud-beings existed. It was enough to deny a Creator, +or to leave no place for him. Thaumaturgical powers are indeed +credited to the earliest belief, but there certainly is nothing in +harmony with Buddha's usual attitude in the extraordinary discourse +called _[=A]kankheyya_, wherein Buddha is represented as ascribing to +monks miraculous powers only hinted at in a vague 'shaking of the +earth' in more sober speech.[47] From the following let the 'Esoteric +Buddhists' of to-day take comfort, for it shows at least that they +share an ancient folly, although Buddha can scarcely be held +responsible for it: "If a monk should desire to become multiform, to +become visible or invisible, to go through a wall, a fence, or a +mountain as if through air; to penetrate up or down through solid +ground as if through water ... to traverse the sky, to touch the moon +... let him fulfil all righteousness, let him be devoted to that +quietude of heart which springs from within ... let him look through +things, let him be much alone." That is to say, let him aim for the +very tricks of the Yogis, which Buddha had discarded. Is there not +here perhaps a little irony? Buddha does not say that the monk will be +able to do this--he says if the monk wishes to do this, let him be +quiet and meditate and learn righteousness, then perhaps--but he will +at least have learned righteousness! + +The little tract called _Cetokhila_ contains a sermon which has not +lost entirely its usefulness or application, and it is characteristic +of the way in which Buddha treated eschatological conundrums: 'If a +brother has adopted the religious life in the hope of belonging to +some one of the angel (divine) hosts, thinking to himself, "by this +morality or by this observance or by this austerity or by this +religious life I shall become an angel," his mind does not incline to +zeal, exertion, perseverance and struggle, and he has not succeeded in +his religious life' (has not broken through the bonds). And, +continuing, Buddha says that just as a hen might sit carefully +brooding over her well-watched eggs, and might content herself with +the wish, 'O that this egg would let out the chick,' but all the time +there is no need of this torment, for the chicks will hatch if she +keeps watch and ward over them, so a man, if he does not think what is +to be, but keeps watch and ward of his words, thoughts, and acts, will +'come forth into the light.'[48] + +The questions in regard to Buddha's view of soul, immortality, and +religion are answered to our mind as clearly in the following passages +as Buddha desired they should be. 'Unwisely does one consider: "Have I +existed in ages past ... shall I exist in ages yet to be, do I exist +at all, am I, how am I? This is a being, whence is it come, whither +will it go?" Consideration such as this is walking in the jungle of +delusion. These are the things one should consider: "This is +suffering, this is the origin of suffering, this is the cessation of +suffering, this is the way that leads to the cessation of suffering." +From him that considers thus his fetters fall away' (_Sabb[=a]sava_). +In the _Vang[=i]sa-sutta_ Buddha is asked directly: "Has this good +man's life been vain to him, has he been extinguished, or is he still +left with some elements of existence; and how was he liberated?" and +he replies: "He has cut off desire for name and form in this world. He +has crossed completely the stream of birth and death." In the +_Salla-sutta_ it is said: "Without cause and unknown is the life of +mortals in this world, troubled, brief, combined with pain.... As +earthen vessels made by the potter end in being broken, so is the life +of mortals." One should compare the still stronger image, which gives +the very name of _nir-v[=a]na_ ('blowing out') in the +_Upas[=i]vam[=a]navapucch[=a]_: "As a flame blown about by wind goes +out and cannot be reckoned as existing, so a sage delivered from name +and body disappears, and cannot be reckoned as existing." To this +Upas[=i]va replies: "But has he only disappeared, or does he not +exist, or is he only free from sickness?" To which Buddha: "For him +there is no form, and that by which they say he is exists for him no +longer." One would think that this were plain enough. + +Yet must one always remember that this is the Arhat's death, the death +of him that has perfected himself.[49] Buddha, like the Brahmans, +taught hell for the bad, and re-birth for them that were not +perfected. So in the _Kok[=a]liya-sutta_ a list of hells is given, and +an estimate is made of the duration of the sinner's suffering in them. +Here, as if in a Brahman code, is it taught that 'he who lies goes to +hell,' etc. Even the names of the Brahmanic hells are taken over into +the Buddhist system, and several of those in Manu's list of hells are +found here. + +On the other hand, Buddha teaches, if one may trust tradition, that a +good man may go to heaven. 'On the dissolution of the body after death +the well-doer is re-born in some happy state in heaven' +(_Mah[=a]parinibb[=a]na,_ i. 24).[50] This, like hell, is a temporary +state, of course, before re-birth begins again on earth. In fact, +Buddhist and Brahmanic pantheists agree in their attitude toward the +respective questions of hell, heaven, and _karma_. It is only the +emancipated Arhat that goes to Nirv[=a]na.[51] + +When it is said that Buddha preaches to a new convert 'in due course,' +it means always that he gave him first a lecture on morality and +religion, and then possibly, but not necessarily, on the 'system.' And +Buddha has no narrow-minded aversion to Brahmans; he accepts 'Brahman' +as he accepts 'Brahm[=a],' only he wants it to be understood what is a +real Brahman: 'A certain Brahman once asked Buddha how one becomes a +Brahman,--what are the characteristics that make a man a Brahman. And +the Blessed One said: "The Brahman who has removed all sinfulness, who +is free from haughtiness, free from impurity, self-restrained, who is +an accomplished master of knowledge, who has fulfilled the duties of +holiness,--such a Brahman justly calls himself a Brahman."'[52] "The +_Mah[=a]vagga_, from which this is taken, is full of such sentiments. +As here, in i. 2, so in i. 7: "The Blessed One preached to Yasa, the +noble youth, 'in due course,'" that is to say, "he talked about the +merit obtained by alms-giving, the duties of morality, about heaven, +about the evils of vanity and sinfulness of desire," and when the +Blessed One saw that the mind of Yasa, the noble youth, was prepared, +"then he preached the principal doctrine of the Buddhists, namely, +suffering, and cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, the +Path;" and "just as a clean cloth takes the dye, thus Yasa, the noble +youth, even while sitting there, obtained the knowledge that +whatsoever is subject to birth is also subject to death."[53] + +The "spirit and not the letter of the law" is expressed in the formula +_(Mah[=a]vagga_, i. 23): "Of all conditions that proceed +from a cause, Buddha has explained the cause, and he has explained +their cessation." This is the Buddhist's _credo_. + +In several of the sermons the whole gist is comprised in the +admonition not to meddle with philosophy, nor to have any 'views,' for +"philosophy purifies no one; peace alone purifies."[54] + +Buddha does not ignore the fact that fools will not desire salvation +as explained by him: "What fools call pleasure the noble say is pain; +this is a thing difficult to understand; the cessation of the existing +body is regarded as pleasure by the noble, but those wise in this +world hold the opposite opinion" (_Dvayat[=a]nup. sutta_, 38).[55] But +to him the truly wise is the truly pure: "Not by birth is one a +Brahman, not by birth is one an outcast; by deeds is one a Brahman, by +deeds is one an outcast" (_Vasala-sutta_); and not alone in virtue of +_karma_ of old, for: "The man who knows in this world the destruction +of pain, who lays aside the burden and is liberated, him I call a +Brahman; whosoever in this world has overcome good and evil, both +ties, who is free from grief and defilement, and is pure,--him I call +a Brahman; the ignorant say that one is a Brahman by birth, but one is +a Brahman by penance, by religious life, by self-restraint, and by +temperance" (_V[=a]settha-sutta_). + +The penance here alluded to is not the vague penance of austerities, +but submission to the discipline of the monastery when exercised for a +specific fault. + +Later Buddhism made of Buddha a god. Even less exaltation than this is +met by Buddha thus: S[=a]riputta says to him, "Such faith have I, +Lord, that methinks there never was and never will be either monk or +Brahman who is greater and wiser than thou," and Buddha responds: +"Grand and bold are the words of thy mouth; behold, thou hast burst +forth into ecstatic song. Come, hast thou, then, known all the Buddhas +that were?" "No, Lord." "Hast thou known all the Buddhas that will +be?" "No, Lord." "But, at least, thou knowest me, my conduct, my mind, +my wisdom, my life, my salvation (i.e., thou knowest me as well as I +know myself)?" "No, Lord." "Thou seest that thou knowest not the +venerable Buddhas of the past and of the future; why, then, are thy +words so grand and bold?" (_Mah[=a]parinibb[=a]na_.) + +Metaphysically the human ego to the Buddhist is only a collection of +five _skandhas_ (form, sensations, ideas, faculties of mind, and +reason) that vanishes when the collection is dispersed, but the +factors of the collection re-form again, and the new ego is the result +of their re-formation. The Northern Buddhists, who turn Buddha into a +god, make of this an immortal soul, but this is Buddhism in one phase, +not Buddha's own belief. The strength of Northern Buddhism lies not, +as some say, in its greater religious zeal, but in its grosser +animism, the delight of the vulgar. + +It will not be necessary, interesting as would be the comparison, to +study the Buddhism of the North after this review of the older and +simpler chronicles. In Hardy's _Manual of Buddhism_ (p. 138 ff.) and +Rockhill's _Life of Buddha_ will be found the weird and silly legends +of Northern Buddhism, together with a full sketch of Buddhistic ethics +and ontology (Hardy, pp. 460, 387). The most famous of the Northern +books, the Lotus of the Law and the Lalita Vistara, give a good idea +of the extravagance and supernaturalism that already have begun to +disfigure the purer faith. According to Kern, who has translated the +former work again (after Burnouf), the whole intent of the Lotus is to +represent Buddha as the supreme, eternal God. The works, treating of +piety, philosophy, and philanthropy, contain ancient elements, but in +general are of later form. To this age belongs also the whole +collection of J[=a]takas, or 'birth-stories,' of the Buddhas that were +before Gautama, some of the tales of which are historically important, +as they have given rise to Western fables.[56] These birth-stories +represent Buddha (often as Indra) as some god or mortal, and tell what +he did in such or such a form. It is in a future form that, like +Vishnu, who is to come in the _avatar_ of Kalki, the next Buddha will +appear as Maitreya, or the 'Buddha of love.'[57] Some of the stories +are very silly; some, again, are beautiful at heart, but ugly in their +bizarre appearance. They are all, perhaps, later than our era.[58] + +The history of Buddhism after the Master's death has a certain analogy +with that of Mohammedanism. That is to say it was largely a political +growth. Further than this, of course, the comparison fails. The +religion was affected by heretical kings, and by _nouveaux riches_, +for it admitted them all into its community on equal terms--no slight +privilege to the haughty nabob or proud king who, if a believer and +follower of Brahman orthodoxy, would have been obliged to bend the +head, yield the path, and fear the slightest frown of any beggar +priest that came in his way. + +The M[=a]ruya monarch Açoka adopted Buddhism as a state religion in +the third century B.C., and taught it unto all his people, so that, +according to his own account, he changed the creed of the country from +Brahmanism to Buddhism.[59] He was king over all northern India, from +Kabul to the eastern ocean, from the northern limit of Brahmanic +civilization to its southern boundary. Buddhist missionaries were now +spread over India and beyond it. And here again, even in this later +age, one sees how little had the people to do with Buddha's +metaphysical system. Like the simple confession 'I take refuge in +Buddha, in the doctrine, and in the church' was the only credo +demanded, that cited above: "Buddha has explained the cause of +whatever conditions proceed from a cause, and he has declared their +cessation." In this credo, which is en-graved all over India, +everything is left in confidence to Buddha. However he explained the +reason, that creed is to be accepted without inquiry. The convert took +the patent facts of life, believing that Buddha had explained all, and +based his own belief not on understanding but on faith. + +With the council of Patna, 242 B.C, begins at thousands of the +missionaries the geographical separation of the church, which results +in Southern and Northern Buddhism.[60] + +It is at this period that the monastic bodies become influential. The +original Sangha, congregation, is defined as consisting of three or +more brethren. The later monastery is a business corporation as well +as a religious body. The great emperors that now ruled India (not the +petty clan-kings of the centuries before) were no longer of pure +birth, and some heresy was the only religion that would receive them +with due honor. They affected Buddhism, endowed the monasteries, in +every was enriched the church, built for it great temples, and in turn +were upheld by their thankful co-religionists. Among the six[61] rival +heresies that of Buddha was predominant, and chiefly because of royal +influence. The Buddhist head of the Ceylon church was Açoka's own son. +Still more important for Buddhism was its adoption by the migratory +Turanians in the centuries following. Tibet and China were opened up +to it through the influence of these foreign kings, who at least +pretended to adopt the faith of Buddha.[62] But as it was adopted by +them, and as it extended beyond the limits of India, just so much +weaker it became at home, where its strongest antagonists were the +sectarian pantheistic parties not so heterodox as itself. + +Buddhism lingered in India till the twelfth or thirteenth century, +although in the seventh it was already decadent, as appears from the +account of Hiouen-Thsang, the Chinese pilgrim. It is found to-day in +Tibet, Ceylon, China, Japan, and other outlying regions, but it is +quite vanished from its old home. The cause of its extinction is +obvious. The Buddhist victorious was not the modest and devout +mendicant of the early church. The fire of hate, lighted if at all by +Buddhism,[63] smouldered till Brahmanism, in the form of Hinduism, had +begotten a religion as popular as Buddhism, or rather far more +popular, and for two reasons. Buddhism had no such picturesque tales +as those that enveloped with poetry the history of the man-god +Krishna, Again, Buddhism in its monastic development had separated +itself more and more from the people. Not mendicant monks, urging to a +pure life, but opulent churches with fat priests; not simple +discourses calculated to awaken the moral and religious consciousness, +but subtle arguments on discipline and metaphysics were now what +Buddhism represented. This religion was become, indeed, as much a +skeleton as was the Brahmanism of the sixth century. As the Brahmanic +belief had decomposed into spiritless rites, so Buddhism, +changed into dialectic and idolatry (for in lieu of a god the later +church worshipped Buddha), had lost now all hold upon the people. The +love of man, the spirit of Buddhism, was dead, and Buddhism crumbled +into the dust. Vital and energetic was the sectarian 'love of God' +alone (Hinduism), and this now became triumphant. Where Buddhism has +succeeded is not where the man-gods, objects of love and fear, have +entered; but where, without rivalry from more sympathetic beliefs, it +has itself evolved a system of idolatry and superstition; where all +that was scorned by the Master is regarded as holiest, and all that he +insisted upon as vital is disregarded.[64] One speaks of the millions +of Buddhists in the world as one speaks of the millions of Christians; +but while there are some Christians that have renounced the bigotry +and idolatry of the church, and hold to the truth as it is in the +words of Christ, there are still fewer Buddhists who know that their +Buddhism would have been rebuked scornfully by its founder. + +The geographical growth of formal Buddhism is easily sketched. After +the first entrance into Kashmeer and Ceylon, in the third century +B.C., the progress of the cult, as it now may be called, was steadily +away from India proper. In the fifth century A.D., it was adopted in +Burmah,[65] and in the seventh in Siam. The Northern school kept in +general to the 'void' doctrine of N[=a]g[=a]rjuna, whose chief texts +are the Lotus and the Lalita Vistara, standard works of the Great +Vehicle.[66] In Tibet Lamaism is the last result of this hierarchical +state-church.[67] We have thought it much more important to give a +fuller account of early Buddhism, that of Buddha, than a full account +of a later growth in regions that, for the most part, are not Indic, +in the belief that the P[=a]li books of Ceylon give a truer picture of +the early church than do those of Kashmeer and Nep[=a]l, with their +Çivaite and Brahmanic admixture. For in truth the Buddhism of China +and Tibet has no place in the history of Indic religions. It may have +been introduced by Hindu missionaries, but it has been re-made to suit +a foreign people. This does not apply, of course, to the canonical +books, the Great Vehicle, of the North, which is essentially native, +if not Buddhistic. Yet of the simple narrative and the adulterated +mystery-play, if one has to choose, the former must take precedence. +From the point of view of history, Northern Buddhism, however old its +elements, can be regarded only as an admixture of Buddhistic and +Brahmanic ideas. For this reason we take a little more space, not to +cite from the Lotus or the grotesque Lalita Vistara,[68] but to +illustrate Buddhism at its best. Fausböll, who has translated the +dialogue that follows, thinks that in the Suttas of the +Sutta-nip[=a]ta there is a reminiscence of a stage of Buddhism before +the institution of monasteries, while as yet the disciples lived as +hermits. The collection is at least very primitive, although we doubt +whether the Buddhist disciples ever lived formally as individual +hermits. All the Samanas are in groups, little 'congregations,' which +afterwards grew into monasteries. + +This is a poetical (amoebic) contest between the herdsman Dhaniya and +Buddha, with which Fausböll[69] compares St. Luke, xii. 16, but which, +on the other hand reminds one of a spiritualized Theocritus, with whom +its author was, perhaps, contemporary. + + I have boiled the rice, I have milked the kine--so said the + herdsman Dhaniya--I am living with my comrades near the + banks of the (great) Mah[=i] river; the house is roofed, the + fire is lit--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + I am free from anger, free from stubbornness--so said the + Blessed One--I am abiding for one night near the banks of + the (great) Mah[=i] river; my house has no cover, the fire + (of passion) is extinguished--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + Here are no gad-files--so said the herdsman Dhaniya--The + cows are roaming in meadows full of grass, and they can + endure the rain--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + 1 have made a well-built raft--so said the Blessed One--I + have crossed over, I have reached the further bank, I have + overcome the torrent (of passions); I need the raft no + more--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + My wife is obedient, she is not wanton--so said the herdsman + Dhaniya--she has lived with me long and is winning; no + wickedless have I heard of her--then rain if thou wilt, O + sky! + + My mind is obedient, delivered (from evil)--so said the + Blessed One--it has been cultivated long and is + well-subdued; there is no longer anything wicked in me--then + rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + I support myself by my own earnings--so said the herdsman + Dhaniya--and my children are around me and healthy; I hear + no wickedness of them--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + I am the servant of none--so said the Blessed One--with what + I have gained I wander about in all the world; I have no + need to serve--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + I have cows, I have calves--so said the herdsman + Dhaniya--cows in calf and heifers also; and I have a bull as + lord over the cows--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + I have no cows, I have no calves--so said the Blessed + One--no cows in calf, and no heifers; and I have no bull as + a lord over the cows--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + The stakes are driven in and cannot be shaken--so said the + herdsman Dhaniya--the ropes are made of holy-grass, new and + well-made; the cows will not be able to break them--then + rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + Like a bull I have rent the bonds--so said the Blessed + One--like an elephant I have broken through the ropes, I + shall not be born again--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + Then the rain poured down and filled both sea and land. And + hearing the sky raining, Dhaniya said: Not small to us the + gain in that we have seen the Blessed Lord; in thee we take + refuge, thou endowed with (wisdom's) eye; be thou our + master, O great sage! My wife and myself are obedient + to thee. If we lead a pure life we shall overcome birth and + death, and put an end to pain. + + He that has sons has delight in sons--so said the Evil + One--he that has cows has delight in cows, for substance is + the delight of man, but he that has no substance has no + delight. + + He that has sons has care with his sons--so said the Blessed + One--he that has cows has likewise care with his cows, for + substance is (the cause of) care, but he that has no + substance has no care. + +From Buddha's sermons choice extracts were gathered at an early date, +which, as well as the few longer discourses, that have been preserved +in their entirety, do more to tell us what was the original Buddha, +before he was enwrapped in the scholastic mysticism of a later age, +than pages of general critique. + +Thus in the _Mah[=a]parinibb[=a]na_ casual allusion is made to +assemblies of men and of angels (divine beings), of the great +thirty-three gods, Death the Evil One and Brahm[=a] (iii. 21). Buddha, +as we have said, does not deny the existence of spiritual beings; he +denies only their power to affect the perfect man and their +controlling part in the universe. In the same sermon the refuge of the +disciple is declared to be truth and himself (ii. 33): "Be ye lamps +unto yourselves. Betake yourselves to no external refuge. Hold fast to +the truth as to a lamp." + +And from the famous 'Path of Duty' or 'Collection of truths':[70] + + All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is + founded on our thoughts; it is made up of our thoughts. If a + man speaks or acts with an evil thought pain follows him as + the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the + carriage, (but) if a man speaks or acts with a pure thought + happiness follows him like a shadow that never leaves him. + + Earnestness is the path that leads to escape from death, + thoughtlessness is the path that leads to death. Those who + are in earnest do not die;[71] + + those who are thoughtless are as if dead already. Long is + the night to him who is awake; long is a mile to him who is + tired; long is life to the foolish. + + There is no suffering for him who has finished his journey + and abandoned grief, who has freed himself on all sides and + thrown off the fetters. + + Some people are born again; evil-doers go to hell; righteous + people go to heaven; those who are free from all worldly + desires attain Nirv[=a]na. + + He who, seeking his own happiness, punishes or kills beings + that also long for happiness, will not find happiness after + death. + + Looking for the maker of this tabernacle I shall have to run + through a course of many births, so long as I do not find; + and painful is birth again and again. But now, maker of the + tabernacle, thou hast been seen; thou shalt not make up this + tabernacle again. All thy rafters are broken, thy ridge-pole + is sundered; thy mind, approaching Nirv[=a]na, has attained + to extinction of all desires.[72] + + Better than going to heaven, better than lordship over all + worlds, is the reward of entering the stream of holiness. + + Not to commit any sin, to do good, and to purify one's mind, + that is the teaching of the Buddhas. + + Let us live happily, not hating them that hate us. Let us + live happily, though we call nothing our own. We shall be + like bright gods, feeding on happiness. + + From lust comes grief, from lust comes fear; he that is free + from lust knows neither grief nor fear. + + The best of ways is the eightfold (path); this is the way, + there is no other that leads to the purifying of + intelligence. Go on this way! Everything else is the deceit + of Death. You yourself must make the effort. Buddhas are + only preachers. The thoughtful who enter the way are freed + from the bondage of Death.[73] + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Compare Colebrooke's _Essays_, vol. ii. 460; + and Muir, OST. iv. 296] + + [Footnote 2: Compare Oldenberg. _Buddha_, p. 155.] + + [Footnote 3: Especially Köppen views Buddha as a democratic + reformer and liberator.] + + [Footnote 4: Emile Senart, _Essai sur la légende du Buddha_. + 1875.] + + [Footnote 5: _Buddha_ (1881), p.73 ff.] + + [Footnote 6: The exact position of Kapilavastu, the capital + of the Ç[=a]kyas, is not known, although it must have been + near to the position assigned to it on Kiepert's map of + India (just north of Gorakhpur). The town is unknown in + Brahmanic literature.] + + [Footnote 7: This is Oldenberg's opinion, for the reason + here stated. On the other hand it may be questioned whether + this negative evidence be conclusive, and whether it be not + more probable that a young nobleman would have been well + educated.] + + [Footnote 8: Siddhartha, the boy, Gautama by his family + cognomen, the Ç[=a]kya-son by his clan-name, was known also + as the Ç[=a]kya-sage, the hermit, Samana (Çrama[n.]a); the + venerable, Arhat (a general title of perfected saints); + Tath[=a]gata 'who is arrived like' (the preceding Buddhas, + at perfection); and also by many other names common to other + sects, Buddha, Jina, The Blessed One (Bhagavat), The Great + Hero, etc. The Buddhist disciple may be a layman, _çravaka_; + a monk, _bhikshu_; a perfected saint, _arhat_; a saintly + doctor of the law, _bodhisattva_; etc.] + + [Footnote 9: South of the present Patna. Less correct is the + _Buddha_ Gay[=a] form.] + + [Footnote 10: The famous _bo_ or Bodhi-tree, ficus + religiosa, _pippala_, at Bodhi Gay[=a], said to be the most + venerable and certainly the most venerated tree in the + world.] + + [Footnote 11: A _pacceka_ Buddha (Oldenberg. _Buddha_, + p.122).] + + [Footnote 12: + + "Then be the door of salvation opened! + He that hath ears to hear let him hear. + I thought of my own sorrow only, and, therefore, + Have not revealed the Word to the world."] + + [Footnote 13: He sometimes, however, quite prosaically + 'makes' or 'manufactures' it.] + + [Footnote 14: _Dhammacakkappavattana_. Rhys Davids in his + introduction to this _sutta_ gives and explains the eight as + follows (SBE. XI. p.144): 1, Right views; freedom from + superstition or delusion. 2, Right aims, high and worthy of + the intelligent, earnest man. 3, Right speech, kindly, open, + truthful. 4, Right conduct, peaceful, honest, pure. 5, Right + livelihood, bringing hurt to no living thing. 6, Right + effort in self-training and in self-control. 7, Right + mindfulness, the active watchful mind. 8, Right + contemplation, earnest thought on the deep mysteries of + life.] + + [Footnote 15: Hardy, _Manual,_, p.496.] + + [Footnote 16: "A decided predilection for the aristocracy + appears to have lingered as an heirloom of the past in the + older Buddhism," Oldenberg, _Buddha_, p.157.] + + [Footnote 17: _Mah[=a]vagga,_ 1.24. On the name (Gautama) + Gotama, see Weber, _IS_. L 180.] + + [Footnote 18: The parks of Venuvana and Jetavana were + especially affected by Buddha. Compare Oldenberg, _Buddha_, + p.145.] + + [Footnote 19: Like the Jains the Buddhists postulate + twenty-four (five) precedent Buddhas.] + + [Footnote 20: Buddha's general discipline as compared with + that of the Jains was much more lax, for instance, in the + eating of meat. Buddha himself died of dysentery brought on + by eating pork. The later Buddhism interprets much more + strictly the rule of 'non-injury'; and as we have shown, + Buddha entirely renounced austerities, choosing the mean + between laxity and asceticism.] + + [Footnote 21: Or 'take care of yourself'; + _Mah[=a]parinibb[=a]na_, v. 23.] + + [Footnote 22: The chief Buddhistic dates are given by Müller + (introduction to _Dhammapada_, SBE. vol. X.) as follows: + 557, Buddha's birth; 477, Buddha's death and the First + Council at R[=a]jagriha; 377, the Second Council at + V[=a]iç[=a]l[=i]; 259, Açoka's coronation; 242, Third + Council at P[=a]taliputta; 222, Açoka's death. These dates + are only tentative, but they give the time nearly enough to + serve as a guide. From the Buddhists (Ceylon account) it is + known that the Council at V[=a]iç[=a]li was held one hundred + years after Buddha's death (one hundred and eighteen years + before the coronation of Açoka, whose grandfather, + Candragupta, was Alexander's contemporary). The interval + between Nirvana and Açoka, two hundred and eighteen years, + is the only certain date according to Köppen, p.208, and + despite much argument since he wrote, the remark still + holds.] + + [Footnote 23: Englished by Rhys Davids, + _Mah[=a]parinibb[=a]na-sutta_ (SBE. XI. 95 ff.).] + + [Footnote 24: _Ecclesiastes_.] + + [Footnote 25: The common view is thus expressed by + Oldenberg: "In dem schwülen, feuchten, von der Natur mit + Reichthümern üppig gesegneten Tropenlande des Ganges hat das + Volk, das in frischer Jugendkraft steht, als es vom Norden + her eindringt, bald aufgehört jung und stark zu sein. + Menschen und Völker reifen in jenem Lande ... schnell heran, + um ebenso schnell an Leib und Seele zu erschlaffen" (_loc. + cit_. p. 11).] + + [Footnote 26: Rhys Davids, _Buddhism_, pp. 160,139.] + + [Footnote 27: Buddha taught, of course, nothing related to + the thaumaturgy of that folly which calls itself today + 'Esoteric Buddhism.'] + + [Footnote 28: That is a sacrifice where no cattle are slain, + and no injury is done to living beings.] + + [Footnote 29: _K[=u]tadanta-sutta_ Oldenberg, _Buddha_, p. + 175.] + + [Footnote 30: Sometimes distinguished from + _pari-nirv[=a][n.]a_ as absolute annihilation.] + + [Footnote 31: Some scholars think that the doctrine of + Buddha resembles closely that of the S[=a]nkhya philosophy + (so Barth, p. 116), but Müller, Oldenberg, and others, + appear to be right in denying this. The Sankhyan 'spirit' + has, for instance, nothing corresponding to it in Buddha's + system.] + + [Footnote 32: The twelve Nid[=a]nas are dogmatic, and withal + not very logical. "From ignorance arise forms, from forms + arises consciousness, from consciousness arise name and + bodiness; from name and bodiness arise the six senses + (including understanding as the sixth) and their objects; + from these arises contact; from this, feeling; from this, + thirst; from this, clinging; from clinging arises becoming; + from becoming arises birth; from birth arise age and + sorrow." One must gradually free himself from the ten + fetters that bind to life, and so do away with the first of + these twelve Nid[=a]nas, ignorance.] + + [Footnote 33: _Mah[=a]vagga_, X. 3 (SBE. XVII. 306).] + + [Footnote 34 36 1: Compare Kern, the _Lotus_, III. 21, and + Fausböll, _P[=a]r[=a]yana-sutta_, 9 (1131), the "deep and + lovely voice of Buddha." (SBE. XXI. 64, and X. 210.)] + + [Footnote 35: As Southern Buddhists are reckoned those of + Ceylon, Burmah, Siam, etc.] + + [Footnote 36: As Northern Buddhists are reckoned those of + Nep[=a]l, Tibet, China, Corea, Japan, Java, Sumatra, Annam, + and Cambodia.] + + [Footnote 37: "Let your light so shine before the world, + that you, having embraced the religious life according to so + well-taught a doctrine and discipline, may be seen to be + forbearing and mild." (SBE. XVII. 305, David's and + Oldenberg's translation.)] + + [Footnote 38: 'Removing pieces from a pile without moving + the remainder' must, we presume, be jackstraws.] + + [Footnote 39: For instance, rules for eating, drinking + (liquor), and for bathing. The Buddhist monk, except in + summer, bathed once a fortnight only.] + + [Footnote 40: No one is so holy that sin does not hurt him, + according to Buddhistic belief. The Brahman, on the + contrary, was liable to become so holy that he could commit + any sin and it did not affect his virtue, which he stored up + in a heap by cumulative asceticism.] + + [Footnote 41: The offering and reception of gifts is always + accompanied with water, both in Buddhistic and Brahmanic + circles. Whether this was a religious act or a legal sign of + surrender we have not been able to discover. Perhaps it + arose simply from water always being offered as refreshment + to a guest (with fruit), as a sign of guest-friendship.] + + [Footnote 42: Sakyaputtiya Samanas, _i.e_., Buddhists.] + + [Footnote 43: In the case of a monk having carnal connection + with a nun the penalty was instant expulsion(_ib_. 60). The + nuns were subject to the monks and kept strictly in hand, + obliged always to greet the monks first, to go to lessons + once a fortnight, and so forth.] + + [Footnote 44: Mah[=a]sudassana, the great King of Glory + whose city is described with its four gates, one of gold, + one of silver, one of Jade and one of crystal, etc. The + earlier Buddha had as 'king of glory' 84,000 wives and other + comforts quite as remarkable.] + + [Footnote 45: Translated by Davids, _Buddhist Suttas_ and + _Hibbert Lectures_.] + + [Footnote 46: What we have several times had to call + attention to is shown again by the side light of Buddhism to + be the case in Brahmanic circles, namely, that even in + Buddha's day while Brahm[=a] is the god of the thinkers + Indra is the god of the people (together with Vishnu and + Çiva, if the texts are as old as they pretend to be).] + + [Footnote 47: _Mah[=a]parinibb[=a]na_ iii, to which Rhys + Davids refers, is scarcely a fair parallel.] + + [Footnote 48: The imitation of the original play on words is + Rhys Davids', who has translated these Suttas in SBE. vol. + XI. For the following see Fausböll, _ib_. vol. X.] + + [Footnote 49: After one enters on the stream of holiness + there are only seven more possible births on earth, with one + in heaven; then he becomes _arhat_, venerable, perfected, + and enters Nirv[=a]na.] + + [Footnote 50: Compare the fairies and spirits in _ib_. v. + 10; and in i. 31, 'give gifts to the gods.'] + + [Footnote 51: We agree with Rhys Davids, _Buddhism_, pp. + 111, 207, that Buddha himself was an atheist; but to the + statement that Nirv[=a]na was the "extinction of that + sinful, grasping condition of mind and heart which would + otherwise be the cause of renewed individual existences" + should in our opinion be added "and therewith the extinction + of individuality." Compare Rhys Davids' _Hibbert Lectures_, + p. 253.] + + [Footnote 52: Compare the definition of an 'outcast' in the + _Vasala-sutta_: "He that gets angry and feels hatred, a + wicked man, a hypocrite, he that embraces wrong views and is + deceitful, such an one is an outcast, and he that has no + compassion for living things."] + + [Footnote 53: Compare _ib_. 5. 36: "In due course he spoke, + of charity, morality, heaven, pleasure, and the advantage of + renunciation."] + + [Footnote 54: See especially the _Nandaman., Paramatthaka, + M[=a]gandiya_, and _Suddhatthaka Suttas_, translated by + Fausböll, SBE. vol. X.] + + [Footnote 55: Fausböll, in SBE. vol. X, Suttanip[=a]ta.] + + [Footnote 56: The distinction between the Northern and + Southern doctrine is indicated by the terms 'Great Vehicle' + and 'Little Vehicle' respectively, the former the works of + N[=a]g[=a]rjuna's school (see below).] + + [Footnote 57: As M[=a]itrakanyaka Buddha came once to earth + "to redeem the sins of men."] + + [Footnote 58: Of historic interest is the rapport between + Brahmanic, Jain. and Buddhist tales. A case of this sort has + been carefully worked out by Leumann, _Die Legende von Citta + und Sambh[=u]ta_, WZKM. v. III; vi. 1.] + + [Footnote 59: "The gods who were worshipped as true + divinities in India have been rendered false ... by my + zeal"; inscription cited by Barth, p. 135. But Açoka was a + very tolerant prince. Barth's notion of Buddhistic + persecution can hardly be correct.] + + [Footnote 60: Köppen, _Die Religion des Buddha_, p. 198.] + + [Footnote 61: Not to be confused with the seventeen heresies + and sixty-three different philosophical systems in the + church itself.] + + [Footnote 62: For more details see Barth, _loc. cit_., p. + 130 ff. According to tradition Buddhism was introduced into + Tibet in the fourth century, A.D., the first missionaries + coming from Nep[=a]l (Rockhill, p. 210).] + + [Footnote 63: Barth justly discredits the tale of Buddhism + having been persecuted out of India. In this sketch of later + Buddhism we can but follow this author's admirable summary + of the causes of Buddhistic decline, especially agreeing + with him in assigning the first place to the torpidity of + the later church in matters of religion. It was become a + great machine, its spiritual enthusiasm had been exhausted; + it had nothing poetical or beautiful save the legend of + Buddha, and this had lost its freshness; for Buddha was now, + in fact, only a grinning idol.] + + [Footnote 64: Here are developed fully the stories of hells, + angels, and all supernatural paraphernalia, together with + theism, idolatry, and the completed monastic system; magic, + fable, absurd calculations in regard to nothings, and + spiritual emptiness.] + + [Footnote 65: At the same time the Ceylon canon was fixed by + the commentary of Buddhaghosha.] + + [Footnote 66: Later it follows the mystical school. Both + schools have been affected by Brahmanism. The Great Vehicle, + founded by N[=a]g[=a]rjuna, was recognized at a fourth + council in Kashmeer about the time of the Christian era. + Compare Köppen, p. 199.] + + [Footnote 67: On the Lamaistic hierarchy and system of + succession see Mayers, JRAS. IV. 284.] + + [Footnote 68: For the same reason we do not enter upon the + outer form of Buddhism as expressed in demonology, + snake-worship (JRAS. xii. 286) and symbolism (_ib_. OS. + xiii. 71, 114).] + + [Footnote 69: SBE. vol. x, part ii, p. 3.] + + [Footnote 70: Dhammapada (Franke, ZDMG. xlvi, 731). In + Sanskrit one has _dharmapatha_ with the same sense. The text + in the main is as translated by Müller, separately, 1872, + and in SBE., voL x. It was translated by Weber, _Streifen_. + i. 112, in 1860.] + + [Footnote 71: That is, they die no more; they are free from + the chain; they enter Nirv[=a]na.] + + [Footnote 72: Buddha's words on becoming Buddha.] + + [Footnote 73: It is to be observed that transmigration into + animal forms is scarcely recognized by Buddha. He assumes + only men and superior beings as subjects of _Karma_. Compare + Rhys Davids' _Lectures_, pp. 105,107. To the same scholar is + due the statement that he was the first to recognize the + true meaning of Nirv[=a]na, 'extinction (not of soul but) of + lust, anger, and ignorance.' For divisions of Buddhist + literature other than the Tripitaka the same author's + _Hibbert Lectures_ may be consulted (see also Müller, SBE. + X, Introduction, p. i).] + + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +EARLY HINDUISM. + + +While the great heresies that we have been describing were agitating +the eastern part of India,[1] the old home of Brahmanism in the West +remained true, in name if not in fact, to the ancient faith. But in +reality changes almost as great as those of the formal heresies were +taking place at the core of Brahmanism itself, which, no longer able +to be the religion of a few clans, was now engaged in the gigantic +task of remodelling and assimilating the indigenous beliefs and +religious practices of its new environment. This was not a conscious +act on the part of Brahmanism. At first it was undertaken almost +unwittingly, and it was accomplished later not without repugnance. But +to perform this task was the condition of continued existence. +Brahmanism had to expand, or shrink, wither, and die. + +For a thousand years almost the only source of information in regard +to this new growth is contained in the epic poetry of the time, with +the help of a few additional facts from the law, and some side light +from inscriptions. It is here that Vishnuism and Çivaism are found as +fully developed sectarian beliefs, accepted by Brahmanism with more or +less distrust, and in more or less fulness of faith. It is to the epic +that one must turn to study the budding and gradual flowering of the +modern religions, which have cast strict orthodoxy into the shade. + +Of the two epics, one, the R[=a]m[=a]yana,[2] has become the Old +Testament of the Ramaite Vishnuites of the present day. The +Bh[=a]rata,[3] on the other hand, is scriptural for all sects, because +it is more universal. The former epic, in its present form, is what +the Hindus call an 'art-poem,' and in its finish, its exclusively +romantic style, and its total lack of nervous dramatic power, it is +probably, as the Hindus claim, the work of one man, V[=a]lm[=i]ki, who +took the ancient legends of Eastern India and moulded them into a +stupid sectarian poem. On the other hand, the Bh[=a]rata is of no one +hand, either in origin or in final redaction; nor is it of one sect; +nor has it apparently been thoroughly affected, as has the +R[=a]m[=a]yana, by Buddhistic influences. Moreover, in the huge +conglomeration of stirring adventure, legend, myth, history, and +superstition which goes to make up the great epic there is contained a +far truer picture of the vulgar custom, belief, and religion of the +time than the too polished composition of V[=a]lm[=i]ki is able to +afford, despite the fact that the latter also has many popular +elements welded into it. There are, in fact, only two national works +in India, only two works which, withal, not in their entirety, but in +their nucleus, after one has stripped each of its priestly toggery, +reflect dimly the heart of the people, not the cleverness of one man, +or the pedantry of schools. For a few Vedic hymns and a few Bh[=a]rata +scenes make all the literature, with perhaps the exception of some +fables, that is not markedly dogmatic, pedantic, or 'artificial.'[4] +So true is this that even in the case of the R[=a]m[=a]yana one never +feels that he is getting from it the genuine belief of the people, but +only that form of popular belief which V[=a]lm[=i]ki has chosen to let +stand in his version of the old tale. The great epic is heroic, +V[=a]lm[=i]ki's poem is romantic; the former is real, the latter is +artificial; and the religious gleaning from each corresponds to this +distinction.[5] + +Ths Bh[=a]rata, like other Hindu works, is of uncertain date, but it +was completed as a 'Great Bh[=a]rata' by the end of the sixth century +A.D., and the characters of the story are mentioned, as well known, by +P[=a]nini, whose work probably belongs to the fourth century B.C. +Furthermore, Dio Chrysostomos, probably citing from Megasthenes, +refers to it; and the latter authority describes the worship of the +chief gods of the epic; while the work is named in one of the domestic +S[=u]tras, and a verse is cited from it in the legal Sutra of +B[=a]udh[=a]yana.[6] On the other hand, in its latest growth it is on +a par with the earlier Pur[=a]nas, but it is not quite so advanced in +sectarianism as even the oldest of these writings. It may, then, be +reckoned as tolerably certain that the beginnings of the epic date +from the fourth or fifth century before the Christian era, and that it +was quite a respectable work by the time that era began; after which +it continued to grow for five centuries more.[7] Its religious +importance can scarcely be overestimated. In 600 A.D., far away from +its native home, in Cambodia, it was encircled with a temple, and an +endowment was made by the king providing for the daily recitation of +the poem. Its legal verses are authoritative; its religion is to-day +that of India as a whole. The latest large additions to it were, as we +think, the Book of Laws, the Book of Peace, and the genealogy of +Vishnu, which together form a sort of pseudo-epic. But portions of +other books, notably the first, fourth, and seventh, are probably +almost as recent as are the more palpable interpolations. + +The Bh[=a]rata (or the epic [Greek: _kat exochên_] gives us our first +view of Hinduism in its sectarian developments. But no less does it +show us a changing Brahmanism. The most typical change in the +Brahmanism of this period, which covers all that time called by Müller +the era of the Renaissance, and ends with the pedantically piquant +literature of the drama,[8] is the abnormal growth of the ascetic +religious exercise. Older Brahmanism, like the sects, admitted Yogis +and ascetics of various kinds, but their aim was to attain oneness +with God; and 'union' (with God) is the _yoga_ (Latin _jugum_ has the +same origin) which they sought. But it was not long before the starved +ascetic, with his wild appearance and great reputation for sanctity, +inspired an awe which, in the unscrupulous, was easily turned to +advantage. The Yogi became more or less of a charlatan, more or less +of a juggler. Nor was this all. Yoga-practices began to take +precedence before other religious practices. In the Br[=a]hmanas it is +the sacrifice that is god-compelling; but in the epic, although +sacrifice has its place, yet when miraculous power is exerted, it is +due chiefly to Yoga concentration, or to the equally general use of +formulae; not formulae as part of a sacrifice, but as in themselves +potent; and mysterious _mantras_, used by priest and warrior alike, +serve every end of magic.[9] Apart from acquisition of power, this +Yoga-training is, moreover, all that is needful from the point of view +of righteousness. Physical prowess here is the one thing admirable. To +stand for years on one leg, to be eaten by ants, to be in every way an +ascetic of the most stoical sort, is the truest religion. Such an +ascetic has no ordinary rules of morality. In fact, his practices are +most peculiar, for to seduce young women is one of his commonest +occupations; and in his anger to cause an injury to his foes is one of +the ends for which he toils. The gods are nothing to him. They are +puppets whom he makes shake and tremble at will. As portrayed in the +epic, in terms of common sense, the Muni (silent saint) is a +morose[10] and very vulgar-minded old man, who seeks to intimidate +others by a show of miraculous power. In the matter of penances those +of the law are extended beyond all bounds. The caste-restrictions are +of the closest, and the most heinous crime is to commit an offence +against caste-order. On the other hand, the greatest merit is to give +gifts to priests. This had already proceeded far enough, as was +indicated by a passage cited above from Manu. But in the epic the +greed and capacity of the priest exceeds all imaginable limits. He +takes whatever he can get and asks for more. He has, by his own +showing, scarcely one estimable trait. Avarice, cupidity, sensuality, +gluttony, love of finery, effeminacy, meanness, and pride--everything +charged against him by the Buddhist--are his most marked +characteristics. He appears, however, to be worse than he always was. +For nothing is plainer, from this very epic, than that the priests, +although united as a caste, were sharply distinguished in their lives. +The ascetic described above represents the fourth period of the +priestly life. Below these stood (apart from students)[11] hermits and +householders. The householders, or such of them as the epic +unfortunately is busied with, the royal priests, seem to be those that +are in reality priests only in name. In the king's palace, his +constant advisors, his most unscrupulous upholders in wickedness, they +gave themselves up to quest of wealth and power. But one would err if +he thus dismissed them all. There were others that had no preferment, +who lived in quiet content in their own houses, and deserved none of +the opprobrium rightly bestowed upon their hypocritical brothers. The +hermits, too, appear to have been a mild and inoffensive race, not +presuming too much on their caste-privileges. + +To offset rapaciousness there are tomes of morality of the purest +sort. Even in the later additions to the epic one reads: "Away with +gifts; receiving gifts is sinful. The silkworm dies of its wealth" +(xii. 330. 29). One should compare, again, the exalted verse +(Buddhistic in tone) of _ib_. 321. 47: "The red garment, the vow of +silence, the three-fold staff, the water-pot--these only lead astray; +they do not make for salvation." There were doubtless good and bad +priests, but the peculiarity of the epic priest, rapacious and +lustful, is that he glories in his sins. + +The chief objects of worship (except for the influence of the +sectarian religions) were priests, Manes, and, for form's sake, the +Vedic gods. These gods, with the addition of the Hindu Plutus (Kubera, +the god of riches), are now called the eight 'world-guardians,' viz., +Indra, Yama, Varuna, Kubera, Agni, S[=u]rya, V[=a]yu, Soma, and are +usually simple and shadowy subordinates of the greater new gods. + +In the shifting of religious opinion and in the development of +theological conceptions what difference can be traced between the same +gods as worshipped in the Veda and as worshipped in the epic? Although +the Vedic divinities have been twice superseded, once by the +Father-god and again by the _[=a]tm[=a]_, Lord, they still remain +adorable and adored, active in many ways, though passive before the +great All-god. It is, indeed, extremely difficult, owing to the +superstruction of sectarian belief, to get down to the +foundation-religion of the epic. The best one can do is to see in what +way the old gods differ, as represented in the poem, from their older +selves of the Rig Veda. From this point of view alone, and entirely +irrespective of the sects, manifold changes will be seen to have taken +place. Great Soma is no more. Soma is there, the moon, but the glory +of the Vedic Soma has departed. His lunar representative is of little +importance. Agni, too, is changed. As Fire in the Rig Veda is not only +the altar-fire, but also common, every-day fire, so, too, in the epic +this god is the material flame, and as such even performs his greatest +deeds for his worshippers. He takes on every form, even becoming a +priest, and a dove. He remains the priest of the gods, but his day of +action in war is over. He no longer wins battles. But he burns down a +forest to aid his party. For the Vedic gods are now but weak partizans +of the combatants. In the sectarian parts of the epic Agni is only a +puppet. His new representative, Skanda, is the chief battle-god, a +name almost unknown before. He himself is either the son of Vishnu or +a form of Çiva. He is the All-god, the _[=a]tm[=a]_. It is he who +burns the world when the time shall have come for the general +destruction. + +The high and mighty Varuna of the Rig Veda is no longer great. He is +no longer serene. He descends and fights on earth. Indra, too, battles +with Vritra as of old, but he is quite anthropomorphic, and of no +marked value in the contest of heroes. Not only this, but all the gods +together are represented as weaker than a good hero, not to speak of a +priestly ascetic. In a word, the gods are believed in, but with what a +belief! They no longer, as natural powers, inspire special respect. +Their nature-origin is for the most part lost. They are thoroughly +anthropomorphic. Even S[=u]rya, the sun, in action if not in +laudation, is often more man than god. This gives a strange effect to +the epic battle-scenes as compared with those of Homer. Unless Vishnu +is active on the field the action is essentially human. No great god +or goddess stands ready to save the fainting warrior. He fights and +falls alone. Save for the caresses and plaudits of the half-gods, the +most that the Vedic gods can do is to wipe away the sweat from the +hero's brow.[12] The All-god does not take the place of the band of +watchful and helpful gods pictured by Homer. Vishnu fights on the +field; he saves only his protégés, and much as a mortal warrior would +do it. But the Vedic gods hang like a mist upon the edge of battle, +and are all but idle spectators of the scene. Abstractions, as well as +the All-god, have routed them, and Dharma or Duty is a greater god +than Indra. But there is an older side to this, as we shall presently +show. On the moral side the heroes of the epic profess great belief in +the power and awfulness of this god Duty. And so far as go rules of +chivalry, they are theoretically moral. Practically they are savage, +and their religion does not interfere with their brutal barbarity. The +tendency to cite divine instances of sin as excuse for committing it +is, however, rebuked: "One should neither practice nor blame the +(wrong) acts of gods and seers," xii. 292. 17-18. + +From an eschatological point of view it is most difficult to get back +of the statements made by the priestly composers,[13] who, in their +various reëditings of the epic, uniformly have given the pantheistic +goal as that in which the characters believe. But it is evident that +the warriors were not much affected by this doctrine. To them there +was one law of righteousness exceeding all others--to die on the field +of battle. And for such as did so, over and over again is the +assurance given that 'happiness in Indra's heaven' is their reward. +And probably a true note is struck in this reiterated promise. To the +mass of the vulgar, union with _brahma_ would have been no attractive +end. + +It is interesting to see the remains of the older belief still +flourishing in midst of epic pantheism. Although Indra has no such +hymn as has S[=u]rya, yet is he still lauded, and he is a very real +person to the knight who seeks his heaven.[14] In fact, so long as +natural phenomena were regarded as divine, so long as thunder was +godly, it was but a secondary question which name the god bore; +whether he was the 'chief and king of gods,' or Vishnu manifesting +himself in a special form. This form, at any rate, was to endure as +such till the end of the cycle. There are other Indras. Each cycle has +its own (i. 197. 29). But sufficient unto the age is the god thereof. +If, relinquishing the higher bliss of absorption, the knight sought +only Indra's heaven, and believed he was to find it, then his belief +practically does not differ much from that of his ancestor, who +accepts Indra as an ultimate, natural power. The question arises +whether, after all, the Indra-worship of the epic is not rather +popular than merely old and preserved. Certainly the reality of the +belief seems quite as strong as that of the ever-newly converted +sectary. It may be doubted whether the distribution of theological +belief is very different in the epic and Vedic ages. Philosophical +pantheism is very old in India. The priest believes one thing; the +vulgar, another. The priest of the Vedic age, like the philosopher of +the next age, and like the later sectarian, has a belief which runs +ahead of the popular religion. But the popular religion in its salient +features still remains about the same. Arjuna, the epic hero, the pet +of Krishna, visits Indra's heaven and stays there five years. It is +the old Vedic gods to whom he turns for weapons, till the Çivaite +makes Indra send the knight further, to Çiva himself. The old name, +king of the Vasus, is still retained for Indra; and though the 'divine +weapons,' which are winged with sacred formulae, are said to be more +than a match for the gods; though in many a passage the knight and the +saint make Indra tremble, yet still appear, through the mists of +ascetic and sectarian novelties, Indra's heaven and his grandeur, +shining with something of their old glory. Vishnu still shows his +solar origin. Of him and of the sun is it said in identical words: +"The sun protects and devours all," and " Vishnu protects and devours +" (of Vishnu, passim; of the sun, iii. 33. 71). A good deal of old +stuff is left in the Forest Book amongst the absurd tales of holy +watering places. One finds repeated several times the Vedic account of +Indra's fight with Vritra, the former's thunderbolt, however, being +now made of a saint's bones (ii. ch. 100-105). Agni is lauded (_ib_. +ch. 123). To the Açvins[15] there is one old hymn which contains Vedic +forms (i. 3). Varuna is still lord of the West, and goes accompanied +with the rivers, 'male and female,' with snakes, and demons, and +half-gods _(d[=a]ityas, s[=a]dhyas, d[=a]ivatas_). Later, but earlier +than the pseudo-epic, there stands with these gods Kubera, the god of +wealth, the 'jewel-giver,' who is the guardian of travellers, the king +of those demons called Yakshas, which the later sect makes servants of +Çiva. He is variously named;[16] he is a dwarf; he dwells in the +North, in Mt. K[=a]il[=a]sa, and has a demoniac gate-keeper, +Macakruka. Another newer god is the one already referred to, Dharma +V[=a]ivasvata, or Justice (Virtue, Right), the son of the sun, a title +of Yama older than the Vedas. He is also the father of the new +love-god, K[=a]ma. It is necessary to indicate the names of the gods +and their functions, lest one imagine that with pantheism the Vedic +religion expired. Even that old, impious Brahmanic fable crops out +again: "The devils were the older brothers of the gods, and were +conquered by the gods only with trickery" (in. 33. 60), an interesting +reminiscence of the fact that the later name for evil spirit was +originally the one applied to the great and good spirit (Asura the +same with Ahura).[17] According to a rather late chapter in the second +book each of the great Vedic gods has a special paradise of his own, +the most remarkable feature of the account being that Indra's heaven +is filled with saints, having only one king in it--a view quite +foreign to the teaching that is current elsewhere in the epic. Where +the sectarian doctrine would oppose the old belief it set above +Indra's heaven another, of Brahm[=a], and above that a third, of +Vishnu (i. 89. 16 ff.). According to one passage Mt. Mandara[18] is a +sort of Indian Olympus. Another account speaks of the Him[=a]layas, +Himavat, as 'the divine mountain, beloved of the gods,' though the +knight goes thence to Gandham[=a]dana, and thence to Indrak[=i]la, to +find the gods' habitat (III. 37. 41). Personified powers lie all +around the religious Hindu. And this is especially true of the epic +character. He prays to Mt. Mandara, and to rivers, above all to the +Ganges. Mt. Kol[=a]hala is divine, and begets divine offspring on a +river (I. 63). The Vindhya range of mountains rivals the fabled Meru +(around which course the sun and all the heavenly bodies), and this, +too, is the object of devotion and prayer.[19] In one passage it is +said that in Beh[=a]r (M[=a]gadha) there was a peak which was +continuously 'worshipped with offerings of flowers and perfumes,' +exactly as if it were a god. The reason why flowers are given and worn +is that they bring good luck, it is said in the same chapter (II. 21. +15, 20, 51). + +What is, perhaps, the most striking feature of Hindu religious +thought, as a whole, is the steadfastness with which survive, even in +the epic and in Buddhism, the forms and formulae of the older faith. +At a time when pantheism or nihilism is the avowed creed the ancient +gods still exist, weak, indeed, yet infused with a true immortality. +This is noticeable even more in unnoticeable ways, in the turns of +speech, in little comparisons, in the hymns, in short, in the by-play +of the epic. 'Withered are the garlands of the gods, and their glory +is departed,'[20] but they still receive homage in time of need. And +in that homage is to be seen, and from the same cause, the revived or +surviving worship of the Veda. Each god in turn is mighty, though Agni +is the mightiest of the old divinities. In an epic hymn to him it is +said: "Thou art the mouth of the worlds; the poets declare thee to be +one and three-fold; as carrier of the sacrifice they arrange thee +eight-fold. By thee was all created, say the highest seers. Priests +that have made reverence to thee attain the eternal course their acts +have won, together with their wives and sons. They call thee the +water-giver in the air, together with lightning. On thee first depends +water. Thou art the creator and Brihaspati, thou art the two Horsemen, +the two Yamas, Mitra, Soma, Wind" (i. 229. 23 ff.).[21] And yet this +is in a pantheistic environment! The Rig Veda is directly invoked, +though, of course, not directly cited, in the old hymn to the +Horsemen, who are, however, elsewhere put with low animals and +Guhyakas, demons (i. 66).[22] They are the "physicians of the gods," +the "first-born" the golden birds which weave the white and black of +time, create the wheel of time with all its seasons, and make the sun +and sky (i. 3. 55 ff., "_v[=a]gbhir [r.]gbhis_"). Indra himself is +extolled in Kadr[=u]'s hymn; he is the slayer of Namuci, the lord of +Çac[=i]; he is the great cloud, cloud and its thunder, creator and +destroyer; he is Vishnu, 'Soma, greatly praised,' as well as fire, +air, time in all its divisions, earth and ocean; when lauded he drinks +the _soma_, and he is sung in the Ved[=a]ngas (i. 25. 7 ff.). Praised +with this hymn in time of need of rain, Indra "commanded the clouds, +saying, 'rain down the ambrosia'" (26. 2); where there is still the +rain as synonymous with ambrosia, and Indra not very differently +conceived from his Vedic self. Thus in comparisons: "As Indra standing +in heaven brings bliss to the world of the living, so Vidura ever +brought bliss to the Pandus" (i. 61. 15). But at the same time what +changes! The gods assemble and sing a hymn to Garuda, the epic form of +Garutman, the heavenly bird, who here steals the _soma_ vainly guarded +by the gods. Garuda, too, is Praj[=a]pati, Indra, and so forth.[23] +The gods are no longer divinities distinct from the dead Fathers, for +they are "identical in being." So Agni says when the latter is cursed +by Bhrigu: "The divinities and the Manes are satisfied by the oblation +in fire. The hosts of gods are waters, so, too, are the Manes. The +feasts of the new and full moon belong to the gods with the Manes; +hence the Manes are divinities and the divinities are Manes. They are +of one being (_ek[i]bh[=u]t[=a]s_). I (Fire) am the mouth of both, for +both eat the oblation poured upon me. The Manes at the new moon, the +gods at the full, are fed by my mouth" (i. 7. 7 ff.).[24] Such gods +the epic hero fears not (i. 227. 38 ff.). Hymns to them are paralleled +by hymns to snakes, as in i. 3. 134 ff., against whom is made the +"_sarpasattram_ (snake sacrifice) of the Pur[=a]nas" (i. 51. 6). +Divinity is universal. Knights are as divine as the divinest god, the +All-god. Arjuna, the god-born man, to whom Krishna reveals the Divine +Song, is himself god.[25] In this case whether god becomes human, or +_vice versa_, no one knows. + +Under the all embracing cloak of pantheism the heart of the epic +conceals many an ancient rite and superstition. Here is the covenant +of blood, the covenant of death (represented by the modern +'sitting'[26]), and the covenant of water, which symbolizes both +friendship and the solemnity of the curse. The former are illustrated +by Bhima's drinking blood as a sign that he will fulfil his vow,[27] +and by R[=a]ma lying by Ocean to die unless Ocean grants his wish. Of +the water-rite that of offering water in hospitality and as a form in +reception of gifts is general; that of cursing by 'touching water' +(_v[=a]ry upasp[r.]çya_), occurs in iii. 10. 32. For this purpose +holy-grass and other symbols are known also,[28] and formulae yield +only in potency to love-philters and magic drugs. Another covenant +besides those just noticed seems to lie concealed in the avoidance of +the door when injury is intended. If one goes in by the door he is a +guest who has anticipated hospitality, and then he dares not refuse +the respect and offering of water, etc, which makes the formal pact of +friendship. If, on the contrary, he does not go in by the door he is +not obliged to receive the offering, and may remain as a foe in the +house (or in the city) of his enemy, with intent to kill, but without +moral wrong. This may be implied in the end of the epic, where +Açvatth[=a]man, intent on secret murder of his foe, is prevented by +god Çiva from entering in at the gate, but going in by stealth, and +'not by the door' of the camp, gets to his foe, who lies asleep, and +kills him (x. 8. 10). This might be thought, indeed, to be merely +strategic, but it is in accordance with the strict law of all the +law-books that one, in ordinary circumstances, shall avoid to enter a +town or a house in any other way than through the door (Manu, iv. 73; +Gaut. 9. 32, etc.), and we think it has a moral significance, for this +_a-dv[=a]ra_ (non-door) rule occurs again in the epic in just the +circumstances we have described. The heroes in this case are not +afraid of their foe, who is in his town. They insult every one as they +approach, but they find some other way of getting in than by passing +through the gate, for the express purpose of being morally able to +make the king fight with them after they have entered his city. And +they cite the rule 'according to law,' which is that one may enter his +foe's house by _a-dv[=a]ra,_ 'not by door,' but his friend's house +only 'by door.' As they have not entered 'by door' they say they may +refuse the hospitality which the king urges them to accept, and so +they kill him (ii. 21. 14, 53). Stepping in through the door seems, +therefore, to be a tacit agreement that one will not injure the +resident.[29] + +In the epic, again, fetishism is found. The student of the 'science of +war,' in order to obtain his teacher's knowledge when the latter is +away, makes a clay image of the preceptor and worships this clay idol, +practicing arms before it (i. 132. 33). Here too is embalmed the +belief that man's life may be bound up with that of some inanimate +thing, and the man perishes with the destruction of his psychic +prototype (iii. 135). The old ordeals of fire and water are +recognized. "Fire does not burn the house of good men." "If (as this +man asserts) he is Varuna's son, then let him enter water and let us +see if he will drown" (iii. 134. 27 ff.). A human sacrifice is +performed (iii. 127); although the priest who performs it is cast into +hell (_ib_. 128).[30] The teaching in regard to hells is about the +same with that already explained in connection with the law-books, but +the more definite physical interpretation of hell as a hole in the +ground (_garta_, just as in the Rig Veda) is retained. Agastya sees +his ancestors 'in a hole,' which they call 'a hell' (_n[=i]ray[=a]_). +This is evidently the hell known to the law-punsters and epic (i. 74. +39) as _puttra_, 'the _put_ hell' from which the son (_putra_) +delivers (_tra_). For these ancestors are in the 'hole' because +Agastya, their descendant, has not done his duty and begotten sons (i. +45. 13; iii. 96. 15); one son being 'no son' according to law and epic +(i. 100. 68), and all the merit of sacrifice being equal to only +one-sixteenth of that obtained by having a son. The teaching, again, +in regard to the Fathers themselves (the Manes), while not differing +materially from the older view, offers novelties which show how little +the absorption-theory had taken hold of the religious consciousness. +The very fact that the son is still considered to be as necessary as +ever (that he may offer food to his ancestors) shows that the +believer, whatever his professed faith, expects to depend for bliss +hereafter upon his _post mortem_ meals, as much as did his fathers +upon theirs. In the matter of the burial of the dead, one finds, what +is antique, that although according to the formal law only infants are +buried, and adults are burned, yet was burial known, as in the Vedic +age. And the still older exposure of the body, after the Iranian +fashion, is not only hinted at as occurring here and there even before +the epic, but in the epic these forms are all recognized as equally +approved: "When a man dies he is burned or buried or exposed" +(_nik[r.][s.]yate_)[31] it is said in i. 90. 17; and the narrator goes +on to explain that the "hell on earth," of which the auditor "has +never heard" (vs. 6) is re-birth in low bodies, speaking of it as a +new doctrine. "As if in a dream remaining conscious the spirit enters +another form"; the bad becoming insects and worms; the good going to +heaven by means of the "seven gates," viz., penance, liberality, +quietism, self-control, modesty, rectitude, and mercy. This is a union +of two views, and it is evidently the popular view, that, namely, the +good go to heaven while the bad go to new existence in a low form, as +opposed to the more logical conception that both alike enter new +forms, one good, the other bad. Then the established stadia, the +pupil, the old teaching (_upanishad_) of the householders, and the +wood-dwellers are described, with the remark that there is no +uniformity of opinion in regard to them; but the ancient view crops +out again in the statement that one who dies as a forest-hermit +"establishes in bliss" ten ancestors and ten descendants. In this part +of the epic the Punj[=a]b is still near the theatre of events, the +'centre region' being between the Ganges and Jumna (I. 87. 5); +although the later additions to the poems show acquaintance with all +countries, known and unknown, and with peoples from all the world. +Significant in xii. 61. 1, 2 is the name of the third order +_bh[=a]ikshyacaryam_ 'beggarhood' (before the forest-hermit and after +the householder). + +It was said above that the departed Fathers could assume a mortal +form. In the formal classification of these demigods seven kinds of +Manes are enumerated, the title of one subdivision being 'those +embodied.' Brahm[=a] is identified with the Father-god in connection +with the Manes: "All the Manes worship Praj[=a]pati Brahm[=a]," in the +paradise of Praj[=a]pati, where, by the way, are Çiva and Vishnu (II. +11. 45, 50, 52; 8. 30). According to this description 'kings and +sinners,' together with the Manes, are found in Yama's home, as well +as "those that die at the solstice" (II. 7 ff.; 8. 31). Constantly the +reader is impressed with the fact that the characters of the epic are +acting and thinking in a way not conformable to the idea one might +form of the Hindu from the law. We have animadverted upon this point +elsewhere in connection with another matter. It is this factor that +makes the study of the epic so invaluable as an offset to the +verisimilitude of belief, even as belief is taught (not practiced) in +the law. There is a very old rule, for instance, against slaughtering +animals and eating meat; while to eat beef is a monstrous crime. Yet +is it plain from the epic that meat-eating was customary, and Vedic +texts are cited (_ iti çrutis_) to prove that this is permissible; +while a king is extolled for slaughtering cattle (III. 208. 6-11). It +is said out and out in iii. 313. 86 that 'beef is food,' _g[=a]ur +annam_. Deer are constantly eaten. There is an amusing protest against +this practice, which was felt to be irreconcilable with +the _ahims[=a]_ (non-injury) doctrine, in III. 258, where the remnant +of deer left in the forest come in a vision and beg to be spared. A +dispute between gods and seers over vegetable sacrifices is recorded, +XII. 338. Again, asceticism is not the duty of a warrior, but the epic +hero practices asceticism exactly as if he were a priest, or a Jain, +although the warning is given that a warrior 'obtains a better lot' +(_loka_) by dying in battle than by asceticism. The asceticism is, of +course, exaggerated, but an instance or two of what the Hindu expects +in this regard may not be without interest. The warrior who becomes an +ascetic eats leaves, and is clothed in grass. For one month he eats +fruits every third day (night); for another month every sixth day; for +another month every fortnight; and for the fourth month he lives on +air, standing on tiptoe with arms stretched up. Another account says +that the knight eats fruit for one month; water for one month; and for +the third month, nothing (III. 33. 73; 38. 22-26; 167). One may +compare with these ascetic practices, which are not so exaggerated, in +fact, as might be supposed,[32] the 'one-leg' practice of virtue, +consisting in standing on one leg, _ekap[=a]dena_, for six months or +longer, as one is able (I. 170. 46; III. 12. 13-16). Since learning +the Vedas is a tiresome task, and ascetic practice makes it possible +to acquire anything, one is not surprised to find that a devotee +undertakes penance with this in view, and is only surprised when +Indra, who, to be sure has a personal interest in the Vedas, breaks in +on the scene and rebukes the ascetic with the words: "Asceticism +cannot teach the Vedas; go and be tutored by a teacher" (III. 135. +22). + +One finds in the epic the old belief that the stars are the souls of +the departed,[33] and this occurs so often that it is another sign of +the comparative newness of the pantheistic doctrine. When the hero, +Arjuna, goes to heaven he approaches the stars, "which seen from earth +look small on account of their distance," and finds them to be +self-luminous refulgent saints, royal seers, and heroes slain in +battle, some of them also being nymphs and celestial singers. All of +this is in contradiction both to the older and to the newer systems of +eschatology; but it is an ancient belief, and therefore it is +preserved. Indra's heaven,[34] Amar[=a]vati, lies above these +stars[35]] No less than five distinct beliefs are thus enunciated in +regard to the fate of 'good men after death. If they believe in the +All-god they unite with him at once. Or they have a higher course, +becoming gradually more elevated, as gods, etc, and ultimately 'enter' +the All-god. Again they go to the world of Brahm[=a]. Again they go to +Indra's heaven. Again they become stars. The two last beliefs are the +oldest, the _brahmaloka_ belief is the next in order of time, and the +first-mentioned are the latest to be adopted. The hero of the epic +just walks up to heaven, but his case is exceptional. + +While angels and spirits swarm about the world in every shape from +mischievous or helpful fairies to R[=a]hu, whose head still swallows +the sun, causing eclipses (I. 19. 9), there are a few that are +especially conspicuous. Chief of the good spirits, attendants of +Indra, are the Siddhas[36] 'saints,' who occasionally appear to bless +a hero in conjunction with 'beings invisible' (III. 37. 21). Their +name means literally 'blessed' or 'successful,' and probably, like the +seers, Rishis, they are the departed fathers in spiritual form. These +latter form various classes. There are not only the 'great seers,' and +the still greater '_brahma_-seers,' and the 'god-seers,' but there are +even 'devil-seers,' and 'king-seers,' these being spirits of priests +of royal lineages.[37] The evil spirits, like the gods, are sometimes +grouped in threes. In a blessing one cries out: "Farewell (_svasti +gacchahy an[=a]mayam_); I entreat the Vasus, Rudras, [=A]dityas, +Marut-hosts and the All-gods to protect thee, together with the +S[=a]dhyas; safety be to thee from all the evil beings that live in +air, earth, and heaven, and from all others that dog thy path."[38] In +XII. 166. 61 ff. the devils fall to earth, mountains, water, and other +places. According to I. 19. 29. it is not long since the Asuras were +driven to take refuge in earth and salt water.[39] + +These creatures have every kind of miraculous power, whether they be +good or bad. Hanuman, famed in both epics, the divine monkey, with +whom is associated the divine 'king of bears' J[=a]mbavan (III. 280. +23), can grow greater than mortal eye can see (III. 150. 9). He is +still worshipped as a great god in South India. As an illustration of +epic spiritism the case of Ilvala may be taken. This devil, +_d[=a]iteya_, had a trick of cooking his embodied younger brother, and +giving him to saints to eat. One saint, supposing the flesh to be +mutton (here is saintly meat-eating!), devours the dainty viand; upon +which the devil 'calls' his brother, who is obliged to come, whether +eaten or not, and in coming bursts the saint that has eaten him (iii. +96). This is folk-lore; but what religion does not folk-lore contain! +So, personified Fate holds its own as an inscrutable power, mightier +than others.[40] There is another touch of primitive religious feeling +which reminds one of the usage in Iceland, where, if a stranger knocks +at the door and the one within asks 'who is there?' the guest answers, +'God.' So in the epic it is said that 'every guest is god Indra' +(_Parjanyo nn[=a]nusa[.m]caran_, iii. 200. 123. In the epic Parjanya, +the rain-god, and Indra are the same). Of popular old tales of +religious bearing may be mentioned the retention and elaboration of +the Brahmanic deluge-story, with Manu as Noah (iii. 187); the Açvins' +feats in rejuvenating (iii. 123); the combats of the gods with the +demons (Namuci, Çambara, Vala, Vritra, Prahl[=a]da, Naraka), etc. +(iii. 168). + +Turning now to some of the newer traits in the epic, one notices first +that, while the old sacrifices still obtain, especially the +horse-sacrifice, the _r[=a]jas[=u]ya_ and the less meritorious +_v[=a]japeya,_ together with the monthly and seasonal sacrifices, +there is in practice a leaning rather to new sacrifices, and a new +cult. The _soma_ is scarce, and the _p[=u]tika_ plant is accepted as +its substitute (iii. 35. 33) in a matter-of-course way, as if this +substitution, permitted of old by law, were now common. The sacrifice +of the widow is recognized, in the case of the wives of kings, as a +means of obtaining bliss for a woman,[41] for the religion of the epic +is not entirely careless of woman. Somewhat new, however, is the +self-immolation of a man upon the pyre of his son. Such a case is +recorded in iii. 137. 19. where a father burns his son's body, and +then himself enters the fire. New also, of course, are the sectarian +festivals and sacrifices; and pronounced is the gain in the godhead of +priests, king, parents, elder brother, and husband. The priest has +long been regarded as a god, but in the epic he is god of gods, +although one can trace even here a growth in adulation.[42] The king, +too, has been identified before this period with the gods. But in the +epic he is to his people an absolute divinity,[43] and so are the +parents to the son;[44] while, since the elder brother is the same +with a father, when the father is dead the younger brother worships +the elder. So also the wife's god is her husband; for higher even than +that of the priest is the husband's divinity (III. 206). The wife's +religious service is not concerned with feasts to the Manes, with +sacrifice to the gods, nor with studying the Veda. In all these she +has no part. Her religion is to serve her husband (III. 205. 23), and +to die, if worthy of the honor, on his funeral pyre. Otherwise the +epic woman has religious practices only in visiting the holy +watering-places, which now abound, and in reading the epic itself. For +it is said of both practices: "Whether man or woman read this book (or +'visit this holy pool') he or she is freed from sin" (so in III. 82. +33: "Every sin committed since birth by man or woman is absolved by +bathing in 'holy Pushkara"). It may be remarked that as a general +thing the deities invoked by women are, by predilection, female +divinities, some of them being mere abstractions, while 'the Creator' +is often the only god in the woman's list, except, of course, the +priests: "Reverence to priests, and to the Creator ... May Hr[=i], +Çr[=i] (Modesty and Beauty), Fame, Glory, Prosperity, Um[=a] (Çiva's +wife), Lakshmi (Vishnu's wife), and also Sarasvat[=i], (may all these +female divinities) guard thy path, because thou reverest thy elder +brother," is a woman's prayer (III. 37. 26-33).[45] + +Of the sectarian cults just mentioned the _brahmamaha_, I. 164. 20, +elsewhere referred to, is the all-caste[46] feast in honor of +Brahm[=a] (or of the Brahmans); as _ib_. 143. 3 one finds a +_sam[=a]ja_ in honor of Çiva; and distinctly in honor of the same god +of horror is the sacrifice, _i.e._, immolation, of one hundred kings, +who are collected "in the temple of Çiva," to be slaughtered like +cattle in M[=a]gadha (II. 15. 23); an act which the heroes of the epic +prevent, and look upon with scorn.[47] As a substitute for the +_r[=a]jas[=u]ya_, which may be connected with the human sacrifice +(_Ind. Streifen_, I. 61), but is the best sacrifice because it has the +best largesse (III. 255. 12), the Vaishnava is suggested to +Duryodhana. It is a great _sattram_ or long sacrifice to Vishnu (_ib_. +15 and 19); longer than a Vishnuprabodha (26 Oct.). There is a Smriti +rite described in III. 198. 13 as a _svastiv[=a]canam_, a ceremony to +obtain a heavenly chariot which brings prosperity, the priests being +invoked for blessings (_svasti_). Quite modern, comparatively +speaking, is the cult of holy pools; but it is to be observed that the +blessings expected are rarely more than the acquirement of +_brahma_-worlds, so that the institution seems to be at least older +than the sectarian religions, although naturally among the holy pools +is intruded a Vishnu-pool. This religious rite cannot be passed over +in silence. The custom is late Brahmanic (as above), and still +survives. It has been an aspect of Hindu religion for centuries, not +only in the view taken of the pools, but even occasionally in the +place itself. Thus the Ganges, Gay[=a], Pray[=a]ga, and Kuru-Plain are +to-day most holy, and they are mentioned as among the holiest in the +epic catalogue.[48] Soma is now revamped by a bath in a holy pool (IX. +35. 75). As in every antithesis of act and thought there are not +lacking passages in the epic which decry the pools in comparison with +holy life as a means of salvation. Thus in III. 82. 9 ff., the poet +says: "The fruit of pilgrimage (to holy pools)--he whose hands, feet, +and mind are controlled;[49] he who has knowledge, asceticism, and +fame, he gets all the fruit that holy pools can give. If one is averse +from receiving gifts, content, freed from egoism, if one injures not, +and acts disinterestedly, if one is not gluttonous, or carnal-minded, +he is freed from sin. Let one (not bathe in pools but) be without +wrath, truthful, firm in his vows, seeing his self in all beings." +This is, however, a protest little heeded.[50] Pilgrimage is made to +pool and plain, to mountain, tree, and river. Even then, as now, of +all pilgrimages that to Ganges was most esteemed: "Originally all were +holy; in the second age Pushkara[51] was holy; in the third age the +Plain of the Kurus was holy; and in this age Ganges is holy" (III. 85. +90).[52] Besides Ganges, the Plain of the Kurus and Pray[=a]ga, the +junction of Ganges and Jumna, get the highest laudation. Other rivers, +such as the Gomal and Sarasvat[=i], are also extolled, and the list is +very long of places which to see or to bathe in releases from sin. "He +who bathes in Ganges purifies seven descendants.[53] As long as the +bones of a man touch Ganges-water so long that man is magnified in +heaven." Again: "No place of pilgrimage is better than Ganges; no god +is better than Vishnu; nothing is better than _brahma_--so said the +sire of the gods" (iii. 85. 94-96). The very dust of Kuru-Plain makes +one holy, the sight of it purifies; he that lives south of the +Sarasvat[=i], north of the Drishadvat[=i] (_i.e_., in Kuru-Plain), he +lives in the third heaven (iii. 83. 1-3=203-205[54]). This sort of +expiation for sin is implied in a more general way by the remark that +there are three kinds of purity, one of speech, one of act, and one of +water (iii. 200. 82). But in the epic there is still another means of +expiating sin, one that is indicated in the Brahmanic rule that if a +woman is an adulteress she destroys half her sin by confessing it (as +above), where, however, repentance is rather implied than commanded. +But in the epic Pur[=a]na it is distinctly stated as a Çruti, or trite +saying, that if one repents he is freed from his sin; _na tat +kury[=a]m punar_ is the formula he must use, 'I will not do so again,' +and then he is released from even the sin that he is going to commit a +second time, as if by a ceremony--so is the Çruti in the laws, +_dharmas_ (iii. 207. 51, 52).[55] Confession to the family priest is +enjoined, in xii. 268. 14, to escape punishment. + +Two other religious practices in the epic are noteworthy. The first is +the extension of idolatry in pictures. The amiable 'goddess of the +house' is represented, to be sure, as a R[=a]kshas[=i], or demoniac +power, whose name is Jar[=a]. But she was created by the +Self-existent, and is really very friendly, under certain conditions: +"Whoever delineates me with faith in his house, he increases in +children; otherwise he would be destroyed." She is worshipped, _i.e_., +her painted image is worshipped, with perfumes, flowers, incense, +food, and other enjoyable things (II. 18).[56] Another practice that +is very common is the worship of holy trees. One may compare the +banyan at Bodhi Gay[=a] with the 'worshipful' village-tree of II. 24. +23. Seldom and late is the use of a rosary mentioned (_e.g_., III. +112. 5, _aksham[=a]l[=a]_, elsewhere _aksha_), although the word is +employed to make an epithet of Çiva, Aksham[=a]lin.[57] + +As has been said already, an extraordinary power is ascribed to the +mere repetition of a holy text, _mantra_. These are applied on all +occasions without the slightest reference to the subject. By means of +_mantra_ one exorcises; recovers weapons; calls gods and demons, +etc.[58] When misfortune or disease arrives it is invariably ascribed +to the malignant action of a devil, although the _karma_ teaching +should suggest that it was the result of a former misdeed on the +victim's part. But the very iteration, the insistence on new +explanations of this doctrine, show that the popular mind still clung +to the old idea of demoniac interference. Occasionally the naïveté +with which the effect of a _mantra_ is narrated is somewhat amusing, +as, for instance, when the heroine Krishn[=a] faints, and the +by-standers "slowly" revive her "by the use of demon-dispelling +_mantras_, rubbing, water, and fanning" (iii. 144. 17). All the +weapons of the heroes are inspired with and impelled by _mantras_. + +Sufficient insight into the formal rules of morality has been given in +the extracts above, nor does the epic in this regard differ much from +the law-books. Every man's first duty is to act; inactivity is sinful. +The man that fails to win a good reputation by his acts, a warrior, +for example, that is devoid of fame, a 'man of no account,' is a +_bh[=u]mivardhana, [Greek: achthos arourês]_ a cumberer of earth (iii. +35. 7). A proverb says that man should seek virtue, gain, and +pleasure; "virtue in the morning; gain at noon; pleasure at night," +or, according to another version, "pleasure when young, gain in +middle-age, and virtue in the end of life" (iii. 33. 40, 41). "Virtue +is better than immortality and life. Kingdom, sons, glory, wealth, all +this does not equal one-sixteenth part of the value of truth" (_ib_. +34. 22).[59] One very strong summing up of a discourse on virtuous +behavior ends thus: "Truth, self-control, asceticism, generosity, +non-injury, constancy in virtue--these are the means of success, not +caste nor family" (_j[=a]ti, kula_, iii. 181. 42). + +A doctrine practiced, if not preached, is that of blood-revenge. "The +unavenged shed tears, which are wiped away by the avenger" (iii. 11. +66); and in accordance with this feeling is the statement: "I shall +satiate my brother with his murderer's blood, and thus, becoming free +of debt in respect of my brother, I shall win the highest place in +heaven" (_ib_. 34, 35). + +As of old, despite the new faith, as a matter of priestly, formal +belief, all depends on the sacrifice: "Law comes from usage; in law +are the Vedas established; by means of the Vedas arise sacrifices; by +sacrifice are the gods established; according to the rule of Vedas, +and usage, sacrifices being performed support the divinities, just as +the rules of Brihaspati and Uçanas support men" (iii. 150. 28, 29). +The pernicious doctrine of atonement for sin follows as a matter of +course: "Whatever sin a king commits in conquering the earth is atoned +for by sacrifices, if they are accompanied with large gifts to +priests, such as cows and villages." Even gifts to a sacred bull have +the same effect (iii. 33. 78, 79; _ib_. 35. 34; iii. 2. 57), the +occasion in hand being a king's violation of his oath.[60] Of these +sacrifices a great snake-sacrifice forms the occasion for narrating +the whole epic, the plot of which turns on the national vice of +gambling.[61] For divine snakes are now even grouped with other +celestial powers, disputing the victory of earthly combatants as do +Indra and S[=u]rya: "The great snakes were on Arjuna's side; the +little snakes were for Karna" (viii. 87. 44, 45).[62] They were +(perhaps) the local gods of the Nagas (Snakes), a tribe living between +the Ganges and Jumna. + +The religion of the epic is multiform. But it stands, in a certain +sense, as one religion, and from two points of view it is worthy of +special regard. One may look upon it either as the summing up of +Brahmanism in the new Hinduism, as the final expression of a religion +which forgets nothing and absorbs everything; or one may study it as a +belief composed of historical strata, endeavoring to divide it into +its different layers, as they have been super-imposed one upon another +in the course of ages. From the latter point of view the Vedic +divinities claim the attention first. There are still traces of the +original power of Agni and S[=u]rya, as we have shown, and Wind still +makes with these two a notable triad,[63] whereas Indra, impotent as +he is, hymnless as he is,--save in the oldest portions of the +work,--still leads the gods, now godkins, of the ancient pantheon, and +still, in theory, at least, off a paradise to the knight that dies +nobly on the field.[64] But one sees at once that the preservation of +the dignity of these deities is due to different causes. Indra cannot +even save a snake that grasps his hand for safety; he wages war +against the demons' 'triple town,' and signally fails of his purpose, +for the demons are as strong as the gods, and there are D[=a]navendras +as well as D[=a]navarshis.[65] But Indra is the figure-head of the +whole ancient pantheon, and for this reason he plays so constant, if +so weak, a rôle, in the epic. The only important thing in connection +with him is his heaven. As an individual deity Indra lives, on the +whole, only in the tales of old, for example, in that of his cheating +Namuci (ix. 43. 32 ff.). Nothing new and clever is told of him which +would indicate power, only a new trick or two, as when he steals from +Karna. It is quite otherwise with Agni and S[=u]rya. They are not so +vaguely identified with the one god as is 'Indra and the other Vasus.' +It is merely because these gods are prominently forms of Vishnu that +they are honored with hymns in the epic. This is seen from the nature +of the hymns, and also from the fact that it is either as fire or as +sun that Vishnu destroys at the end of the aeons. For it is, perhaps, +somewhat daring to say, and yet it seems to be the fact, that the +solar origin of Vishnu is not lost sight of. + +The pantheistic Vishnu is the _[=a]tm[=a]_, and Vishnu, after all, is +but a form of fire. Therefore is it that the epic Vishnu is +perpetually lapsing into fire; while fire and sun are doubly honored +as special forms of the highest. It is, then, not so much on account +of a survival of ancient dignity[66] that sun and fire stand so high, +but rather because they are the nearest approach to the effulgence of +the Supreme. Thus while in one place one is told that after seven suns +have appeared the supreme gods become the fire of destruction and +complete the ruin, in another he reads that it is the sun alone which, +becoming twelvefold, does all the work of the Supreme.[67] + +Indra has hymns and sacrifices, but although he has no so exalted hymn +as comes to his 'friend Agni,' yet (in an isolated passage) he has a +new feast and celebration, the account of which apparently belongs to +the first period of the epic, when the worship of Indra still had +significance. In i. 63, an _Indramaha_, or 'glorification of Indra,' +is described a festivity extending over two days, and marked by the +erection of a pole in honor of the god--a ceremony which 'even +to-day,' it is said, is practiced.[68] The old tales of the fire-cult +are retold, and new rites are known.[69] Thus in iii. 251. 20 ff., +Prince Duryodhana resolves to starve to death (oblivious of the rule +that 'a suicide goes to hell'), and since this is a religious +ceremony, he clothes himself in old clothes and holy-grass, 'touches +water,' and devotes himself with intense application to heaven. Then +the devils of Rudra called D[=a]iteyas and D[=a]navas, who live +underground ever since they were conquered by the gods, aided by +priests, make a fire-rite, and with _mantras_ "declared by Brihaspati +and Uçanas, and proclaimed in the Atharva-Veda," raise a ghost or +spirit, who is ordered to fetch Duryodhana to hell, which she +immediately does.[70] The frequent connection of Brihaspati with the +Atharva-Veda is of interest (above, p. 159). He is quite a venerable, +if not wholly orthodox, author in the epic, and his 'rules' are often +cited.[71] + +That Vedic deity who, alone of pre-Vedic powers, still holds his proud +place, Yama, the king of departed spirits, varies in the epic +according to the period represented. In old tales he is still quite +Vedic in character; he takes the dead man's soul off to his own realm. +But, of course, as pantheism prevails, and eschatology becomes +confused, Yama passes into a shadow, and at most is a bugbear for the +wicked. Even his companions are stolen from another realm, and one +hears now of "King Yama with his Rudras" (III. 237. 11),[72] while it +is only the bad[73] that go to Yama (III. 200. 24), in popular belief, +although this view, itself old, relapses occasionally into one still +older, in accordance with which (_ib_. 49) all the world is hounded on +by Yama's messengers, and comes to his abode. His home[74] in the +south is now located as being at a distance of 86,000 leagues over a +terrible road, on which passes a procession of wretched or happy +mortals, even as they have behaved during life; for example, if one +has generously given an umbrella during life he will have an umbrella +on this journey, etc. The river in Yama's abode is called Pushpodaka, +and what each drinks out of it is according to what he deserves to +drink, cool water or filth (_ib._ 46, 58).[75] In the various +descriptions it is not strange to find discordant views even in +portions belonging approximately to the same period. Thus in +contradistinction to the prevailing view one reads of Indra himself +that he is _Yamasya net[=a] Namuceçca hant[=a]_ 'Yama's leader, +Namuci's slayer' (iii. 25. 10.), _i.e._, those that die in battle go +to Yama. + +On the other hand, in the later speculative portions, Yama is not +death. "Yama is not death, as some think; he is one that gives bliss +to the good, and woe to the bad."[76] Death and life are foolishness +and lack of folly, respectively (literally, 'non-folly is +non-mortality'), while folly and mortality are counter opposites. In +pantheistic teaching there is, of course, no real death, only change. +But death is a female power, personified, and sharply distinguished +from Yama. Death as a means of change thus remains, while Yama is +relegated to the guardianship of hell. The difference in regard to the +latter subject, between earlier and later views, has been noted above. +One comparatively early passage attempts to arrange the incongruous +beliefs in regard to _sams[=a]ra_ (re-birth) and hell on a sort of +sliding scale, thus: "One that does good gets in the next life a good +birth; one that does ill gets an ill birth"; more particularly: "By +good acts one attains to the state of gods; by 'mixed' acts, to the +state of man; by acts due to confusion of mind, to the state of +animals and plants (_viyon[=i][s.]u_); by sinful acts one goes to +hell" (_adhog[=a]mi_, iii. 209. 29-32).[77] Virtue must have been, as +the epic often declares it to be, a 'subtile matter,' for often a tale +is told to illustrate the fact that one goes to hell for doing what he +thinks (mistakenly) to be right. Thus K[=a]uçika is sent to hell for +speaking the truth, whereas he ought to have lied to save life (viii. +69. 53), for he was "ignorant of virtue's subtilty."[78] A passage (i. +74. 27 ff.) that is reflected in Manu (viii. 85-86) says that Yama +V[=a]ivasvata takes away the sin of him with whom is satisfied "the +one that witnesses the act, that stands in the heart, that knows the +ground"; but Yama tortures him with whom this one (personified +conscience) is dissatisfied. For "truth is equal to a thousand +horse-sacrifices; truth is highest _brahma_" (_ib._ 103, 106). + +Following downward the course of religious development, as reflected +in the epic, one next finds traces of Brahmanic theology not only in +the few passages where (Brahm[=a]) Praj[=a]pati remains untouched by +sectarianism, but also in the harking back to old formulae. Thus the +insistence on the Brahmanical sacredness of the number seventeen is +preserved (xii. 269. 26; iii. 210. 20, etc); and Upanishadic is the +"food is Praj[=a]pati" of iii. 200. 38 (Yama in 40). There is an +interesting rehabilitation of the primitive idea of the Açvins in the +new ascription of formal divinity to the (personified) Twilights +(Sandhy[=a]) in iii. 200. 83, although this whole passage is more +Puranic than epic. From the same source is the doctrine that the fruit +of action expires at the end of one hundred thousand _kalpas_ (_ib._ +vs. 121). One of the oddest religious freaks in the epic is the sudden +exaltation of the Ribhus, the Vedic (season-gods) artisans, to the +position of highest gods. In that heaven of Brahm[=a], which is above +the Vedic gods' heaven, there are the holy seers and the Ribhus, 'the +divinities of the gods'; who do not change with the change of _kalpas_ +(as do other Vedic gods), III. 261. 19-23. One might almost imagine +that their threefoldness was causative of a trinitarian identification +with a supreme triad; but no, for still higher is the 'heaven of +Vishnu' (vs. 37). The contrast is marked between this and _[=A]it. +Br._ III. 30, where the Ribhus with some difficulty obtain the right +to drink _soma_. + +There is an aspect of the epic religion upon which it is necessary to +touch before treating of the sectarian development. In the early +philosophical period wise priests meet together to discuss theological +and philosophical questions, often aided, and often brought to grief, +by the wit of women disputants, who are freely admitted to hear and +share in the discussion. When, however, pantheism, nay, even +Vishnuism, or still more, Krishnaism, was an accepted fact upon what, +then, was the wisdom of the priest expended? Apart from the epic, the +best intellects of the day were occupied in researches, codifying +laws, and solving, in rather dogmatic fashion, philosophical +(theological) problems. The epic presents pictures of scenes which +seem to be a reflection from an earlier day. But one sees often that +the wisdom is commonplace, or even silly. In dialectics a sophistical +subtlety is shown; in codifying moral rules, a tedious triteness; in +amoebic passes of wit there are astounding exhibitions, in which the +good scholiast sees treasures of wisdom, where a modern is obliged to +take them in their literal dulness. Thus in III. 132. 18, a boy of +twelve or ten (133. 16), who is divinely precocious, defeats the wise +men in disputation at a sacrifice, and in the following section (134. +7 ff.) silences a disputant who is regarded as one of the cleverest +priests. The conversation is recorded in full. In what does it +consist? The opponent mentions a number of things which are one; the +boy replies with a verse that gives pairs of things; the other +mentions triads; the child cites groups of fours, etc., until the +opponent, having cited only one half-verse of thirteens, can remember +no more and stops, on which the child completes the verse, and is +declared winner. The conundrums which precede must have been +considered very witty, for they are repeated elsewhere: What is that +wheel which has twelve parts and three hundred and sixty spokes, etc.? +Year. What does not close its eye when asleep, what does not move when +it is born, what has no heart, what increases by moving? These +questions form one-half verse. The next half-verse gives the answers +in order: fish, egg, stone, river. This wisdom in the form of puzzles +and answers, _brahmodya_, is very old, and goes back to the Vedic +period. Another good case in the epic is the demon Yaksha and the +captured king, who is not freed till he answers certain questions +correctly.[79] But although a certain amount of theologic lore may be +gleaned from these questions, yet is it of greater interest to see how +the priests discussed when left quietly to their own devices. And a +very natural description of such a scene is extant. The priests +"having some leisure"[80] or vacation from their labors in the king's +house, sit down to argue, and the poet calls their discussion +_vita[n.][d.][=a], i.e_., tricky sophistical argumentation, the +description bearing out the justness of the phrase: "One cried, 'that +is so,' and the other, 'it is not so'; one cried, 'and that is so,' +and the other, 'it must be so'; and some by arguments made weak +arguments strong, and strong weak; while some wise ones were always +swooping down on their opponent's arguments, like hawks on meat."[81] +In III. 2. 15, the type of clever priest is 'skilled in Yoga and +S[=a][.n]khya,' who inculcates renunciation. This sage teaches that +mental diseases are cured by Yoga; bodily, by medicine; and that +desire is the root of ill. + +But by far the most interesting theological discussion in the epic, if +one except the Divine Song, is the conversation of the hero and +heroine in regard to the cause of earthly happiness. This discussion +is an old passage of the epic. The very fact that a woman is the +disputant gives an archaic effect to the narration, and reminds one of +the scenes in the Upanishads, where learned women cope successfully +with men in displays of theological acumen. Furthermore, the +theological position taken, the absence of Vishnuism, the appeal to +the 'Creator' as the highest Power, take one back to a former age. The +doctrine of special grace, which crops out in the Upanishads,[82] here +receives its exposure by a sudden claim that the converse of the +theory must also be true, viz., that to those not saved by grace and +election God is as cruel as He is kind to the elect. The situation is +as follows: The king and queen have been basely robbed of their +kingdom, and are in exile. The queen urges the king to break the vow +of exile that has been forced from him, and to take vengeance on their +oppressors. The king, in reply, sings a song of forgiveness: +"Forgiveness is virtue, sacrifice, Veda; forgiveness is holiness and +truth; in the world of Brahm[=a] are the mansions of them that +forgive." This song (III. 29. 36 ff.) only irritates the queen, who at +once launches into the following interesting tirade (30. 1 ff.): +"Reverence to the Creator and Disposer[83] who have confused thy mind! +Hast thou not worshipped with salutation and honored the priests, +gods, and manes? Hast thou not made horse-sacrifices, the +_r[=a]jas[=u]ya_-sacrifice, sacrifices of every sort +(_pu[n.][d.]arika,[84] gosava_)? Yet art thou in this miserable +plight! Verily is it an old story (_itih[=a]sa_) that 'the worlds +stand under the Lord's will.' Following the seed God gives good or ill +in the case of all beings. Men are all moved by the divinity. Like a +wooden doll, moving its limbs in the hands of a man, so do all +creatures move in the Creator's hands. Man is like a bird on a string, +like a bead on a cord. As a bull is led by the nose, so man follows +the will of the Creator; he never is a creature of free will +(_[=a]tm[=a]dhina_). Every man goes to heaven or to hell, as he is +sent by the Lord's will. God himself, occupied with noble or with +wicked acts, moves about among all created things, an unknown power +(not known as 'this one'). The blessed God, who is self-created, the +great forefather (_prapit[=a]maha_), plays with his creatures just as +a boy plays with toys, putting them together and destroying them as he +chooses. Not like a father is God to His creatures; He acts in anger. +When I see the good distressed, the ignoble happy, I blame the Creator +who permits this inequality. What reward does God get that he sends +happiness to this sinful man (thy oppressor)? If it be true that only +the individual that does the act is pursued by the fruit of that act +(_karma_ doctrine) then the Lord who has done this act is defiled by +this base act of His. If, on the other hand, the act that one has done +does not pursue and overtake the one that has done it, then the only +agency on earth is brute force (this is the only power to be +respected)--and I grieve for them that are without it!" + +To this plea, which in its acknowledgment of the Creator as the +highest god, no less than in its doubtful admission of the _karma_ +doctrine, is of peculiar interest, the king replies with a refutation +no less worthy of regard: "Thy argument is good, clear and smooth, but +it is heterodox (_n[=a]stikyam_). I have sacrificed and practiced +virtue not for the sake of reward, but because it was right. I give +what I ought to give, and sacrifice as I should. That is my only idea +in connection with religious observances. There is no virtue in trying +to milk virtue. Do not doubt. Do not be suspicious of virtue. He that +doubts God or duty goes to hell (confusion), but he that does his duty +and is free from doubt goes to heaven (becomes immortal). Doubt not +scriptural authority. Duty is the saving ship. No other gets to +heaven. Blame not the Lord Creator, who is the highest god. Through +His grace the faithful gets immortality. If religious observances were +without fruit the universe would go to destruction. People would not +have been good for so many ages if there had been no reward for it. +This is a mystery of the gods. The gods are full of mystery and +illusion." + +The queen, for all the world like that wise woman in the Upanishads, +whose argument, as we showed in a preceding chapter, is cut short not +by counter-argument, but by the threat that if she ask too much her +head will fall off, recants her errors at this rebuke, and in the +following section, which evidently is a later addition, takes back +what she has said. Her new expression of belief she cites as the +opinion of Brihaspati (32. 61, 62); but this is applicable rather to +her first creed of doubt. Perhaps in the original version this +authority was cited at the end of the first speech, and with the +interpolation the reference is made to apply to this seer. Something +like the queen's remarks is the doubtful saying of the king himself, +as quoted elsewhere (III. 273. 6): "Time and fate, and what will be, +this is the only Lord. How else could this distress have come upon my +wife? For she has been virtuous always." + +We turn now to the great sectarian gods, who eventually unite with +Brahm[=a] to form a pantheistic trinity, a conception which, as we +shall show, is not older than the fifth or sixth century after Christ. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: The rival heresies seem also to belong to the + East. There were thus more than half a dozen heretical + bodies of importance agitating the region about Benares at + the same time. Subsequently the Jains, who, as we have + shown, were less estranged from Brahmanism, drifted + westward, while the Buddhist stronghold remained in the East + (both, of course, being represented in the South as well), + and so, whereas Buddhism eventually retreated to Nep[=a]l + and Tibet, the Jains are found in the very centres of old + and new (sectarian) Brahmanism, Delhi, Mathur[=a], Jeypur, + [=A]jm[=i]r.] + + [Footnote 2: 'The wandering of R[=a]ma,' who is the + sectarian representative of Vishnu.] + + [Footnote 3: The 'Bh[=a]rata (tale)', sometimes called + Mah[=a]-Bh[=a]rata, or Great Bh[=a]rata. The Vishnuite + sectarianism here advocated is that of Krishna. But there is + as much Çivaism in the poem as there is Vishnuism.] + + [Footnote 4: Dramatic and lyric poetry is artificial even in + language.] + + [Footnote 5: Schroeder, p. 453, compares the mutual relation + of the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata and R[=a]m[=a]yana to that of the + Nibelungenlied and the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach. + Jacobi, in his 'R[=a]m[=a]yana,' has lately claimed a + considerable antiquity for the foundation legends of the + R[=a]m[=a]yana, but he does not disprove the late completed + form.] + + [Footnote 6: i. 78. 10; see Bühler's Introduction.] + + [Footnote 7: Jacobi seeks to put the completed nucleus at + the time of the Christian era, but it must have been quite a + large nucleus in view of the allusions to it in precedent + literature. Holtztmann puts the completion at about 1000 + A.D.; but in 700 A.D., it was complete, and most scholars + will agree with Bühler that the present Mah[=a]-Bh[=a]rata + was completed by the sixth or seventh century. In 533 A.D. + it contained 100,000 distichs, that is, it was about the + size it is now.] + + [Footnote 8: By the time the drama began the epic was become + a religious storehouse, and the actual epic story + represented not a fifth of the whole work, so that, with its + simple language, it must have seemed, as a literary + production, very wearisome to the minds that delighted in + the artificial compounds and romantic episodes of the drama + and lyric. But even to-day it is recited at great fêtes, and + listened to with rapt attention, as the rhapsodes with more + or less dramatic power recite its holy verses.] + + [Footnote 9: The later law-books say expressly that women + and slaves have a right to use _mantra, + mantr[=a]dhik[=a]ri[n.]as._ But the later legal Smritis are + no more than disguised sectarian Pur[=a]nas.] + + [Footnote 10: Compare the visit of the old Muni on the + prince in iii. 262. 8. He is _paramakopana_, 'extremely + irritable'; calls for food only to reject it; growls at the + service, etc. Everything must be done 'quickly' for him. "I + am hungry, give me food, _quick_," is his way of speaking, + etc. (12). The adjective is one applied to the All-gods, + _paramakrodhinas._] + + [Footnote 11: Each spiritual teacher instructed high-caste + boys, in classes of four or five at most. In xii. 328. 41 + the four students of a priest go on a strike because the + latter wants to take another pupil besides themselves and + his own son.] + + [Footnote 12: The saints in the sky praise the combatants + (vii. 188. 41; viii. 15. 27); and the gods roar approval of + prowess "with roars like a lion's" (viii. 15. 33). Indra and + S[=u]rya and the Apsarasas cool off the heroes with heavenly + fans (_ib_. 90. 18). For the last divinities, see + Holtzmann's essays, ZDMG. xxxii. 290; xxxiii. 631.] + + [Footnote 13: The original author of the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata + is reputed to be of low caste, but the writers of the text + as it is to-day were sectarian priests. It was written down, + it is said, by Ganeça, 'lord of the troops' of Çiva, i. 1. + 79, and some historic truth lies in the tale. The priests of + Çiva were the last to retouch the poem, as we think.] + + [Footnote 14: Agni-worship is partly affected by the + doctrine that the Samvartaka fire (which destroys the world + at the cycle's end) is a form of Vishnu. In Stambamitra's + hymn it is said: "Thou, O Agni, art the all, in thee rests + the universe ... Sages know thee as single yet manifold. At + the expiration of time thou burnest up the three worlds, + after having created them. Thou art the originator and + support of all beings" (i. 232. 12). Elsewhere more Vedic + epithets are given, such as 'mouth of the gods' (ii. 31. + 42), though here 'the Vedas are produced for Agni's sake.' + In this same prayer one reads, 'may Agni give me energy; + wind, give me breath; earth, give me strength; and water, + give me health' (45). Agni, as well as Çiva, is the father + of Kum[=a]ra K[=a]rtikeya, _i.e_., Skanda (_ib_. 44).] + + [Footnote 15: But the Açvins are Ç[=u]dras In the 'cast-hood + of gods' (the caste-order being Angirasas, [=A]dityas, + Maruts and AÇvins), xii. 208. 23-25; and Indra in one + passage refuses to associate with them, xiii. 157. 17 (cited + by Holtzmann, ZDMG. xxxii. 321).] + + [Footnote 16: Manibhadra, in iii. 64, is king of Yaksash; he + is the same with Kubera, _ib_. ch. 41 (V[=a]içinavana).] + + [Footnote 17: In the Cosmogony the gods are the sons of the + Manes, xii. 312. 9.] + + [Footnote 18: When the gods churn the ocean to get ambrosia, + an ancient tale of the epic, Mandara is the twirling-stick. + It is situated in modern Beh[=a]r, near Bhagalpur.] + + [Footnote 19: III. 42; 139. 14, where the Ganges and Jumna + are invoked together with the Vedic gods. So in III. 104 + (Vindhya); and Damayanti prays to mountains. Mt. Meru is + described in III. 163. 14 (compare I. 17. 5 ff.). In I. 18. + 1 ff., is related the churning of the ocean, where Indra + (vs. 12) places Mt. Mandara on Vishnu, the tortoise.] + + [Footnote 20: Mbh. I. 30. 37, _mamlur m[=a]ly[=a]ni + dev[=a]n[=a]m_, etc. The older belief was that the gods' + garlands never withered; for the gods show no mortal signs, + cast no shadows, etc.] + + [Footnote 21: Compare the four hymnlets to Agni in i. 232. 7 + ff.] + + [Footnote 22: After the mention of the thirty-three gods, + and Vishnu 'born after them,' it is said that the Açvins, + plants, and animals, are Guhyakas (vs. 40), though in vs. + 35: "Tvashtar's daughter, the wife of Savitar, as a mare + (_va[d.]av[=a]_) bore in air the two Açvins" (see above), in + Vedic style. For Çruti compare iii. 207. 47; 208. 6, 11.] + + [Footnote 23: i. 23. 15 ff. His name is explained fancifully + in 30. 7.] + + [Footnote 24: It is at the funeral feasts to the Manes that + the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata is to be recited (i. 62. 37).] + + [Footnote 25: Arjuna is an old name of Indra, and in the + epic Arjuna is Indra's son.] + + [Footnote 26: The legal _dharma_ or sitting at a debtor's + door, which still obtains in India, is, so far as we know, + not a very ancient practice. But its application in the case + of heralds (who become responsible) is epic.] + + [Footnote 27: This is the covenant (with friends) of + revenge; the covenant of mutual protection in the sacrifice + is indicated by the 'protection covenant' of the gods (see + the chapter on Brahmanism above, p. 192).] + + [Footnote 28: See an essay on the Ruling Caste in the epic, + in JAOS. xiii. 232 ff.] + + [Footnote 29: Reverend Doctor H.C. Trumbull has kindly + called our attention to Robert's _Oriental Illustrations_, + p. 148 ff., where it is said that in India today the + threshold is sacred. In reference to threshold offerings, + common in the law, Dr. Trumbull's own forthcoming book on + Covenants may be compared.] + + [Footnote 30: But these are by no means the last examples of + human sacrifices. Several of the modern Hindu sects have + caused to be performed such sacrifices, even in this + century.] + + [Footnote 31: This can hardly mean 'put out on the river' as + has been suggested as an explanation of the corpse 'thrown + aside' in accordance with the earlier text, AV. xviii. 2. 34 + (_paropta_), where the dead are 'buried, thrown aside, + burned, or set out.'] + + [Footnote 32: It is assumed in XII. 364. 2 that "leaves and + air" are food enough for a great saint. Compare below the + actual asceticism of modern devotees.] + + [Footnote 33: III. 25. 14: _saptar[s.]ayas ... divi + viprabh[=a]nti_. Compare _ib._ 261. 13, and the apocalypse + in VII. 192. 52 ff., where Drona's soul ascends to heaven, a + burning fire like a sun; In sharp contrast to the older + 'thumbkin' soul which Yama receives and carries off in the + tale of Satyavant. Compare also Arundhati in I. 233. 29.] + + [Footnote 34: Described, as above, as a place of singers and + dancers, where are the Vedic gods and sages, but no sinners + or cowards (III. 42. 34 ff.).] + + [Footnote 35: From another point of view the stars are of + interest. They are favorable or unfavorable, sentient, kind, + or cruel; influential in man's fate. Compare III. 200. 84, + 85, where the sun is included with the _grahas_ (planets) + which influence men, and ib. 209. 21, + _tulyanak[.s]atrama[.n]gala_.] + + [Footnote 36: Other of Indra's spirits are the singers, + Gandharvas and Apsarasas; also the horse-headed Kinnaras and + C[=a]ranas, who, too, are singers; while later the + Vidy[=a]dharas belong both to Indra and to Çiva. In modern + times the South Indian Sittars, 'saints,' take their name + from the Siddhas.] + + [Footnote 37: In _d[=a]nnavar[s.]i_ there is apparently the + same sort of compound as in _devar[s.]i_ and _brahmar[s.]i_, + all associated with the _siddhas_ in III. 169. 23. But + possibly 'demons and seers' may be meant.] + + [Footnote 38: III. 37. 32-35 (_prapadye viçvedev[=a]n!_).] + + [Footnote 39: Weber finds in the Asuras' artisan, Asura + Maya, a reminiscence of Ptolemaios. He is celebrated in I. + 228. 39, and II. 1, and is the generai leader of the + _d[=a]navas_, demons, perhaps originally a folk-name of + enemies.] + + [Footnote 40: See below. The formal division is, _d[=a]iva, + hatha, karma, i.e._, man's fate depends on gods, Fate, and + his own acts; although _hatha_, Fate, is often implied in + _d[=a]iva_, 'the divine power.' But they are separated, for + example, in iii. 183. 86.] + + [Footnote 41: Compare the tales and xii. 148. 9, _sat[=i]_ + (suttee). In regard to the horse-sacrifice, compare Yama's + law as expounded to Gautama: "The acts by which one gains + bliss hereafter are austerities, purity, truth, worship of + parents, and the horse-sacrifice." xii 129. 9, 10.] + + [Footnote 42: Compare III. 200. 88, even _pr[=a]k[r.]ta_ + priests are divine and terrible (much more in later books). + Here _pr[=a]k[r.]ta_, vulgar, is opposed to _samsk[r.]ta_, + refined, priests.] + + [Footnote 43: III. 185. 26-31.] + + [Footnote 44: "My father and mother are my highest idol; I + do for them what I do for Idols. As the three and thirty + gods, with Indra foremost, are revered of all the world, so + are my parents revered by me" (III. 214. 19, 20). The + speaker further calls them _paramam brahma_, absolute + godhead, and explains his first remark by saying that he + offers fruits and flowers to his parents as if they were + idols. In IV. 68. 57 a man salutes (_abhivadya_) his + father's feet on entering into his presence. For the worship + of parents compare XII. 108. 3; 128. 9, 10; 267. 31, XIII. + 75. 26: "heroes in obedience to the mother."] + + [Footnote 45: The marked Brahm[=a] Creator-worship is a bit + of feminine religious conservatism (see below).] + + [Footnote 46: Weber has shown that men of low caste took a + subordinate part even in the _r[=a]jas[=u]ya_ sacrifice.] + + [Footnote 47: In II. 18. there is a brand-new festival + appointed in honor of a female fiend, etc.] + + [Footnote 48: III. 84. 83 (87. 11). We see the first idea in + the injunction of Indra to 'wander,' as told in the tale of + Dogstail in the Brahmana (see above).] + + [Footnote 49: The usual formula (also Avestan) is 'pure in + thought, speech, and act.' The comparison of the six senses + to unrestrained wild horses is familiar (III. 211. 24).] + + [Footnote 50: There is, further, no unanimity in regard to + the comparative value of holy places. In XII. 152. 11, + Sarasvat[=i] is holier than Kurukshetra, etc.] + + [Footnote 51: At Pushkara is Brahm[=a]'s only (?) + shrine--the account is legendary, but half historical. The + modern shrine at Ajm[=i]r seems to be meant.] + + [Footnote 52: Ganges, according to epic legend, was a + goddess who sacrificed herself for men when the earth was + parched and men perished. Then Ganges alone of immortals + took pity on men, and flinging herself from heaven became + the stream divine. Her name among the gods is Alakanand[=a], + the 'Blessed Damosel.'] + + [Footnote 53: In iii. 87.10, "ten descendants and ten + ancestors." The epic, i. 170. 19, regards the Sarasvat[=i] + and Jumna as parts of the sevenfold Ganges, which descends + from the heavens as these three, and also as the Vitasth[=a] + (Rathasth[=a]), Saray[=u], Gomat[=i], and Gan[d.]ak[=i]; + being itself 'V[=a]itara[n.][=i] among the Manes.' So xii. + 322. 32.] + + [Footnote 54: According to the commentator the "(northern + altar of the Father-god) Kurukshetra-Samantapañcakam, + between Tarantuka, Arantuka, R[=a]mahrada, and Macakruka," + mentioned in iii. 83. 208, lies in Benares; but this must be + a late addition, as Kurukshetra's position is without doubt. + Compare i. 2. i ff.; ix. 53. i, 23-25.] + + [Footnote 55: + In _ib_. 47, _mah[=a] d[r.]tiriv[=a]dhm[=a]ta[h.] + p[=a]pas_, there is an interesting + reminiscence of Rig Veda, vii. 89. 2. The rules of virtue + are contained in Vedas and law-books, and the practice of + instructed men, _ib_. 83 (the 'threefold sign of + righteousness'). A Çruti cited from _dharmas_ is not + uncommon, but the latter word is not properly used in so + wide a sense. See note below, p. 378.] + + [Footnote 56: Some scholars see in the use of the verb, + _piç_, a Vedic picturing of gods; but in all instances where + this occurs it may be only the poet's mind-picture of the + god 'adorned' with various glories.] + + [Footnote 57: In VII. 201. 69, Çiva wears an + _aksham[=a]l[=a]._ In XII. 38. 23, the C[=a]rv[=a]ka wears + an _aksha_, for he is disguised as a _bhikshu_, beggar.] + + [Footnote 58: It must be remembered that the person using + the _mantra_ probably did not understand what the words + meant. The epic says, in fact, that the Vedas are + unintelligible: _brahma pracuracchalam_, XII. 329. 6. But an + older generation thought the same. In Nirukta, I. 15, + K[=a]utsa is cited as saying that the _mantras_ are + meaningless.] + + [Footnote 59: Compare xii. 174. 46: "The joy of earth and + heaven obtained by the satisfaction of desire is not worth + one-sixteenth of the bliss of dead desire."] + + [Footnote 60: By generosity the Hindu poet means 'to + priests.' In III. 200, where this is elaborated, sixteen + persons are mentioned (vs. 4) to whom to give is not + meritorious.] + + [Footnote 61: Little is known in regard to the play. The + dice are thrown on a board, 'odd and even' determine the + contest here (III. 34. 5) _ayuja and yuja_. At times speed + in counting is the way to win (Nala). Dicing is a regular + part of the _r[=a]jas[=u]ya_ sacrifice (Weber, p. 67), but + not, apparently, an ancient trait.] + + [Footnote 62: The snakes belong to Varuna and his region, as + described in v. 98. It is on the head of the earth-upholding + snake Çesha that Vishnu muses, III. 203.12. The reverence + paid to serpents begins to be ritual in the Atharva Veda. + Even in the Rig Veda there is the deification of the + cloud-snake. In later times they answered to the Nymphs, + being tutelary guardians of streams and rivers (Buhler). In + i. 36, Çesha Ananta supports earth, and it is told why he + does so.] + + [Footnote 63: These three are the witnesses for the soul at + the judgment, xii. 322. 55. V[=a]yu, Wind, is said to be + even mightier than Indra, Yama, Indra and Varuna, _ib._ 155. + 9, 10.] + + [Footnote 64: But (in a later account) not if he dies + ignobly; for if one is slain by a man of low caste he goes + to hell, xii. 298. 7.] + + [Footnote 65: Demoniac Indras (_i.e._, demon-leaders) and + seers, xii. 166. 26.] + + [Footnote 66: 'The god of gods,' who rains blood in i. 30. + 36, is declared by the commentator to be--Parjanya! The gods + are here defending Soma from the heavenly bird, Garuda, and + nearly die of fright.] + + [Footnote 67: xii. 313. 1-7, with the same watery finale as + is usual.] + + [Footnote 68: The morning prayer, etc, to the sun is, of + course, still observed, _e.g._, vii. 186. 4. Indra is + thanked for victory and invoked for rain (iii. 117. 11; i. + 25. 7; Holtzmann, _loc. cit._ p. 326) in an hymn that is + less fulsome than those to Agni and S[=u]rya.] + + [Footnote 69: 111. 222, Atharvan's rediscovery of fire. As + to Çrutis they are probably no more valuable than Smritis. + The one given in iii. 208. 11, _agnayo + in[=a]i[.n]sak[=a]m[=a]s_, seems to be adapted (_cf._ + [=A]çv. Gs. iv. 1; the adjective, by the way, is still + starred in Pw.). So [=A]çv. Gs. i. 15. 9, is repeated + Mbh[=a]; i. 74. 63, as a "Vedic _mantragr[=a]ma_ " + _(ang[=a]d ang[=a]t sambhavasi_, etc.).] + + [Footnote 70: The devils are on the Prince's side, and wish + to keep him from death. The proverb is found _ib_. 252. 2; + _[=a]tmaty[=a]g[=i] hy adho y[=a]ti_. The holy-grass is used + in much the same way when R[=a]ma lies down by Ocean, + resolved to die or persuade Ocean to aid him. The rites (vs. + 24) are "in the Upanishad."] + + [Footnote 71: According to XII. 59. 80-84, the 'treatise of + Brihaspati' comes from Çiva through Brahm[=a] and Indra.] + + [Footnote 72: In Buddhism Yama's messengers are Yakkhas. + Scherman, _loc. cit_. p. 57.] + + [Footnote 73: Compare II. 22. 26: _gaccha yamak[s.]ayam_, + 'go to Yama's destruction'; whereas of a good man it is + said, 'I will send Indra a guest' (VII, 27.8).] + + [Footnote 74: _Yamasya sadana_. III. 11. 66. He now has + hells, and he it is who will destroy the world. He is called + 'the beautiful' (III. 41. 9), so that he must, if one take + this Rudrian epithet with the citation above, be loosely + (popularly) identified with Çiva, as god of death. See the + second note below.] + + [Footnote 75: The old story of a mortal's visit to Yama to + learn about life hereafter (_Çat. Br._ xi. 6.1; Katha Up., + of N[=a]ciketas) is repeated in xiii. 71.] + + [Footnote 76: v. 42. 6: _Çiva[h.] çiv[=a]n[=a]m açivo + 'çiv[=a]n[=a]m_ (compare xii 187. 27: 'only fools say that + the man is dead'). Dharma (Justice) seems at times to be the + same with Yama. M[=a]ndavya goes to Dharma's _sadana_, home + (compare Yama's _sadana_), just as one goes to Yama's, and + interviews him on the justice of his judgments. As result of + the angry interview the god is reborn on earth as a man of + low caste, and the law is established that a child is not + morally responsible for his acts till the twelfth year of + his age (i.108. 8 ff.). When Kuru agrees to give half his + life in order to the restoration of Pramadvar[=a], his wife, + they go not to Yama but to Dharma to see if the exchange may + be made, and he agrees (i. 9. 11 ff., a masculine + S[=a]vitr[=i]i).] + + [Footnote 77: The hells are described in xii. 322. 29 ff. + The sight of 'golden trees' presages death (_ib._ 44).] + + [Footnote 78: The ordinary rule is that "no sin is greater + than untruth," xii. 162. 24, modified by "save in love and + danger of life" (Laws, _passim_).] + + [Footnote 79: The same scenes occur in Buddhistic writings, + where Yakkhas ask conundrums. For example, in the + _Hemavatasutta_ and _[=A]tavakasutta_ the Yakkha asks what + is the best possession, what brings bliss, and what is + swettest, to which the answer is: faith, law, and truth, + respectively.] + + [Footnote 80: _Karm[=a]ntaram up[=a]santas, i.e., + vir[=a]mak[=a]lam upagacchantas_.] + + [Footnote 81: II. 36. 3 ff. The phraseology of vs. 5 is + exactly that of [Greek: _ton êttô ldgon kreittô poithnsi_], + but the Pundit's arguments are 'based on the law.'] + + [Footnote 82: See above. In a later period (see below) the + question arises in regard to the part played by Creator and + individual in the workings of grace, some claiming that man + was passive; some, that he had to strive for grace.] + + [Footnote 83: Perhaps ironical. In V. 175. 32, a woman cries + out: "Fie on the Creator for this bad luck," conservative in + belief, and outspoken in word.] + + [Footnote 84: III. 30. 17. The _gosava_ is a + 'cow-sacrifice.' The _pu[n.][d.]ar[=i]ka_ is not explained + (perhaps 'elephant-sacrifice').] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +HINDUISM (CONTINUED).--VISHNU AND ÇIVA. + + +In the epic the later union of the sectarian gods is still a novelty. +The two characters remain distinct enough. Vishnu and Çiva are +different gods. But each in turn represents the All-god, and +consequently each represents the other. The Vishnu-worship which grew +about Krish[n.]a, originally a friend of one of the epic characters, +was probably at first an attempt to foist upon Vedic believers a +sectarian god, by identifying the latter with a Vedic divinity. But, +whatever the origin, Krishna as Vishnu is revered as the All-god in +the epic. And, on the other hand, Çiva of many names has kept the +marks of Rudra. Sometimes one, sometimes another, is taken as the +All-god. At times they are compared, and then each sect reduces the +god of the other to an inferior position. Again they are united and +regarded as one. The Vishnu side has left the best literary +representation of this religion, which has permeated the epic. It is +pantheism, but not an impersonal pantheism. The Blessed Lord is the +All. This is the simple base and crown of its speculation. It is like +the personal development of Vedantic philosophy, only it is here +degraded by the personality of the man-god, who is made the incarnate +All-god. The Krishna of the epic as a man is a sly, unscrupulous +fellow, continually suggesting and executing acts that are at variance +with the knightly code of honor. He is king of Dv[=a]rak[=a] and ally +of the epic heroes. But again, he is divine, the highest divinity, the +_avatar_ of the All-god Vishnu. The sectaries that see in Çiva rather +than in Vishnu the one and only god, have no such representative to +which to refer. For Çiva, as the historical descendant of the Vedic +Rudra,--although even in his case there is an intrusion of local +worship upon an older Vedic belief,--represents a terror-god, either +the lightning, the fairest of the gods, or, when he appears on earth, +a divine horror, or, again, "a very handsome young man."[1] These two +religions, of Vishnu as Krishna and of Çiva alone, are not so much +united in the epic as they are super-imposed upon the older worship of +Brahm[=a], and indeed, in such a way that Çiva-worship, in a +pantheistic sense, appears to be the latest of the three beliefs that +have influenced the story.[2] + +The personal pantheism of the older Vishnuism has in its form and +teachings so close a resemblance to the Christian religion that it has +always had a great attraction for occidental readers; while the real +power of its "Divine Song" gives the latter a charm possessed by few +of the scriptures of India. This Divine Song (or Song of the Blessed +One) is at present a Krishnaite version of an older Vishnuite poem, +and this in turn was at first an unsectarian work, perhaps a late +Upanishad. It is accepted by Vishnuites as a kind of New Testament; +and with the New Testament it has in truth much in common. It must be +pointed out at the outset that there is here the closest connection +with the later Upanishads. The verse, like that of the Katha Upanishad +(quoted above), which stands almost at the beginning of the Song, is +typical of the relation of the Song to the Upanishad. It will be +noticed how the impersonal 'That,' _i.e_., absolute being, _brahma_, +changes almost at once to the personal He (_[=a]tm[=a]_ as Lord). As +shows the whole Song, _brahma_ throughout is understood to be +personal.[3] The caste-position of the priest in the Git[=a] is owing +to the religious exaltation of the poem; and the precedence of +S[=a]man is not unusual in the latest portions of the epic (see +below).] + +To understand the religion which reaches its culmination in the epic +no better course could be pursued than to study the whole of the +Divine Song. It is, however, too long a production to be introduced +here in its entirety; but the following extracts give the chief +features of the work, than which nothing in Hindu literature is more +characteristic, in its sublimity as in its puerilities, in its logic +as in its want of it. It has shared the fate of most Hindu works in +being interpolated injudiciously, so that many of the puzzling +anomalies, which astound no less the reader than the hero to whom it +was revealed, are probably later additions. It is a medley of beliefs +as to the relation of spirit and matter, and other secondary matters; +it is uncertain in its tone in regard to the comparative efficacy of +action and inaction, and in regard to the practical man's means of +salvation; but it is at one with itself in its fundamental thesis, +that all things are each a part of One Lord, that men and gods are but +manifestations of the One Divine Spirit, which, or rather whom, the +Vishnuite re-writer identifies with Krishna, as Vishnu's present form. + +The Divine Song, as it is revealed in the epic by Vishnu (-Krishna) to +his favorite knight, Arjuna, begins thus: "Know that the 'That' in +which is comprised the 'This' is indestructible. These bodies of the +indestructible Eternal One have an end: but whoso knows Him as slayer, +and whoso thinks Him to be slain, these two have not true wisdom. He +slays not and is not slain. He is not born, he does not die at any +time; nor will He, having been born, cease to be. Unborn, everlasting, +eternal, He, the Ancient One, is not slain when the body is slain. As +one puts away an old garment and puts on another that is new, so He, +the embodied (Spirit), puts away the old body and assumes one that is +new. Everlasting, omnipresent, firm, unchanging is He, the Eternal; +indiscernible is He called, inconceivable, unchangeable."[4] + +The Song now turns into a plea that the warrior who is hearing it +should, as one born to be a soldier, be brave and fight, lest his +sorrow for the slain be taken for fear; since "nothing is better for a +warrior than a just fight," and "loss of fame is worse than death." +Then follows (with the usual inconsequential 'heaven') "If thou art +slain thou wilt obtain heaven, and if thou art victorious thou shalt +enjoy earth; therefore, careless of pleasure and pain, get ready for +the fight, and so thou wilt not incur sin. This is the knowledge +declared in the S[=a]nkhya; hear now that of the Yoga," and the Divine +Lord proceeds: + +"Some are pleased with Vedic words and think that there is nothing +else; their souls are full of desires; and they think that going to +heaven is the chief thing. Yet have the Vedas reference only to the +three qualities (of which all things partake). Be free from the three +qualities (do not care for rewards). In action, not in fruit, is the +chief thing. Do thy work, abiding by serene devotion (Yoga), rejecting +every tie; be indifferent to success and failure. Serene devotion is +called indifference (to such things). Action is lower than devotion of +mind. Devotion is happiness. Do thou, wise in devotion, abandon the +fruit that is sprung from action, and, freed from the bonds of birth, +attain a perfect state." + +S[=a]nkhya here means the philosophy of religion; Yoga is the +philosophical state of mind, serene indifference, religious +_sang-froid_ the practical result of a belief in the S[=a]nkhya +doctrine of the indestructibility of the spirit. In the following +there is Vedantic teaching, as well as Sankhyan in the stricter sense. + + +On the warrior's asking for an explanation of this state of equipoise, +the Deity gives illustrations of the balanced mind that is free from +all attachments, serene, emancipated from desires, self-controlled, +and perfectly tranquil. As the knight is astonished and confused at +the contradiction, action and inactivity both being urged upon him, +the Deity replies that there is a twofold law, that of S[=a]nkhyas +consisting in knowledge-devotion, and that of Yogis in +action-devotion. Idleness is not freedom from action. Freedom from +attachment must be united with the accomplishment of such acts as +should be performed. The deluded think that they themselves perform +acts, but acts are not done by the spirit (self); they are done only +by nature's qualities (this is S[=a]nkhya doctrine). "One should know +the relation between the individual and Supreme Spirit, and with +tranquil mind perform good acts. Let the deluded ones be, who are +erroneously attached to action. The wise man should not cause those of +imperfect knowledge to be unsettled in their faith, but he should +himself not be attached to action. Each man should perform his own +(caste) duties. One's own duty ill done is better than doing well +another man's work." + +The knight now asks what causes one to sin. The Deity answers: "Love +and hate; for from love is born hate; and from anger, ignorance in +regard to right and wrong; whence comes lack of reason, and +consequently destruction. The knowledge of a man is enwrapped with +desire as is fire with smoke. Great are the senses; greater, the mind; +greater still, the understanding; greatest of all is 'That'" +(_brahma_; as above in the _Ch[=a]ndogya)._ The Deity begins again:[5] +"This system of devotion I declared to Vivasvant (the sun); Vivasvant +declared it to Manu, and Manu to kingly seers." (The same origin is +claimed for itself in Manu's lawbook.) The knight objects, not yet +knowing that Krishna is the All-god: "How did'st thou declare it +first? thy birth is later than the sun's." To whom the Deity: "Many +are my births, and I know them all; many too are thine, but thou +knowest them not; unborn and Lord of all creatures I assume phenomena, +and am born by the illusion of the spirit. Whenever there is lack of +righteousness, and wrong arises, then I emit (create) myself.[6] I am +born age after age for the protection of the good, for the destruction +of the wicked, and for the sake of establishing righteousness. Whoso +really believes in this my divine birth and work, he, when he has +abandoned his body, enters no second birth, but enters Me. Many there +are who, from Me arising, on Me relying, purified by the penance of +knowledge, with all affections, fear, and anger gone, enter into my +being. As they approach Me so I serve them.[7] Men in all ways follow +after my path. Some desire the success that is of action, and worship +gods; for success that is born of action is speedy in the world of +men. Know Me as the maker of the four castes, know Me as the unending +one and not the maker. Action stains Me not, for in the fruit of +action I have no desire. He that thus knows Me is not bound by +acts.[8] So he that has no attachment is not bound by acts. His acts +become naught. _Brahma_ is the oblation, and with _brahma_ is it +offered; _brahma_ is in the fire, and by _brahma_ is the oblation +made. Sacrifices are of many kinds, but he that sacrifices with +knowledge offers the best sacrifice. He that has faith has knowledge; +he that has knowledge obtains peace. He that has no knowledge and no +faith, whose soul is one of doubt, is destroyed. Action does not +destroy him that has renounced action by means of indifference. Of the +two, renunciation of action and indifference, though both give bliss, +indifference in action is better than renunciation of action. +Children, not Pundits, proclaim S[=a]nkhya and Yoga to be distinct. He +that is devoted to either alone finds the reward of both. Renunciation +without Yoga is a thing hard to get; united with Yoga the seer enters +_brahma_. ... He is the renouncer and the devotee who does the acts +that ought to be done without relying on the reward of action, not he +that performs no acts and builds no sacrificial fires. Through his +self (spirit) let one raise one's self. Conquer self by self (spirit). +He is the best man who is indifferent to external things, who with +equal mind sees (his spirit) self in everything and everything in self +(God as the Spirit). Such an one obtains the highest bliss, _brahma_. +Whoso sees Me in all and all in Me I am not destroyed for him, and he +is not destroyed for Me." + +The knight now asks how it fares with a good man who is not equal to +the discipline of Yoga, and cannot free himself entirely from +attachment. Does he go to destruction like a cloud that is rent, +failing on the path that leads to _brahma_? The Deity replies: +"Neither in this world nor in the beyond is he destroyed. He that acts +virtuously does not enter an evil state. He obtains the heaven that +belongs to the doers of good, and after living there countless summers +is reborn on earth in the family of pure and renowned men, or of pious +devotees. There he receives the knowledge he had in a former body, and +then strives further for perfection. After many births he reaches +perfection and the highest course (union with _brahma_). There are but +few that strive for perfection, and of them only one here and there +truly knows Me. Earth, water, fire, air, space, mind, understanding, +and egoism (self-consciousness)--so is my nature divided into eight +parts.[9] But learn now my higher nature, for this is my lower one. My +higher nature is alive, and by it this world is supported. I am the +creator and destroyer of all the world. Higher than I is nothing. On +Me the universe is woven like pearls upon a thread. Taste am I, light +am I of moon and sun, the mystic syllable _[=O]m_ ([)a][)u]m), sound +in space, manliness in men; I am smell and radiance; I am life and +heat. Know Me as the eternal seed of all beings. I am the +understanding of them that have understanding, the radiance of the +radiant ones. Of the strong I am the force, devoid of love and +passion; and I am love, not opposed to virtue. Know all beings to be +from Me alone, whether they have the quality of goodness, of passion, +or of darkness (the three 'qualities' or conditions of all things). I +am not in them; but they are in Me. Me, the inexhaustible, beyond +them, the world knows not, for it is confused by these three qualities +(conditions); and hard to overcome is the divine illusion which +envelops Me, while it arises from the qualities. Only they pass +through this illusion who come to Me alone. Wicked men, whose +knowledge is taken away by illusion, relying on a devilish (demoniac) +condition, do not come to Me. They that have not the highest knowledge +worship various divinities; but whatever be the form that any one +worships with faith I make his faith steady. He obtains his desires in +worshipping that divinity, although they are really bestowed upon him +by Me.[10] But the fruit of these men, in that they have little +wisdom, has its end. He that sacrifices to (lesser) gods goes to those +gods; but they that worship Me come to Me. I know the things that +were, that are, and are to be; but Me no one knoweth, for I am +enveloped in illusion. I am the supreme being, the supreme godhead, +the supreme sacrifice, the Supreme Spirit, _brahma_." + +The knight asks "What is _brahma_, the Supreme Spirit, the supreme +being, the supreme sacrifice?" The Deity: "The supreme, the +indestructible, is called _brahma_. Its personal existence is Supreme +Spirit (self). Destructible existence is supreme being (all except +_[=a]tm[=a]_). The Person is the supreme godhead. I myself am the +supreme sacrifice in this body." + +Then follow statements like those in the Upanishads and in Manu, +describing a day of _brahma_ as a thousand ages; worlds are renewed; +they that go to the gods find an end of their happiness with the end +of their world; but they that go to the indestructible _brahma_, the +Deity, the entity that is not destroyed when all else is destroyed, +never again return. There are two roads (as in the Upanishads above), +one, the northern road leading to _brahma_; one, the southern road to +the moon, leading back to earth. At the end of a period of time all +beings reënter the divine nature (Prakriti[11]), and at the beginning +of the next period the Deity emits them again and again (they being +without volition) by the volition of his nature. "Through Me, who am +the superintendent, nature gives birth to all things, and for that +cause the world turns about. They of demoniac nature recognize me not; +they of god-like nature, knowing Me as the inexhaustible source, +worship Me. I am the universal Father, the Vedas, the goal, the +upholder, the Lord, the superintendent, the home, the asylum, the +friend. I am the inexhaustible seed. I am immortality and death. I am +being and not-being. I am the sacrifice and he that offers it. Even +they that, with faith, sacrifice to other gods, even they (really) +sacrifice to Me. To them that ever are devout and worship Me with love +(faith), I give the attainment of the knowledge by which they come to +Me" (again the doctrine of special grace). "I am the beginning, the +middle, and the end of all created things. I am Vishnu among sun-gods; +the moon among the stars; Indra among the (Vedic) gods; the S[=a]man +among the Vedas; among the senses, mind; among created beings, +consciousness; among the Rudras I am Çiva (Çankara); among +army-leaders I am Skanda; among the great sages I am Bhrigu (who +reveals Manu's code); among the Siddhas[12] I am Kapila the Muni.... I +am the love that begets; I am the chief (V[=a]suki and Ananta) among +the serpents; and among them that live in water I am Varuna; among the +Manes I am Aryaman; and I am Yama among controllers;[13] among demons +I am Prahl[=a]da ...; I am R[=a]ma; I am the Ganges. I am among all +sciences the highest science (that in regard to the Supreme Spirit); I +am the word of the speakers; I am the letter A among the letters, and +the compound of union among the compounds.[14] I am indestructible +time and I am the Creator. I am the death that seizes all and I am the +origin of things to be. I am glory, fortune, speech, memory, wisdom, +constancy, and mercy.... I am the punishment of the punisher and the +polity of them that would win victory. I am silence. I am knowledge. +There is no end of my divine manifestations." + +The knight now asks to see the real form of the deity, which was +revealed to him. "If in heaven the glory of a thousand suns should +appear at once, such would be his glory." + +After this comes the real animus of the Divine Song in its present +shape. The believer that has faith in this Vishnu is even better than +the devotee who finds _brahma_ by knowledge. + +The philosophy of knowledge (which here is anything but Vedantic) is +now communicated to the knight, in the course of which the distinction +between nature and spirit is explained: "Nature, Prakriti, and spirit, +Purusha (person), are both without beginning. All changes and +qualities spring from nature. Nature is said to be the cause of the +body's and the senses' activity. Spirit is the cause of enjoyment +(appreciation) of pleasure and pain; for the Spirit, standing in +nature, appreciates the nature-born qualities. The cause of the +Spirit's re-birth is its connection with the qualities, (This is +S[=a]nkhya doctrine, and the same with that propounded above in regard +to activity.) The Supreme Spirit is the Support and great Lord of all, +the _[=a]tm[=a]_, while _brahma_ (=_prakriti_) is the womb in which I +place My seed, and from that is the origin of all things. The great +_brahma_ is the womb, and I am the seed-giving father of all the forms +which come into being. The three 'qualities' (conditions, attributes), +goodness, passion, and darkness, are born of nature and bind the +inexhaustible incorporate (Spirit) in the body. The quality (or +attribute) of goodness binds the soul with pleasure and knowledge; +that of passion (activity), with desire and action; that of darkness +(dulness), with ignorance. One that has the attribute of goodness +chiefly goes after death to the highest heaven; one that has chiefly +passion is born again among men of action; one that has chiefly +darkness is born among the ignorant. One that sees that these +attributes are the only agents, one that knows what is higher than the +attributes, enters into my being. The incorporate spirit that has +passed above the three attributes (the origin of bodies), being +released from birth, death, age, and pain, obtains immortality. To +pass above these attributes one must become indifferent to all change, +be undisturbed by anything, and worship Me with devotion.... I am to +be learned from all the Vedas; I made the Ved[=a]nta; I alone know the +Vedas. There are two persons in the world, one destructible and one +indestructible; the destructible one is all created things; the +indestructible one is called the Unchanging one. But there is still a +third highest person, called the Supreme Spirit, who, pervading the +three worlds, supports them, the inexhaustible Lord. Inasmuch as I +surpass the destructible and am higher than the indestructible, +therefore am I known in the world and in the Veda as the Highest +Person." + +The references to the S[=a]nkhyas, or S[=a]nkhya-Yogas, are not yet +exhausted. There is another in a following chapter (vi. 18. 13) which +some scholiasts say refers to the Ved[=a]nta-system, though this is in +direct contradiction to the text. But the extracts already given +suffice to show how vague and uncertain are, on the whole, the +philosophical views on which depends the Divine Song. Until the end of +these citations one hears only of nature and spirit, the two that have +no beginning, but here one finds the Supreme Spirit, which is as +distinct from the indestructible one as from the destructible. +Moreover, 'nature' is in one place represented as from the beginning +distinct from spirit and entirely apart from it, and in another it is +only a transient phase. The delusion (illusion) which in one passage +is all that exists apart from the Supreme Spirit is itself given up in +favor of the S[=a]nkhya Prakriti, with which one must imagine it to be +identified, although from the text itself it cannot be identical. In a +word, exactly as in Manu, there are different philosophical +conceptions, united without any logical basis for their union. The +'system' is in general that of the S[=a]nkhya-Yogas, but there is much +which is purely Ved[=a]nta. The S[=a]nkhya system is taught elsewhere +as a means of salvation, perhaps always as the deistic Yoga (i. 75. 7: +"He taught them the Sankhya-knowledge as salvation"). It is further +noticeable that although Krishna (Vishnu) is the ostensible speaker, +there is scarcely anything to indicate that the poem was originally +composed even for Vishnu. The Divine Song was probably, as we have +said, a late Upanishad, which afterwards was expanded and put into +Vishnu's mouth. The S[=a]nkhya portions have been redressed as far as +possible and to the illusion doctrine is given the chief place. But +the Song remains, like the Upanishads themselves, and like Manu, an +ill-assorted cabinet of primitive philosophical opinions. On the +religious side it is a matter of comparative indifference whether that +which is not the spirit is a delusive output of the spirit or +indestructible matter. In either case the Spirit is the goal of the +spirit. In this personal pantheism absorption is taught but not death. +Immortality is still the reward that is offered to the believer that +is wise, to the wise that believes. Knowledge and faith are the means +of obtaining this immortality; but, whereas in the older Upanishads +only wisdom is necessary (wisdom that implies morality), here as much +stress, if not more, is laid upon faith, the natural mark of all +sectarian pantheism. + +Despite its occasional power and mystic exaltation, the Divine Song in +its present state as a poetical production is unsatisfactory. The same +thing is said over and over again, and the contradictions in +phraseology and in meaning are as numerous as the repetitions, so that +one is not surprised to find it described as "the wonderful song, +which causes the hair to stand on end." The different meanings given +to the same words are indicative of its patchwork origin, which again +would help to explain its philosophical inconsistencies. It was +probably composed, as it stands, before there was any formal +Ved[=a]nta system; and in its original shape without doubt it precedes +the formal S[=a]nkhya; though both philosophies existed long before +they were systematized or reduced to Sutra form. One has not to +imagine them as systems originally distinct and opposed. They rather +grew out of a gradual intensification of the opposition involved in +the conception of Prakriti (nature) and M[=a]y[=a] (illusion), some +regarding these as identical, others insisting that the latter was not +sufficient to explain nature. The first philosophy (and philosophical +religion) concerned itself less with the relation of matter to mind +(in modern parlance) than with the relation of the individual self +(spirit) to the Supreme Spirit. Different explanations of the relation +of matter to this Supreme Spirit were long held tentatively by +philosophers, who would probably have said that either the S[=a]nkhya +or Ved[=a]nta might be true, but that this was not the chief question. +Later came the differentiation of the schools, based mainly on a +question that was at first one of secondary importance. In another +part of the epic Krishna himself is represented as the victim of +'illusion' (iii. 21. 30) on the field of battle. + +The doctrine of the Bhagavad G[=i]t[=a], the Divine Song, is by no +means isolated. It is found in many other passages of the epic, +besides being imitated in the Anug[=i]t[=a] of the pseudo-epic. To one +of these passages it is worth while to turn, because of the form in +which this wisdom is enunciated. The passage immediately following +this teaching is also of great interest. Of the few Vedic deities that +receive hymnal homage chief is the sun, or, in his other form, Agni. +The special form of Agni has been spoken of above. He is identified +with the All in some late passages, and gives aid to his followers, +although not in battle. It will have been noticed in the Divine Song +that Vishnu asserts that the Song was proclaimed to the sun, who in +turn delivers it through Manu to the king-seers, the sun being +especially the kingly god.[15] In the third book there is an hymn to +the sun, in which this god is addressed almost in the terms of the +Divine Song, and immediately preceding is the doctrine just alluded +to. After the explanation is given that re-birth affects creatures and +causes them to be born in earth, air, or water, the changes of +metempsychosis here including the vegetable world as well as the +animal and divine worlds,[16] the very essence of the Divine Song is +given as "Vedic word," viz., _kuru karma tyajeti ca_, "Perform and +quit acts," _i.e._, do what you ought to do, but without regard to the +reward of action (iii. 2. 72, 74). There is an eightfold path of duty, +as in Buddhism, but here it consists in sacrifice, study, liberality, +and penance; truth, mercy, self-control, and lack of greed. As the +result of practicing the first four, one goes on the course that leads +to the Manes; as the result of practicing the last four, one goes on +the course that leads to the gods. But in practicing any virtues one +should practice them without expectation of reward (_abhim[=a]na_, +arrière pensée). The Yogi, the devotee, who renounces the fruit of +everything, is the greatest man; his powers are miraculous. + +There follows (with the same light inconsistency to be found in the +Divine Song) the appeal for action and the exhortation to pray to the +sun for success in what is desired. For it is explained that the sun +is the father of all creation. The sun draws up clouds with his heat, +and his energy, being transmuted into water, with the help of the +moon, is distilled into plants as rain, and in this way the food that +man eats is full of solar energy, and man and all that live by food +must regard the sun as their father. Preliminary to the hymn to the +sun is given a list of his hundred and eight names,[17] among which +are to be noticed: Aryaman, Soma, Indra, Yama, Brahm[=a], Vishnu, +Çiva, Death, Time, Creator, the Endless One, Kapila, the Unborn One, +the Person (Purusha; with which are to be compared the names of Vishnu +in the Divine Song), the All-maker, Varuna, the Grandfather, the Door +of Heaven, etc. And then the Hymn to the Sun (iii. 3. 36 ff.):[18] +"Thou, O Sun, of creatures art the eye; the spirit of all that have +embodied form; thou art the source of all created things; thou art the +custom of them that make sacrifice; thou art the goal of the +S[=a]nkhyas and the hope of the Yogis; the course of all that seek +deliverance ... Thou art worshipped by all; the three and thirty +gods(!) worship thee, etc.... I think that in all the seven worlds[19] +and all the _brahma_-worlds there is nothing which is superior to the +sun. Other beings there are, both powerful and great, but they have no +such glory as the sun's. Father of light, all beings rest in thee; O +Lord of light, all things, all elements are in thee. The disc of +Vishnu was fashioned by the All-maker (one of the sun's names!) with +thy glory. Over all the earth, with its thirteen islands, thou shinest +with thy kine (rays)....[20] Thou art the beginning and the end of a +day of Brahm[=a].... They call thee Indra; thou art Rudra, Vishnu, the +Father-god, Fire, the subtile mind; thou art the Lord, and thou, +eternal _brahma_." + +There is here also a very significant admixture of Vedic and +Upanishadic religion. + +In Krishna, who in the Upanishads is known already by his own and his +mother's name, pantheism is made personal according to the teaching of +one sect. But while the whole epic is in evidence for the spuriousness +of the claim of Krishna to be regarded as incarnate Vishnu (God), +there is scarcely a trace in the original epic of the older view in +regard to Vishnu himself. Thus in one passage he is called "the +younger brother of Indra" (iii. 12. 25). But, since Indra is at no +time the chief god of the epic, and the chapter in which occurs this +expression is devoted to extolling Krishna-Vishnu as the All-god, the +words appear to be intended rather to identify Krishna with Vishnu, +who in the Rig Veda is inferior to Indra, than to detract from +Vishnu's glory. The passage is cited below. + +What now is the relation of Vishnu-Krishna to the other divinities? +Vishnuite and Çivaite, each cries out that his god includes the other, +but there is no current identity of Brahm[=a], Vishnu, Çiva as three +co-equal representations of one God. For example, in iii. 189. 5, one +reads: "I am Vishnu, I am Brahm[=a], and I am Çiva," but one cannot +read into this any trinitarian doctrine whatever, for in context the +passage reads as a whole: "I am N[=a]r[=a]yana, I am Creator and +Destroyer, + +I am Vishnu, I am Brahm[=a], I am Indra, the master-god, I am king +Kubera, Yama, Çiva, Soma, Kaçyapa, and also the Father-god." Again, +Vishnu says that the Father-god, or grandparent of the gods, is +'one-half of my body," and does not mention Çiva (iii. 189. 39). Thus, +also, the hymn to Çiva in iii. 39. 76 ff. is addressed "to Çiva having +the form of Vishnu, to Vishnu having the form of Çiva, to the +three-eyed god, to Çarva, the trident-holder, the sun, Ganeça," but +with no mention of Brahm[=a]. The three gods, Brahm[=a], Vishnu, Çiva, +however, are sometimes grouped together (but not as a trinity) in late +passages, in contrast to Indra, _e.g._, ix. 53. 26. There are many +hymns to Vishnu and Çiva, where each is without beginning, the God, +the uncreated Creator. It is only when the later period, looking back +on the respective claims of the sects, identifies each god with the +other, and both with their predecessor, that one gets even the notion +of a trinity. Even for this later view of the pseudo-epic only one +passage will be found (cited below). + +The part of Brahm[=a] in the epic is most distinctly in process of +subordination to the sectarian gods. He is holy and eternal, but not +omniscient, though wise. As was shown above, he works at the will of +Vishnu. He is one with Vishnu only in the sense that all is one with +the All-god. When Vishnu 'raises the earth' as a boar, Brahm[=a] tells +the gods to go to him.[21] He councils the gods. His heaven is above +Indra's, but he is really only an intermediary divinity, a passive +activity, if the paradox may be allowed. Not like Indra (to whom he is +superior) does he fight with All-gods, or do any great act of his own +will. He is a shadowy, fatherly, beneficent advisor to the gods, his +children; but all his activity is due to Vishnu. This, of course, is +from the point of view of the Vishnuite. + +But there is no Brahm[=a]ite to modify the impression. There existed +no strong Brahm[=a] sect as there were Vishnu and Çiva sects. +Brahm[=a] is in his place merely because to the preceding age he was +the highest god; for the epic regards Creator, Praj[=a]pati, +Pit[=a]maha, Brahm[=a] as synonymous.[22] The abstract _brahma_, which +in the Upanishads is the same with the Supreme Spirit, was called +personally Brahm[=a], and this Brahm[=a] is now the Brahmanic +Father-god. The sects could never get rid of a god whose being was +rooted alike in the preceding philosophy and in the popular conception +of a Father-god. Each age of thought takes the most advanced views of +the preceding age as its axioms. The Veda taught gods; the +Br[=a]hmanas taught a Father-god above the gods; the Upanishads taught +a Supreme Godhead of which this Father-god was the active +manifestation. The sects taught that their heroes were incarnations of +this Supreme, but they carried with them the older pantheon as well, +and, with the pantheon, its earlier and later heads, Indra and +Brahm[=a]. Consequently each sect admits that Brahm[=a] is greater +than the older Vedic gods, but, while naturally it identifies its +special incarnation first with its most powerful opponent, and thus, +so to speak, absorbs its rival, it identifies this incarnation with +Brahm[=a] only as being chief of lesser divinities, not as being a +rival. One may represent the attitude of a Krishna-worshipper in the +epic somewhat in this way: "Krishna is a modern incarnation of Vishnu, +the form which is taken in this age by the Supreme Lord. You who +worship Çiva should know that your Çiva is really my Krishna, and +the chief point is to recognize my Krishna as the Supreme Lord. The +man Krishna is the Supreme Lord in human form. Of course, as such, +being the One God in whom are all things and beings, he is also all +the gods known by names which designate his special functions. Thus he +is the head of the gods, the Father-god, as our ancestors called him, +Brahm[=a]; and he is all the gods known by still older names, who are +the children of the secondary creator, Brahm[=a], viz., Agni, Indra, +S[=u]rya, etc. All gods are active manifestations of the Supreme God +called Vishnu, who is born on earth to-day as Krishna." And the +Çivaite says: "Çiva is the manifestation of the All-god," and repeats +what the Vishnuite says, substituting Çiva for Vishnu,[23] but with +the difference already explained, namely, that the Çiva-sect has no +incarnation to which to point, as has the Vishnuite. Çiva is modified +Rudra, and both are old god-names. Later, however, the Çivaite has +also his incarnate god. As an example of later Çiva-worship may be +taken Vishnu's own hymn to this god in vii. 80. 54 ff.: "Reverence to +Bhava, Çarva, Rudra (Çiva), the bestower of gifts, the lord of cattle, +the terrible, great, fearful, god of three wives;[24] to him who is +peace, the Lord, the slayer of sacrifices (_makhaghna_)[25] ... to the +blue-necked god; to the inventor (or author) ... to truth; to the red +god, to the snake, to the unconquerable one, to the blue-haired one, +to the trident-holder; ... to the inconceivable one ... to him whose +sign is the bull; ... to the creator of all, who pervades all, who is +worshipped by all, Lord of all, Çarva, Çankara, Çiva, ... who has a +thousand heads a thousand arms, and death, a thousand eyes and legs, +whose acts are innumerable." In vii. 201. 71, Çiva is the unborn Lord, +inconceivable, the soul of action, the unmoved one; and he that knows +Çiva as the self of self, as the unknowable one, goes to +_brahma_-bliss. This also is late Çivaism in pantheistic form. In +other words, everything said of Vishnu must be repeated for Çiva.[26] + +As an example of the position of the lowest member of the later +trinity and his very subordinate place, may be cited a passage from +the preceding book of the epic. According to the story in vi. 65. 42 +ff., the seers were all engaged in worshipping Brahm[=a], as the +highest divinity they knew, when he suddenly began to worship "the +Person (Spirit), the highest Lord"; and Brahm[=a] then lauds Vishnu as +such: "Thou art the god of the universe, the All-god, V[=a]sudeva +(Krishna). Therefore I worship thee as the divinity; thou, whose soul +is devotion. Victory to thee, great god of all; thou takest +satisfaction in that which benefits the world.... Lord of lords of +all, thou out of whose navel springs the lotus, and whose eyes are +large; Lord of the things that were, that are, that are to be; O dear +one, self-born of the self-born ... O great snake, O boar,[27] O thou +the first one, thou who dwellest in all, endless one, known as +_brahma_, everlasting origin of all beings ... destroyer of the +worlds! Thy feet are the earth ... heaven is thy head ... I, +Brahm[=a], am thy form ... Sun and moon are thy eyes ... Gods and all +beings were by me created on earth, but they owe their origin to thy +goodness." Then the creation of Vishnu through Pradyumna as a form of +the deity is described, "and Vishnu (Aniruddha) created me, Brahm[=a], +the upholder of the worlds; so am I made of Vishnu; I am caused only +by thee." + +While Brahm[=a] is represented here as identical with Vishnu he is at +the same time a distinctly inferior personality, created by Vishnu for +the purpose of creating worlds, a factor of inferior godliness to that +of the World-Spirit, Krishna-Vishnu. + +It had been stated by Holtzmann[28] that Brahm[=a] sometimes appears +in the epic as a god superior to Vishnu, and on the strength of this +L. von Schroeder has put the date of the early epic between the +seventh and fourth centuries B.C, because at that time Brahm[=a] was +the chief god.[29] von Schroeder rather exaggerates Holtzmann's +results, and asserts that "in the original form of the poem Brahm[=a] +appears _throughout_ as the highest and most revered god, while the +worship of Vishnu and Çiva as great gods is apparently a later +intrusion" (_loc. cit._). This asseveration will have to be taken _cum +grano_. Had von Schroeder said 'pantheistic gods' he would have been +correct in this regard, but we think that both Vishnu and Çiva were +great gods, equal, if not superior to Brahm[=a], when the epic proper +began. And, moreover, when one speaks of the original form of the poem +he cannot mean the pseudo-epic or the ancient legends which have been +woven into the epic, themselves of earlier date. No one means by the +'early epic' the tales of Agastya, of the creation of Death, of the +making of ambrosia, but the story of the war in its earliest shape; +for the epic poem must have begun with its own subject-matter. Now it +is not true that Brahm[=a] is regarded 'throughout' the early poem as +a chief god at all. If one investigate the cases where Vishnu or Çiva +appears 'below' Brahm[=a] he will see, in almost every case that +Holtzmann has registered, that this condition of affairs is recorded +not in the epic proper but in the Brahmanic portions of the +pseudo-epic, or in ancient legends alone. Thus in the story of the +winning of ambrosia, of Agastya drinking ocean, and of R[=a]ma, +Brahm[=a] appears to be above Vishnu, and also in some extracts from +the pseudo-epic. For the real epic we know of but two cases that can +be put into this category, and neither is sufficient to support the +hypothesis built upon it. + +For Krishna, when he ingeniously plots to have Bh[=i]ma slay +Jar[=a]sandha, is said to have renounced killing Jar[=a]sandha +himself, 'putting Brahm[=a]'s injunction before him' (ii. 22. 36), +_i.e._ recalling Brahm[=a]'s admonition that only Bh[=i]ima was fated +to slay the foe. And when Krishna and S[=a]tyaki salute Krishna's +elder brother they do so (for being an elder brother Baladeva is +Krishna's _Guru_) respectfully, 'just as Indra and Upendra salute +Brahm[=a] the lord of _devas_' (ix. 34. 18). Upendra is Indra's +younger brother, _i.e._, Vishnu (above). But these passages are scanty +proof for the statement that Brahm[=a] appears throughout the early +epic as the highest god;[30] nor is there even so much evidence as +this in the case of Çiva. Here, too, it is in the tale of the churning +of ocean, of Sunda and Upasunda, of the creation of the death-power, +and in late didactic (Brahmanic) passages, where Brahm[=a] makes Çiva +to destroy earth and Çiva is born of Brahm[=a], and only in such +tales, or extracts from the Book of Peace, etc, that Brahm[=a] appears +as superior. In all other cases, in the real action of the epic, he is +subordinate to Vishnu and Çiva whenever he is compared with them. When +he is not compared he appears, of course, as the great old Father-god +who creates and foresees, but even here he is not untouched by +passion, he is not all-knowing, and his rôle as Creator is one that, +with the allotment of duties among the gods, does not make him the +highest god. All the old gods are great till greater appear on the +scene. There is scarcely a supreme Brahm[=a] in the epic itself, but +there is a great Brahm[=a], and a greater (older) than the sectarian +gods in the old Brahmanic legends, while the old Brahmanhood reasserts +itself sporadically in the Ç[=a]nti, etc, and tells how the sectarian +gods became supreme, how they quarrelled and laid the strife. + +Since the adjustment of the relations between the persons of the later +trinity is one of the most important questions in the theology of the +completed epic, it will be necessary to go a little further afield and +see what the latest books, which hitherto we have refrained as much as +possible from citing, have to say on the subject. As it seems to be +true that it was felt necessary by the Çivaite to offset the laud of +Vishnu by antithetic laud of Çiva,[31] so after the completion of the +Book of Peace, itself a late addition to the epic, and one that is +markedly Vishnuitic, there was, before the Genealogy of Vishnu, an +antithetic Book of Law, which is as markedly Çivaitic. In these books +one finds the climax of sectarianism, in so far as it is represented +by the epic; although in earlier books isolated passages of late +addition are sporadically to be found which have much the same nature. +Everywhere in these last additions Brahm[=a] is on a plane which is as +much lower than that of the Supreme God as it is higher than that of +Indra. Thus in viii. 33. 45, Indra takes refuge with Brahm[=a], but +Brahm[=a] turns for help to Çiva (Bhava, Sth[=a]nu, Jishnu, etc.) with +a hymn sung by the gods and seers. Then comes a description of +Çankara's[32] (Çiva's) war-car, with its metaphorical arms, where +Vishnu is the point of Civa's arrow (which consists of Vishnu, Soma, +Agni), and of this war-car Brahm[=a] himself is the charioteer (_ib._ +34. 76). With customary inconsistency, however, when Çiva wishes his +son to be exalted he prostrates himself before Brahm[=a], who then +gives this youth (_kum[=a]ra_), called K[=a]rtikeya, the 'generalship' +over all beings _(s[=a]in[=a]patyam_, ix. 44. 43-49). There is even a +'celebration of Brahm[=a],' a sort of harvest festival, shared, as the +text tells, by all the castes; and it must have been something like +the religious games of the Greeks, for it was celebrated by athletic +contests.[33] Brahm[=a], as the old independent creator, sometimes +keeps his place, transmitting posterity through his 'seven mind-born +sons,' the great seers (iii. 133; xii. 166. 11 ff.). But Brahm[=a] +himself is born either in the golden egg, as a secondary growth (as in +xii. 312. 1-7), or, as is usually the case, he is born in the lotus +which springs from the navel of musing[34] Vishnu (iii. 203. 14). In +this passage Brahm[=a] has four faces (Vedas) and four forms, +_caturm[=u]rtis_ (15), and this epithet in other sections is transferred +to Vishnu. Thus in vii. 29. 26, Vishnu(Vishu in the original) says +_caturm[=u]rtir aham_, "I have four forms," but he never says +_trim[=u]rtir aham_ ('I have three forms'). There is one passage, +however, that makes for a belief in a trinity. It stands in contrast +to the various Vishnuite hymns, one of which may well be reviewed as +an example of the regular Vishnuite laudation affected by the Krishna +sect (iii. 12. 21 ff.): "Krishna is Vishnu, Brahm[=a], Soma, the Sun, +Right, the Creator ('founder'), Yama, Fire, Wind, Çiva, Time, Space, +Earth, and the cardinal points. Thou, Krishna, art the Creator +('emitter'); thou, chief of gods, didst worship the highest; thou, +Vishnu called, becamest Indra's younger brother, entering into sonship +with Aditi; as a child with three steps thou didst fill the sky, +space, and earth, and pass in glory.... At the end of the age thou +returnest all things into thyself. At the beginning of the age +Brahm[=a] was born from thy lotus-navel as the venerable preceptor of +all things (the same epithet is in vs. 22 applied to Vishnu himself); +and Çiva sprang from thy angry forehead when the demons would kill him +(Brahm[=a]); both are born of thee, in whom is the universe." The +following verses (45 ff.) are like those of the Divine Song: "Thou, +Knight Arjuna, art the soul of Krishna; thou art mine alone and thine +alone am I; they that are mine are thine; he that hates thee hates Me, +and he that is for thee, is for Me; thou art Nara ('man') and I am +N[=a]r[=a]yana ('whose home is on the waters,' god);[35] we are the +same, there is no difference between us." Again, like the Divine Song +in the following verses (51-54) is the expression 'the sacrifice and +he that sacrifices,' etc, together with the statement that Vishnu +plays 'like a boy with playthings,' with the crowds of gods, +Brahm[=a], Çiva, Indra, etc. The passage opposed to this, and to other +identifications of Vishnu with many gods, is one of the most flagrant +interpolations in the epic. If there be anything that the Supreme God +in Çivaite or Vishnuite form does not do it is to extol at length, +without obvious reason, his rivals' acts and incarnations, Yet in this +clumsy passage just such an extended laudation of Vishnu is put into +the mouth of Çiva. In fact, iii. 272, from 30 to 76, is an +interpretation of the most naïve sort, and it is here that we find the +approach to the later _trim[=u]rti_ (trinity): "Having the form of +Brahm[=a] he creates; having a human body (as Krishna) he protects, in +the nature of Çiva he would destroy--these are the three appearances +or conditions (_avasth[=a]s_) of the Father-god". (Praj[=a]pati).[36] +This comes after an account of the four-faced lotus-born Brahm[=a], +who, seeing the world a void, emitted his sons, the seers, mind-born, +like to himself (now nine in number), who in turn begot all beings, +including men (vss. 44-47). If, on the other hand, one take the later +sectarian account of Vishnu (for the above is more in honor of Krishna +the man-god than of Vishnu, the form of the Supreme God), he will see +that even in the pseudo-epic the summit of the theological conceptions +is the emphasis not of trinity or of multifariousness but of unity. +According to the text the P[=a]ñcak[=a]lajñas are the same with the +Vishnuite sect called P[=a]ñcar[=a]tras, and these are most +emphatically _ek[=a]ntinas, i.e_., Unitarians (xii. 336; 337. 46; 339. +66-67).[37] In this same passage 341. 106, Vishnu is again +_caturm[=u]rtidh[r.]t_, 'the bearer of four forms,' an entirely +different conception of him (below). So that even in this most +advanced sectarian literature there is no real threefoldness of the +Supreme as one in three. In the following chapter (xii. 335. 1 ff.) +there is a passage like the great Ka hymn of the Rig Veda, 'whom as +god shall one worship?' The sages say to Vishnu: "All men worship +thee; to whom dost thou offer worship?" and he says, 'to the Eternal +Spirit.' The conception of the functions of Brahm[=a] and Çiva in +relation to Vishnu is plainly shown in xii. 342. 19: "Brahm[=a] and +Çiva create and destroy at the will of Vishnu; they are born of his +grace and his anger." In regard to Çiva himself, his nature and place +in Vishnuism have been sufficiently explained. The worship of this god +is referred to 'Vedic texts' (the _çata-rudriyam_, vii. 202. 120);[38] +Vishnu is made to adore the terrible god (_ib_. 201. 69) who appears +as a mad ascetic, a wild rover, a monster, a satire on man and gods, +though he piously carries a rosary, and has other late traits in his +personal appearance.[39] The strength of Çivaism lay in the eumenidean +(Çiva is 'prospering,' 'kindly') euphemism and fear alike, which +shrank in speech and mind from the object of fear. But this religion +in the epic had a firmer hold than that of fear. It was essentially +phallic in its outward form (VII. 201. 93-96), and as such was deeply +rooted in the religious conscience of a people to whom one may venture +perhaps to ascribe such a form of worship even in the time of the Rig +Veda, although the signs thereof in great part have been suppressed. +This may be doubted,[40] indeed, for the earlier age; but there is no +question that epic Çivaism, like Çivaism to-day, is dependent wholly +on phallic worship (XIII. 14. 230 ff.). It is the parallel of Bacchic +rites and orgies, as well as of the worship of the demons in +distinction from that of good powers. Çiva represents the ascetic, +dark, awful, bloody side of religion: Vishnu, the gracious, calm, +hopeful, loving side; the former is fearful, mysterious, demoniac; the +latter is joyful, erotic, divine. In their later developments it is +not surprising to see that Vishnuism, in the form of Krishnaism, +becomes more and more erotic, while Çivaism becomes more and more +ghastly and ghoulish. Wild and varied as are the beliefs of the epic, +there is space but to show a few more characteristic sides of its +theology--a phase that may seem questionable, yet, since the devout +Hindu believes the teachings of the epic, they must all to him +constitute one theology, although it was gradually amalgamated out of +different creeds. + +In connection with Çiva stands, closely united, his son, Ganeça, +"leader of troops," still worshipped as one of the popular gods, and +the battle-god, Skanda, the son first of Agni then of Çiva, the +conqueror of the demons, _d[=a]navas_, and later representative of +Indra, with whom the epic identifies him. For it is Skanda that is the +real battle-god of the later epic; though in its original form Indra +was still the warrior's refuge, as attests the stereotyped +phraseology. In III. 225-232 honor and praise are ascribed to Skanda +in much the same language with that used to portray his father, Çiva. +"The god of a thousand arms, the Lord of all, the creator of gods and +demons" are phrases used in his eulogy. He too has a list of names; +his nurse is the "maiden of the red (bloody) sea," called +Loh[=i]t[=a]yan[=i]. His terrible appearance and fearful acts make him +the equal of Çiva.[41] His sign is a _kukku[t.]a_, cock; _ib_. 229. +33. + +Associated, again, with Skanda are the spirits or 'mothers,' which +afflict people. The belief in mother-gods is old, but its epic form is +new. The exactness and detail in regard to these beautiful monsters +show at least a real belief, which, as one on a lower plane besides +the higher religion, cannot be passed over without notice. As in other +lands, people are 'possessed' by evil spirits, called possessors or +seizers (_grahas_). These are Skanda's demons,[42] and are both male +and female. Until one reaches the age of sixteen he is liable to be +possessed by one group of 'seizers,' who must be worshipped in proper +form that their wrath may be averted. Others menace mortals from the +age of sixteen to seventy. After that only the fever-demon is to be +feared. Imps of this sort are of three kinds. One kind indulge only in +mischievous sport: another kind lead one to gluttony; the third kind +are devoted to lust. They are known as Piç[=a]cas, Yakshas, etc., and +when they seize a person he goes mad. They are to be kept at bay by +self-restraint and moderation (III. 230. 43-56). In IX. 46 and III. +226 the 'mothers' are described. They are witches, and live in +cross-roads, cemeteries, and mountains. They may be of Dravidian +origin, and in their epic form, at any rate, are a late intrusion.[43] + +Just before the Divine Song begins, the knight who is about to become, +illuminated or 'disillusioned' offers a prayer to the terrible goddess +Durg[=a], also one of the new, popular, and horrible forms of divine +manifestation. In this hymn, VI. 23, Durg[=a] (Um[=a], P[=a]rvat[=i], +K[=a]li, etc.) is addressed as "leader of the armies of the blessed, +the dweller in Mandara, the youthful woman, K[=a]li, wife of Çiva, she +who is red, black, variegated; the savior, the giver of gifts, +K[=a]ty[=a]yan[=i], the great benefactress, the terrible one, the +victorious one, victory itself ... Um[=a], the slayer of demons,"[44] +and the usual identification and theft of epithets then follows: "O +thou who art the Vedas, who art Revelation, who art virtue, +J[=a]tavedasi, ... thou art _brahma_ among the sciences, thou art the +sleep of incorporate beings, the mother of Skanda, the blessed one, +Durg[=a] ... thou art the mother of the Vedas and Ved[=a]nta ... thou +art sleep, illusion, modesty, happiness ... thou art satisfaction, +growth, contentment, light, the increaser of moon and sun." + +Turning from these later parasites,[45] which live on their parent +gods and yet tend to reduce them, we now revert to that happiness +hereafter to which looks forward the epic knight that has not been +tempted to 'renounce' desire. In pantheistic passages he is what the +later remodeller makes him. But enough of old belief remains to show +that the warrior really cared a great deal more for heaven than he did +for absorption. As to the cause of events, as was said above, it is +Fate. Repeatedly is heard the lament, "Fate (impersonal) is the +highest thing, fie on vain human effort." The knight confesses with +his lips to a belief in the new doctrine of absorption, but at heart +he is a fatalist. And his aim is to die on the field of battle, that +he may go thence directly to the heaven that awaits the good and the +brave.[46] Out of a long description of this heaven a few extracts +here selected will show what the good knight anticipates: + + "Upward goes the path that leads to gods; it is inhabited by + them that have sacrificed and have done penance. Unbelieving + persons and untruthful persons do not enter there; only they + that have duteous souls, that have conquered self, and + heroes that bear the marks of battle. There sit the seers + and gods, there are shining, self-illumined worlds, made of + light, resplendent. And in this heaven there is neither + hunger, nor thirst, nor weariness, nor cold, nor heat, nor + fear; nothing that is terrible is there, nothing unclean; + but pleasing sights, and sounds, and smells. There is no + care there, nor age, nor work, nor sorrow. Such is the + heaven that is the reward of good acts. Above this is + Brahm[=a]'s world, where sit the seers and the three and + thirty gods," etc. + +Over against this array of advantages stands the one great "fault of +heaven," which is stated almost in the words of "nessun maggior +dolore," "the thought (when one lives again on the lower plane) of +former happiness in the higher life is terrible grief" (vs. 30), +_i.e_., this heaven will pass away at the end of the world-period, +when the Eternal draws all in to himself again (iii. 261); and the +thought that one has been in heaven, while now he is (re-born) on +earth, is a sorrow greater than the joy given by heaven.[47] +One is reminded by the epic description of heaven of that poet of the +Upanishads who describes his heavenly bliss as consisting in the fact +that in that world "there is neither snow nor sorrow." The later +version is only an amplification. Even with the assurance that the +"fault of heaven" is the disappointment of being dropped to earth +again in a new birth, the ordinary mortal is more averse from the +bliss of absorption than from the pleasure of heaven. And in truth, +except to one very weary of his lot in life, it must be confessed that +the religion here shown in all its bearings is one eminently pleasant +to believe. Its gist, in a word, is this: "If you feel able to endure +it, the best thing to do is to study the plan of the universe, and +then conform to it. By severe mental discipline you can attain to this +knowledge, and for reward you will be immortally united with God." To +this the sectarian adds: "Or believe in my god and the result will be +the same." But both philosopher and sectarian continue: "If, however, +you do not want to be united with the Supreme Spirit so soon as this, +then be virtuous and devout, or simply be brave if you are a warrior; +do whatever the rules of morality and caste-custom bid you do, and you +will go to heaven for thousands of ages; at the end of which time you +will be re-born in a fine family on earth, and may again decide +whether to repeat the process of gaining heaven or to join God and +become absorbed into the World-Spirit at once." There were probably +many that chose rather to repeat their agreeable earthly experience, +with an interlude of heaven after each death, than to make the +renunciation of earth and heaven, and be absorbed once for all into +the All-god. + +The doctrine of 'the ages'[48] is so necessary to a true understanding +of the rotative immortality offered as a substitute for the higher +bliss of absorption (that is, genuine immortality), that an account of +the teaching in this regard will not be out of place. The somewhat +puzzling distinction between the happy life of them that fail to +desire absorption, and yet are religious men, and the blissful life of +those people that do attain absorption, is at once explained by a +clear understanding of the duration of the time of the gods' own life +and of the divine heaven. Whereas the Greek notion of four ages +includes within the four all time, all the four ages of the Hindu are +only a fraction of time. Starting at any one point of eternity, there +is, according to the Hindu belief, a preliminary 'dawn' of a new cycle +of ages. This dawn lasts four hundred years, and is then followed by +the real age (the first of four), which lasts four thousand years, and +has again a twilight ending of four hundred years in addition. This +first is the Krita age, corresponding to the classical Golden Age. Its +characteristics are, that in it everything is perfect; right eternal +now exists in full power. In this age there are neither gods nor +demons (D[=a]navas, Gandharvas, Yakshas, R[=a]kshas, Serpents), +neither buying nor selling. By a _lucus a non_ the derivation of the +name Krita is _k[r.]tam eva na kartavyam, i.e_., with a pun, it is +called the '_sacred_ age' because there are no _sacrifices_ in that +age. No S[=a]ma Veda, Rig Yeda, or Yajur Veda exist as distinct +Vedas.[49] There is no mortal work. Fruit comes by meditation; the +only duty is renunciation. Disease, lack of mental power, moral +defects (such as pride and hate) do not exist; the highest course of +the ascetic Yogis is universally _brahma (paramakam_). In this age +come into existence the Brahman, Kshatriya, V[=a]içya, Ç[=u]dra, +_i.e_., the distinct castes of priest, warrior, husbandman, and slave; +all with their special marks, and all delighted with their proper +occupations. Yet have all the castes like occupations, like refuge, +practice, and knowledge. They are joined to the one god (_eka deva_), +and have but one _mantra_ in their religious rites. Their duties are +distinct, but they follow only one Veda and one rule. The four orders +(of the time of life) are duly observed; men do not desire the fruit +of their action, and so they obtain the highest course, _i.e_., +salvation by absorption into _brahma_. In this age the 'three +attributes' (or qualities) are unknown. After this age follows the +dawn of the second age, called Tret[=a], lasting three hundred years, +then the real age of Tret[=a], three thousand years, followed by the +twilight of three hundred years. The characteristics of this age are, +that men are devout; that great sacrifices begin (_sattram +pravartate_); that Virtue decreases by one quarter; that all the +various rites are produced, together with the attainment of salvation +through working for that end, by means of sacrifice and generosity; +that every one does his duty and performs asceticism. The next age, +Dv[=a]para, is introduced by a dawn of two hundred years, being itself +two thousand years in duration, and it closes with a twilight of two +hundred years. Half of Virtue fails to appear in this age, that is, +the general virtue of the world is diminished by a half ('the Bull of +Justice stands on two legs'). The Veda is now subdivided into four. +Instead of every one having one Veda, four Vedas exist, but some +people know only three, or two, or one, or are even Veda-less +(_an[r.]cas_). Ceremonies become manifold, because the treatises on +duty are subdivided(!). The attribute of passion influences people, +and it is with this that they perform asceticism and are generous (not +with disinterestedness). Few (_kaçcit_) are settled in truth; +ignorance of the one Veda causes a multiplication of Vedas (_i.e_., as +Veda means 'knowledge,' the Vedas result from ignorance of the +essential knowledge). Disease and sin make penance necessary. People +sacrifice only to gain heaven. After this age and its twilight +are past begins the Kali, last of the four ages, with a dawn of one +hundred, a course of one thousand, and a subsequent twilight of one +hundred years. This is the present sinful age, when there is no real +religion, when the Vedas are ignored, and the castes are confused, +when _itis_ (distresses of every form) are rife; when Virtue has only +one leg left to stand upon. The believer in Krishna as Vishnu, besides +this universal description, says that the Supreme Lord in the Krita +age is 'white' (pure); in the Tret[=a] age, 'red'; in the Dv[=a]para +age, 'yellow'; in the Kali age, 'black, _i.e_., Vishnu is Krishna, +which means 'black.'[50] This cycle of ages always repeats itself +anew. Now, since the twelve thousand years of these ages, with their +dawns and twilights, are but one of countless cycles, when the Kali +age and its twilight have brought all things into a miserable state, +the universe is re-absorbed into the Supreme Spirit. There is then a +universal (apparent) destruction, _pralaya_, of everything, first by +fire and then by a general flood. Seven suns appear in heaven, and +what they fail to burn is consumed by the great fire called Samvartaka +(really a manifestation of Vishnu), which sweeps the world and leaves +only ashes; then follows a flood which completes the annihilation. +Thereafter follows a period equal to one thousand cycles (of twelve +thousand years each), which is called 'Brahm[=a]'s night,' for during +these twelve million years Brahm[=a] sleeps; and the new Krita age +begins again "when Brahm[=a] wakes up" (iii. 188. 29, 69; 189. +42).[51] All the gods are destroyed in the universal destruction, that +is, re-absorbed into the All-god, for there is no such thing as +annihilation, either of spirit or of matter (which is illusion). +Consequently the gods' heaven and the spirits of good men in that +heaven are also re-absorbed into that Supreme, to be re-born in the +new age. This is what is meant by the constant harping on +quasi-immortality. Righteousness, sacrifice, bravery, will bring man +to heaven, but, though he joins the gods, with them he is destroyed. +They and he, after millions of years, will be re-born in the new +heaven and the new earth. To escape this eventual re-birth one must +desire absorption into the Supreme, not annihilation, but unity with +God, so that one remains untouched by the new order at the end of +Brahm[=a]'s 'day.' There are, of course, not lacking views of them +that, taking the precept grossly, give a less dignified appearance to +the teaching, and, in fact, upset its real intent. Thus, in the very +same Puranic passage from which is taken the description above (III. +188), it is said that a seer, who miraculously outlived the universal +destruction of one cycle, was kindly swallowed by Vishnu, and that, on +entering his stomach (the absorption idea in Puranic coarseness), he +saw everything which had been destroyed, mountains, rivers, cities, +the four castes engaged in their duties, etc. In other words, only +transference of locality has taken place. But this account reads +almost like a satire. + +One of the most striking features of the Hindu religions, as they have +been traced thus far, is the identification of right with light, and +wrong with darkness. We have referred to it several times already. In +the Vedic age the deities are luminous, while the demons and the abode +of the wicked generally are of darkness. This view, usually considered +Iranian and Zoroastrian, is as radically, if not so emphatically, +Indic. It might be said, indeed, that it is more deeply implanted in +the worship of the Hindus than in that of the Iranians, inasmuch as +the latter religion enunciates and promulgates the doctrine, while the +former assumes it. All deeds of sin are deeds of darkness, _tamas_. +The devils live underground in darkness; the hells are below earth and +are gloom lighted only by torture-flames. + +The development of devil-worship (the side-scenes in the theatre of +Çivaism) introduces devils of another sort, but the general effect +remains. The fire-priest Bhrigu says: "Untruth is a form of darkness, +and by darkness one is brought to hell (downwards); veiled in darkness +one sees not the light. Light is heaven, they say, and darkness is +hell," xii. 190. 2-3. This antithesis of evil as darkness, good as +light, is too native to India to admit of the suggestion that it might +have been borrowed. But an isolated and curious Puranic chapter of the +epic appears to have direct reference to the Persian religion. All +Hindu gods have sacrifices, even Çiva the 'destroyer of sacrifice.' +Now in iii. 220, after a preliminary account of the _p[a]ñcajanya_ +fire (vs. 5 ff.) there is given a list of 'gods that destroy +sacrifice,' _dev[=a]s yajñamu[s.]as,_ fifteen in number, who 'stand +here' on earth and 'steal' the sacrifice. They extend over the five +peoples in three divisions of five each. The first and third group +contain names compounded with Bh[=i]ma and S[=u]ra respectively; while +the third group is that of Sumitra, Mitravan, Mitrajña, Mitravardhana, +Mitradharman. There are others without the _mitra_ (vs. 10). The +appellation _dev[=a]s_ seems to take them out of connection with +Çiva's demoniac troops, and the persistency of _mitra_ would look as +if these 'gods' were of Iranian origin. There may have been (as are +possibly the modern S[=a]uras) believers in the Persian religion +already long established among the Hindus. + +The question will naturally present itself whether in the religious +_olla podrida_ known as the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata there are distinct +allusions to Buddhism, and, if so, in how far the doctrines of this +sect may have influenced the orthodox religion. Buddhism does not +appear to have attacked or to have attracted the 'holy land,' whence, +indeed, according to law, heretics are 'banished.' But its influence +of course must have embraced this country, and it is only a question +of in how far epic Brahmanism has accepted it. At a later period +Hinduism, as has been observed, calmly accepts Buddha as an _avatar_ +of Vishnu. Holtzmann, who is inclined to attribute a good deal to +Buddhism, sees signs of it even in the personal characteristics of the +epic heroes, and believes the whole poem to have been more or less +affected by anti-Buddhistic feeling. If this were so one would have to +give over to Buddhism much also of the humanitarianism to be found in +the moral precepts that are so thickly strewn through the various +books. In our opinion these signs-manual of Buddhism are not +sufficiently evident to support Holtzmann's opinion for the whole +poem, and it is to be noted that the most taking evidence is drawn +from the latest parts of the work. It is just here that we think it +necessary to draw the line, for while much of late date has been added +in earlier books, yet in the books which one may call wholly late +additions appear the strongest indications of Buddhistic +influence.[52] A great deal of the Book of Peace is Puranic, the book +as a whole is a Vishnuite addition further enlarged by Çivaite +interpolation. The following book is, again, an offset to the Book of +Peace, and is as distinctly Çivaite in its conception as is the Book +of Peace Vishnuite.[53] It is here, in these latest additions, which +scarcely deserve to be ranked with the real epic, that are found the +most palpable touches of Buddhism. They stand to the epic proper as +stands to them the Genealogy of Vishnu, a further addition which has +almost as much claim to be called 'part of the epic' as have the books +just mentioned, only that it is more evidently the product of a later +age, and represents the Krishna-Vishnu sect in its glory after the +epic was completed. Nevertheless, even in these books much that is +suspected of being Buddhistic may be Brahmanic; and in any concrete +case a decision, one way or the other, is scarcely to be made on +objective grounds. Still more is this the case in earlier books. Thus, +for instance, Holtzmann is sure that a conversation of a slave and a +priest in the third book is Buddhistic because the man of low caste +would not venture to instruct a Brahman.[54] But it is a command +emphasized throughout the later Brahmanism that one must take refuge +in the ship that saves; and in passages not suspected of Buddhistic +tendency Bh[=i]shma takes up this point, and lays down the rule that, +no matter to which caste a man belongs, his teaching if salutary is to +be accepted. It is even said in one passage of the Book of Peace that +one ought to learn of a slave, and in another that all the four castes +ought to hear the Veda read:[55] "Let him get instruction even from a +Ç[=u]dra if he can thereby attain to salvation"; and again: "Putting +the Brahman first, let the four castes hear (the Veda); for this +(giving first place to the priest) is (the rule in) reading the +Veda."[56] And in many places are found instructions given by +low-caste men. It may be claimed that every case which resembles +Buddhistic teaching is drawn from Buddhism, but this would be to claim +more than could be established. Moreover, just as the non-injury +doctrine is prior to Buddhism and yet is a mark of Buddhistic +teaching, so between the two religions there are many points of +similarity which may be admitted without compromising the genuineness +of the Brahmanic teaching. For Buddhism in its morality is anything +but original.[57] + +Another bit of instruction from the Book of Peace illustrates the +attitude of the slave just referred to. In sharp contrast to what one +would expect from a Buddhist, this slave, who is a hunter, claims that +he is justified in keeping on with his murderous occupation because it +is his caste-occupation; whereas, as a Buddhist he ought to have +renounced it if he thought it sinful, without regard to the +caste-rule. The Book of Peace lays it down as a rule that the giving +up of caste-occupation is meritorious if the occupation in itself is +iniquitous, but it hedges on the question to the extent of saying +that, no matter whether the occupation be sinful or not, if it is an +inherited occupation a man does not do wrong to adhere to it. This is +liberal Brahmanism. The rule reads as follows: "Actors, +liquor-dealers, butchers, and other such sinners are not justified in +following such occupations, _if they are not born to the profession +(i.e_., if they are born to it they are justified in following their +inherited occupation). Yet if one has inherited such a profession it +is a noble thing to renounce it."[58] + +The marks of Buddhistic influence on which we would lay greater stress +are found not in the fact that Mudgala refuses heaven (iii. 261. 43), +or other incidents that may be due as well to Brahmanism as to +Buddhism, but in such passages of the pseudo-epical Book of Peace as +for example the _dharmyas panth[=a]s_ of xii. 322. 10-13; the +conversation of the female beggar, _bhikshuk[=i]_, with the king in +321. 7, 168; the _buddha_ of 289. 45; the Buddhistic phraseology of +167. 46; the remark of the harlot Pingal[=a] in 174. 60: +_pratibuddh[=a] 'smi j[=a]g[r.]mi_ (I am 'awakened' to a sense of sin +and knowledge of holiness), and the like phrase in 177. 22: +_pratibuddho 'smi_.[59] Of especial importance is the shibboleth +Nirv[=a]na which is often used in the epic. There seems, indeed, to be +a subtile connection between Çivaism and Buddhism. Buddhism rejects +pantheism, Çivaism is essentially monotheism. Both were really +religions of the lower classes. It is true that the latter was +affected and practiced by those of high rank, but its strength lay +with the masses. Thus while Vishnuism appealed to the contemplative +and philosophical (R[=a]maism), as well as to the easy-going middle +classes (Krishinaism), Çivaism with its dirty asceticism, its orgies +and Bacchanalian revels, its devils and horrors generally, although +combined with a more ancient philosophy, appealed chiefly to the +magic-monger and the vulgar. So it is that one finds, as one of his +titles in the thirteenth book, that Çiva is 'the giver of Nirv[=a]na,' +(xiii. 16. 15). But if one examines the use of this word in other +parts of the epic he will see that it has not the true Buddhistic +sense except in its literal physical application as when the +_nirv[=a][n.]a_ (extinguishing) of a lamp, iv. 22. 22, is spoken of; +or the _nirv[=a][n.]a_ of duties (in the Pañcar[=a]tra 'Upanishad,' +xii. 340. 67). On the other hand, in sections where the context shows +that this must be the case, Nirv[=a]na is the equivalent of 'highest +bliss' or 'highest _brahma_,' the same with the felicity thus named in +older works. This, for instance, is the case in xii. 21. 17; 26. 16, +where Nirv[=a]na cannot mean extinction but absorption, _i.e_., the +'blowing out' of the individual flame (spirit) of life, only that it +may become one with the universal spirit. In another passage it is +directly equated with _sukham brahma_ in the same way (_ib_. 189. 17). +If now one turn to the employment of this word in the third book he +will find the case to be the same. When the king reproaches his queen +for her atheistic opinions in iii. 31. 26 he says that if there were +no reward for good deeds hereafter "people would not seek Nirv[=a]na," +just as he speaks of heaven ('immortality') and hell, _ib_. 20 and 19, +not meaning thereby extinction but absorption. So after a description +of that third heaven wherein is Vishnu, when one reads that Mudgala +"attained that highest eternal bliss the sign of which is Nirv[=a]na" +(iii. 261. 47), he can only suppose that the word means here +absorption into _brahma_ or union with Vishnu. In fact Nirv[=a]na is +already a word of which the sense has been subjected to attrition +enough to make it synonymous with 'bliss.' Thus "the gods attained +Nirv[=a]na by means of Vishnu's greatness" (iii. 201. 22); and a +thirsty man "after drinking water attained Nirv[=a]na," _i.e_., the +drink made him happy (_ib_. 126. 16). One may best compare the Jain +Nirv[=a]na of happiness. + +While, therefore, Buddhism seems to have left many manifest traces[60] +in the later epic the weight of its influence on the early epic may +well be questioned. The moral harangues of the earlier books show +nothing more than is consistent with that Brahmanism which has made +its way unaided through the greater humanitarianism of the earlier +Upanishads. At the same time it is right to say that since the poem is +composed after Buddha's time there is no historical certainty in +regard to the inner connection of belief and morality (as expounded in +the epic) with Buddhism. Buddhism, though at a distance, environed +epic Brahmanism, and may well have influenced it. The objective proofs +for or against this are not, however, decisive. + +Whether Christianity has affected the epic is another question that +can be answered (and then doubtfully) only by drawing a line between +epic and pseudo-epic. And in this regard the Harivança legends of +Krishna are to be grouped with the pseudo-epic, of which they are the +legitimate if late continuation. Again one must separate teaching from +legend. To the Divine Song belong sentiments and phrases that have +been ascribed to Christian influence. Definitive assurance in this +regard is an impossibility. When Vishnu says (as is said also in the +Upanishads) "I am the letter A," one may, and probably will, decide +that this is or is not an imitation of "I am alpha," strictly in +accordance with his preconceived opinions. There are absolutely no +historical data to go upon. One may say with tolerable certainty that +the Divine Song as a whole is antique, prior to Christianity. But it +is as unmistakably interpolated and altered. The doctrine of _bhakti_, +faithful love as a means of salvation, cannot be much older than the +Song, for it is found only in the latest Upanishads (as shown by +comparing them with those undoubtedly old). But on the other hand the +_pras[=a]da_ doctrine (of special grace) belongs to a much earlier +literature, and there is no reason why the whole theory with its +startling resemblance to the doctrine of grace, and its insistence on +personal affection for the Lord should not have been self-evolved. The +old omnipotence of inherited knowledge stops with the Upanishads, To +their authors the Vedas are but a means. They desired wisdom, not +knowledge. They postulated the desire for the Supreme Spirit as the +true wisdom. From this it is but a step to yearning and love for the +Supreme. That step is made in the Divine Song. It is recognized by +early Buddhism as a Brahmanic trait. Is it necessarily imported from +Christianity? The proof is certainly lacking. Nor, to one accustomed +to the middle literature of Hindu religion, is the phraseology so +strikingly unique as would appear to be the case. Taken all in all, +the teaching of Christianity certainly may be suspected, but it cannot +be shown to exist in the Divine Song. + +Quite different is the case with the miraculous matter that grew up +about the infant Krishna. But here one is out of the epic and dealing +with the latest literature in regard to the man-god. This distinction +cannot be too much insisted upon, for to point first to the teaching +of the Divine Song and then to the Krishna legends as equally +reflecting Christianity is to mix up two periods as distinct as +periods can be established in Hindu literature. And the result of the +whole investigation shows that the proofs of borrowing are as +different as these +periods. The inner Christianity thought to be copied by the re-writer +of the Divine Song is doubtful in the last degree. The outer +Christianity reflected in the Puranic legends of Krishna is as +palpable as it is shocking. Shocking, for here not only are miracles +treated grotesquely, but everything that is meant spiritually in the +Occident is interpreted physically and carnally. The love of the +Bridegroom is sensual; the brides of God are drunken dancing girls. + +The 'coincidences,' as some scholars marvellously regard them, between +the legends of Christ and Krishna are too extraordinary to be accepted +as such. They are direct importations, not accidental coincidences. +Whatever is most marvellous in the accounts of Christianity finds +itself here reproduced in Krishnaism. It is not in the doctrine of +_avatars_, which resembles the doctrine of the Incarnation,[61] it is +in the totality of legends connected with Krishna that one is forced +to see Christian influence. The scenes of the nativity, the adoration +of the magi, the miracles during the Saviour's childhood, the +transfiguration, and other stories of Christ are reproduced with +astonishing similarity. One may add to this the Christmas festival, +where Krishna is born in a stable, and the use of certain +church-utensils in the temple-service. Weber has proved by collecting +and explaining these 'coincidences,'[62] that there must be identity +of origin. It remains only to ask from which side is the borrowing? +Considering how late are these Krishna legends in India[63] there can +be no doubt that the +Hindu borrowed the tales, but not the name; for the last assumption is +quite improbable because Krishna (=Christ?) is native enough, and +Vishnu is as old as the Rig Veda. That these tales are of secondary +importance, as they are of late origin, is a matter of course. They +are excrescences upon real Vishnuism (Krishnaism) and the result of +anthropomorphizing in its fullest extent the image of the man-god, who +is represented in the epic as the incarnation of the Supreme Spirit. +The doctrine of the incarnation is thoroughly Indic. It is Buddhistic +as well as Brahmanic, and precedes Vishnuism as it does Christianity. +The legends are another matter. Here one has to assume direct contact +with the Occident.[64] But while agreeing with Weber and disagreeing +with Barth in the determination of the relation of this secondary +matter, we are unable to agree with Weber in his conclusions in regard +to the one passage in the pseudo-epic that is supposed by him[65] to +refer to a visit to a Christian church in Alexandria. This is the +famous episode of the White Island, which, to be sure, occurs in so +late a portion of the Book of Peace (xii. 337. 20 ff) that it might +well be what Weber describes it as being. But to us it appears to +contain no allusion at all to Christianity. The account in brief is as +follows: Three priests with the insignificant names "First, Second, +Third,"[66] go to the far North (_diç uttar[=a]_) where, in the "Sea +of Milk," they find an Albion called 'White Island,' perhaps regarded +as one of the seven or thirteen 'islands,' of which earth consists; +and there Vishnu is worshipped as the one god by white men of +extraordinary physical characteristics. + +The fact that the 'one god' is already a hackneyed phrase of +philosophy; that there is no resemblance to a trinitarian god; that +the hymn sung to this one god contains no trace of Christian +influence, but is on the other hand thoroughly native in tone and +phraseology, being as follows: "Victory to thee, thou god with +lotus-eyes; Reverence to thee, thou creator of all things; Reverence +be to thee, O Vishnu;[67] thou Great Person; first-born one"; all +these facts indicate that if the White-islanders are indeed to be +regarded as foreigners worshipping a strange god, that god is strictly +monotheistic and not trinitarian. Weber lays stress on the expression +'first-born,' which he thinks refers to Christ; but the epithet is old +(Vedic), and is common, and means no more than 'primal deity.' + +There is much that appears to be foreign in the epic. This passage +seems rather to be a recollection of some shrine where monotheism +without Christianity was acknowledged. On the other hand, even in the +pseudo-epic, there is much apparently borrowed which yet is altogether +native to Brahmanic land and sect. It is not in any passage which is +proved to be of foreign origin that one reads of the boy of twelve +years who entered among the wise men and confuted their reasoning +(above, p. 382). It is not of course due to Christian influence that +the great 'saint of the stake' is taken by the 'king's men,' is +crucified (or literally impaled) among thieves, and lives so long that +the guard go and tell the king of the miracle;[68] nor is it necessary +to assume that everything elevated is borrowed. "When I revile, I +revile not again," sounds indeed like an echo of Christian teaching, +but how thoroughly Hindu is the reason. "For I know that self-control +is the door of immortality." And in the same breath, with a connection +of meaning patent only when one regards the whole not as borrowed but +as native, follow the words that we have ventured to put upon the +title-page of this volume, as the highest and at the same time the +truest expression of a religion that in bringing the gods to men +raised man to equally with God--"This is a holy mystery which I +declare unto you: There is nothing nobler than humanity."[69] + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: He appears in different complete + manifestations, while Vishnu appears only in part, as a + 'descent,' _avatar, i.e_., Vishnu is incarnate, Çiva appears + whole.] + + [Footnote 2: The original story perhaps antedates the + Brahmanic Brahm[=a]. But, for all one knows, when the poem + was first written Brahm[=a] was already decadent as chief + god. In that case two strata of religious belief have been + formally super-imposed, Vishnuism and Çivaism.] + + [Footnote 3: While agreeing with Telang that the original + G[=i]t[=a] is an old poem, we cannot subscribe to his + argument (SBE. VIII. p. 19) that the priority of the + S[=a]man over the Rig Veda is evidence of antiquity; still + less to the argument, p. 21, from the castes.] + + [Footnote 4: Compare Manu, i. 7: "He the subtile, + indiscernible, eternal, inconceivable One, who makes all + creatures."] + + [Footnote 5: Possibly the original opening of another poem.] + + [Footnote 6: The _avatars_ of Vishnu are meant. The very + knight to whom he speaks is later regarded (in South India) + as incarnate god, and today is worshipped as an _avatar_ of + Vishnu. The idea of the 'birth-stories' of the Buddhists is + thought by some scholars to have been connected historically + with the _avatars_ of Vishnu.] + + [Footnote 7: This is one of the notes struck in the later + Upanishads, the doctrine of 'special grace,' originating + perhaps still earlier in the V[=a]c hymn (see above).] + + [Footnote 8: That is, one that also has no desires may act + (without desiring the fruit of action.)] + + [Footnote 9: This is a S[=a]nkhya division.] + + [Footnote 10: This cleverly contrived or profound + universality of Vishnuism is one of the greatest obstacles + to missionary effort. The Vishnuite will accept Christ, but + as a form of Vishnu, as here explained. Compare below: "Even + they that sacrifice to other gods really sacrifice to Me."] + + [Footnote 11: Prakriti (_prak[r.]t[=i]_), nature; the term + belongs to the S[=a]nkhya philosophy, which recognizes + nature as distinct from spirit, a duality, opposed to + _adv[=a]ita_, the non-duality of the Ved[=a]nta system, + where the S[=a]nkhya 'nature' is represented by + _m[=a]y[=a]_, 'illusion.' Otherwise the word Prakrit is the + 'natural,' vulgar dialect, opposed to Sanskrit, the refined, + 'put-together' language.] + + [Footnote 12: Saints, literally 'the successful ones.'] + + [Footnote 13: Alluding to the later derivation of Yama from + _yam_, control.] + + [Footnote 14: "The letter A," as in the Upanishads (see + above, p. 226).] + + [Footnote 15: Compare a parallel list of diadochoi in xii. + 349. 51.] + + [Footnote 16: One of the Jaina traits of the epic, + _brahm[=a]di[s.]u t[r.]u[=a]nte[s.]u bh[=u]te[s.]u + parivartate_, in distinction from the Buddhistic + metempsychosis, which stops short of plants. But perhaps it + is rather borrowed from the B[.r]ahman by the Jain, for + there is a formal acknowledgment that _sth[=a]var[=a]s_ + 'stationary things,' have part in metempsychosis, Manu, xii. + 42, although in the distribution that follows this is almost + ignored (vs. 58).] + + [Footnote 17: It is rather difficult to compress the list + into this number. Some of the names are perhaps later + additions.] + + [Footnote 18: In contrast one may note the frequent boast + that a king 'fears not even the gods,' _e.g._, i. 199. 1.] + + [Footnote 19: Later there are twenty-one worlds analogous lo + the twenty-one hells.] + + [Footnote 20: Elsewhere, oh the other hand, the islands are + four or seven, the earlier view.] + + [Footnote 21: iii. 142. The boar-shape of Vishnu is a + favorite one, as is the dwarf-incarnation. Compare + V[=a]mana, V[=a]manaka, Vishnupada, in the list of holy + watering-places (iii. 83). Many of Vishnu's acts are simply + transferred from Brahm[=a], to whom they belonged in older + tales. Compare above, p.215.] + + [Footnote 22: In i. 197, Praj[=a]pati the Father-god, is the + highest god, to whom Indra, as usual, runs for help. Çiva + appears as a higher god, and drives Indra into a hole, where + he sees five former Indras; and finally Vishnu comes on to + the stage as the highest of all, "the infinite, + inconceivable, eternal, the All in endless forms." Brahm[=a] + is invoked now and then in a perfunctory way, but no one + really expects him to do anything. He has done his work, + made the castes, the sacrifice, and (occasionally) + everything. And he will do this again when the new aeon + begins. But for this aeon his work is accomplished.] + + [Footnote 23: Thus in XII. 785. 165: "Neither Brahm[=a] nor + Vishnu is capable of understanding the greatness of Çiva."] + + [Footnote 24: Or "three eyes."] + + [Footnote 25: Compare III. 39. 77: "The destroyer of + Daksha's sacrifice." Compare the same epithet in the hymn to + Çiva, X. 7. 3, after which appear the devils who serve Çiva. + Such devils, in the following, feast on the dead upon the + field of battle, though, when left to themselves, 'midnight + is the hour when the demons swarm,' III. 11. 4 and 33. In X. + 18 and XIII. 161 Çiva's act is described in full.] + + [Footnote 26: Çiva, called Bhava, Çarva, the trident-holder, + the Lord ([=I]ç[=a]na), Çankara, the Great God, etc., + generally appears at his best where the epic is at its + worst, the interpolations being more flagrant than in the + case of Vishnuite eulogies. The most devout worshipper of + Vishnu is represented as an adherent of Çiva, as invoking + him for help after fighting with him. He is "invincible + before the three worlds." He is the sun; his blood is ashes. + All the gods, with Brahm[=a] at their head, revere him. He + has three heads, three faces, six arms (compare iii. 39. 74 + ff.; 83. 125); though other passages give him more.] + + [Footnote 27: Çiva has as sign the bull: Vishnu, the boar.] + + [Footnote 28: ZDMG. xxxviii. pp. 197, 200.] + + [Footnote 29: _Lit. u. Cultur_, p. 461.] + + [Footnote 30: Holtzmann now says (in _Neunzehn Bücher_, p. + 198) that the whole episode which terminates with Baladeva's + visit an addition to the original. Holtzmann's monograph on + Brahm[=a] is in ZDMG. xxxviii. 167.] + + [Footnote 31: A good example is that of the two visions of + Arjuna, first the vision of Vishnu, then another vision of + Çiva, whom Arjuna and Vishnu visit (vii. 80).] + + [Footnote 32: Çankara and Çiva mean almost the same; 'giver + of blessings' and 'prospering' (or 'kindly'), respectively.] + + [Footnote 33: _Brahma[n.]as sumahotsavas_ (compare the + commentator). The _sam[=a]ja_ of Brahm[=a] may be explained + by that of Çiva mentioned in the same place and described + elsewhere (iv. 13. 14 ff.; i. 164. 20).] + + [Footnote 34: Not _sleeping_, Vishnu, despite _svapimi_, + does not slumber; he only muses.] + + [Footnote 35: Man (divine) and god human, but N[=a]r[=a]yana + is a new name of Vishnu, and the two are reckoned as two + inseparable seers (divinities).] + + [Footnote 36: This is the only really trinitarian passage in + the epic. In i. 1. 32; xiii. 16. 15, the belief may be + indicated, but not certainly, as it is in Hariv. 10,662. See + on this point Holtzroann, ZDMG. xxxviii. p. 204. In xiv. 54. + 14 the form is V[=i]shnu, Brahm[=a], Indra.] + + [Footnote 37: Compare 339. 114, "thou art + _pañcamah[=a]kalpa_." The commentator gives the names of + five sects, S[=a]ura, Ç[=a]kta, G[=a]neça, Ç[=a]iva, + Vaishnava. The 'five times,' implied in Pañcak[=a]ta, he + says are day, night, month, seasons, and year (_ib_. 66). In + 340. 117 (which chapter is Pancar[=a]tric), Brahm[=a] "knows + that Vishnu is superior."] + + [Footnote 38: V[=a]j. S. xvi. 1-66; T[=a]itt. S. iv. 5. + 1-11.] + + [Footnote 39: Çiva has no ordinary sacrifice: he is (as + above) in general a destroyer of sacrifice, _i.e_., of Vedic + sacrifice; but as Paçupati, "Lord of beasts," he claims the + bloody sacrifice of the first beast, man.] + + [Footnote 40: The usual opinion is that phallic worship was + a trait of southern tribes foisted upon northern Çivaism. + Philosophically Çivaism is first monotheistic and then + pantheistic, To-day it is nominally pantheistic but really + it is dualistic.] + + [Footnote 41: There are indications in this passage of some + sectarian feeling, and the fear of partisan warfare (229); + in regard to which we add from Muir and Holtzmann the + passage XII. 343. 121, where is symbolized a peaceful issue + of war between Vishnuism and Çivaism.] + + [Footnote 42: Grahas are also planets, but in this cult they + are not astrological, as show their names.] + + [Footnote 43: They are possibly old, as Weber thinks, but + they seem to have nothing in common with the ancient female + divinities.] + + [Footnote 44: Compare another hymn to Durg[=a] in IV. 6. 5 + ff. (late). Durgi was probably an independent local deity, + subsequently regarded as Çiva's female side. She plays a + great rôle, under various names, in the 'revived' + literature, as do the love-god and Ganeça. In both hymns she + is 'Vishnu's sister,' and in IV. 6 a 'pure virgin.'] + + [Footnote 45: One comparatively new god deserves a passing + mention, Dharma's son, K[=a]ma, the (Grecian?) love-god, + 'the mind-shaker,' 'the limbless one,' whose arrows are like + those of Cupid (I. 66. 32; 171. 34; III. 46. 2). He is an + adventitious addition to the epic. His later name of Ananga + occurs in XII. 59. 91. In I. 71. 41 and 171. 40 he is + Manmatha. The Atharvan god also has darts, III. 25, a mark + of this latest Veda.] + + [Footnote 46: Compare ii. 22. 18: "Great holiness, great + glory, penance, death in battle, these are each respectively + productive of heaven; the last alone is a sure cause."] + + [Footnote 47: This description and the sentiments are quite + late. The same sort of heaven (without the philosophical + bitterness, with which compare above, p. 229) is, however, + found in other passages, somewhat augmented with nymphs and + facile goddesses.] + + [Footnote 48: This doctrine is supposed by some scholars to + be due to outside influence, but the doubt is not + substantiated, and even in the Rig Veda one passage appears + to refer to it. Doubtless, however, the later expanded view, + with its complicated reckonings, may have been touched by + foreign influence.] + + [Footnote 49: _Na [=a]san s[=a]ma-[r.]g-yajur-varn[=a]s_. In + xii. 342. 8 the order is Rik-Yajus-Atharvan-S[=a]man. The + habit of putting S[=a]man instead of Rik at the head of the + Vedas is still kept in the late litany to Çiva, who is "the + S[=a]man among the Vedas" meaning, of course, the first and + best. In the same place, "Çiva is the Itih[=a]sa" epic + (xiii. 14. 323; and _ib_. 17. 78, 91), for the epic + outweighs all the Vedas in its own estimation.] + + [Footnote 50: iii. 149. 14; 188. 22; 189. 32; probably with + a recollection of the colors of the four castes, white, red, + yellow, black. According to xii. 233. 32, there is no + sacrifice in the Krita age, but, beginning with the Tret[=a] + age, there is a general diffusion of sacrifice in the + Dv[=a]para age. In another passage of the same book it is + said that marriage laws arose in the Dv[=a]para age (207. 38 + ff.).] + + [Footnote 51: The teaching varies somewhat in the allotment + of years. See Manu, I. 67.] + + [Footnote 52: Weber thinks, on the other hand, that the + parties represent respectively, Çiva and Vishuu worship, + _Ind. St_. i. 206.] + + [Footnote 53: This book also is closely in touch with the + later Pur[=a]nas. For instance, Citragupta, Yama's + secretary, is known only to the books of the pseudo-epic, + the Vishnu Pur[=a]na, the Padma Pur[=a]na, etc.] + + [Footnote 54: _Neunzehn Bücher_, p. 86.] + + [Footnote 55: The epic does not care much for castes in some + passages. In one such it is said that members of all castes + become priests when they go across the Gomal, iii. 84. 48.] + + [Footnote 56: xii. 319. 87 ff. _(pr[=a]pya j[=n][=a]nam_ ... + _ç[=u]dr[=a]d api_); xii. 328. 49 (_çr[=a]vayee caturo + var[n.][=a]n_). The epic regards itself as more than + equivalent (_adhikam)_ to the four Vedas, i. 1. 272.] + + [Footnote 57: Some ascribe the _sams[=a]ra_ doctrine to + Buddhistic influence--a thesis supported only by the fact + that this occurs in late Brahmanic passages and Upanishads. + But the assumption that Upanishads do not precede Buddha is + scarcely tenable. The Katha, according to Weber (_Sits. + Berl. Ak._ 1890, p. 930), is late (Christian!): according to + Oldenberg and Whitney, early (_Buddha_, p. 56; _Proc. AOS._ + May, 1886).] + + [Footnote 58: xii. 295. 5-6.] + + [Footnote 59: Noteworthy is the fact that parts of the + Çivaite thirteenth book seem to be most Buddhistic (ch. i.; + 143. 48, etc.), and monotheistic (16. 12 ff.): though the + White Islanders are made Vishnuite in the twelfth. Compare + Holtzmann, _ad. loc_.] + + [Footnote 60: Nirv[=a]na, loosely used; termini technici; + possibly the evils of the fourth age; the mention of + (Buddhist) temples, etc.] + + [Footnote 61: On this point we agree neither with Weber, who + regards the _avatars_ as an imitation of the Incarnation + (_Ind. St._ ii. p. 169), nor with Schroeder, who (_Literatur + und Cultur_, p. 330) would derive the notion from the + birth-stories of Buddha. In our opinion the _avatar_-theory + is older than either and is often only an assimilation of + outlying totem-gods to the Brahman's god, or as in the case + of the flood-story the necessary belief that the 'fish' must + have been the god of the race. Some of these _avatars_ are + Brahmanic, presumably pre-Buddhistic.] + + [Footnote 62: Krishna's Geburtsfest (_janm[=a][s.]tam[=i]),_ + 1867.] + + [Footnote 63: Since they do not appear till after the real + epic we date them tentatively as arising after 600 A.D. Most + of them are in still later Pur[=a]nas.] + + [Footnote 64: Incidental rapport with the Greeks has been + pointed out in other instances; the _surang[=a]_, a mine, of + the late tale in i. 148. 12, etc (_Ind. St._ ii. p. 395), + has been equated with syrinx; Skanda with Alexander, etc. It + is needless to say that each of these is only a guess in + etymology. But Greek influence is perceptible in the Greek + soldiers and names of (Greek) kings that are found in the + epic.] + + [Footnote 65: _Ind. St._ i. 423; ii. 169. Weber believes + that little is native to India which resembles Christianity + in the way of theology; lore of God, special grace, + monotheism, all to him are stolen. We regret that we must + disagree with him in these instances.] + + [Footnote 66: Ekata, Dvita, Trita. A Dvita appears as early + as the Rig Veda. Ekata is an analogous formation and is old + also.] + + [Footnote 67: Hrish[=i]keça is 'lord of senses,' a common + epithet of Vishnu (Krishna).] + + [Footnote 68: i. 107. 1 ff. The spirits of the dead come to + him and comfort him in the shape of birds--an old trait, + compare B[=a]udh. Dh. Ç[=a]st. ii. 8. 14. 10; Çat. Br. vi. + 1. 1. 2.] + + [Footnote 69: xii. 300. 20.] + + * * * * * + + + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE PUR[=A]NAS.--EARLY SECTS, FESTIVALS, THE TRINITY. + + +Archaeologia, 'ancient lore,' is the meaning of Pur[=a]na +_(pur[=a]na_, 'old'). The religious period represented by the extant +writings of this class is that which immediately follows the +completion of the epic.[1] These works, although they contain no real +history, yet reflect history very plainly, and since the advent and +initial progress of Puranic Hinduism, with its various cults, is +contemporary with important political changes, it will be necessary +briefly to consider the circumstances in which arose these new creeds, +for they were destined to become in the future the controlling force +in the development of Hindu religion. + +In speaking of the extension of Buddhism we showed that its growth was +influenced in no small degree by the fact that this caste-less and, +therefore, democratic religion was adopted by post-Alexandrine rulers +in the Graeco-Bactrian period. At this time the Aryans were surrounded +with foreigners and pagans. To North and South spread savage or half +Hinduized native tribes, while soldiers of Greece and Bactria encamped +in the valley of the Ganges. Barbarians had long been active in the +North, and some scholars have even claimed that Buddha's own family +was of Turanian origin. The Brahmans then as now retained their +prestige only as being repositories of ancient wisdom; and outside of +their own 'holy land' their influence was reduced to a minimum by the +social and political tendencies that accompanied the growth of +Buddhism. After the fourth century B.C. the heart of India, the +'middle district,' between the Him[=a]laya and Vindhya mountains from +Delhi to Benares,[2] was trampled upon by one Graeco-Bactrian horde +after another. The principal effect of this rude dominion was +eventually to give political equality to the two great rival +religions. The Buddhist and the Brahman lived at last if not +harmoniously, at least pacifically, side by side. Members of the same +reigning family would profess Buddhism or Brahmanism indifferently. +One king would sometimes patronize both religions. And this continued +to be the case till Buddhism faded out, replaced by that Hinduism +which owed its origin partly to native un-Aryan influence (paganism), +partly to this century-long fusion of the two state religions. + +To review these events: In the first decades of the fourth century +(320 or 315-291 B.C.) Candragupta, Sandrocottos, had built up a +monarchy in Beh[=a]r[3] on the ruins left by the Greek invasion, +sharing his power with Seleucus in the Northwest, and had thus +prepared the way for his grandson, Açoka, the great patron of Buddhism +(264 or 259). This native power fell before the hosts of Northern +barbarians, which, after irruptions into India in the second century, +got a permanent foothold there in the first century B.C. These +Northern barbarians (their nationality is uncertain), whose greatest +king was Kanishka, 78 A.D., ruled for centuries the land they had +seized; but they were vanquished at last in the sixth century, +probably by Vikram[=a]ditya,[4] and were driven out. The +breathing-space between Northern barbarian and Mohammedan was +nominally not a long one, but since the first Moslem conquests had no +definitive result the new invaders did not quite overthrow Hindu rule +till the end of the tenth century. During this period the native +un-Aryan tribes, with their Hinduizing effect, were more destructive +as regards the maintenance of the old Brahmanic cult than were +outsiders.[5] + +When Tamerlane invaded India his was the fourth invasion after the +conquest of the Punj[=a]b by the Moslem in 664.[6] In 1525 the fifth +conqueror, Baber, fifth too in descent from Tamerlane, founded the +Mogul empire that lasted till the fall of this dynasty (nominally till +1857). But it must be remembered that each new conqueror from 997 till +1525 merely conquered old Mohammedan dynasties with new invasions. It +was all one to the Hindu. He had the Mohammedan with him all this time +only each new rival's success made his lot the harder, But Baber's +grandson, the Great Mogul, Akbar (who reigned from 1556 to 1605), gave +the land not only peace but kindness; and under him Jew, Christian, +Hindu, and Mohammedan at last forgot to fear or fight. After this +there is only the overthrow of the Mohammedan power to record; and the +rise of the Mahratta native kingdoms. A new faith resulted from the +amalgamation of Hinduism with Mohammedism (after 1500), as will be +shown hereafter. [8] In the pauses before the first Mohammedan +invasion, and between the first defeat of the Mohammedans and their +successful second conquest, the barbarians being now expelled and +Buddhism being decadent, Brahmanism rallied. In the sixth century +there was toleration for all faiths. In the seventh century +Kum[=a]rila renewed the strength of Brahmanism on the ritualistic side +with attacks on Buddhism, and in the ninth century Çankara placed the +philosophy of unsectarian pantheism on a firm basis by his commentary +on the Ved[=a]nta S[=u]tra.[7] These two men are the re-makers of +ancient Brahmanism, which from this time on continued in its +stereotyped form, adopting Hindu gods very coyly, and only as spirits +of small importance, while relying on the laws as well as the gods of +old, on holy _[=a]c[=a]ra_ or 'custom,' and the now systematized +exposition of its old (Upanishad) philosophy.[8] Its creative force +was already spent. Buddhism, on the other hand, was dying a natural +death. The time was ripe for Hinduism, which had been gathering +strength for centuries. After the sixth century, and perhaps even as +late as 1500, or later, were written the modern Pur[=a]nas, which +embody the new belief.[9] They cannot, on account of the distinct +advance in their cult, have appeared before the end of the epic age. +The breathing spell (between barbarian and complete Mohammedan +conquest) which gave opportunity to Kum[=a]rila to take a high hand +with Buddhism, was an opportunity also for the codification of the new +creeds. It is, therefore, to this era that one has probably to refer +the first of the modern sectarian Pur[=a]nas, though the ritualistic +Tantras and [=A]gamas of the lower Çivaite sects doubtless belong +rather to the end than to the beginning of the period. We are +strengthened in this belief by the fact that the oldest of these works +do not pretend to antedate Kum[=a]rila's century, though the sects +mentioned in the epic are known in the first centuries of the +Christian era. The time from the first to the seventh centuries one +may accordingly suppose to have been the era during which was +developing the Brahmanized form of the early Hindu sects, the +literature of these and subsequent sects being composed in the +centuries succeeding the latter term. These sects again divide into +many subdivisions, of which we shall speak below. At present we take +up the character of the Pur[=a]nas and their most important points of +difference as compared with the sectarian parts of the earlier +pseudo-epic, examining especially the trinitarian doctrine, which they +inculcate, and its history. + +Save in details, even the special 'faith-scriptures' called Tantras go +no further than go the Pur[=a]nas in advocating the cult of their +particular divinities. And to this advocacy of special gods all else +in this class of writings is subordinated. The ideal Pur[=a]na is +divided into five parts, cosmogony, new creations, genealogies of gods +and heroes, _manvantaras_ (descriptions of periodic 'ages,' past and +future), and dynasties of kings. But no extant Pur[=a]na is divided +thus. In the epic the doctrine of trinitarianism is barely formulated. +Even in the Harivança, or Genealogy, _va[.n]ça_, of Vishnu, there is +no more than an inverted triunity, 'one form, three gods,' where, in +reality, all that is insisted upon is the identity of Vishnu and Çiva, +Brahm[=a] being, as it were, perfunctorily added.[10] In the +Pur[=a]nas, on the other hand, while the trinity is acknowledged, +religion is resolved again into a sort of sectarian monotheism, where +the devotee seems to be in the midst of a squabbling horde of +temple-priests, each fighting for his own idol. In the calmer aspects +of religion, apart from sectarian schism, these writings offer, +indeed, much that is of second-rate interest, but little that is of +real value. The idle speculations in regard to former divinities are +here made cobweb thin. The philosophy is not new, nor is the spirit of +religion raised, even in the most inspired passages, to the level +which it has reached in the Divine Song. Some of these Pur[=a]nas, of +which eighteen chief are cited, but with an unknown number of +subordinate works,[11] may claim a respectable age; many of them are +the most wretched stuff imaginable, bearing about the same literary +and historical relation to earlier models as do the later legal +Smritis. In fact, save for their religious (sectarian) purport, the +Pur[=a]nas for sections together do not differ much in content from +legal Smritis, out of which some may have been evolved, though, +probably, they were from their inception legendary rather than +didactic. It is more probable, therefore, that they appropriated +Smriti material just as they did epic material; and though it is now +received opinion that legal Smritis are evolved out of S[=u]tras, this +yet can be the case only with the oldest, even if the statement then +can be accepted in an unqualified form. In our own opinion it is +highly probable that Pur[=a]nas and later legal Smritis are divergent +developments from the same source.[12] One gives an account of +creation, and proceeds to tell about the social side; the other sticks +to the accounts of creation, goes on to theology, takes up tales of +heroes, introduces speculation, is finally wrenched over to and +amplified by sectarian writers, and so presents a composite that +resembles epic and law, and yet is generally religious and +speculative. + +A striking instance of this may be seen in the law-book of 'Vishnu.' +Here there is an old base of legal lore, S[=u]tra, interlarded with +Puranic material, and built up with sectarianism. The writer is a +Vishnuite, and while recognizing the trinity, does not hesitate to +make his law command offerings to Krishna V[=a]sudeva, and his family +(Pradyumna, Aniruddha), along with the regular Brahmanic oblations to +older spirits.[13] Brahmanism recognized Hindu deities as subordinate +powers at an early date, at least as early as the end of the S[=u]tra +period; while Manu not only recognizes Vishnu and Çiva (Hara), but +recommends an oblation to Çr[=i] and K[=a]l[=i] (Bhadrak[=a]li, here, +as elsewhere, is Durg[=a]).[14] + +In their original form the Pur[=a]nas were probably Hesiodic in a +great extent, and doubtless contained much that was afterwards +specially developed in more prolix form in the epic itself. But the +works that are come down as Pur[=a]nas are in general of later +sectarian character, and the epic language, phraseology, and +descriptions of battles are more likely taken straight from the epic +than preserved from ante-epic times. Properly speaking one ought to +give first place to the Pur[=a]nas that are incorporated into the +epic. The epic M[=a]rkandeya Pur[=a]na, for instance, is probably a +good type of one of the earlier works that went by this name. That the +present Pur[=a]nas are imitations of the epic, in so far as they treat +of epic topics, may be presumed from the fact that although they often +have the formulae intact of the battlefield,[15] yet do they not +remain by epic descriptions but add weapons, etc., of more modern date +than are employed in the original.[16] + +The sectarian monotheism of the Pur[=a]nas never resulted in +dispensing with the pantheon. The Hindu monotheist is a pantheist, and +whether sectarian or philosophical, he kept and added to his +pantheon.[17] Indra is still for warriors, Maruts for husbandmen, +although old views shift somewhat. So for example, in the K[=u]rma +Pur[=a]na the Gandharvas are added for the Ç[=u]dras.[18] The +fourfoldness, which we have shown in the epic to be characteristic of +Vishnu, is now represented by the military epithet _caturvy[=u]has_ +(agmen quadratum), in that the god represents peace, wisdom, support, +and renunciation; though, as a matter of fact, he is _avy[=u]ha, +i.e_., without any of these.[19] Starting with the physical 'god of +the four quarters,' one gets even in the epic the 'controller of +four,' or perfect person, conceived like [Greek: anêr tetragônos]. +Tennyson's 'four-square to all the winds that blow' is a good +connecting link in the thought. The Pur[=a]nas are a mine of legend, +although most of the stories seem to be but epic tales, more or less +distorted. Nala 'the great-great-grandson of R[=a]ma' is described +after the history of R[=a]ma himself; the installation of P[=u]ru, +when his father had passed over his eldest son, and such reminiscences +of the epic are the stock in trade of the legendary writers.[20] + +The origin of the four castes;[21] the descriptions of hell, +somewhat embellished,[22] where the 'sinful are cooked in fire';[23] the +exaltation of Vishnu as Krishna or K[=a]ma in one, and that of Çiva in +another--these and similar aspects are reflections of epic matter, +spirit, tone, and language, only the faith is still fiercer in +religious matters, and the stories are fainter in historical +references. According to the Pur[=a]na last cited: "There is no +expiation for one that bows to a phallic emblem," _i.e_., Çivaite, and +"all the B[=a]uddhas are heretics";[24] and according to the K[=u]rma +Pur[=a]na: "Vishnu is the divinity of the gods; Çiva, of the devils," +although the preceding verses teach, in the spirit of the Divine Song, +that each man's divinity is that which he conceives to be the +divinity. Such is the concluding remark made by Vasistha in +adjudicating the strife between the Vishnuite and Çivaite sectaries of +the epic heroes.[25] The relation that the Puranic literature bears to +religion in the minds of its authors is illustrated by the remark of +the N[=a]rad[=i]ya to the effect that the god is to be honored "by +song, by music, by dance, and by recounting the Pur[=a]nas" (xvii. 9). + +Some of the epic religious ceremonies which there are barely alluded +to are here described with almost the detail of a technical handbook. +So the N[=a]nd[=i]ya (xix.) gives an elaborate account of the raising +of a _dhvaja_ or standard as a religious ceremony.[26] The legal rules +affecting morality and especially caste-intercourse[27] show a laxity +in regard to the rules as formerly preached. Even the old Puranic form +of the epic is reproduced, as when M[=a]rkandeya converses again with +Yudhistris, exactly as he does in the epic.[28] The duration of the +ages; the fruit of sacrifices, among which are still mentioned the +_r[=a]jas[=u]ya, açvamedha_, and other ancient rites;[29] the virtue +of holy-places;[30] the admixture of pure pantheism with the idea of a +personal creation[31]--these traits are again just those which have +been seen already in the epic, nor is the addition of sections on +temple-service, or other more minute details of the cult, of +particular importance in a history of religious ideas. + +The Pur[=a]nas for our present purpose may all be grouped with the +remark that what is ancient in them is a more or less fugitive +resemblance to the epic style and matter;[32] what is new is the more +pronounced sectarianism with its adventitious growth of subordinate +spiritualities and exaggerated miracles. Thus for instance in the +Var[=a]ha Pur[=a]na there are eleven, in the Bh[=a]gavat Pur[=a]na +twenty (instead of the older ten) _avatars_ of Vishnu. So too the god +of love--although K[=a]ma and his dart are recognized in the late +Atharvan--as a petty spirit receives homage only in the latest +S[=u]tra (as Cupid, [=A]pastamba, ii, 2. 4. 1), and in late additions +to the epic he is a little god; whereas in the drama he is prominent, +and in the Pur[=a]nas his cult is described at length (though to-day +he has no temple). The 'mother'-fiend P[=u]tan[=a], who suckles babes +to slay them, is scarcely known to the early epic, but she is a very +real personality in the late epic and Pur[=a]nas. + +The addition to the trinity of the peculiar inferior godhead that is +advocated in any one Pur[=a]na, virtually making four divinities, is +characteristic of the period. + +In proportion as sectarian ardor is heightened religious tone is +lowered. The Puranic votary clinging to his one idea of god curses all +them that believe in other aspects of the divinity. Blind bigotry +fills the worshipper's soul. Religion becomes mere fanaticism. But +there is also tolerance. Sometimes in one and the same Pur[=a]na rival +forms are honored. The modern Hindu sects are in part the direct +development of Puranic doctrine. But most of the sects of to-day are +of very recent date, though their principles are often of respectable +antiquity, as are too their sectarian signs, as well as the animals of +their gods, some of which appear to be totems of the wild tribes, +while others are merely objects of reverence among certain tribes. +Thus the ram and the elephant are respectively the ancient beasts of +Agni and Indra. Çiva has the bull; his spouse, the tiger. Earth and +Skanda have appropriated the peacock, Skanda having the cock also. +Yama has the buffalo (compare the Khond, wild-tribe, substitution of a +buffalo for a man in sacrifice). Love has the parrot, etc; while the +boar and all Vishnu's animals in _avatars_ are holy, being his chosen +beasts.[33] + + +EARLY SECTS. + +A classification of older sects (the unorthodox) than those of the +present remains to us from the works of Çankara's reputed disciple, +[=A]nanda Giri, and of M[=a]dhava [=A]c[=a]rya, the former a writer of +the ninth, the latter of the fourteenth century. According to the +statements made by these writers there were a great number of sects, +regarded as partly heterodox or wholly so, and it is interesting in +examining the list of these to see that some of the epic sects (their +names at least) are still in full force, while on the other hand the +most important factions of to-day are not known at all; and that many +sects then existed which must have been at that time of great +antiquity, although now they have wholly passed away.[34] These last +are indeed to the author of the critique of the sects not wholly +heterodox. They are only too emphatic, in worshipping their peculiar +divinity, to suit the more modern conceptions of the Hindu reviewer. +But such sects are of the highest importance, for they show that +despite all the bizarre bigotry of the Pur[=a]nas the old Vedic gods +(as in the epic) still continue to hold their own, and had their own +idols and temples apart from other newer gods. The Vedic divinities, +the later additions in the shape of the god of love, the god of +wealth, Kubera,[35] the heavenly bird, Garuda, the world-snake, Çesha, +together with countless genii, spirits, ghosts, the Manes, the +heavenly bodies, stars, etc., all these were revered, though of less +importance than the gods of Vishnuite and Çivaite sects. Among these +latter the Çivaite sects are decidedly of less interest than the +corresponding Vishnuite heresies, while the votaries of Brahm[=a] +(exclusively) are indeed mentioned, but they cannot be compared with +those of the other two great gods.[36] To-day there is scarcely any +homage paid to Brahm[=a], and it is not probable that there ever was +the same devotion or like popularity in his case as in the case of his +rivals. Other interesting sects of this period are the +Sun-worshippers, who still exist but in no such numbers as when +[=A]nand[=a] Giri counted six formal divisions of them. The votaries +of these sub-sects worshipped some, the rising sun, some, the setting +sun, while some again worshipped the noonday sun, and others, all +three as a _tri-m[=u]rti._ Another division worshipped the sun in +anthropomorphic shape, while the last awakens the wrath of the +orthodox narrator by branding themselves with hot irons.[37] + +Ganeça,[38] the lord of Çiva's hosts, had also six classes of +worshippers; but he has not now as he then had a special and peculiar +cult, though he has many temples in Benares and elsewhere. Of the +declared Çivaite sects of that day, six are mentioned, but of these +only one survives, the 'wandering' Jangamas of South India, the +Çivaite R[=a]udras, Ugras, Bh[=a]ktas, and P[=a]çupatis having yielded +to more modern sectaries. + +Some at least among the six sects of the Vishnuite sects, which are +described by the old writers, appear to have been more ancient. Here +too one finds Bh[=a]ktas, and with them the Bh[=a]gavatas, the old +P[=a]ñcar[=a]tras, the 'hermit' V[=a]ikh[=a]nasas, and Karmah[=i]nas, +the latter "having no rites." Concerning these sects one gets scanty +but direct information. They all worshipped Vishnu under one form or +another, the Bh[=a]ktas as V[=a]sudeva, the Bh[=a]gavatas[39] as +Bhagavat. The latter resembled the modern disciples of R[=a]m[=a]nuja +and revered the holy-stone, appealing for authority to the Upanishads +and to the Bhagavad Git[=a], the Divine Song. Some too worshipped +Vishnu exclusively +as N[=a]r[=a]yana, and believed in a heaven of sensual +delights. The other sects, now extinct, offer no special forms of +worship. What is historically most important is that in this list of +sects are found none that particularly worship the popular divinities +of to-day, no peculiar cult of Krishna as an infant and no +monkey-service. + +Infidel sects are numerous in this period, of which sects the worst in +the old writers' opinion is the sensual C[=a]rv[=a]ka. Then follow the +(Buddhist) Ç[=u]nyav[=a]ds, who believe in 'void,' and S[=a]ugatas, +who believe that religion consists only in kindness, the Kshapanakas, +and the Jains. The infamous 'left-hand' sectaries are also well known. + +To one side of the Puranic religions, from the earlier time of which +comes this account of heresies, reference has been made above: the +development of the fables in regard to the infant Krishna. That the +cult is well known in the later Pur[=a]nas and is not mentioned in +this list of wrong beliefs seems to show that the whole cult is of +modern growth, even if one does not follow Weber in all his signs of +modification of the older practice. + + +RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS. + +For the history of the cult there is in these works much to interest +one in the description and determination of popular festivals in honor +of the great sectarian gods. Further details of more specific nature +are given in other works which need not here be regarded. By far the +most important of these festivals are those that seem to have been +absorbed by the sectarian cults, although they were originally more +popular. Weber in the paper on the _r[=a]jas[=u]ya_, to which we have +had occasion several times to refer, has shown that a popular element +abided long in the formal celebrations of the Brahmanic ritual.[40] +is soundly beaten; that gaming creeps into the ceremony as a popular +aspect; that there was a special ceremony to care _katsenjammer_ +caused by over-drinking; and that the whole ceremony was a popular +spring festival, such as is found to-day (but without the royal part +in the play). + +Undoubtedly the original celebration was a popular one. Today the most +interesting of these popular fêtes is in all respects the New Year's +Festival and the Spring Festival. The latter has been cut up into +several parts, and to show the whole intent of the original ceremonial +it is necessary to take up the _disjecta membra_ and place them side +by side, as has been done by Wilson, whose sketch of these two +festivals, together with that by Gover of the New Year's Feast called +Pongol, we give in abstract, premising that, however close be the +comparison with European festivals of like nature, we doubt +whether there is any historical connection between them and the Hindu +celebrations. + +We begin with the more popular New Year's, the Pongol:[41] The +interesting feature of this South India festival is that the Hindus +have done their best to alter its divinities and failed. They have, +indeed, for Indra and Agni got Krishna formally accepted as the god in +whose honor it is supposed to be held, but the feast remains a native +festival, and no one really thinks of the Puranic gods in connection +with it. Europe also has seen such dynamic alterations of divinities +in cases where feasts would insist till patrons of an orthodox kind +were foisted upon them to give an air of propriety to that which +remained heathenish.[42] The Pongol is a New Year's festival lasting +for three days. The first day is for Indra; the second, for (Agni) +S[=u]rya;[43] the third (to which is added, as a wind-up, a fourth +day), for cattle. The whole feast is a harvest-home and celebration of +cattle. The chief ceremony is the cooking of rice, which is put to +boil with great solemnity, and luck for the next year is argued from +its boiling well. If it does so a universal shout arises,[44] all rush +about, congratulate, and give presents to each other, and merry-making +follows. On the cattle-days the beasts are led about with painted +horns and decorated with ribbons, and are then chased and robbed by +the boys. The image of Ganeça is the only one seen, and his worship is +rather perfunctory. On the evening of the last day the women have a +party, paying obeisance to a peacock, and indulging in a family +reunion of very simple character. On this occasion the girl-wife may +return for a few hours to her mother. It is the only general fête for +women during the year. + +Not unlike this festival of the extreme south is the New Year's +celebration at the mouth of the Ganges. Here there is a grand fair and +jewels are cast into the river as propitiation to the river-goddess. +Not long ago it was quite customary to fling children also into the +river, but this usage has now been abolished.[45] Offerings are made +to the Manes, general and particular, and to the All-gods. As with the +Pongol, the feast is one of good-fellowship where presents are +distributed, and its limit is the end of the third day. After this the +festivities have no religious character. Thousands of pilgrims +assemble for this fête. Wilson, who gives an account of this +celebration, compares the ancient Roman New Year's, with the _mutui +amoris pignora_ which were sent at that season. The gifts in India are +sweetmeats and other delicacies, ominous of good for the next +year.[46] + +On the 2d of February occurs a feast to Çr[=i], or Lakshm[=i], +Vishnu's bride, patroness of all prosperity to her worshippers. At +present it is a literary festival on which all books, inkstands, pens, +etc., are cleaned and worshipped, as adjuncts to Sarasvat[=i], the +goddess of learning. This is rather significant, for Sarasvat[=i] is +properly the wife of Brahm[=a], but the Vishnuites of Bengal have made +her the wife of Vishnu, and identified her with Çr[=i]. It is to be +noticed that in this sole celebration of abstract learning and +literature there is no recognition of Çiva, but rather of his rival. +Çiva and Ganeça are revered because they might impede, not because, as +does Sarasvat[=i], they further literary accomplishment. Sarasvat[=i] +is almost the only fair goddess. She is represented not as a horror, +but as a beautiful woman sitting on a lotus, graceful in shape, a +crescent on her brow.[47] The boys, too, celebrate the day with games, +bat and ball, prisoner's base, and others "of a very European +character." The admixture of sectarian cults is shown by the +transference to this Vishnuite feast of the Çivaite (Durg[=a]) +practice of casting into the river the images of the goddess.[48] When +applied distinctly to Sarasvat[=i] the feast is observed in +August-September; when to Lakshm[=i], in October-November, or in +February. There is, however, another feast, celebrated in the North +and South, which comes on the exact date fixed by the Romans for the +beginning of spring, and as an ending to this there is a feast to +K[=a]ma, Cupid, and his bride Rati ('Enjoyment'). This is the Vasanta, +or spring festival of prosperity and love, which probably was the +first form of the Lakshm[=i]-Sarasvat[=i] feast. + +Another traditional feast of this month is the 10th[49] (the eleventh +lunar day of the light half of M[=a]gha). The eleventh lunar day is +particularly holy with the Vishnuites, as is said in the Brahma +Pur[=a]na, and this is a Vishnuite festival. It is a day of fasting +and prayer, with presents to priests.[50] It appears to be a mixture +of Vedic prayers and domestic Vishnu-worship. On the 11th of February +the fast is continued, and in both the object is expiation of sin. The +latter is called the feast of 'six sesamum acts,' for sesamum is a +holy plant, and in each act of this rite it plays a part. Other rites +of this month are to the Manes on the 14th, 22d, and 24th of February. +Bathing and oblation are requisite, and all are of a lustral and +expiatory nature. Wilson remarks on the fact that it is the same time +of year in which the Romans gave oblations to the Manes, and +that Februus is the god of purification. "There can be no reasonable +doubt that the Feralia of the Romans and the Çr[=a]ddha (feast to the +Manes) of the Hindus, the worship of the Pitris and of the Manes, have +a common character, and had a common origin."[51] + +The 27th of February is the greatest Çivaite day in the year. It +celebrates Çiva's first manifestation of himself in phallic form. To +keep this day holy expiates from all sin, and secures bliss hereafter. +The worshipper must fast and revere the Linga. Offerings are made to +the Linga. It is, of course, a celebration formed of unmeaning +repetitions of syllables and the invocation of female Çaktis, snapping +the fingers, gesticulating, and performing all the humbug called for +by Çivaite worship. The Linga is bathed in milk, decorated, wrapped in +_bilva_ leaves, and prayed to; which ceremony is repeated at intervals +with slight changes. All castes, even the lowest, join in the +exercises. Even women may use the _mantras_.[52] Vigil and fasting are +the essentials of this worship.[53] + +The next festival closes these great spring celebrations. It bears two +names, and originally was a double feast, the first part being the +Dol[=a] Y[=a]tr[=a], or 'Swing-procession,' the second part being the +execrable Holi. They are still kept distinct in some places, and when +this occurs the Dolotsava, or Dol[=a] Y[=a]tr[=a], follows the Holi. +They are both spring festivals, and answer roughly to May-day, though +in India they come at the full moon of March. We have followed +Wilson's enumeration of all the minor spring feasts, that they may be +seen in their entirety. But in ancient times there was probably one +long Vasantotsava (spring-festival), which lasted for weeks, beginning +with a joyous celebration (2d of February) and continuing with lustral +ceremonies, as indicated by the now detached feast days already +referred to. The original cult, in Wilson's opinion, has been changed, +and the Dol[=a] Y[=a]tr[=a] is now given over to the Krishna-cult, +while the Hol[=i] divinity is a hobgoblin. The Dol[=a] Yatr[=a] begins +with fasting and ends (as Hol[=i]) with fire-worship. An image of +Krishna is sprinkled with red powder (_ab[=i]r_), and after this +(religious) ceremony a bonfire[54] is made, and an effigy, Holik[=a], +is put upon it and burned. The figure is carried to the fire in a +religious procession headed by Vishnuite or Brahman priests, of course +accompanied with music and song. After seven circumambulations of the +fire the figure is burned. This is the united observance of the first +day. At dawn on the morning of the second day the image of Krishna is +placed in a swing, _dol[=a]_, and swung back and forth a few times, +which ceremony is repeated at noon and at sunset. During the day, +wherever a swing is put up, and in the vicinity, it is the common +privilege to sprinkle one's friend with the red powder or red +rose-water. Boys and common people run about the streets sprinkling +red water or red powder over all passengers, and using abusive +(obscene) language. The cow-herd caste is conspicuous at this +ceremony. The cow-boys, collecting in parties under a koryphaios, +hold, as it were, a komos, leaping, singing, and dancing[55] through +the streets, striking together the wands which they carry. These +cow-boys not only dress (as do others) in new clothes on this +occasion,[56] but they give their cattle new equipments, and regard +the whole frolic as part of a religious rite in honor of Krishna, the +cow-herd. But all sects take part in the performance (that is to say, +in the Hol[=i] portion), both Çivaites and Vishnuites. When the moon +is full the celebration is at its height. Hol[=i] songs are sung, the +crowd throws _ab[=i]r_ the chiefs feast, and an all-night orgy ends +the long carousal.[57] In the south the Dol[=a] takes place later, and +is distinct from the Hol[=i]. The burning here is of K[=a]ma, +commemorating the love-god's death by the fire of Çiva's eye, when the +former pierced the latter's heart, and inflamed him with love. For +this reason the bonfire is made before a temple of Çiva. K[=a]ma is +gone from the northern cult, and in upper India only a hobgoblin, +Hol[=i], a foul she-devil, is associated with the rite. The whole +performance is described and prescribed in one of the late +Pur[=a]nas.[58] In some parts of the country the bonfire of the +Hol[=i] is made about a tree, to which offerings are made, and +afterwards the whole is set on fire. For a luminous account of the +Hol[=i], which is perhaps the worst open rite of Hinduism, +participated in by all sects and classes, we may cite the words of the +author of _Ante-Brahmanical Religions_: "It has been termed the +Saturnalia or Carnival of the Hindus. Verses the most obscene +imaginable are ordered to be read on the occasion. Figures of men and +women, in the most indecent and disgusting attitudes, are in many +places openly paraded through the streets; the most filthy words are +uttered by persons who, on other occasions, would think themselves +disgraced by the use of them; bands of men parade the street with +their clothes all bespattered with a reddish dye; dirt and filth are +thrown upon all that are seen passing along the road; all business is +at a stand, all gives way to license and riot."[59] + +Besides these the most brilliant festivals are the R[=a]s Y[=a]tr[=a] +in Bengal (September-October), commemorating the dance of Krishna +with the _gop[=i]s_ or milk-maids, and the 'Lamp-festival' +(D[=i]p[=a]l[=a]), also an autumnal celebration. + +The festivals that we have reviewed cover but a part of the year, but +they will suffice to show the nature of such fêtes as are enjoined in +the Pur[=a]nas. There are others, such as the eightfold[60] +temple-worship of Krishna as a child, in July or August; the marriage +of Krishna's idol to the Tulasi plant; the Awakening of Vishnu, in +October, and so forth. But no others compare in importance with the +New Year's and Spring festivals, except the Bengal idol-display of +Jagann[=a]th, the Rath Y[=a]tr[=a] of 'Juggernaut'; and some others of +local celebrity, such as the D[=u]rg[=a]-p[=u]j[=a].[61] The temples, +to which reference has often been made, have this in common with the +great Çivaite festivals, that to describe them in detail would be but +to translate into words images and wall-paintings, the obscenity of +which is better left undescribed. This, of course, is particularly +true of the Çiva temples, where the actual Linga is perhaps, as Barth +has said, the least objectionable of the sights presented to the eye +of the devout worshipper. But the Vishnu temples are as bad. +Architecturally admirable, and even wonderful, the interior is but a +display of sensual immorality.[62] + + +HISTORY OF THE HINDU TRINITY. + +In closing the Puranic period (which name we employ loosely to cover +such sects as are not clearly modern) we pause for a moment to cast a +glance backwards over the long development of the trinity, to the +units of which are devoted the individual Pur[=a]nas. We have shown +that the childhood-tales of Krishna are of late (Puranic) origin, and +that most of the cow-boy exploits are post-epic. Some are referred to +in the story of Çiçup[=a]la in the second book of the +Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata, but this scene has been touched up by a late hand. +The Vishnu Pur[=a]na, typical of the best of the Pur[=a]nas, as in +many respects it is the most important and interesting, represents +Krishnaite Vishnuism as its height. Here is described the birth of the +man-god as a black, _k[r.][s.][n.]a,_ baby, son of Nanda, and his real +title is here Govinda, the cow-boy.[63] 'Cow-boy' corresponds to the +more poetical, religious shepherd; and the milk-maids, _gopis_ with +whom Govinda dallies as he grows up, may, perhaps, better be rendered +shepherdesses for the same reason. The idyllic effect is what is aimed +at in these descriptions. Here Krishna plays his rude and rustic +tricks, upsetting wagons, overthrowing trees and washermen, +occasionally killing them he dislikes, and acting altogether much like +a cow-boy of another sort. Here he puts a stop to Indra-worship, +over-powers Çiva, rescues Aniruddha, marries sixteen thousand +princesses, burns Benares, and finally is killed himself, he the one +born of a hair of Vishnu, he that is Vishnu himself, who in 'goodness' +creates, in 'darkness' destroys,[64] under the forms of Brahm[=a] and +Çiva.[65] + +In Vishnu, as a development of the Vedic Vishnu; in Çiva, as +affiliated to Rudra; in Brahm[=a], as the Brahmanic third to these +sectarian developments, the trinity has a real if remote connection +with the triune fire of the Rig Veda, a two-thirds connection, filled +out with the addition of the later Brahmanic head of the gods. + +To ignore the fact that Vishnu and Rudra-Çiva developed inside the +Brahmanic circle and increased in glory before the rise of sectaries, +and to asseverate, as have some, that the two chief characters of the +later trinity are an unmeaning revival of decadent gods, whose names +are used craftily to veil the modernness of Krishnaism and +Çivaism,--this is to miscalculate the waxing dignity of these gods in +earlier Brahmanic literature. To say with Burnouf that the Vishnu of +the Veda is not at all the Vishnu of the mythologists, is a statement +far too sweeping. The Vishnu of the Veda is not only the same god with +the Vishnu of the next era, but in that next era he has become greatly +magnified. The Puranic All-god Vishnu stands in as close a relation to +his Vedic prototype as does Milton's Satan to the snaky slanderer of +an age more primitive. + +Çiva-worship appears to have been adapted from a local cult in the +mountainous West, and at an early date to have been amalgamated with +that of his next resemblance, the Vedic Rudra; while Krishna-worship +flourished along the Ganges. These are those Dionysos and Herakles of +whom speak the old Greek authorities. One cult is possibly as +venerable as the other, but while Çivaism became Brahmanized early, +Krishnaism was adopted much later, and it is for this reason, amongst +others, that despite its modern iniquities Çiva has appealed more to +the Brahman than has Krishna. + +Megasthenes tells us a good deal about these Hindu representatives of +Herakles and Dionysos. According to him there were Dionysiac festivals +in honor of the latter god (Çiva),[66] who belongs where flourishes +the wine, in the Açvaka district, north of the Kabul river. From this +place Çiva's worship extended into the East, M[=a]gadha (Beh[=a]r), +around Gokarna in the West, and even to the Kalinga country in the +extreme Southeast. But it was especially native to the mountainous +Northwest, about the 'Gate of Ganges' (north of Delhi, near +Saharampur), and still further north in Kashmeer. In the epic, Çiva +has his throne on K[=a]il[=a]sa,[67] the Northern mountain, in the +Him[=a]layas, and Ganges descend from the sky upon his head. + +On the other hand, Herakles, of the Ganges land, where grows no wine, +is plainly Krishna, who carries club, discus, and conch. The Greek +cities Methora and Kleisobora are Mathur[=a] and Krishna-pur, +'Krishna-town'; the latter on the Jumna, the former near it on the +same river, capital of the clan which venerated Krishna as its chief +hero and god, the Y[=a]davas. Megasthenes says, also, that Herakles' +daughter is Pandaie, and this agrees with the P[=a]ndya, a southern +development of the epic Gangetic P[=a]ndavas, who especially worship +Krishna in conjunction with the Y[=a]davas. Their South-Indic town, +Mathur[=a], still attests their origin. + +In speaking of the relative antiquity of Vishnuism and Çivaism one +must distinguish the pantheistic form of these gods from the single +forms. While Çivaism,_per se_, that is, the worship of Çiva as a great +and terrible god, preceded the same exaltation of Krishna, as is shown +by their respective literary appearance, and even by Megasthenes' +remark that the worship of Dionysos preceded that of Herakles by +fifteen generations, yet did Krishnaism, as a popular pantheism, come +before Çivaism as such. Although in the late Çvet[=a]çvatara Upanishad +Çiva is pantheistic, yet is he not so in the epic till some of the +latest passages make him the All, in imitation of Krishna as All-god. +Probably Çivaism remained by the first philosophy, Sankhyan dualism, +and was forced into Krishna's Vedantic pantheism, as this became +popular. At first neither was more than a single great god without any +philosophy.[68] + +In one of the early exegetical works, which is occupied somewhat with +philosophical matter, there is evidence that a triad existed between +the Vedic triad of fires and the Puranic triad. Fire, Wind (or Indra), +and the Sun (S[=u]rya), are stated in a famous passage to be the only +real gods, all the others being but names of these. But, although in +form this triad (Nirukta, vii. 4, 5) is like the Vedic triad,[69] it +is essentially a triad in a pantheistic system like that of the epic +and Pur[=a]nas, for it is added that "all the gods are parts of one +soul." In explanation it is said: "Fire is the earth-god, Wind, or +Indra, is the god of the atmosphere, and the sun is the god of the +sky." Now in the Rig Veda Indra is closely united not only with Agni +but with Vishnu, albeit in this period Vishnu is his subordinate. The +nearest approach of this Vishnu to his classical descendant is in one +of the latest hymns of the Rig Veda, where it is said that the seven +seeds of creation are Vishnu's, as in later times he comprises seven +males. In the philosophy of the T[=a]ittir[=i]ya Samhit[=a] the three +places of Vishnu are not, as in the Rig Veda, the two points of the +horizon (where the sun sets) and the zenith, but 'earth, air, and +sky.'[70] That is to say, in the Brahmanic period Vishnu is already a +greater god than he had been. Nay, more, he is explicitly declared to +be +"the best of the gods."[71] That best means greatest may be shown from +the same work, where in savage fable it is recited that all the gods, +including Indra, ran up to him to get his strength.[72] But especially +in the Upanishads is Vishnu the one great god left from the Rig Veda. +And it is with the philosophical (not with the ritualistic) Vishnu +that Krishna is equated. + +Of Çiva, on the other hand, the prototype is Rudra ('red'), his +constant sobriquet. In the Rig Veda he is the god of red lightning, +who is the father of the Maruts, the storm-gods. His attributes of a +fulgurant god are never lost. Even as Çiva the All-god he is still the +god of the blue neck, whose three-forked trident and home among the +mountains remind us of his physical origin. He is always the fairest +of the gods, and both early and late he is terrible, to be averted by +prayer, even where his magic 'medicines' are asked for. To him are +addressed the most suppliant cries: "O Rudra, spare us, strike not the +men, slay not the kine." In the Atharva Veda at every step one finds +characteristics which on the one hand are but exaggerations of the +type formulated in the Rig Veda, and on the other precursors of the +signs of the later god. In Çivaism, in contradistinction to Vishnuism, +there is not a trace of the euhemerism which has been suspected in the +Krishna-Vishnu cult. The Rudra of the Rig Veda already begins to be +identified with the triune fire, for he bears the standing epithet of +fire, "he of three mothers."[73] And this name he keeps, whether as +Rudra, who is "brilliant as the sun" (RV. i. 43. 5), whose weapon is +"the shining one that is emitted from the sky and passes along the +earth" (_ib_. vii. 46. 3); or again, as the "red boar of the sky," +the "holder of the bolt" (_ib._ ii. 33. 3), and, above all gods, "the +terrible" (x. 126. 5). + +Coming to the Brahmanic period one finds him a dweller in the mountain +tops, of a red color, with a blue neck, the especial lord of the +mountains, and so of robbers; while he is also the 'incantation-god,' +the 'god of low people.' Some of these are Rudra's attributes; but +here his name is already Çiva, so that one may trace the changes down +the centuries till he finds again in the epic that Çiva is the lord of +mountains, the patron of thieves (Hara, robber?), and endowed with the +trident, the blue neck,[74] and the three mothers of old. In the +middle period he has so many titles that one probably has to accept in +the subsequent Çiva not only the lineal descendant of the Vedic Rudra, +but also a combination of other local cults, where clan gods, +originally diverse, were worshipped as one in consequence of their +mutual likeness. One of the god's especial names is here Bhava, while +in the earlier period Bhava and Rudra are distinct, but they are +invoked as a pair (AV).[75] What gives Çiva his later tremendous +popularity, however, is the feature to which we have alluded in the +chapter on the epic. In the epic, all the strength of Çiva lies in the +Linga.[76] Both Bhava and Rudra, as Çarva, the archer--his local +eastern name--are represented as hurling the lightning, and it is +simply from identity of attributes that they have become identified in +person (AV. x. i. 23). Rudra's title of Paçupati, or 'lord of +cattle'[77] goes back to the Vedic age: "Be kind to the kine of him +who believes in the gods" is a prayer of the Atharva Veda (xi. 2. 28). +Agni and Rudra, in the Rig-Veda, are both called 'cattle-guarding,' +but not for the same reason. Agni represents a fire-stockade, while +Rudra in kindness does not strike with his lightning-bolt. The two +ideas, with the identification of Rudra and Agni, may have merged +together. Then too, Rudra has healing medicines (his magical side), +and Agni is kindest to men. All Agni's names are handed over in the +Br[=a]hmanas to Rudra-Çiva, just as Rudra previously had taken the +epithets of P[=u]shan (above), true to his robber-name. To ignore the +height to which at this period is raised the form of Rudra-Çiva is +surely unhistorical; so much so that we deem it doubtful whether +Çiva-invocations elsewhere, as in the S[=u]tra referred to above, +should be looked upon as interpolations. In the M[=a]itr[=a]yan[=i] +Collection, the Rudrajapas, the invocations to Rudra as the greatest +god, the highest spirit, the lord of beings (Bhava), are expressly to +Çiva Giriça, the mountain-lord (2. 9; Schroeder, p. 346). In the +[=A]itareya Br[=a]hmana it evidently is Rudra-Çiva, the god of ghastly +forms (made by the gods, it is said, as a composite of all the 'most +horrible parts' of all the gods), who is deputed to slay the +Father-god (when the latter, as a beast, commits incest with his +daughter), and chooses as his reward for the act the office of 'lord +of cattle.'[78] This is shown clearly by the fact that the fearsome +Rudra is changed to the innocuous Rudriya in the next paragraph. As an +example of how in the Br[=a]hmanas Rudra-Çiva has taken to himself +already the powers of Agni, the great god of the purely sacrificial +period, may be cited Çat. Br. vi. 1. 3. 10 and 2. 1. 12. Here Agni is +Kum[=a]ra, Rudra, Çarva (Sarva)[79], Paçupati (lord of beasts), +Bh[=a]irava (terrible), Açani (lightning), Bhava (lord of beings), +Mah[=a]deva (great god), the Lord--his 'thrice three names.' But where +the Br[=a]hmana assumes that these are names of Agni it is plain that +one has Rudra-Çiva in process of absorbing Agni's honors. + +The third element in the Pur[=a]nic trinity,[80] identified with the +Father-god, genealogically deserves his lower position. His rivals are +of older lineage. The reason for his inferior position is, +practically, that he has little to do with man. Being already created, +man takes more interest in the gods that preserve and destroy.[81] +Even Brahm[=a]'s old exploits are, as we have shown, stolen from him +and given over to Vishnu. The famous (totemistic) tortoise legend was +originally Brahm[=a]'s, and so with others of the ten 'forms' of +Vishnu, for instance the boar-shape, in which Vishnu manifests +himself, and the fish-shape of Brahm[=a] (epic) in the flood-story. +The formal _trim[=u]rti_ or _tr[=a]ipurusha_ ('three persons') is a +late figure. It would seem that a Harihara (Vishnu and Çiva as one) +preceded the trinity, though the dual name is not found till quite +late.[82] But, as we showed above, the epic practically identifies +Vishnu and Çiva as equals, before it unites with these Brahm[=a] as an +equal third. + +There arises now the further question whether sectarian Vishnuism be +the foisting of Krishnaism upon a dummy Vishnu. We think that, stated +in this way, such scarcely can have been the case. Neither of the +great sects is professedly of priestly origin, but each, like other +sects, claims Vedic authority, and finds Brahmanical support. We have +said that Vishnu is raised to his position without ictic suddenness. +He is always a god of mystic character, in short, a god for philosophy +to work upon. He is recognized as the highest god in one of the oldest +Upanishads. And it is with the philosopher's Vishnu that Krishna is +identified. Krishna, the real V[=a]sudeva (for a false V[=a]sudeva is +known also in the epic), is the god of a local cult. How did he +originate? The king of serpents is called Krishna, 'the black,' and +Vishnu reposes upon Çesha Ananta, the world-snake; but a more +historical character than this can be claimed for Krishna. This +god-man must be the same with the character mentioned in the +Ch[=a]ndogya Upanishad, 3. 17. 6. One may notice the similarities +between this Krishna and him of the epic cult. Krishna, son of +Devak[=i], was taught by his teacher, Ghora [=A]ngirasa, that +sacrifice may be performed without objective means; that generosity, +kindness, and other moral traits are the real signs of sacrifice; and +it is then said: "The priest Ghora [=A]ngirasa having said this to +Krishna, the son of Devak[=i]--and the latter was thereby freed from +(thirst) desire--said: "When a man is about to die let him resort to +this triad: 'the imperishable art thou,' 'the unmoved art thou,' +'breath's firmness art thou'; in regard to which are these two verses +in the Rig-Veda:[83] 'till they see the light of the old seed which is +kindled in the sky,' and 'perceiving above the darkness the higher +light, the sun, god among gods, we come to the highest light.'" +Krishna thus learned the abolition of sacrifice, and the worship of +the sun, the highest light (Vishnu), as true being--for this is the +meaning of the philosophical passage taken with its context. Kings and +priests discuss philosophy together in this period,[84] and it would +conform to later tradition to see in the pupil the son of a king. It +is, moreover, significant that the priest, Ghora [=A]ngirasà, is named +specially as priest of the sun-god elsewhere (K[=a]ush. Br. 30. 6), as +well as that Krishna [=A]ngirasa is also the name of a teacher. It is +said in this same Upanishad (3. 1. 1) that the sun is the honey, +delight, of the gods; and this chapter is a meditation on the sun,[85] +of which the dark (_k[r.][s.][n.]a_) form is that which comes from the +Itih[=a]sas and Pur[=a]nas, the fore-runners of the epic (3. 4. 3). +This is taught as a _brahma-upanishad_, a teaching of the absolute, +and it is interesting to see that it is handed down through Brahm[=a], +Praj[=a]pati, and Manu, exactly as Krishna says in the Divine Song +that his own doctrine has been promulgated; while (it is said further) +for him that knows the doctrine 'there is day,' his sun never sets (3. +11. 3-4). It is a doctrine to be communicated only to the eldest son +or a good student, and to no one else (_ib. 5), i.e_., it was new, +esoteric, and of vital importance. Here, too, one finds +Sanatkum[=a]ra, the 'ever young,' as Skanda,[86] yet as an earthly +student also (7. 1; 26. 2), just like Krishna. + +It cannot be imagined, however, that the cult of the Gangetic Krishna +originated with that vague personage whose pupilage is described in +the Upanishad. But this account may still be connected with the epic +Krishna. The epic describes the overthrow of an old Brahmanic Aryan +race at the hands of the P[=a]ndavas, an unknown folk, whose king's +polyandrous marriage (his wife is the spouse of his four brothers as +well as of himself) is an historical trait, connecting the tribe +closely with the polyandrous wild tribes located north of the Ganges. +This tribe attacked the stronghold of Brahmanism in the holy land +about the present Delhi; and their patron god is the Gangetic Krishna. +In the course of the narrative a very few tales are told of Krishna's +early life, but the simple original view of Krishna is that he is a +god, the son of Devak[=i]. The few other tales are late and +adventitious additions, but this is a consistent trait. Modern writers +are fain to see in the antithesis presented by the god Krishna and by +the human hero Krishna, late and early phases. They forget that the +lower side of Krishna is one especially Puranic. In short, they read +history backwards, for theirs is not the Indic way of dealing with +gods. In Krishna's case the tricky, vulgar, human side is a later +aspect, which comes to light most prominently in the Genealogy of +Vishnu and in the Vishnu Pur[=a]na, modern works which in this regard +contrast strongly with the older epic, where Krishna, however he +tricks, is always first the god. It is not till he becomes a very +great, if not the greatest, god that tales about his youthful +performances, when he condescended to be born in low life, begin to +rise. An exact parallel may be seen in the case of Çiva, who at first +is a divine character, assuming a more or less grotesque likeness to a +man; but subsequently he becomes anthropomorphized, and is fitted out +with a sheaf of legends which describe his earthly acts.[87] And so +with Krishna. As the chief god, identified with the All-god, he is +later made the object of encomiums which degrade while they are meant +to exalt him. He becomes a cow-boy and acts like one, a god in a mask. +But in the epic he is the invading tribe's chief god, in process of +becoming identified with that god in the Brahmanic pantheon who most +resembles him. For this tribe, the (Yadavas) P[=a]ndavas, succeeded in +overthrowing the Brahmanic stronghold and became absorbed into the +Brahmanic circle. Their god, who, like most of the supreme gods of +this region among the wild tribes, was the tribal hero as sun-god, +became recognized by the priests as one with Vishnu. In the Upanishad +the priest-philosopher identifies Krishna with the sun as the 'dark +side' (_k[r.][s.][n.]a_, 'dark') of Vishnu, the native name probably +being near enough to the Sanskrit word to be represented by it. The +statement that this clan-god Krishna once learned the great truth that +the sun is the All-god, at the mouth of a Brahman, is what might be +expected. 'Krishna, the son of Devaki,' is not only the god, but he is +also the progenitor of the clan, the mystic forefather, who as usual +is deified as the sun. To the priest he is merely an _avatar_ of +Vishnu. The identity of Krishna with the Gangetic god described by +Megasthenes can scarcely be disputed. The latter as represented by the +Greek is too great a god to have passed away without a sign except for +a foreigner's account. And there is no figure like his except that of +Krishna. + +The numerous _avatars_[88] of Vishnu are first given as ten, then as +twenty, then as twenty-two,[89] and at last become innumerable. The +ten, which are those usually referred to, are as follows: First come +the oldest, the beast-_avatars_, viz., as a fish; as a tortoise;[90] +as a boar (rescuing earth from a flood); and as a man-lion (slaying a +demon). Next comes the dwarf-_avatar_, where Vishnu cheats Bali of +earth by asking, as a dwarf, for three steps of it, and then stepping +out over all of it (the 'three strides' of the Rig Veda). Then come +the human _avatars_, that of Paraçu-R[=a]ma (R[=a]ma with the axe), +Krishna, R[=a]ma[91] (hero of the R[=a]m[=a]yana epic), Buddha, and +Kalki (who is still to come). + +The parallels between the latest Krishna cult and the Biblical +narrative are found only in the Pur[=a]nas and other late works, and +undoubtedly, as we have said in the last chapter, are borrowed from +Christian sources. Krishna is here born in a stable, his father, like +Joseph, going with his virgin spouse to pay taxes. His restoring of a +believing woman's son is narrated only in the modern J[=a]imini +Bh[=a]rata, These tales might have been received through the first +distant Christian mission in the South in the sixth century, but it is +more likely that they were brought directly to the North in the +seventh century; for at that time a Northern king of the V[=a]içya +caste, Çil[=a]ditya (in whose reign the Chinese pilgrim, Hiouen +Thsang, visited India), made Syrian Christians welcome to his court +(639 A.D.).[92] The date of the annual Krishna festival, which is a +reflex of Christmastide, is variously fixed by the Pur[=a]nas as +coming in July or August.[93] + +As Krishna is an _avatar_ of Vishnu[94] in the Bh[=a]rata, and as the +axe-R[=a]ma is another _avatar_ in legend (here Vishnu in the form of +Paraçu-R[=a]ma raises up the priestly caste, and destroys the +warrior-caste), so in the R[=a]m[=a]yana the hero R[=a]ma (not +Paraçu-R[=a]ma) is made an _avatar_ of Vishnu. He is a mythical prince +of Oude (hence a close connection between the R[=a]m[=a]yana +and Buddhism), who is identified with Vishnu. Vishnu wished to +rid earth of the giant R[=a]vana,[95] and to do so took the form of +R[=a]ma. As Krishnaism has given rise to a number of sects that +worship Krishna as Vishnu, so Ramaism is the modern cult of R[=a]ma as +Vishnu. Both of these sects oppose the Vishnuite that is not inclined +to be sectarian; all three oppose the Çivaite; and all four of these +oppose the orthodox Brahman, who assigns supreme godship to Çiva or +Vishnu as little as does the devotee of these gods in unsectarian form +to Krishna or R[=a]ma. + +Çiva is on all sides opposed to Vishnu. The Greek account of the third +century B.C. says that he taught the Hindus to dance the kordax, but +at this time there appears to have been no such phallic worship in his +honor as is recorded in the pseudo-epic. Çiva is known in early +Brahmanic and in Buddhistic writings, and even as the +bearer-of-the-moon, Candraçekhara, he contrasts with Vishnu, as his +lightning-form and mountain-habitat differ from the sun-form and +valley-home of his rival. This dire god is conceived of as ascetic +partly because he is gruesome, partly because he is magical in power. +Hence he is the true type of the awful magical Yogi, and as such +appealed to the Brahman. Originally he is only a fearful magical god, +great, and even all-pervading, but, as seen in the Brahmanic +Çatarudriya hymn, he is at first in no sense a pantheistic deity. In +this hymn there is a significant addition made to the earlier version. +In the first form of the hymn it is said that Rudra, who is here Çiva, +is the god of bucolic people; but the new version adds 'and of all +people.' Here Çiva appears as a wild, diabolical figure, 'the god of +incantations,' whose dart is death; and half of the hymn is taken up +with entreaties to the god to spare the speaker. He is praised, in +conjunction with trees, of which he is the lord, as the one 'clad in +skins,' the 'lord of cattle,' the 'lord of paths,' the 'cheater,' the +'deceiver.' When he is next clearly seen, in the epic, he is the god +to whom are offered human sacrifices, and his special claim to worship +is the phallus; while the intermediate literature shows glimpses of +him only in his simple Brahmanic form of terror. It has long been +known that Çivaite phallic worship was not borrowed from the +Southerners, as was once imagined, and we venture with some scholars +to believe that it was due rather to late Greek influence than to that +of any native wild tribe.[96] + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Parts of the epic are called Pur[=a]nas, as + other parts are called Upanishads. These are the forerunners + of the extant Pur[=a]nas. The name, indeed, is even older + than the epic, belonging to the late Vedic period, where are + grouped together Pur[=a]nas and Itih[=a]sas, 'Ancient + History' and 'Stories'; to which are added 'Eulogies.' Weber + has long since pointed out that even when the 'deeds of + kings' were sung at a ceremony they were wont to be so + embroidered as to be dubbed 'fiction' by the Hindus + themselves. India has neither literary history (save what + can be gleaned from genealogies of doubtful worth), nor very + early inscriptions. The 'archaeology' of the Pur[=a]nas was + probably always what it is in the extant specimens, + legendary material of no direct historical value.] + + [Footnote 2: Strictly speaking to the present + Allah[=a]b[=a]d, where is the Pray[=a]ga, or confluence of + Yamun[=a] and Gang[=a] (Jumna and Ganges).] + + [Footnote 3: M[=a]gadha; called Beh[=a]r from its many + monasteries, _vih[=a]ras_, in Açoka's time.] + + [Footnote 4: So, plausibly, Müller, _loc. cit_. below.] + + [Footnote 5: The tribes became Hinduized, their chiefs became + R[=a]jputs; their religions doubtless affected the ritual + and creed of the civilized as much as the religion of the + latter colored their own. Some of these un-Aryan peoples + were probably part native, part barbaric. There is much + doubt in regard to the dates that depend on accepted eras. + It is not certain, for instance, that, as Müller claims, + Kanishka's inauguration coincides with the Çaka era, 78 A.D. + A great Buddhist council was held under him. Some + distinguished scholars still think with Bühler that + Vikram[=a]ditya's inauguration was 57 B.C. (this date that + used to be assigned to him). From our present point of view + it is of little consequence when this king himself lived. He + is renowned as patron of arts and as a conqueror of the + barbarians. If he lived in the first century B.C. his + conquest amounted to nothing permanent. What is important, + however, is that all Vikram[=a]ditya stands for in legend + must have been in the sixth century A.D. For the drama, of + which he is said to have been patron, represents a religion + distinctly later than that of the body of the epic + (completed in the sixth or seventh century, Bühler, _Indian + Studies_, No. ii.). The dramatic and astronomical era was + but introductory to Kum[=a]rila's reassertion of Brahmanism + in the seventh century, when the Northern barbarian was + gone, and the Mohammedan was not yet rampant. In the rest of + Northern India there were several native dynasties in + different quarters, with different eras; one in Sur[=a]shtra + (Gujar[=a]t), one again in the 'middle district' or 'North + Western Provinces,' one in Kutch; overthrown by Northern + barbarians (in the fifth century) and by the Mohammedans (in + the seventh and eighth centuries), respectively. Of these + the Guptas of the 'middle district,' and the Valabh[=i]s of + Kutch, had neither of the eras just mentioned. The former + dated from 320-321 (perhaps 319), the latter from 190 + (A.D.). The word _samvat_, 'year,' indicates that the time + is dated from either the Çaka or Vikram[=a]ditya era. See + IA. xvii. 362; Fergusson, JRAS. xii. 259; Müller, _India, + What Can It Teach Us_? p. 282; Kielhorn, IA. xix. _24;_ + xxii. 111. The Northern barbarians are called Scythians, or + Huns, or Turanians, according to fancy. No one really knows + what they were.] + + [Footnote 6: The first host was expelled by the Hindus in + 750. After a period of rest Mahmud was crowned in 997, who + overran India more than a dozen times. In the following + centuries the land was conquered and the people crushed by + the second great Mohammedan, Ghori, who died in 1206, + leaving his kingdom to a vassal, Kutab, the 'slave sultan' + of Delhi. In 1294, thus slave dynasty having been recently + supplanted, the new successor to the throne was slain by his + own nephew, Allah-ud-din, who is reckoned as the third + Mohammedan conqueror of India. His successor swept even the + Dekhan of all its Hindu (temple) wealth; but his empire + finally broke down under its own size; preparing the way for + Timur (Tamerlane), who entered India in 1398.] + + [Footnote 7: Çankara himself was not a pure Brahman. Both + Vishnuites and Çivaites lay claim to him.] + + [Footnote 8: Coy as was the Brahman in the adoption of the + new gods he was wise enough to give them some place in his + pantheon, or he would have offended his laity. Thus he + recognizes K[=a]l[=i] as well as Çr[=i]; in fact he prefers + to recognize the female divinities of the sects, for they + offer less rivalry.] + + [Footnote 9: There was a general revival of letters + antedating the Brahmanic theological revival. The drama, + which reflects equally Hinduism and Brahmanism, is now the + favorite light literature of the cultured. In the sixth + century the first astronomical works are written + (Var[=a]hamihira, who wrote the _B[r.]hat Sa[.m]hit[=a]_), + and the group of writers called the Nine Gems (reckoned of + Vikram[=a]ditya's court) are to be referred to this time. + The best known among them is K[=a]lid[=a]sa, author of the + _Çakuntal[=a]_. An account of this Renaissance, as he calls + it, will be found in Müller's _India, What Can It Teach Us_? + The learned author is perhaps a little too sweeping in his + conclusions. It is, for instance, tolerably certain that the + Bh[=a]rata was completed by the time the 'Renaissance' + began; so that there is no such complete blank as he assumes + prior to Vikram[=a]ditya. But the general state of affairs + is such as is depicted in the ingenious article referred to. + The sixth and seventh centuries were eras that introduced + modern literature under liberal native princes, who were + sometimes not R[=a]jputs at all. Roughly speaking, one may + reckon from 500 B.C. to the Christian era as a period of + Buddhistic control, Graeco-Bactrian invasion, and Brahmanic + decline. The first five centuries after the Christian see + the two religions in a state of equilibrium, under Scythian + control, and the Mah[=a]-Bh[=a]rata, the expanded + Bh[=a]rata, is written. From 500 to 1000 is an era of native + rulers, Brahmanic revival in its pure form, and Hindu + growth, with little trouble from the Mohammedans. Then for + five centuries the horrors of Moslem conquest.] + + [Footnote 10: Har. 10,662. Compare the laudation of 'the two + gods' in the same section.] + + [Footnote 11: As the Jains have Angas and Up[=a]ngas, and as + the pseudo-epic distinguishes Nishads and Upanishads, so the + Brahman has Pur[=a]nas and Upapur[=a]nas (K[=u]rma + Pur[=a]na, i. p. 3). Some of the sects acknowledge only six + Pur[=a]nas as orthodox.] + + [Footnote 12: As an example of a Puranic Smriti (legal) we + may cite the trash published as the + V[r.]ddha-H[=a]rita-Sa[.m]hit[=a]. Here there is polemic + against Çiva; one must worship Jagann[=a]th with flowers, + and every one must be branded with the Vishnu disc + (_cakra_). Even women and slaves are to use _mantras_, etc.] + + [Footnote 13: The lateness of this law-book is evident from + its advocacy of _suttee_ (XXV. 14), its preference for + female ancestors (see below), etc.] + + [Footnote 14: Manu, III. 89; XII. 121.] + + [Footnote 15: As, for example, in K[=u]rma Pur[=a]na, XVI. + p. 186, where is found a common epic verse description of + battle.] + + [Footnote 16: A good instance of this is found in Brihan + N[=a]rad[=i]ya Pur[=a]na, X., where the _churik[=a]_ and + _drugha[n.]a_ (24) appear in an imitative scene of this + sort; one of these being later, the other earlier, than the + epic vocabulary.] + + [Footnote 17: Perhaps the most striking distinction between + Vedic and Puranic, or one may say, Indic Aryan and Hindu + religions, is the emphasis laid in the former upon Right; in + the latter, upon idols. The Vedic religion insists upon the + law of right (order), that is, the sacrifice; but it insists + also upon right as rectitude, truth, holiness. Puranic + Hinduism insists upon its idols; only incidentally does it + recommend rectitude, truth, abstract holiness.] + + [Footnote 18: KP. i. p. 29.] + + [Footnote 19: K[=u]rma, xii. p. 102. Contrast _ib_. xxii. p. + 245, _caturvy[=u]hadhara Vishnur avy[=u]has procyate_ + (elsewhere _navavy[=u]ha_). Philosophically, in the doctrine + of the epic P[=a]ñcar[=a]tras (still held by some + sectaries), Vishnu is to be revered as Krishna, Balar[=a]ma, + Pradymana, Aniruddha (Krishna's brother, son, and grandson), + representing, respectively, _[=a]tm[=a], j[=i]va,_ supreme + and individual spirit, perception, and consciousness. + Compare Mbh[=a]. xii. 340. 8, 72.] + + [Footnote 20: KP. xxi. p. 236; xxii. p. 238, etc.] + + [Footnote 21: _ib._ I, p. 23.] + + [Footnote 22: Compare Brihan N[=a]radiya Pur[=a]na, xiv. 10, + _bah[=u]ni k[=a][s.][t.]hay[=a]ntr[=a][n.]i_ (torture + machines) in hell. The old tale of N[=a]çiketas is retold at + great length in the Var[=a]ha Pur[a=]na. The oldest + Pur[=a]na, the M[=a]rkandeya, has but seven hells, a + conception older than Manu's twenty-one (compare on MP. x. + 80 ff., Scherman, _loc. cit_. p. 33), or the later lists of + thousands. The Padma Pur[=a]na, with celebrates R[=a]ma, has + also seven hells, and is in part old, for it especially + extols Pushkara (Brahm[=a]'s lone shrine); but it recommends + the _taptamudra_, or branding with hot iron.] + + [Footnote 23: Nar. xiv. 2.] + + [Footnote 24: xiv. 54 and 70.] + + [Footnote 25: KP. xxii. pp, 239-241.] + + [Footnote 26: As will be shown below, it is possible that + this may be a ceremony first taken from the wild tribes. See + the 'pole' rite described above in the epic.] + + [Footnote 27: Compare for instance _ib_. xxviii. 68, on the + strange connection of a Ç[=u]dr[=a] wife of a Guru.] + + [Footnote 28: KP. xxxvi. It is of course impossible to say + how much epic materials come from the literary epic and how + much is drawn from popular poetry, for the vulgar had their + own epoidic songs which may have treated of the same topics. + Thus even a wild tribe (Gonds) is credited with an 'epic.' + But such stuff was probably as worthless as are the popular + songs of today.] + + [Footnote 29: KP. xxx. p. 305; xxxvii. p. 352.] + + [Footnote 30: _ib._ p. 355.] + + [Footnote 31: Compare N[=a]rad[=i]ya, xi. 23,27,31 'the one + whom no one knows,' 'he that rests in the heart,' 'he that + seems to be far off because we do not know,' 'he whose form + is Çiva, lauded by Vishnu,' xiii. 201.] + + [Footnote 32: Even Vishnu as a part of a part of the Supreme + Spirit in VP. is indicated by Vishnu's adoration of + _[=a]tm[=a]_ in the epic (see above).] + + [Footnote 33: Compare Williams' _Brahmanism and Hinduism_.] + + [Footnote 34: Çankara's adherents are chiefly Çivaite, but + he himself was not a sectary. Williams says that at the + present day few worship Çiva exclusively, but he has more + partial adherents than has Vishnu. _Religious Thought and + Life,_ pp. 59, 62.] + + [Footnote 35: The two last are just recognized in Brahmanic + legal works.] + + [Footnote 36: See Wilson's sketch of Hindu sects. The author + says that there were in his day two shrines to Brahm[=a], + one in [=A]jm[=i]r (compare Pushkara in the epic), and one + on the Ganges at Bithur. The Brahma Pur[=a]na is known also + as S[=a]ura (sun). This is the first in the list; in its + present state it is Vishnuite.] + + [Footnote 37: Sun-worship (Iranian?) is especially + pronounced in the Bhav[=i]shya(t) Pur[=a]na. Of the other + Pur[=a]nas the L[=i]nga is especially Çivaite (_linga_ is + phallus), as are the Matsya and older V[=a]yu. Sometimes + Çiva is androgynous, _ardhan[=a]r[=i]çvara_, 'half-female.' + But most of the Pur[=a]nas are Vishnuite.] + + [Footnote 38: On the Ganeça Pur[=a]na see JRAS. 1846, p. + 319.] + + [Footnote 39: The worshippers of Bhagavat were originally + distinct from the P[=a]ñcar[=a]tras, but what was the + difference between them is unknown. The sect of this name in + the pseudo-epic is not Ç[=a]kta in expression but only + monotheistic. Probably the names of many sects are retained + with altered beliefs and practices. The Vishnu Pur[=a]na, i. + 11. 54, gives a model prayer which may be taken once for all + as the attitude of the Vishnuite: "Glory to V[=a]sudeva, him + of perfected wisdom, whose unrevealed form is (known as) + Brahm[=a], Vishnu, and Çiva" (Hira[n.]yagarbha, Purusha, + Pradh[=a]na).] + + [Footnote 40: Weber shows for instance, _loc. cit_., that + Indra takes the place of older Varuna; that the house-priest + yields to the Brahm[=a]; that in this feast in honor of the + king he] + + [Footnote 41: Gover, JRAS. v. 91; IA. xx. 430.] + + [Footnote 42: In Hinduism itself there is a striking example + of this. The Jagann[=a]th ('Juggernaut') temple was once + dedicated to Buddha as _loka-n[=a]th_ or _jagan-n[=a]th_, + 'saviour of the world' Name, temple, and idol-car are now + all Vishnu's!] + + [Footnote 43: That is, Rain and Sun, for all Indra's warlike + qualities are forgotten, absorbed into those of Çiva and his + son, the battle-god. The sun crosses the equator at noon of + the second day, the 'Mah[=a] Pongol.'] + + [Footnote 44: "Now every neck is bent, for the surface of + the waters disturbed. Then with a heave, a hiss, and a surge + of bubbles, the seething milk mounts to the top of the + vessel. Before it has had time to run down the blackened + sides, the air resounds with the sudden joyous cry of + 'Pongol, oh Pongol, S[=u]rya, S[=u]rya, oh Pongol,' The word + Pongol means "boiling," from the Tamil word _pongu_, to + boil; so that the joyous shout is, 'It boils, oh S[=u]rya, + it boils.' In a moment a convulsion of greetings animates + the assembly. Every one seizes his neighbor and asks, 'Has + it boiled?' Both faces gleam with delight as the answer + comes--'It has boiled.' Then both shout at the top of their + voices--'Oh Pongol, Pongol, oh S[=u]rya, oh Indra, Pongol, + Pongol.'" Gorer, _loc. cit_.] + + [Footnote 45: The Crocodile, _makara_, like the parrot, is + sacred to K[=a]madeva, Love. But as Ganges also is holy it + is difficult to say for which divinity the offering was + intended. Some, indeed, interpret _makara_ as dolphin.] + + [Footnote 46: A feast now neglected, though kept up by + strict Brahmans, occurs on or about the 20th January. The + orthodox adherents of the Çivaite sects and Ç[=a]ktas also + observe it. It is a Çr[=a]ddha, or funeral feast to the + Manes. Also on the 26th and 30th January there are rites + nearly obsolete, the first being signalized by offerings to + Yama; the second, a Çivaite feast (to his spouse, as 'giver + of bridegrooms'). The list is more celebrated in the South + than in the North. It is interesting chiefly as a parallel + to St. Valentine's day, or, as Wilson says, the nearer feast + of St. Agnes (21st January) on the eve of which divination + is practiced to discover future husbands. It is this time + also that the Greeks call 'marriage-month' (Gamelion); and + the fourth day from the new moon (which gives the name to + this Hindu festival, _caturth[=i]_, "fourth day") is the day + when Hesiod recommends the bringing home of the bride.] + + [Footnote 47: In case any writing has to be done on this day + it is done with chalk, not with the pens, "which have a + complete holiday" (Wilson).] + + [Footnote 48: The invocations show very well how the worship + of Brahm[=a] has been driven out in honor of his more + powerful rivals. For Sarasvat[=i] is invoked first as "Thou + without whom Brahm[=a] never lives"; but again as "Thou of + eight forms, Lakshm[=i], Medh[=a], Dhav[=a], Pusht[=i], + G[=a]ur[=i], Tusht[=i], Prabh[=a], Dhriti, O Sarasvat[=i]." + The great festivals, like the great temples, are not very + stricly sectarian. Williams says that in Çiva's temple in + Benares are kept monkeys (sacred to Vishnu).] + + [Footnote 49: Between this and the last occur minor + holidays, one to avert small-pox; one (February the 4th) + sacred to the sun (Sunday, the seventh day of each lunar + fortnight, is strictly observed); and one to the Manes.] + + [Footnote 50: Fasting is not necessarily a part of civilized + religion alone. It is found in the Brahmanic and Hindu + cults, but it obtains also among the American Indians. Thus + the Dacotahs fast for two or three days at the worship of + sun and moon. Schoolcraft, _Histor. and Statist_., iii. + 227.] + + [Footnote 51: The last clause (meaning 'common historical + origin') were better omitted.] + + [Footnote 52: Except the mystic syllable _[=O]m_, supposed + to represent the trinity (_[=O]m_ is _a, u, m_), though + probably it was originally only an exclamation.] + + [Footnote 53: A small Vishnu festival in honor of Vishnu as + 'man-lion' (one of his ten _avatars_) is celebrated on the + 13th of March; but in Bengal in honor of the same god as a + cow-boy. On the 15th of March there is another minor + festival in Bengal, but it is to Çiva, or rather to one of + his hosts, under the form of a water pot (that is to + preserve from disease).] + + [Footnote 54: The bonfire is made of fences, door posts, + furniture, etc. Nothing once seized and devoted to the fire + may be reclaimed, but the owner may defend his property if + he can. Part of the horse-play at this time consists in + leaping over the fire, which is also ritualistic with same + of the hill-tribes.] + + [Footnote 55: Compare the Nautch dances on R[=a]macandra's + birthday. Religious dances, generally indecent, are also a + prominent feature of the religions of the wild tribes (as + among American and African savages, Greeks, etc., etc.).] + + [Footnote 56: The 'Easter bonnet' in Indic form.] + + [Footnote 57: In sober contrast stands the yearly orthodox + Çráddha celebration (August-September), though Brahmans join + in sectarian fêtes.] + + [Footnote 58: Wilson draws an elaborate parallel between the + Hol[=i] and the Lupercalia, etc. (Carnival). But the points + of contact are obvious. One of the customs of the Hol[=i] + celebration is an exact reproduction of April-Fool's day. + Making "Hol[=i] fools" is to send people on useless errands, + etc. (Festum Stultorum, at the Vernal Equinos, transferred + by the Church to the first of November, "Innocents' Day").] + + [Footnote 59: Stevenson, JRAS. 1841, p. 239; Williams, + _loc. cit._; Wilkins, _Modern Hinduism_, ch. III.] + + [Footnote 60: The daily service consists in dressing, + bathing, feeding, etc It is divided into eight ridiculous + ceremonies, which prolong the worship through the day.] + + [Footnote 61: The brilliant displays attracted the notice of + the Greeks, who speak of the tame tigers and panthers, the + artificial trees carried in wagons, the singing, + instrumental music, and noise, which signalized a fête + procession. See Williams, _loc. cit_.] + + [Footnote 62: Such, for instance, is the most holy temple of + South India, the great temple of Çr[=i]rangam at + Trichinopoly. The idol car, gilded and gaudy, is carved with + obscenity; the walls and ceilings are frescoed with + bestiality. It represents Vishnu's heaven.] + + [Footnote 63: From this name or title comes the Gita + Govinda, a mystic erotic poem (in praise of the cow-boy god) + exaltedly religious as it is sensual (twelfth century).] + + [Footnote 64: VP.l. 2. 63. The 'qualities' or 'conditions' + of God's being are referred to by 'goodness' and + 'darkness.'] + + [Footnote 65: All this erotic vulgarity is typical of the + common poetry of the people, and is in marked contrast to + the chivalrous, but not love-sick, Bh[=a]rata.] + + [Footnote 66: Compare Duncker, LII^5. p. 327, More doubtful + is the identification of Nysian and Nish[=a]dan, _ib_. note. + Compare, also, Schroeder, _loc. cit._ p. 361. Arrian calls + (Çiva) Dionysos the _[Greek: oitou dotêra Iudêis]_ + (Schwanbeck, Fig. 1.).] + + [Footnote 67: This remains always as Çiva's heaven in + distinction from Goloka or V[=a]ikuntha, Vishnu's heaven. + Nowadays Benares is the chief seat of Çivaism.] + + [Footnote 68: The doctrine of the immaculate conception, + common to Vishnuism and Buddhism (above, p.431), can have no + exact parallel in Çivaism, for Çiva is not born as a child; + but it seems to be reflected in the laughable ascription of + virginity to Um[=a] (Civa's wife), when she is revered as + the emblem of motherhood.] + + [Footnote 69: In RV. v. 41. 4, the Vedic triad is Fire, + Wind, and (Tr[=i]ta of the sky) Indra; elsewhere Fire, Wind, + and Sun (above, p. 42), distinct from the triune fire.] + + [Footnote 70: In the Rig Veda the three steps are never thus + described, but in the later age this view is common. It is, + in fact, only on the 'three steps' that the identity with + the sun is established. In RV. 1. 156. 4, Vishnu is already + above Varuna.] + + [Footnote 71: Çat. Br. xiv. 1. 1. 5.] + + [Footnote 72: For other versions see Mulr, _Original + Sanskrit Texts_, iv. p. 127 ff.] + + [Footnote 73: Later interpreted as wives or eyes.] + + [Footnote 74: For an epic guess at the significance of the + title _n[=i]laka[n.][t.]ha_, 'blue-throated,' see Mbh[=a] i. + 18. 43.] + + [Footnote 75: AV. iv. 28; viii. 2; xi. 2. Thus even in the + Rig Veda pairs of gods are frequently besung as one, as if + they were divinities not only homogeneous but even + monothelous.] + + [Footnote 76: Brahm[=a]'s mark in the lotus; Vishnu's, the + discus (sun); Çiva's, the Linga, phallic emblem.] + + [Footnote 77: The grim interpretation of later times makes + the cattle (to be sacrificed) _men_. The theological + interpretation is that Çiva is the lord of the spirit, which + is bound like a beast.] + + [Footnote 78: The commenter, horrified by the murder of the + Father-god, makes Rudra kill 'the sin'; but the original + shows that it is the Father-god who was shot by this god, + who chose as his reward the lordship over kine; and such + exaltation is not improbable (moreover, it is historical!). + The hunting of the Father-god by Rudra is pictured in the + stars (Orion), Ait. Br. iii. 33.] + + [Footnote 79: See Weber. _Ind. St._ ii. 37; Muir, iv. 403. + Çarva (Çaurva) is Avestan, but at the same time it is his + 'eastern' name, while Bhava is his western name. Çat. Br. i. + 7. 3. 8.] + + [Footnote 80: The epic (_loc. cit_. above), the Pur[=a]nas, + and the very late Atharva Çiras Upanishad and M[=a]itr. Up. + (much interpolated). Compare Muir, _loc. cit_. pp. 362-3.] + + [Footnote 81: According to the epic, men honor gods that + kill, Indra, Rudra, and so forth; not gods that are passive, + such as Brahm[=a], the Creator, and P[=u]shan (xii. 15. 18), + _ya eva dev[=a] hant[=a]ras t[=a]l loko 'rcayate + bh[=r.]ça[=.m], na Brahm[=a][n.]am_.] + + [Footnote 82: Barth seems to imply that Harihara (the name) + is later than the _trim[=u]rti_ (p. 185), but he has to + reject the passage in the Hari-va[.n]ça to prove this. On + Ayen[=a]r, a southern god said to be Hari-Hara + (Vishnu-Çiva), see Williams, _loc. cit_.] + + [Footnote 83: RV. viii. 6. 30; 1. 50. 10. Weber refers + Krishna further back to a priestly Vedic poet of that name, + to whom are attributed hymns of the eighth and tenth books + of the Rig Veda (_Janm[=a][s.][t.]am[=i]_, p. 316). He + interprets Krishna's mother's name, Devak[=i], as 'player' + _(ib)_ But the change of name in a Vedic hymn has no special + significance. The name Devak[=i] is found applied to other + persons, and its etymology is rather _deva_, divine, as + Weber now admits (Berl. Ak. 1890, p. 931).] + + [Footnote 84: In the epic, also, kings become hermits, and + perform great penance just as do the ascetic priests. + Compare the heroes themselves, and i. 42. 23 _raja + mah[=a]tap[=a]s_; also ii. 19, where a king renounces his + throne, and with his two wives becomes a hermit in the + woods. In i. 41. 31 a king is said to be equal to ten + priests!] + + [Footnote 85: In fact, the daily repetition of the + S[=a]vitr[=i] is a tacit admission of the sun god as the + highest type of the divine; and Vishnu is the most + spiritualized form of the sun-god, representing even in the + Rig-Veda the goal of the departing spirit.] + + [Footnote 86: Skanda (Subrahmanya) and Ganeça are Çiva's two + sons, corresponding to Krishna and R[=a]ma. Skanda's own son + is Viç[=a]kha, a _graha_ (above, p. 415).] + + [Footnote 87: Çiva at the present day, for instance, is + represented now and then as a man, and he is incarnate as + V[=i]rabhadra. But all this is modern, and contrasts with + the older conception. It is only in recent times, in the + South, that he is provided with an earthly history. Compare + Williams, _Thought and Life,_ p. 47.] + + [Footnote 88: _Ava-t[=a]ra_, 'descent,' from _ava_, 'down,' + and _tar_, 'pass' (as in Latin in-_trare_).] + + [Footnote 89: In the _Bh[=a]gavata Pur[=a]na_.] + + [Footnote 90: The tortoise _avatar_ had a famous temple two + centuries ago, where a stone tortoise received prayer. How + much totemism lies in these _avatars_ it is guess-work to + say.] + + [Footnote 91: Balar[=a]ma (or Baladeva), Krishna's elder + brother, is to be distinguished from R[=a]ma. The former is + a late addition to the Krishna-cult, and belongs with Nanda, + his reputed father. Like Krishna, the name is also that of a + snake, Naga, and it is not impossible that Naga worship may + be the foundation of the Krishna-cult, but it would be hard + to reconcile this with tradition. In the sixth century + Var[=a]hamihira recognizes both the brothers.] + + [Footnote 92: Edkins, cited by Müller, _India_, p. 286.] + + [Footnote 93: Weber, _Janm[=a][s.][t.]am[=i]_, pp. 259, 318. + Weber describes in full the cult of the "Madonna with the + Child," according to the Pur[=a]nas.] + + [Footnote 94: On the subsequent deification of the Pandus + themselves see 1A. VII. 127.] + + [Footnote 95: Hence the similarity with Herakles, with whom + Megasthenes identifies him. The man-lion and hero-forms are + taken to rid earth of monsters.] + + [Footnote 96: Greek influence is clearly reflected in + India's architecture. Hellenic bas-reliefs representing + Bacchic scenes and the love-god are occasionally found. + Compare the description of Çiva's temple in Orissa, Weber, + _Literature_, p. 368; _Berl. Ak._, 1890, p, 912. Çiva is + here associated with the Greek cult of Eros and Aphrodite.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +MODERN HINDU SECTS.[1] + + +Although the faith of India seems to have completed a circle, landing +at last in a polytheism as gross as was that of the Vedic age, yet is +this a delusive aspect, as will appear if one survey the course of the +higher intellectual life of the people, ignoring, as is right, the +invariable factor introduced by the base imaginings of the vulgar. The +greater spirituality has always expressed itself in independent +movement, and voiced itself in terms of revolution. But in reality +each change has been one of evolution. To trace back to the Vedic +period the origin of Hindu sectarianism would, indeed, be a nice task +for a fine scholar, but it would not be temerarious to attempt it. We +have failed of our purpose if we have not already impressed upon the +reader's mind the truth that the progress of Brahmanic theology (in +distinction from demonology) has been one journey, made with rests and +halts, it is true, and even with digressions from the straight path; +but without abatement of intent, and without permanent change of +direction. Nor can one judge otherwise even when he stands before so +humiliating an exhibition of groundling bigotry as is presented by +some of the religious sects of the present day. The world of lower +organisms survives the ascent of the higher. There is always +undergrowth; but before the fall of a great tree its seeds sprout, +withal in the very soil of the weedy thicket below. So out of +the rank garden of Hindu superstitions arise, one after another, lofty +trees of an old seed, which is ever renewed, and which cultivation has +gradually improved. + +We have shown, especially in the chapters on the Atharva Veda and on +Hinduism, as revealed in epic poetry, how constant in India is the +relation between these two growths. If surprised at the height of +early Hindu thought, one is yet more astonished at the permanence of +the inferior life which flourishes beneath the shady protection of the +superior. Even here one may follow the metaphor, for the humbler life +below is often a condition of the grander growth above. + +In the Rig Veda there is an hymn of faith and doubt + + To INDRA.[2] + + He who, just born, with thought endowed, the foremost, + Himself a god hemmed in the gods with power; + Before whose breath, and at whose manhood's greatness, + The two worlds trembled; he, ye folk, is Indra. + + He who the earth made firm as it was shaking, + And made repose the forward tottering mountains; + Who measured wide the inter-space aerial, + And heaven established; he, ye folk, is Indra. + + Who slew the dragon, loosed the rivers seven, + And drove from Vala's hiding place the cattle;[3] + Who fire between the two stones[4] hath engendered, + Conqueror in conflicts; he, ye folk, is Indra. + + Who all things here, things changeable, created; + Who lowered and put to naught the barbarous color,[5] + And, like victorious gambler, took as winnings + His foe's prosperity; he, ye folk, is Indra. + + Whom, awful, they (yet) ask about: 'where is he?' + And speak thus of him, saying, 'he exists not'-- + He makes like dice[6] his foe's prosperity vanish; + Believe on him; and he, ye folk, is Indra. + + In whose direction horses are and cattle; + In whose, the hosts (of war) and all the chariots; + Who hath both S[=u]rya and the Dawn engendered, + The Waters' leader; he, ye folk, is Indra. + + Both heaven and earth do bow themselves before him, + And at his breath the mountains are affrighted; + Who bolt in arms is seen, the _soma_-drinker, + And bolt in hand; ('tis) he, ye folk, is Indra. + + Who helps the _soma_-presser, (_soma_)-cooker, + The praiser (helps), and him that active serveth; + Of whom the increase _brahma_ is and _soma_, + And his this offering; he, ye folk, is Indra. + +Here _brahma_, which word already in the Yajur Veda has taken to +itself the later philosophical signification, is merely prayer, the +meaning which in the Rig Veda is universal. + +The note struck in this hymn is not unique: + + (THE POET.) + + Eager for booty proffer your laudation + To Indra; truth (is he),[7] if truth existeth; + 'Indra is not,' so speaketh this and that one; + 'Who him hath seen? To whom shall we give praises?' + + (THE GOD.) + + I am, O singer, he; look here upon me; + All creatures born do I surpass in greatness. + Me well-directed sacrifices nourish, + Destructive I destroy existent beings.[8] + +These are not pleas in behalf of a new god. It is not the mere god of +physical phenomena who is here doubted and defended. It is the god +that in the last stage of the Rig Veda is become the Creator and +Destroyer, and, in the light of a completed pantheism, is grown too +great to retain his personality. With such a protest begins the great +revolt that is the sign of an inner evolution extending through the +Br[=a]hmanas and Upanishads. Indra, like other gods,[9] is held by the +rite; to the vulgar he is still the great god;[10] to the philosopher, +a name. The populace respect him, and sacerdotalism conserves him, +that same crafty, priestly power, which already at the close of the +Rig Vedic period dares to say that only the king who is subject to the +priest is sure of himself, and a little later that killing a priest is +the only real murder. We have shown above how the real divinity of the +gods was diminished even at the hands of the priests that needed them +for the rites and baksheesh, which was the goal of their piety. Even +Praj[=a]pati, the Father-god, their own creation, is mortal as well as +immortal.[11] We have shown, also, how difficult it must have been to +release the reason from the formal band of the rite. Socially it was +impossible to do so. He that was not initiated was excommunicated, an +outcast. But, on the other hand, the great sacrifices gradually fell +over from their own weight. Cumbersome and costly, they were replaced +by proxy works of piety; _vidh[=a]nas_ were established that obviated +the real rite; just as to-day, 'pocket altars' take the place of real +altars.[12] There was a gradual intrusion of the Hindu cult; popular +features began to obtain; the sacrifice was made to embrace in its +workings the whole family of the sacrificer (instead of its effect +being confined to him alone, as was the earlier form); and finally +village celebrations became more general than those of the individual. +Slowly Hinduism built itself a ritual,[13] which overpowered the +Brahmanic rite. Then, again, behind the geographical advance of +Brahmanism[14] lay a people more and more prone to diverge from the +true cult (from the Brahmanic point of view). In the latter part of +the great Br[=a]hmana[15] there is already a distrust of the Indus +tribes, which marks the breaking up of Aryan unity; not that breaking +up into political division which is seen even in the Rig Veda, where +Aryan fights against Aryan as well as against the barbarian, but the +more serious dismemberment caused by the hates of priests, for here +there was no reconciliation. + +The cynical scepticism of the Brahmanic ritualists, as well as the +divergence of opinions in regard to this or that sacrificial +pettiness, shows that even where there was overt union there was +covert discord, the disagreement of schools, and the difference of +faith. But all this does but reflect the greater difference in +speculation and theology which was forming above the heads of the +ritualistic bigots. For it is not without reason that the Upanishads +are more or less awkwardly laid in as the top-stone on the liturgical +edifice. They belong to the time but they are of it only in part. Yet +to dissociate the mass of Brahmanic priestlings from the Upanishad +thinkers, as if the latter were altogether members of a new era, would +be to lose the true historical perspective. The vigor of protest +against the received belief continues from the Rig Veda to Buddha, +from Buddha till to-day. + +The Vedic cult absorbed a good deal of Hinduism, for instance the +worship of Fate,[16] just as Hinduism absorbed a good deal of Vedic +cult. Nor were the popular works obnoxious to the priest. In the +Ch[=a]ndogya Upanishad[17] the Itih[=a]sas and Pur[=a]nas +(fore-runners of the epic) are already reckoned as a fifth Veda, being +recognized as a Veda almost as soon as was the Atharvan,[18] which +even in Manu is still called merely 'texts of Atharvan and Angiras' +(where texts of Bhrigu might as well have been added). Just as the +latter work is formally recognized, and the use of its magical +formulas, if employed for a good purpose, is enjoined in epic[19] and +law (_e.g._ Manu, xi. 33), so the Hinduistic rites crept gradually +into the foreground, pushing back the _soma_-cult. Idols are formally +recognized as venerable by the law-makers;[20] even before their day +the 'holy pool,' which we have shown to be so important to Hinduism, +is accepted by Brahmanism.[21] Something, too, of the former's +catholicity is apparent in the cult at an early date, only to be +suppressed afterwards. Thus in [=A]it. Br. II. 19, the slave's son +shares the sacrifice; and the slave drinks _soma_ in one of the +half-Brahmanical, half-popular festivals.[22] Whether human sacrifice, +sanctioned by some modern sects, is aught but pure Hinduism, Çivaism, +as affected by the cult of the wild-tribes, it is hard to say. At any +rate, such sacrifices in the Brahmanic world were obsolete long before +one finds them in Hinduism. Of Buddhistic, Brahmanic, and Hinduistic +reciprocity we have spoken already, but we may add one curious fact, +namely, that the Buddhism of Çivaism is marked by its holy numbers. +The Brahmanic Rudra with eight names[23] and eight forms[24] is +clearly Çivaite, and the numbers are as clearly Buddhistic[25] Thus, +as Feer has shown, Buddhist hells are eight, sixteen, etc, while the +Brahmanic hells are seven, twenty-one, etc. Again, the use of the +rosary was originally Çivaite, not Buddhisttc;[26] and Buddha in Bali, +where they live amicably side by side, is regarded as Çiva's +brother.[27] + +Two things result from this interlocking of sectarian Brahmanism with +other sects. First, it is impossible to say in how far each influenced +the other; and, again, the antiquity of special ideas is rendered +doubtful. A Brahmanic idea can pretty safely be allotted to its first +period, because the literature is large enough to permit the +assumption that it will appear in literature not much later than it +obtains. But a sectarian idea may go back centuries before it is +permanently formulated, as, for example, the doctrine of special grace +in a modern sect. + +One more point must be noticed before we proceed to review the sects +of to-day. Hindu morality, the ethical tone of the modern sects, is +older than the special forms of Hindu viciousness which have been +received into the cult. A negative altruism (beyond which Brahmanism +never got) is characteristic of the Hindu sects. But this is already +embodied in the golden rule, as it is thus formulated in the epic +'Compendium of Duty': + + Not that to others should one do + Which he himself objecteth to. + This is man's duty in one word; + All other rules may be ignored.[28] + +The same is true of the 'Ten Commandments' of one of the modern sects. +It is one of the strong proofs that Christian morals did not have much +effect upon early Hinduism, that, although the Christian Church of St. +Thomas, as is well established, was in Malabar as early as 522,[29] +and Christians were in the North in the seventh century, yet no trace +of the active Christian benevolence, in place of this abstention from +injury, finds its way into the epic or Pur[=a]nas. But an active +altruism permeates Buddhism, and one reads in the birth-stories even +of a saviour Buddha, not the Buddha of love, M[=a]itreya, who was to +be the next Buddha on earth, but of that M[=a]itrakanyaka, who left +heaven and came to earth that he might redeem the sins of others.[30] + +Whether there is any special touch between the older sects and those +of modern days[31] that have their headquarters in the same districts +is a question which we have endeavored to investigate, but we have +found nothing to substantiate such an opinion. Buddhism retired, too +early to have influence on the sects of to-day, and between Jainism +and the same sects there does not seem to be any peculiar rapport even +where the sect is seated in a Jain stronghold.[35]] The Jains occupy, +generally speaking, the Northwest (and South), while the Buddhists +were located in the Northeast and South. So Çivaism may be loosely +located as popular in the Northeast and South, while Vishnuism has its +habitat rather in the jain centres of the Northwest (and South). + +We have mentioned in the preceding chapter the sects of a few +centuries ago, as these have been described in Brahmanic +literature.[33] The importance, and even the existence of some of the +sects, described in the _Conquest of Çankara_, has been questioned, +and the opinion has been expressed that, since they are described only +to be exposed as heretical, they may have been creations of fancy, +imaginary sects; the refutation of their principles being a _tour de +force_ on the part of the Brahmanic savant, who shows his acumen by +imagining a sect and then discountenancing it. It does not, indeed, +seem to us very probable that communities were ever formed as 'Agnis' +or 'Yamas,' etc, but on the other hand, we think it is more likely +that sects have gone to pieces without leaving any trace than that +those enumerated, explained, and criticised should have been mere +fancies.[46]] Moreover, in the case of some of these sects +there are still survivors, so that _a fortiori_ one may presume the +others to have existed also, if not as sects or communities, yet as +bodies professing faith in Indra or Yama, etc. The sects with which we +have to deal now are chiefly those of this century, but many of these +can claim a definite antiquity of several centuries at least. They +have been described by Wilson in his famous _Sketch_, and, in special +cases, more recently and more fully by Williams' and other writers. + + +THE ÇIVAITES. + +While the Vishnuites have a dualistic, as well as idealistic +background, they are at present Vedantic, and may be divided to-day +simply into intelligent and unintelligent adherents of pantheism, the +former comprising the R[=a]ma sects, and the latter most of the +Krishnaites. On the other hand, in Çivaism one must distinguish quite +sharply in time between the different sects that go by Çiva's name. If +one look at the sects of modern times he will find that the most +degraded are dualistic, in so far as they may be said to have any +philosophy, and that idealistic Çivaism is a remnant of the past. But +he will not find a pronounced sectarianism in any of these old +Vedantic aspects of Çivaism. On the contrary, wherever Çivaism is +pantheistic it is a Çivaism which obtains only in certain ancient +schools of philosophy; where it is monotheistic it is among leaders +who have been influenced by the modern teaching of Islam, and regard +Çiva merely as a name for the One God. It is necessary, therefore, as +it is everywhere in India, to draw as sharp a line as possible between +the beliefs of the vulgar and the learned. For from the earliest +period the former accepted perfunctorily the teaching of the latter, +but at heart and in cult they remained true to their own lights. + +The older S[=a]nkhya form of Çivaism was still found among the +P[=a]çupatas,'adherents of the Lord' (Paçupati) and Maheçvaras +('adherents of the great Lord'), who are mentioned in the epic and in +inscriptions of the fifth century. In the ninth century there was a +purely philosophical Çivaism which is Vedantic. But neither in the +fact (which is by no means a certainty) that Çankara accepted Çiva as +the name of the All-god, nor in the scholastic Çivaite philosophy of +Kashmeer, which in the next two centuries was developed into a purely +idealistic system at the hands of Abhinavagupta and Som[=a]nanda, is +there any trace of a popular religion. Çiva is here the pantheistic +god, but he is conceived as such only by a coterie of retired +schoolmen. On the other hand, the popular religions which spring up in +the twelfth century are, if Vedantic, chiefly Vishnuite, or, if +Çivaite, only nominally Vedantic. Thus what philosophy the Jangamas +professedly have is Vedantic, but in fact they are deistic (not +pantheistic) disciples of Çiva's priest, Basava (Sanskrit Vrishabha), +who taught Çiva-worship in its grossest form, the adoration of the +Linga (phallus); while his adherents, who are spread over all India +under the name of Jangamas, 'vagrants,' or Ling[=a]yits, +'phallus-wearers,' are idolatrous deists with but a tinge of Vedantic +mysticism. So in the case of the Tridandins, the Daçan[=a]mis, and +other sects attributed to Çivaism, as well as the Sm[=a]rtas (orthodox +Brahmans) who professed Çivaism. According to Wilson the Tridandins +(whose triple, _tri_, staff, _da[n.][d.]i_, indicates control of word, +thought, and deed) are Southern Vishnuites of the R[=a]m[=a]nuja sect, +though some of them claim to be Vedantic Çivaites. Nominally Çivaite +are also the Southern 'Saints,' Sittars (Sanskrit Siddhas), but these +are a modern sect whose religion has been taught them by Islam, or +possibly by Christianity.[36] The extreme North and South are the +districts where Çivaism as a popular religion has, or had, its firmest +hold, and it is for this reason that the higher religions which obtain +in these districts are given to Çiva. But in reality they simply take +Çiva, the great god of the neighborhood, in order to have a name for +their monotheistic god, exactly as missionaries among the American +Indians pray to the Great Spirit, to adapt themselves to their +audience's comprehension. In India, as in this country, they that +proselyte would prefer to use their own terminology, but they wisely +use that of their hearers. + +We find no evidence to prove that there were ever really sectarian +Çivaites who did not from the beginning practice brutal rites, or else +soon become ascetics of the lowest and most despicable sort. For +philosophical Çivaites were never sectaries. They cared little whether +the All-god or One they argued about was called Vishnu or Çiva. But +whenever one finds a true Çivaite devotee, that is, a man that will +not worship Vishnu but holds fast to Çiva as the only manifestation of +the supreme divinity, he will notice that such an one quickly becomes +obscene, brutal, prone to bloodshed, apt for any disgusting practice, +intellectually void, and morally beneath contempt. If the Çivaite be +an ascetic his asceticism will be the result either of his lack of +intelligence (as in the case of the sects to be described immediately) +or of his cunning, for he knows that there are plenty of people who +will save him the trouble of earning a living. Now this is not the +case with the Vishnuites. To be sure there are Vishnuites that are no +better than Çivaites, but there are also strict Vishnuites, +exclusively devotees of Vishnu, who are and remain pure, not brutal, +haters of bloodshed, apt for no disgusting practices, intellectually +admirable, and morally above reproach. In other words, there are +to-day great numbers of Vishnuites who continue to be really +Vishnuites, and yet are really intelligent and moral. This has never +been the case with real Çivaites. Again, as Willams[37] has pointed +out, Çivaism is a cheap religion; Krishnaism is costly. The Çivaite +needs for his cult only a phallus pebble, _bilva_ leaves and water. +The Krishnaite is expected to pay heavily for _leitourgiai_. But +Çivaism is cheap because Çivaites are poor, the dregs of society; it +is not adopted because it is cheap. + +We think, therefore, that to describe Çivaism as indifferently +pantheistic or dualistic, and to argue that it must have been +pantheistic a few centuries after the Christian era because Çiva at +that time in scholastic philosophy and among certain intellectual +sects was regarded as the one god, tends to obscure the historical +relation of the sects. Without further argumentation on this point, we +shall explain what in our view is necessary to a true understanding of +the mutual relations between Çivaites and Vishnuites in the past. + +Monotheism[38] and pantheism are respectively the religious expression +of the S[=a]nkhya and Ved[=a]nta systems of philosophy. Çivaism, +Krishnaism, and R[=a]maism are all originally deistic. Pure Çivaism +has remained so to this day, not only in all its popular sectarian +expressions, but also in the Brahmanic Çivaism of the early epic, and +in the Çivaism which expresses itself in the adoration-formulae of the +literature of the Renaissance. But there is a pseudo-Çivaism which +starts up from the ninth to the twelfth centuries, and tries to work +Çiva's name into a pantheistic system of philosophy. Every such +attempt, however, and all of them are the reflex of the growing +importance of Vedantic ideas, fails as such to produce a religion. If +the movement becomes popular and develops into a religious system for +the masses, it at once gives up Çiva and takes up Vishnu, or, keeping +Çiva, it drops pantheism and becomes a low form of sectarian ascetism. +Çivaism is, therefore, fundamentally non-Vedantic, and Unitarian.[39] + +On the other hand, while Krishnaism and Ramaism begin as deistic +(tribal) cults, they are soon absorbed into Brahmanic Vishnuism. Now +Vishnuism is essentially Brahmanistic, and the only orthodox +(Brahmanic) system is that which holds to the completion of Vedic +pantheism. The first systematic philosophy, however, was not orthodox. +It was the S[=a]nkhya, which peeps out in the dualism of the oldest +distinctly philosophical works, and lingers in the Puranic S[=a]nkhya. +The marks of this dualism we have shown in the Divine Song of the +epic. It is by means of it that Krishnaism as an expression of this +heterodox Vishnuism became possible. Vishnuism was soon rescued from +the dualists, and became again what it was originally, an expression +of pantheism. But Vishnu carried Krishna with him as his _alter ego_, +and in the epic the two are finally one All-god. Vedantic philosopliy +continued to present Vishnu rather than Çiva as its All-god, until +to-day Vishnuism is the sectarian aspect of the Ved[=a]nta system. But +with Vishnu have risen Krishna and R[=a]ma as still further types of +the All-god. Thus it is that Vishnuism, whether as Krishnaism or as +Ramaism, is to-day a pantheistic religion. But, while R[=a]ma is the +god of the philosophical sects, and, therefore, is almost entirely a +pantheistic god; Krishna, who was always a plebeian, is continually +reverting, so to speak, to himself; that is to say, he is more +affected by the vulgar, and as the vulgar are more prone, by whatever +sectarian name they call themselves, to worship one idol, it happens +that Krishna in the eyes of his following is less of a pantheistic god +than is R[=a]ma. Here again, therefore, it is necessary to draw the +line not so much between names of sects as between intelligent and +unintelligent people. For Krishnaism, despite all that has been done +for Krishna by the philosophers of his church, in this regard +resembles Çivaism, that it represents the religion of unintelligent +(though wealthy) classes, who revere Krishna as their one pet god, +without much more thought of his being an All-god _avatar_ than is +spent by the ordinary Çivaite on the purely nominal trinitarianism +which has been foisted upon Çiva. + +But we must now give an account of the low sectaries, the +miracle-mongers, jugglers,[40] and ascetic whimsicalities, which +together stand under the phallic standard of Çivaism. Ancient and +recent observers enumerate a sad list of them. The devotees of the +'highest bird' are a low set of ascetics, who live on voluntary alms, +the result of their affectation of extreme penance. The +[=U]rdhvab[=a]hus, 'Up-arms,' raise their arms till they are unable to +lower them again. The [=A]k[=a]çamukhas, 'Sky-facers,' hold their +faces toward the sky till the muscles stiffen, and they live thus +always. The Nakhls, 'Nail' ascetics, allow their nails to grow through +their clenched hands, which unfits them for work (but they are all too +religiously lazy to work), and makes it necessary for the credulous +faithful to support them. Some of these, like the K[=a]naph[=a]ts, +'Ear-splitters,' who pierce the ear with heavy rings, have been +respectable Yogis in the past, but most of them have lost what sense +their philosophic founders attached to the sign, and keep only the +latter as their religion. Some, such as the [=U]kharas and +S[=u]kharas, appear to have no distinctive features, all of them being +the 'refuse of beggars' (Wilson). Others claim virtue on the strength +of nudity, and subdue their passions literally with lock and key. The +'Potmen,' the 'Skull-men,' G[=u]daras and K[=a]p[=a]likas, are +distinguished, as their names imply, only by their vessels. The +former, however, are the remnant of a once thoughtful sect known by +name since the sixth century, and K[=a]naph[=a]ts and K[=a]p[=a]likas +both show that very likely others among these wretches are but the +residue of ancient Çivaite sects, who began as philosophers (perhaps +Buddhists), and became only ascetic and thus degraded; for, Çiva +apparently has no power to make his worshippers better than himself, +and he is a dirty monster, now and then galvanized into the +resemblance of a decent god. + +There is a well-known verse, not in Manu, but attributed to him (and +for that reason quite a modern forgery),[41] which declares that +Çambhu (Çiva) is the god of priests; Vishnu, the god of warriors; +Brahm[=a], the god of the V[=a]içyas (farmers and traders); and +Ganeça, the god of slaves. It is, on the contrary, Çiva himself, not +his son Ganeça, who is the 'god of low people' in the early +literature. It is he who 'destroys sacrifice,' and is anything but a +god of priests till he is carefully made over by the latter. Nowadays +some Brahmans profess the Çivaite faith, but they are Vishnuite if +really sectarian. + + +No Brahman, for instance, will serve at a Çiva shrine, except possibly +at Benares, where among more than an hundred shrines to Çiva and his +family, Vishnu has but one; and though he will occasionally perform +service even in a heretic Jain temple he will not lower himself to +worship the Linga. Nor is it true that Çiva is a patron of literature. +Like Ganeça, his son, Çiva may upset everything if he be not properly +placated, and consequently there is, at the beginning of every +enterprise (among others, literary enterprises) in the Renaissance +literature, but never in the works of religion or law or in any but +modern profane literature, an invocation to Çiva. But he is no more a +patron of literature than is Ganeça, or in other words, Çivaism is not +more literary than is Ganeçaism. In a literary country no religion is +so illiterate as Çivaism, no writings are so inane as are those in his +honor. There is no poem, no religious literary monument, no Pur[=a]na +even, dedicated to Çiva, that has any literary merit. All that is +readable in sectarian literature, the best Pur[=a]nas, the Divine +Song, the sectarian R[=a]m[=a]yana, come from Vishnuism. Çivaism has +nothing to compare with this, except in the works of them that pretend +to be Çivaites but are really not sectaries, like the Sittars and the +author of the Çvet[=a]çvatara. Çiva as a 'patron of literature' takes +just the place taken by Ganeça in the present beginning of the +Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata. Vy[=a]sa has here composed the poem[42] but Ganeça +is invoked as Vighneça, 'Lord of difficulties,' to help the poet write +it out. Vy[=a]sa does the intellectual work and Ganeça performs the +manual labor. Vishnuism, in a word, is the only cultivated (native) +sectarian religion of India; and the orthodox cult, in that it is +Vedantic, lies nearer to Vishnuism than to Çivaism. Why then does one +find Çiva invoked by philosophy? Because monotheism in distinction +from pantheism was the belief of the wise in the first centuries after +the Christian era, till the genius of Çankara definitively raised +pantheism in alliance with orthodoxy to be the more esteemed; and +because Çiva alone, when the choice lay between him and Vishnu, could +be selected as the One God. For Vishnuism was now merged with +Krishnaism, a new vulgar cult, and Çiva was an old and venerated god, +long since a member of the Brahmanic pantheon. The connection between +Çivaism and the S[=a]nkhya system gave it a more respectable and +archaic appearance in the eyes of the conservative Brahman, while the +original asceticism of Çiva undoubtedly appealed much more to +Brahmanic feeling than did the sentimentalism of the Vishnuite. In the +extreme North, in the ninth century, philosophy and Çivaism are +nominally allied, but really sectarian Çivaism was the cult of the +lowest, not of the highest classes. Many of the professed Çivaites are +to-day tending to Vedantism, which is the proper philosophy of the +Vishnuite; and the Çivaite sects are waning before the Vishnuite +power, not only in the middle North, where the mass of the population +is devoted to Vishnu, but even in Çiva's later provinces in the +extreme South. The social distribution of the sectaries in the Middle +Ages was such that one may assign older Vishnuism to the middle +classes, and Çivaism to the highest on its philosophical and decently +ascetic side, but to the lowest on its phallic and magical side. + +But none of the Çivaite sects we have mentioned, imbecile as appear to +be the impostors that represent them, are equal in despicable traits +to the Ç[=a]ktas. These worshippers of the androgynous Çiva (or of +Çakti, the female principle alone), do, indeed, include some +Vishnuites among themselves, but they are originally and prevailingly +Çivaite.[43] Blood-offerings and human sacrifices are a modern and an +ancient Trait of Çiva-worship;[44] and the hill-tribes of the Vindhya +and the classical drama show that the cult of Aghor[=i] is a Çivaite +manifestation which is at once old and derived from un-Aryan sources. +Aghor[=i] and all female monsters naturally associate with Çiva, who +is their intellectual and moral counterpart. The older Aghoris exacted +human sacrifice in honor of Devi, P[=a]rvat[=i], the wife of Çiva.[2] +The adoration of the female side of a god is as old as the Rig Veda, +but Çivaism has combined this cult with features probably derived from +other independent local cults, such as that of P[=a]rvat[=i], the +'mountain goddess.' They are all united in the person of Çiva's wife +of many names, the 'great goddess,' Mah[=a]dev[=i], the 'hard' +Durg[=a], K[=a]l[=i], Um[=a], etc.[45] And it is to this ferocious +she-monster that the most abject homage of the Çivaites is paid. So +great is the terror inspired by Durg[=a] that they that are not +Çivaites at all yet join in her festival; for which purpose, +apparently, she is dubbed Vishnu's 'sister.' But it is not +blood-guiltiness alone which is laid at the door of this cult. The +sectarian religions have an exoteric and an esoteric side, the +religion of the 'right hand' and of the 'left hand.' It is the latter +(to which belong many that deny the fact) wherein centre the +abominations of Çivaism; in less degree, those of Vishnuism also. +Obscenity is the soul of this cult. Bestiality equalled only by the +orgies of the Indic savages among the hill-tribes is the form of this +'religion.'[47] It is screened by an Orphic philosophy, for is not +Nature or Illusion the female side of the Divine Male? It is screened +again by religious fervor, for it is pious profligacy that prompts the +rites. It is induced practically by an initial carousal and +drunkenness; and this is antique, for even the old _soma_-feasts were +to a great extent drunken revels, and the gods have got drunk from the +time of the Vedas[48] to do their greatest deeds. But in practice, +Çakti-worship, when unveiled, amounts to this, that men and women of +the same class and family indulge in a Bacchanalian orgy, and that, as +they proceed, they give themselves over to every excess which liquor +and lust can prompt. A description of the different rites would be to +reduplicate an account of indecencies, of which the least vile is too +esoteric to sketch faithfully. Vaguely to outline one such religious +festival will suffice. A naked woman, the wife of the chief priest, +sits in the middle of the 'holy circle.' She represents Durg[=a], the +divine female principle. The Bacchic orgy begins with hard drinking. +Çiva as Bh[=a]irava, 'the dreadful,' has his human counterpart also, +who must then and there pair with the impersonated Durg[=a]. The +worship proper consists in the repetition of meaningless _mantra_ +syllables and yells; the worship improper, in indulgence in 'wine and +women' (particularly enjoined in the rite-books called Tantras). Human +sacrifice at these rites is said to be extinct at the present day.[49] + +But blood-lust is appeased by the hacking of their own bodies. +Garments are cast in a heap. Lots are drawn for the women's +garments[50] by the men. With her whose clothes he gets each man +continues the debauch, inviting incest in addition to all other +excess.[51] + +The older Vishnuite sects (P[=a][=n]car[=a]tras, etc.) may have had +some of this filth in their make-up; but mass for mass the practices +are characteristic of Çivaism and not of Vishnuism.[52] Especially +Çivaite, however, is the 'mother worship,' to which reference was made +in the chapter on epic Hinduism. These 'mothers' are guardian +goddesses, or fiends of disease, etc. One may not claim that all +Ç[=a]ktas are Çivaites, but how small a part of Vishnuism is occupied +with Çakti-worship can be estimated only by surveying the whole body +of worshippers of that name. + +We cannot leave the lust and murder of modern Çivaism without speaking +of still another sect which hangs upon the heels of K[=a]l[=i], that +of the Thugs. It may, indeed, be questioned whether Çiva should be +responsible for the doings of his spouse, K[=a]l[=i]. But like seeks +like, and there is every historical justification in making out Çiva +to be as bad as the company he keeps. Durg[=a] and K[=a]l[=i] are not +vainly looked upon as Çiva's female side. So that a sect like the +Thugs,[53] which worshipped K[=a]li, may, it is true, be taken out of +the Çivaite sects, but only if one will split Çivaism in two and +reproduce the original condition, wherein Çiva was one monster and +K[=a]li was another; which is scarcely possible after the two have for +centuries been looked upon as identical. With this in mind it may be +granted that the Thugs payed reverence to K[=a]li, rather than to her +lord. Moreover, many of them were Mohammedans; but, for our purpose, +the significant fact is that when the Thugs were Hindus they were +K[=a]li-Çivaites. And we believe that these secret murderers, strange +as it seems, originated in a reformatory movement. As is well known, +it was a religious principle with them not to spill blood.[54] They +always throttled. They were, of course, when they first became known m +1799 (Sherwood's account), nothing but robbers and murderers. But, +like the other Çivaite monstrosities, they regarded their work as a +religious act, and always invoked K[=a]li if they were Hindus. We +think it probable, therefore, that the sect originated among the +K[=a]li-worshippers as a protest against blood-letting. Admitting that +robbery is under Çiva's protection (Çiva is 'god of robbers'), and +that K[=a]li wanted victims, a sect probably claimed that the victims +should be throttled, and not bled. Not that this was necessarily a new +reform. There is every reason to suppose that most of Çiva's females +are aboriginal wild-tribe divinities. Now among these savages one sees +at times a distinct refusal to bleed human victims. Thuggery may then +have been the claim of an old conservative party, who wished to keep +up the traditional throttling; though this is pure speculation, for, +at the time when the sect became exposed, this means of death was +merely the safest way to kill. They insisted always on being called +Thugs, and scorned the name of thief. They were suppressed by 1840. +Reynolds describes them as "mostly men of mild and unobtrusive +manners, possessing a cheerful disposition."[55] + + + +THE VISHNUITE SECTS. + +There is a formal idealistic Çivaism, as we have shown, and there was +once a dualistic Vishnuism; but in general the Vishnuite is an +idealist. To comprehend the quarrels among the sects of this religion, +however, it will be necessary to examine the radical philosophical +differences of their founders, for one passes, in going from modern +Çivaism to Vishnuism, out of ignorant superstition into philosophical +religion, of which many even of the weaker traits are but recent +Hinduistic effeminacy substituted for an older manly thinking. + +The complex of Vishnuite sects presents at first rather a confused +appearance, but we think that we can make the whole body separate +itself clearly enough into its component parts, if the reader will +pause at the threshold and before entering the edifice look at the +foundation and the outer plan of Vedantic philosophy. + +At the beginning of Colebrooke's essays on Hindu philosophy he +thus describes four of the recognized systems: "The two +M[=i]m[=a]ms[=a]s... are emphatically orthodox. The prior one, +_p[=u]rva_[56] which has J[=a]imini for its founder, teaches the art +of reasoning, with the express view of aiding the interpretation of +the Vedas. The latter, _uttara_[57] commonly called Ved[=a]nta, and +attributed to Vy[=a]sa (or B[=a]dar[=a]yana), deduces from the text of +the Indian scriptures a refined psychology, which goes to a denial of +a material world. A different philosophical system, partly heterodox, +and partly conformable to the established Hindu creed, is the +S[=a]nkhya; of which also, as of the preceding, there are two schools; +one usually known by that name,[58] the other commonly termed +Yoga."[59] + +The eldest of these systems, as we have already had occasion to state, +is the dualistic S[=a]nkhya. It was still highly esteemed in the ninth +century, the time of the great Vedantist, Çankara.[60] A theistic form +of this atheistic philosophy is called the Puranic S[=a]nkhya, and +Pata[.n]jali's Yoga is thoroughly theistic. Radically opposed to the +dualistic S[=a]nkhya stands the Ved[=a]nta,[61] based on the +Upanishads that teach the identity of spirit and matter. + +As representative of the metaphysics of the S[=a]nkhya and Ved[=a]nta +systems respectively stand in general the two great religions of +India. The former, as we have shown, is still potent in the great Song +of the epic, and its principles are essentially those of early +Çivaism. The latter, especially in its sectarian interpretation, with +which we have now to deal, has become the great religion o£ India. But +there are two sectarian interpretations of Vishnu, and two +philosophical interpretations of the All-spirit in its relation to the +individual soul or spirit.[62] Again the individual spirit of man +either enjoys after death immortal happiness, as a being distinct from +the All-spirit; or the _jiva_, individual spirit, is absorbed into the +All-spirit (losing all individuality, but still conscious of +happiness); or the individual spirit is absorbed into an All-spirit +that has no happiness or affection of any kind. + +Now the strict philosophy of the Ved[=a]nta adopts the last view _in +toto_. The individual spirit (soul, self) becomes one with the +universal Spirit, losing individuality and consciousness, for the +universal Spirit itself is not affected by any quality or condition. A +creative force without attributes, this is the All-spirit of Çankara +and of the strict Vedantist. To Çankara the Creator was but a phase of +the All-spirit, and the former's immortality ended with his creation; +in other words, there is no immortal Creator, only an immortal +creative power. + +In the twelfth century arose another great leader of thought, +R[=a]m[=a]nuja. He disputed the correctness of Çankara's +interpretation of Vedantic principles. It is maintained by some that +Çankara's interpretation is really correct, but for our purpose that +is neither here nor there.[63] Çankara's _brahma_ is the +one and only being, pure being, or pure thought. Thought is not an +attribute of _brahma_, it is _brahma_. Opposed to this pure being +(thought) stands _m[=a]y[=a]_, illusion, the material cause of the +seen world. It is neither being nor not-being; it is the cause of the +appearance of things, in that it is associated with _brahma_, and in +so far only is _brahma_ rightly the Lord. The infinite part of each +individual is _brahma_; the finite part is _m[=a]y[=a]._ Thus +B[=a]dar[=a]yana (author of the Ved[=a]nta S[=u]tras) says that the +individual is only illusion. + +R[=a]m[=a]nuja[64], on the other hand, teaches a _brahma_ that is not +only universal, but is the universal personal Lord, a supreme +conscious and willing God. Far from being devoid of attributes, like +Çankara's _brahma_, the _brahma_ of R[=a]m[=a]nuja has all attributes, +chief of which is thought or intelligence. The Lord contains in +himself the elements of that plurality which Çankara regards as +illusion. As contrasted with the dualistic S[=a]nkhya phiiosophy both +of these systems inculcate monism. But according to Çankara all +difference is illusion; while according to R[=a]m[=a]nuja _brahma_ is +not homogeneous, but in the diversity of the world about us he is +truly manifested. Çankara's _m[=a]y[=a]_ is R[=a]m[=a]nuja's body of +_(brahma)_ the Lord. Çankara's personal god exists only by collusion +with illusion, and hence is illusory. The _brahma_ of R[=a]m[=a]nuja +is a personal god, the omnipotent, omniscient, Lord of a real world. +Moreover, from an eschatological point of view, Çankara explains +salvation, the release from re-birth, _sams[=a]ra_, as complete union +with this unqualified _brahma_, consequently as loss of individuality +as well as loss of happiness. But R[=a]m[=a]nuja defines salvation as +the departure from earth forever of the individual +spirit, which enters a heaven where it will enjoy perennial bliss[65]. + +R[=a]m[=a]nuja's doctrine inspires the sectarian pantheism of the +present time. In this there is a metaphysical basis of conduct, a +personal god to be loved or feared, the hope of bliss hereafter. In +its essential features it is a very old belief, far older than the +philosophy which formulates it[66]. Thus, after the hard saying "fools +desire heaven," this desire reasserted itself, and under +R[=a]m[=a]nuja's genial interpretation of the Ved[=a]nta S[=u]tras the +pious man was enabled to build up his cheerful hope again, withal on +the basis of a logic as difficult to controvert as was that of Çankara +himself[67]. + +Thus far the product of Vedantism is deism. But now with two steps one +arrives at the inner portal of sectarianism. First, if _brahma_ is a +personal god, which of the gods is he, this personal All-spirit? As a +general thing the Vedantist answers, 'he is Vishnu'; and adds, +'Vishnu, who embraces as their superior those other gods, Çiva, and +Brahm[=a].' But the sectary is not content with making the All-god one +with Vishnu. Vishnu was manifested in the flesh, some say as Krishna, +some say as R[=a]ma[68]. The relation of sectary to Vishnuite, and to +the All-spirit deist, may be illustrated most clearly by comparison +with Occidental religions. One may not acknowledge any personal god as +the absolute Supreme Power; again, one may say that this Supreme Power +is a +personal god, Jehovah; again, Jehovah may or may not be regarded as +one with Christ. The minuter ramifications of the Christian church +then correspond to the sub-sects of Krishnaism or Ramaism.[69] + +The Occidental and Oriental conceptions of the trinity are, however, +not identical. For in India the trinity, from the Vishnuite point of +view, is an amalgamation of Çiva and Brahm[=a] with Vishnu, +irrespective of the question whether Vishnu be manifest in Krishna or +not; while the Christian trinity amalgamates the form that corresponds +to Vishnu with the one that corresponds to Krishna.[70] To the +orthodox Brahman, on the other hand, as Williams has very well put it, +Krishna is an incarnation of Vishnu, who is himself only an +incarnation, that is, a form, of God. + +Having now explained the two principal divisions of the modern sects, +we can lead the reader into the church of Vishnu. It is a church of +two great parties, each being variously subdivided. Of these two +parties the Krishnaites are intellectually the weaker, and hence +numerically the stronger. All Krishnaites, of course, identify the +man-god Krishna with Vishnu, and their sub-sects revert to various +teachers, of whom the larger number are of comparatively recent date, +although as a body the Krishnaites may claim an antiquity as great, if +not greater, than that of the Ramaites. + +But the latter party, in their various sub-sects, all claim as +their founder either R[=a]m[=a]nuja himself or one of his followers; +and since, if the claim be granted, the R[=a]ma sects do but continue +his work, we shall begin by following out the result of his teaching +as it was interpreted by his disciples; especially since the +Krishnaites have left to the Ramaites most of the philosophizing of +the church, and devoted themselves more exclusively to the moralities +and immoralities of their more practical religion. As a matter of +fact, the Ramaites to-day are less religious than philosophical, while +in the case of the Krishnaites, with some reservations, the contrary +may be said to be the case. + + +THE RAMAITES. + +Since the chief characteristic of growth among Hindu sectaries is a +sort of segmentation, like that which conditions the development of +amoebas and other lower organisms, it is a forgone conclusion that the +Ramaites, having formed one body apart from the Krishnaites, will +immediately split up again into smaller segments. It is also a +foregone conclusion, since one is really dealing here with human +types, that these smaller segments will mutually hate and despise each +other much more than they hate their common adversaries. Just as, in +old times, a Calvinist hated a Lutheran more than he did a Russian +Christian (for he understood his quarrel better), so a 'cat-doctrine' +Ramaite hates a 'monkey-doctrine' Ramaite far more than he hates a +Krishnaite, while with a Çivaite he often has an amicable union; +although the Krishnaite belittles the Ramaite's manifestation of +Vishnu, and the Çivaite belittles Vishnu himself.[71] + +The chief point of difference theologically between the Ramaites is +the one just mentioned. The adherents of the 'cat-doctrine' teach that +God saves man as a cat takes up its kitten, without free-will on the +part of the latter. The monkey-doctrinaires teach that man, in order +to be saved, must reach out to their God (R[=a]ma, who is Vishnu, who, +again, is All-god, that is, _brahma_), and embrace their God as a +monkey does its mother.[72] The resemblance to the Occidental sects +here becomes still more interesting. But we have given an earlier +example of the doctrine of free grace from the epic, and can now only +locate the modern sects that still argue the question. The 'monkey' +Ramaites are a sect of the North (_vada_), and hence are called +Vada-galais;[73] the 'cat' or Calvinistic Ramaites of the South +(_ten_), are called Ten-galais. Outwardly these sects differ in having +diverse _mantras_, greetings, dress, and especially in the +forehead-signs, which show whether the 'mark of Vishnu' shall +represent (Vadagal belief) one or (Tengal) two feet of the god +(expressed by vertical lines[74] painted fresh daily on the forehead). +The Ten-galais, according to a recent account, are the more numerous +and the more materialistic.[75] + +All the Ramaites, on the other hand, hold that (1) the deity is not +devoid of qualities; (2) Vishnu is the deity and should be worshipped +with Lakshm[=i], his wife; (3) R[=a]ma is the human _avatar_ of +Vishnu; (4) R[=a]m[=a]nuja and all the great teachers since his day +are also _avatars_ of Vishnu. + +In upper India, about the Ganges, R[=a]m[=a]nuja's disciple, +R[=a]m[=a]nand (fifth in descent), who lived in the fourteenth +century, has more followers than has the founder. His disciples +worship the divine ape, Hanuman[76] (conspicuous in both epics), as +well as R[=a]ma. They are called 'the liberated,' Avadh[=u]tas, but +whether because they are freed from caste-restrictions,[77] or from +the strict rules of eating enjoined by R[=a]m[=a]nuja, is doubtful. +R[=a]m[=a]nand himself had in turn twelve disciples. Of these the most +famaous is Kab[=i]r, whose followers, the Kab[=i]r Panth[=i]s (sect), +are widely spread, and of whom no less a person than N[=a]nak, the +Sikh, claimed to be a successor. But it will be more convenient to +describe the Sikhs hereafter. Of R[=a]m[=a]nand's other disciples that +founded sects may be mentioned Kil, whose sectaries, the Kh[=a]kis, of +Oude, unite successfully R[=a]ma-worship, Hanuman-worship, and Çivaite +fashions (thus presenting a mixture like that of the southern +M[=a]dhvas, who unite the images of Çiva and Vishnu). The R[=a]s +D[=a]sa sect, again, owes to its founder the black Ç[=a]lagr[=a]ma +pebble, an object of reverent awe, which gives rise to a sort of +sub-cult subsequently imitated by others.[78] Another widely-spread +sect which claim R[=a]m[=a]nand as their founder's teacher is that of +the D[=a]d[=u] Panth[=i]s. This branch also of the Ramaites we shall +more appropriately discuss under the head of deism (below). Finally, +we have to mention, as an outcome of the R[=a]m[=a]nand faith, the +modern R[=a]m[=a]yana, Ramcaritmanas, the new bible of the sect, +composed in the sixteenth century by Tulas[=i]d[=a]sa ('slave of +Vishnu'),the greatest of modern Hindu poets. What the Divine Song and +the Bh[=a]gavata Pur[=a]na are to the Krishnaite, the older (epic) +R[=a]m[=a]yana of V[=a]lm[=i]ki and Tulas[=i]d[=a]sa's new poem (of +the same name) are to the Ramaite.[79] + + +THE KRISHNAITES. + +There are two great sects that worship Vishnu as especially manifested +in the human form of Krishna. But, as distinguished from the +philosophical Ramaite, the Krishnaite is not satisfied with a +declaration of faith in the man-god, and in fact his chief cult is of +the child-god Krishna, the B[=a]la Gop[=a]la or Infant Shepherd. This +recalls the older Krishna (of the Harivança), whose sporting with the +milk-maids is a favorite topic in later Krishnaite literature. As a +formulated cult, consisting for the most part of observances based on +the mystic side of affection for the personal saver of man (the +_bhakti_ principle of 'devotion,' erotically expanded[80]), this +worship obtains both among C[=a]itanyas and Vallabhas, sects that +arose in the sixteenth century.[81] + +C[=a]itanya, born in Bengal in 1485, of whom it is fabled that wise +men came and gave homage to him while he was yet a child, was active +in Bengal and Orissa, where his sect (named after him) is one of the +most important at the present day. C[=a]itanya preached a practical as +well as a theoretical reform. He taught the equality of all +worshippers of whatever caste, and the religious virtue of marriage. +At the present day caste-feeling and religious profession are somewhat +at variance. But a compromise is affected. While in the temple the +high-caste C[=a]itanyas regard their lowly co-religionists as equals; +when out of it they become again arrogantly high-caste, Making a +virtue of marriage instead of celibacy caused the sect to become +popular with the middle and lower classes, but its adherents are +usually drawn from the dregs of the populace.[82] The principle of +love for God (that is, for Krishna) is especially dwelt upon by +C[=a]itanya. The devotee should feel such affection as is felt by a +young man for a girl. To exercise or inspire this rapt and mystic +devotion, recourse is had to singing, dancing. and other familiar +means of arousing religious fervor. If the dancing devotee swoons it +is a sign that God accepts his love. At the present day C[=a]itanya +himself is regarded as the incarnate deity. He and his two chief +disciples, who (like all Gosains, religious Teachers) are divine, form +a little sub-trinity for the sect.[83] This sect, like so many others, +began as a reform, only to become worse than its rivals. + +Vallabha or Vallabh[=a]e[=a]rya, 'Teacher Vallabha,' was also of the +sixteenth century, but his sect belongs especially to the Northwest, +while the sphere of C[=a]itanya's influence was in the Northeast. He +lived near the Ganges, is said to have been a scholar, and wrote a +commentary on the early life of Krishna in the tenth book of the +Bh[=a]gavata Pur[=a]na, and on the Divine +Song. In Bombay and Kutch his disciples are most numerous, the +Epicureans of Vishnuism. For their precept is 'eat and enjoy.' No +mortification of the senses is allowed. Human love typifies divine +love.[84] The teachers acquired great renown and power, assuming and +maintaining the haughty title of _mah[=a] r[=a]jas_ ('great kings'). +They are as gods, and command absolutely their devotees.[85] Here the +worship of the Infant Krishna reaches its greatest height (or depth). +The image of the infant god is daily clothed, bathed, anointed, and +worshipped. Religious exercises have more or less of an erotic +tendency, and here, if anywhere, as one may learn from Wilson, +Williams, and other modern writers on this sect, there are almost as +great excesses as are committed among the Çivaite sects. As a sect it +is an odd combination of sensual worship and theological speculation, +for they have considerable sectarian literature. The most renowned +festival of the Infant Krishna is the celebration of the stable-birth +of Krishna and of the Madonna (bearing him on her breast), but this we +have discussed already. Besides this the Jagann[=a]th procession in +Bengal and Orissa, and the great autumnal picnic called the R[=a]s +Y[=a]tra, are famous occasions for displaying Krishnaite, or, indeed, +general Vishnuite zeal. At the R[=a]s Y[=a]tra assemble musicians, +dancers, jugglers, and other joy-creating additions to the religious +feast, the ostensible reason for which is the commemoration of +Krishna's dances with the milk-maids. The devotees belong chiefly to +the wealthy middle classes. These low sects worship Krishna +with R[=a]dh[=a] (his mistress, instead of Lakshm[=i], Vishnu's wife). +Here, too, as Krishnaites rather than as Vishnuites, are found the +'left-hand' worshippers of the female power.[86] + +This sensual corruption of Vishnuism, which is really not Vishnuism +but simple Krishnaism, led to two prominent reforms within the fold. +Among the Vallabhas arose in protest the Caran D[=a]s[=i]s, who have +taken from the M[=a]dhvas of the South their Ten Commandments (against +lying, reviling, harsh speech, idle talk, theft, adultery, injury to +life, imagining evil, hate, and pride); and evolved for themselves the +tenet that faith without works is dead. The same protest was made +against the Vallabhas by Sv[=a]mi N[=a]r[=a]yana. He was born about +1780 near Lucknow, and advocated a return to Vallabha's purer faith, +which had been corrupted. Probably most of the older reformers have +had much the same career as had Sv[=a]mi N[=a]r[=a]yana. Exalted by +the people, who were persuaded by his mesmeric eloquence, he soon +became a political figure, a martyr of persecution, a triumphant +victor, and then an ascetic, living in seclusion; whence he emerged +occasionally to go on tours "like a bishop visiting his diocese" +(Williams). He is worshipped as a god.[87] The sect numbers to-day a +quarter of a million, some being celibate clergy, some householders. + +In contrast to Vishnuism the following points are characteristic of +orthodox Brahmanism (Çankara's Vedantism): The orthodox believe that +there is one spirit in three forms, co-eternal impersonal +essences--being, knowledge, and joy. When it wills it becomes +personal, exists in the object, knows, rejoices, associating itself +with illusion. In this state it has three corporeal forms, causal, +subtile, gross. With the causal body (identified with illusion, +ignorance) it becomes the Supreme Lord, that is, the totality of +dreamless human spirits. With the subtile form it becomes the golden +seed, or thread-spirit (dreaming spirits); with the gross form it +becomes V[=i]r[=a]j, V[=a]içv[=a]nara, the waking spirit. The lowest +state is that of being wide awake. The personal god (Brahm[=a], +Vishnu, Çiva, of the sectaries) is this it as influenced by the three +qualities, _rajas, sattva, tamas_ (passion, truth, and ignorance), +respectively. Three essences, three corporeal forms, and three +qualities constitute, therefore, the threefold trinity of the +orthodox, who are called Sm[=a]rtas, they that 'hold to +tradition.'[88] What the sectary rejects, namely, the scriptures (Veda +and Upanishads, etc.) and the caste system, that the orthodox retains; +what the sectary holds, namely, R[=a]m[=a]nuja's qualified +non-duality, and absolute godhead in Çiva or Krishna, that the +orthodox rejects (although he may receive the sectary's god into his +pantheon). Some of the sects still keep respect for caste, excusing +their respect on the ground that "it is well enough for God to ignore +social distinctions, but not for man." But caste-distinctions are +generally ignored, or there is positive hate of the Brahman. In +antithesis to the orthodox, the sectaries all hold one other important +tenet. From the idea of _bhakti_, faith or devotion, was developed +that of love for Krishna, and then (as an indication of devotion) the +confession of the name of the Lord as a means of grace. Hence, on the +one hand, the meaningless repetition of the sect's special _kirttan_ +or liturgies, and _mantra,_ or religious formula; the devotion, +demanded by the priest, of _man, tan, dhan_ (mind, body,[89] and +property); and finally, the whole theory of death-bed confessions. +Sinner or heretic, if one die at last with Krishna's name upon the +lips he will be saved.[90] + +Of the sub-divisions of the sub-sects that we have described, the +numbers often run into scores. But either their differences are based +on indifferent matters of detail in the cult and religious practice; +or the new sect is distinguished from the old simply by its endeavor +to make for greater holiness or purity as sub-reformers of older +sects. For all the sects appear to begin as reformers, and later to +split up in the process of re-reformation. + +Two general classes of devotees, besides these, remain to be spoken +of. The Sanny[=a]sin, 'renouncer,' was of old a Brahman ascetic. +Nowadays, according to Wilson, he is generally a Çivaite mendicant. +But any sect may have its Sanny[=a]sins, as it may have its +V[=a]ir[=a]gins, 'passionless ones'; although the latter name +generally applies to the Vishnuite ascetics of the South. + +Apart from all these sects, and in many ways most remarkable, are the +sun-worshippers. All over India the sun was (and is) worshipped, +either directly (as to-day by the Sauras),[91] or as an incarnate +deity in the form of the priest Nimba-[=a]ditya, who is said to have +arrested the sun's course at one time and to be the sun's +representative on earth. Both Puranic authority and inscriptional +evidence attest this more direct[92] continuance of the old Vedic +cult. Some of the finest old temples of India, both North and South, +were dedicated to the sun. + + +DEISTIC REFORMING SECTS. + +We have just referred to one or two reforming sects that still hold to +the sectarian deity. Among these the M[=a]dhvas, founded by (Madhva) +[=A]nandat[=i]rtha, are less Krishnaite or R[=a]maite than +Vishnuite,[93] and less Vishnuite than deist in general; so much so +that Williams declares they must have got their precepts from +Christianity, though this is open to Barth's objection that the +reforming deistic sects are so located as to make it more probable +that they derive from Mohammedanism. Madhva was born about 1200 on the +western coast, and opposed Çankara's pantheistic doctrine of +non-duality. He taught that the supreme spirit is essentially +different to matter and to the individual spirit.[94] He of course +denied absorption, and, though a Vishnuite, clearly belonged in spirit +to the older school before Vishnuism became so closely connected with +Ved[=a]nta doctrines. It is the same Sankhyan Vishnuism that one sees +in the Divine Song, that is, duality, and a continuation of +Ç[=a]ndilya's ancient heresy.[95] + +Here ends the course of India's native religions. From a thousand +years B.C. to as many years after she is practically uninfluenced by +foreign doctrine, save in externals. + +It is of course permissible to separate the reforming sects of +the last few decades from the older reformers; but since we see both +in their aim and in their foreign sources (amalgamation with cis-Indic +belief) only a logical if not an historical continuance of the older +deists, we prefer to treat of them all as factors of one whole; and, +from a broader point of view, as successors to the still older +pantheistic and unitarian reformers who first predicated a supreme +spirit as _ens realissimum_, when still surrounded by the clouds of +primitive polytheism. Kab[=i]r and D[=a]d[=u], the two most important +of the more modern reformers, we have named above as nominal adherents +of the R[=a]m[=a]nand sect. But neither was really a sectarian +Vishnuite.[96] Kab[=i]r, probably of the beginning of the fifteenth +century, the most famous of R[=a]m[=a]nand's disciples, has as +religious descendants the sect of the Kab[=i]r Panth[=i]s. But no less +an organization than that of the Sikhs look back to him, pretending to +be his followers. The religious tenets of the Kab[=i]r Panth[=i]s may +be described as those of unsectarian Unitarians. They conform to no +rites or _mantras_. Kab[=i]r assailed all idolatry, ridiculed the +authority of all scriptures, broke with Pundit and with Mohammedan, +taught that outer form is of no consequence, and that only the 'inner +man' is of importance. These Panth[=i]s are found in the South, but +are located chiefly in and about Benares, in Bengal in the East, and +in Bombay in the West. There are said to be twelve divisions of them. +Kab[=i]r assailed idolatry, but alas! Discipline requires +subordination. The Guru, Teacher, must be obeyed. It was not long +before he who rejected idolatry became himself a deity. And in fact, +every Teacher, Guru, of the sect was an absolute master of thought, +and was revered as a god.[97] + +In the fifteenth century, near Laho[.r]e, was born N[=a]nak (1469), +who is the nominal founder of the Sikhs, a body which, as N[=a]nak +claimed, was a sect embodying the religion of Kab[=i]r himself, of +whom he claimed to be a follower. The Granth, or bible of the Sikhs, +was first compiled by the pontiff Arjun, in the sixteenth century. +Besides the portions written by N[=a]nak and Arjun himself, there were +collected into it extracts from the works of 'twelve and a half' other +contributors to the volume, Kab[=i]r, R[=a]m[=a]nand, etc.[98] This +Granth was subsequently called the [=A]digranth, or First Book, to +distinguish it from the later, enlarged, collection of several books, +one of which was written by Guru Govind, the tenth Sikh pontiff. The +change from a religious body to a church militant and political body +was made by this Govind in the eighteenth century.[99] The religious +sect settled in the Punj[=a]b, became wealthy, excited the greed of +the government, was persecuted, rose in revolt, triumphed, and +eventually ruled the province. One of the first to precipitate the +uprising was the above-mentioned Arjun (fourth pontiff after +N[=a]nak). He played the king, was accused of rebellion, imprisoned, +and probably killed by the Mohammedans. The Sikhs flew to arms, and +from this time on they were perforce little more than robbers and +plunderers. Govind made the final change in organization, and, +so to speak, at one blow created a nation, for the church at his hands +was converted into the united militant body called Kh[=a]ls[=a] under +the Guru as pontiff-king, with a 'council of chiefs.' They were vowed +to hate the Mohammedan and Hindu. All caste-distinctions were +abrogated. Govind instituted the worship of Steel and Book (sword and +bible). His orders were: "If you meet a Mohammedan, kill him; if you +meet a Hindu, beat and plunder him." The Sikhs invoked the 'Creator' +as 'highest lord,' either in the form of Vishnu or R[=a]ma. Their +founder, N[=a]nak, kept, however, the Hindu traditions in regard to +rites. He was a travelled merchant, and is said to have been in +Arabia. As an example of the Sikh bible may serve the following +extracts, translated from the original dialect by Trumpp and Prinsep +respectively: + + _From Trumpp_: + + True is the Lord, of a true name, + But the import of (this) language is Infinite. + They say and beg, give, give! + The Liberal gives presents. + What may again be put before (him) + By which his court may be seen? + What word may be spoken by the mouth, + Which having heard he may bestow love? + Early reflect on the greatness of the True Name.[100] + From his beneficence comes clothing, + From his look the gate of salvation. + N[=a]nak (says): Thus it is known, + That he himself is altogether truthful. + + _From Prinsep_: + + Thou art the Lord, to thee be praise; + All life is with thee. + Thou art my parents; I, thy child. + All happiness is from thy mercy. + No one knows God. + + Highest Lord among the highest, + Of all that is thou art the regulator, + And all that is from thee obeys thy will, + Thy movements, thy pleasure; thou alone knowest. + N[=a]nak, thy slave is a free-will offering unto thee.[101] + +The religious side of this organization remained under the name of +Ud[=a]sis,[102] or Nirmalas ('spotless ones'). The [=A]digranth was +extended by other additions, such as that of Govind (above), and now +constitutes a large heterogeneous collection of hymns and moral rules. +Seven sub-sects of the religious body were developed in course of +time. The military body has a well-known history. They were complete +masters of the Punj[=a]b in 1764, and remained there as an independent +race till that province was occupied by the British in 1848. Both +Kab[=i]r and his follower N[=a]nak were essentially reformers. They +sought for a religion which should rest on the common truths of +Hinduism and Mohammedanism.[103] As a matter of form the political +party of Govind, the Govind Singhs, or Simhis, worshipped the Hindu +gods, and they showed respect for the Brahman priests for a long +while; but they rejected the Vedas and caste--the two most essential +features of orthodoxy.[104] + +D[=a]d[=u], the second great reformer, who shows Mohammedan influence +quite as plainly as does Kab[=i]r, also claimed R[=a]m[=a]nand as his +teacher. The sects that revert to D[=a]d[=u], D[=a]d[=u] Panth[=i]s, +now number more than half an hundred. Some of the votaries are +soldiers; some are mendicants. The founder lived about the end of the +sixteenth century. The outward +practices of the sects differ somewhat from those of other sects. Like +Persians, they expose their dead. They are found about [=A]jm[=i]r and +other districts of the North, in the seats of the Jains. Their faith +and reformatory tendency may be illustrated by the following extract, +as translated by Wilson:[105] + +"He is my God who maketh all things perfect. O foolish one, God is not +far from you. He is near you. God's power is always with you. Whatever +is to be is God's will. What will be will be. Therefore, long not for +grief or joy, because by seeking the one you may find the other. All +things are sweet to them that love God. I am satisfied with this, that +happiness is in proportion to devotion. O God, Thou who art truth, +grant me contentment, love, devotion, and faith.... Sit ye with +humility at the feet of God, and rid yourselves of the sickness of +your bodies. From the wickedness of the body there is much to fear, +because all sins enter into it. Therefore, let your dwelling be with +the fearless, and direct yourselves toward the light of God. For there +neither sword nor poison have power to destroy, and sin cannot enter. +The greatest wisdom is in preventing your minds from being influenced +by bad passions, and in meditating upon the One God. Afford help also +to the poor stranger. Meditate on Him by whom all things were +made."[106] + +This tradition of reform is maintained by others without intermission +down to the present century, and the M[=a]dhvas and Sv[=a]mi +N[=a]r[=a]yana, of whom we have spoken above as being more directly +connected with sectarian bodies, are, in fact, scarcely more concerned +with the tenets of the latter than were Kab[=i]r and D[=a]d[=u]. Thus +the seventeenth century sees the rising of the B[=a]b[=a]l[=a]ls and +S[=a]dhus; and the eighteenth, of the Satn[=a]mis, 'worshippers of the +true name,' who, with other minor bodies, such as the N[=a]ngi +Panthis, founded by Dedr[=a]j in this century, are really pure +deists, although some of them, like the Vi[t.]h[t.]hals, claim to be +followers of Kab[=i]r. And so they are, in spirit at least. + + +THE DEISM OF TO-DAY.[107] + +And thus one arrives at modern deism, not as the result of new +influences emanating from Christian teaching, but rather as the +legitimate successor of that deism which became almost monotheistic in +the first centuries after our era, and has ever since varied with +various reformers between two beliefs, inclining now to the +pantheistic, now to the unitarian conception, as the respective +reformers were influenced by Ved[=a]nta or S[=a]nkhya (later +Mohammedan) doctrine. + +The first of the great modern reformers is R[=a]mmohun Roy, who was +born in 1772, the son of a high-caste Krishnaite Brahman. He studied +Persian and Arabic literature at Patna, the centre of Indic Mohammedan +learning. When a mere boy, he composed a tract against idolatry which +caused him to be banished from home. He lived at Benares, the +stronghold of Brahmanism, and afterwards in Tibet, the centre of +Buddhism. "From his earliest years," says Williams, "he displayed an +eagerness to become an unbiassed student of all the religions of the +globe." He read the Vedas, the P[=a]li Buddhist works, the Kur[=a]n, +and the Old Testament in the original; and in later years even studied +Greek that he might properly understand the New Testament. The +scholastic philosophy of the Hindus appeared to him, however, as +something superior to what he found elsewhere, and his efforts were +directed mainly to purifying the national faith, especially from +idolatry. It was at his instigation that the practice of widow-burning +was abolished (in 1829) by the British. He was finally ostracized from +home as a schismatic, and retired to Calcutta, uniting about him a +small body of Hindus and Jains, and there established a sort of church +or sect, the [=A]tm[=i]ya Sabh[=a],'spiritual society' (1816), which +met at his house, but eventually was crushed by the hostility of the +orthodox priests. He finally adopted a kind of Broad-church +Christianity or Unitarianism, and in 1820, in his 'Precepts of Jesus' +and in one of his later works, admits that the simple moral code of +the New Testament and the doctrines of Christ were the best that he +knew. He never, however, abjured caste; and his adoption of +Christianity, of course, did not include the dogma of the trinity: +"Whatever excuse may be pleaded in favor of a plurality of persons of +the Deity can be offered with equal propriety in defence of +polytheism" (Final Appeal). Founded by him, the first theistic church +was organized in 1828 at Calcutta, and formally opened in 1830 as the +Br[=a]hma Sam[=a]j; ('the Congregation of God'). In doing this he +wished it to be understood that he was not founding a new sect, but a +pure monotheistic worship. The only creed was a confession of faith in +the unity of God. For himself, he abandoned pantheism, adopted the +belief in a final judgment, in miracles, and in Christ as the 'Founder +of true religion.' He died in 1833 in England. His successor, +Debendran[=a]th T[=a]gore,[108] was not appointed leader of the +Br[=a]hma Sam[=a]j; till much later; after he had founded a church of +his own ('the Truth-teaching Society'), which lasted for twenty years +(1839-1859), before it was united with the Br[=a]hma Sam[=a]j. In the +meantime Debendran[=a]th become a member of the latter society (1841). +He established the covenant of the Sam[=a]j, a vow taken by every +member to lead holy lives, to abstain from idolatry, to worship no +created object, but only God, the One without a second,[109] the +Creator, Preserver, Destroyer, the Giver of Emancipation. + +The church was newly organized in 1844 with a regularly appointed +president and minister, and with the administration of the oath to +each believer. This is the [=A]di Br[=a]hma Sam[=a]j, the First +Congregation, in distinction from the schism which soon took place. +The first quarrel in this church was due to a difference of opinion in +regard to the authority of the Vedas. Some members rejected them, +others maintained their infallibility; while between these extremes +lay various other opinions, some members questioning the infallibility +of the Vedas but maintaining their authority. By a majority vote it +was eventually decided that the Vedas (and Upanishads) were not +infallible. + +In the meantime in other provinces rival Sam[=a]jas had been formed, +and by 1850 there were several of these broad-minded Congregations, +all trammelled by their environment, but doing their best to be +liberal. + +We pause here in the compilation of the data recorded in this +paragraph to assert, independently of Professor Williams, who has +given us the historical facts, but would doubtless not wish to have +imputed to himself the following judgment which we are led to pass, +that the next step of the Sam[=a]j; placed it upon the only ground +where the objects of this church can be attained, and that in the +subsequent reform of this reform, which we shall have to record below, +a backward step has been taken. For Debendran[=a]th changed the +essential character of the Sam[=a]j from pantheistic theism to pure +deism. The inner circle of the society had a narrower declaration of +faith, but in his Br[=a]hma Dharma, published about 1850, +Debendran[=a]th formulated four articles of faith, to subscribe to +which admitted any one into the Sam[=a]j. These articles read as +follows: (t) Brahma (neuter) alone existed in the beginning before the +universe; naught else existed; It [He] created all the universe. (2) +It [He] is eternal, intelligent, infinite, blissful, self-governed +(independent), without parts, just one (neuter) without a second, +all-pervading, the ruler (masculine noun) of all, refuge of all, +omniscient, omnipotent, immovable, perfect, without parallel (all +these adjectives are neuter). (3) By worship of this One alone can +bliss be obtained in the next world and in this. (4) The worship of +this (neuter) One consists in love toward this (One) and in performing +works pleasant (to this One). + +This deism denies an incarnate God, scriptural authority, and the good +of rites and penance; but it teaches the efficacy of prayer and +repentance, and the belief in God as a personal Creator and Heavenly +Father.[110] Intellectual--anything but emotional--it failed to +satisfy many worshippers. And as a church it was conservative in +regard to social reforms. + +In 1858 Keshub Chunder Sen, a Vishnuite by family, then but twenty, +joined the Sam[=a]j, and being clever, young, eloquent, and +cultivated, he, after the manner of the Hindus, undertook to reform +the church he had just entered, first of all by urging the abolition +of caste-restrictions. Debendran[=a]th was liberal enough to be +willing to dispense with his own thread (the caste-mark), but too +wisely conservative to demand of his co-religionists so complete a +break with tradition and social condition. For the sacred thread to +the Hindu is the sign of social respectability. Without it, he is out +of society. It binds him to all that is dearest to him. The leader of +the older Sam[=a]j; never gave up caste; the younger members in +doing so mix religion with social etiquette, and so hinder the advance +they aim at. Sen urged this and other reforms, all repugnant to the +society in which he lived, changes in the rite at the worship of +ancestors, alterations in the established ritual at birth-ceremonies +and funerals, abolition of polyandry and of child-marriages, and, +worst of all, granting permission to marry to those of different +castes. His zeal was directed especially against caste-restrictions +and child-marriages. Naturally he failed to persuade the old Sam[=a]j +to join him in these revolutionary views, to insist on which, however +sensible they seem, cannot be regarded otherwise than as indiscreet +from the point of view of one who considers men and passions. For the +Sam[=a]j, in the face of tremendous obstacles, had just secured a +foot-hold in India. Sen's headlong reforms would have smashed to +pieces the whole congregation, and left India more deeply prejudiced +than ever against free thought. Sen failed to reform the old church, +so in 1865 he, with some ardent young enthusiasts, reformed themselves +into a new church, ceremoniously organized in 1866 as the Br[=a]hma +Sam[=a]j; of India, in distinction from the Calcutta Sam[=a]j, or +[=A]di Sam[=a]j. A futile effort was made to get all the other local +congregations to join the new Sam[=a]j, the last, of course, to be the +first and head of the organization. + +The new Sam[=a]j renounced caste-restrictions and Brahmanism +altogether, but it was tainted with the hysterical _bhakti_ fervor +which Sen inherited from his childhood's religion, and which (if one +may credit Williams' words) "brought the latest development of Indian +Theism into closer harmony with Christian ideas." The chief leader of +this Sam[=a]j besides Sen was his cousin Prot[=a]p Chunder Mozoomdar, +official secretary of the society. Its literary organ is the _Indian +Mirror_. + +The reform of this reform of course followed before long. The new +Sam[=a]j was accused of making religion too much a matter of emotion +and excitement. Religious fervor, _bhakti_, had led to "rapturous +singing of hymns in the streets"; and to the establishment of a kind +of love-feasts ('Brahma-feasts' they were called) of prayer and +rejoicing; and, on the other hand, to undue asceticism and +self-mortification.[111] Sen himself was revered too much. One of the +most brilliant, eloquent, and fascinating of men, he was adored by his +followers--as a god! He denied that he had accepted divine honors, but +there is no doubt, as Williams insists, that his Vishnuite tendency +led him to believe himself peculiarly the recipient of divine favors. +It was charged against him that he asserted that all he did was at +God's command, and that he believed himself perennially inspired.[112] +If one add to this that he was not only divinely inspired, but that he +had the complete control of his society, it would appear to be easy to +foresee where the next reformer might strike. For Sen "was not only +bishop, priest, and deacon all in one," says Williams, "he was a Pope, +from whose decision there was no appeal." But it was not this that +caused the rupture. In 1877 this reformer, "who had denounced early +marriages as the curse of India," yielded to natural social ambition +and engaged his own young daughter to a Koch (R[=a]jbanshi) prince, +who in turn was a mere boy. The Sam[=a]j protested with all its might, +but the marriage was performed the next year, withal to the +accompaniment of idolatrous rites.[113] After this Sen became somewhat +theatrical. In 1879 he recognized (in a proclamation) God's +Motherhood--the old dogma of the female divine. In 1880 he announced, +in fervid language, that Christianity was the only true religion: "It +is Christ who rules British India, and not the British Government. +England has sent out a tremendous moral force in the life and +character of that mighty prophet to conquer and hold this vast empire. +None but Jesus, none but Jesus, none but Jesus, ever deserved this +bright, this precious diadem, India, and Jesus shall have it.... +Christ is a true Yogi." He accepts Christ, but not as God, only as +inspired saint (as says Williams). More recently, Sen proposed an +amalgamation of Hinduism, Mohammedanism, and Christianity as the true +religion. + +Meanwhile the Sam[=a]j was rent by discord. Sen's opponents, the new +reformers, were unable, however, to oust the brilliant leader from the +presidency. Consequently they established a new church, intended to be +a General Congregation, the fourth development (1878) of the Br[=a]hma +Sam[=a]j. And so the fight has gone on ever since. At the present day +there are more than a hundred deistic churches, in which the +devotional exercises consist in part of readings from the Vedas, +Bible, Kur[=a]n, and Avesta. The [=A]rya Sam[=a]j is one of the most +important of the later churches, some of which endeavor to obtain +undefiled religion by uniting into one faith what seems best in all; +others, by returning to the Vedas and clearing them of what they think +to be later corruptions of those originally pure scriptures. Of the +latter sort is the [=A]rya Sam[=a]j. Its leader, Day[=a]nanda, claims +that the Vedas are a true revelation. The last reformer of which we +have knowledge is a bright young high-caste Hindu of upper India, who +is about to found a 'world-religion,' for which task he is now making +preliminary studies. He has visited this country, and recently told us +that, if he had time, he could easily convert America. But his first +duty lies, of course, in the reformation of India's reformations, +especially of the Sam[=a]jas! + +The difficulty with which all these reformers and re-reformers have to +contend is pitifully clear. Their broad ideas have no fitting +environment. Their leaders and thinkers may continue to preach deism, +and among their equals they will be heard and understood. They are, +however, not content with this. They must form churches. But a church +implies in every case an unnatural and therefore dangerous growth, +caused by the union either of inferior minds (attracted by eloquence, +but unable to think) with those that are not on the same plane, or of +ambitious zealots with reluctant conservatists. Many join the church +who are not qualified to appreciate the leader's work. They overload +the founder's deism with the sectarian theism from which they have not +really freed themselves. On the other hand, younger men, who have been +educated in English colleges and are imbued with the spirit of +practical reform, enter the church to use it as an instrument for +social progress. So the church is divided, theists and reformers both +being at odds with the original deists; and the founder is lucky if he +escapes being deified by one party and being looked upon by the other +as too dull.[114] + +India is no more prepared as a whole for the reception of the liberal +views of the Sam[=a]j; than was the negro for the right to vote. +Centuries of higher preliminary education are needed before the people +at large renounce their ancestral, their natural faith. A few earnest +men may preach deism; the people will remain polytheists and +pantheists for many generations. Then, again, the Sam[=a]jas have to +contend not only with the national predisposition, but with every +heretical sect, and, besides these, with the orthodox church. But thus +far their chief foe is, after all, their own heart as opposed to their +head. As long as deistic leaders are deified by their followers, and +regard themselves as peculiarly inspired, they will preach in vain. +Nor can they with impunity favor the substitution of emotion for ideas +in a land where religious emotion leads downwards as surely as falls a +stone that is thrown. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: In the following we keep to the practice we + have adopted in the early part of the work, giving + anglicized words without distinction of vowel-length, and + anglicizing as far as possible, writing thus S[=a]nkhya but + Sankhyan, Ved[=a]nta but Vedantist. In modern proper names + we have adopted in each case the most familiar form.] + + [Footnote 2: Rig Veda, II. 12. Compare X. 121. We omit some + of the verses.] + + [Footnote 3: See note, p. 20, above.] + + [Footnote 4: Metaphor from earthly fire-making; cloud and + cliff (Ludwig); or, perhaps, heaven and earth.] + + [Footnote 5: 'Made low and put in concealment' the D[=a]sa + color, _i.e._ the black barbarians, the negroes. 'Color' + might be translated 'race' (subsequently 'caste').] + + [Footnote 6: D[=i]ce, _vijas_, literally 'hoppers' (and so + sometimes, interpreted as birds). The same figure occurs not + infrequently. Compare AV. iv. 16. 5, _ak[s.][=a]n iva_. + 'Believe,' _çr['a]d-dhatta, i.e_., cred-(d)[=i]te, literally + 'put trust.'] + + [Footnote 7: Sometimes rendered, "a true (laudation) if any + is true."] + + [Footnote 8: viii. 100. 3-4. The penultimate verse is + literally 'the direction(s) of the order magnify me,' the + order being that of the seasons and of seasonable rites.] + + [Footnote 9: Compare the 'devil-worship of Uçanas,' and the + scoffs at P[=u]shan. The next step in infidelity is denial + of a future life and of the worth of the Vedas.] + + [Footnote 10: In the Buddhistic writings Indra appears as + the great popular god of the Brahmans (with Brahm[=a] as the + philosophical god).] + + [Footnote 11: His body is mortal; his breaths immortal, Çat. + Br. x. 1. 4. 1; xi. 1. 2. 12.] + + [Footnote 12: On these curious pocket-altars, double + triangles representing the three gods and their wives, with + Linga and Yon[=i], see JRAS. 1851, p. 71.] + + [Footnote 13: In the Tantras and late Pur[=a]nas. In the + earlier Pur[=a]nas there is as yet no such formal cult.] + + [Footnote 14: Embodied in the tale of Agni's advance, IS. i. + 170.] + + [Footnote 15: Çat Br. ix. 3.1. 18.] + + [Footnote 16: On this _quasi_ deity in modern belief compare + IA. XVIII. 46. It has happened here that a fate Providence + has become supreme. Thus, too, the Mogul Buddha is realty + nothing more or less than Providence.] + + [Footnote 17: 7. I. 2.] + + [Footnote 18: In RV. X. 90. 9, _chandas_, songs, + incantations, imply a work of this nature.] + + [Footnote 19: Unless it be distinctly _good_ magic the epic + heroes are ashamed to use magical rites. They insist on the + intent being unimpeachable.] + + [Footnote 20: [=A]p. I. II. 30, 20, etc. Compare Weber, + _Omina_ p. 337, and see the Bibliography.] + + [Footnote 21: T[=a]itt. S. VI. I. 1, 2, 3, + _t[=i]rthesn[=a]li._] + + [Footnote 22: Compare Weber's account of the R[=a]jas[=u]ya, + p. 98; and, apropos of the Daçapeya, _ib._ 78, note; where + it is stated that _soma_-drinking for the warrior-caste is + still reflected in this (originally independent) ceremony.] + + [Footnote 23: The list given above (p. 464) of the 'thrice + three names' is made eight by suppressing Kum[=a]ra, and the + 'eight names' are to-day the usual number.] + + [Footnote 24: Ç[=a]nkh. (K[=a]nsh.) Br. vi. 1.] + + [Footnote 25: The Brahmanic multiple by preference is (three + and) seven (7,21,28,35), that of the Buddhist, eight. Feer, + JA., 1893, p. 113 ff., holds the Svargaparva of the epic to + be Buddhistic on account of the hells. More probably it is a + Çivaite addition. The rule does not always hold good, for + groups of seven and eight are sometimes Buddhistic and + Brahmanic, respectively.] + + [Footnote 26: Leumann, _Rosaries_.] + + [Footnote 27: Friederich,; JRAS. viii. 157; ix. 59. The only + established reference to Buddha on the part of Brahmanism, + with the exception of late Pur[=a]nas of uncertain date, is + after Kshemendra (1066 A.D.). Compare Holtzmann, s. + _Geschichte_, p. 103.] + + [Footnote 28: _Na tat parasya sandadhy[=a]t pratik[=u]la[.m] + yad [=a]tmanas_. This is a favorite stanza in the epic, and + is imitated in later literature (Sprüche, 3253, 6578, + 6593).] + + [Footnote 29: Burnell in the _Indian Antiquary_, second and + following volumes; Swanston, JRAS. 1834; 1835; Germann, _Die + Kirche der Thomaschristen_.] + + [Footnote 30: Above, cited from Hardy.] + + [Footnote 31: Some of the multitudinous subcastes + occasionally focus about a religious principle to such an + extent as to give them almost the appearance of religious + devotees. Thus the Bhats and Ch[=a]rans are heralds and + bards with the mixed faith of so many low-caste Hindus. But + in their office of herald they have a religious pride, and, + since in the present day they are less heralds than + expressmen, they carry property with religious reverence, + and are respected in their office even by robbers; for it + this caste that do not hesitate to commit _traga_, that is, + if an agreement which they have caused to be made between + two parties is not carried out they will kill themselves and + their families, with such religious effect that the guilt + lies upon the offending party in the agreement, who expiates + it by his own life. They are regarded as a sort of divine + representative, and fed themselves to be so. A case reported + from India in this year, 1894, shows that the feeling still + exists. The herald slew his own mother in the presence of + the defaulting debtor, who thereupon slew himself as his + only expiation.] + + [Footnote 32: As, for example, between the D[=a]d[=u] + Panth[=i]s and the Jains in Ajmir and Jeypur. The last was a + chief Digambara town, while Mathur[=a] (on the Jumna) was a + Çret[=a]mbara station. For a possible survival of Buddhism, + see below, p. 485, note.] + + [Footnote 33: The _Sarcadarça[n.]asa[=n.]graha_ of S[=a]yana + (fourteenth century) and the _Ça[=n.]kara-vijaya,_ or + 'Conquest of Çankara.'] + + [Footnote 34: Thus the Dabist[=a]n enumerates as actual + sects of the seventeenth century, 'moon-worshippers,' + 'star-worshippers,' 'Agni-worshippers,' 'wind-worshippers,' + 'water-worshippers,' 'earth-worshippers,' '_trip[=u]jas_' + (or worshippers of all the three kingdoms of nature), and + 'worshippers of man' (_manu[s.]yabhakt[=a]s_), "who + recognise the being of God in man, and know nothing more + perfect than mankind" (ii. 12), a faith which, as we have + shown, is professed in the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata.] + + [Footnote 35: _Religious Thought and Life_.] + + [Footnote 36: The Kashmeer Çivaites claim Çankara as their + teacher. The sect of Basava started in the south, Mysore. + They have some trashy literature (legends, etc.) which they + dignify by the name of Pur[=a]nas. Bühler has given an + account of the Kashmeer school. For further details see + Barth, pp. 184, 206.] + + [Footnote 37: _Brahmanism and Hinduism_, p.62 ff. To this + and to the same author's _Thought and Life_, we are indebted + for many facts concerning the sects as they appear to-day, + though much in these books is said after Wilson or other + scholars, whose work is now common property, and calls for + no further acknowledgment.] + + [Footnote 38: It is, perhaps, necessary to keep repeating + that Hindu monotheism does not exclude other gods which, at + the hands of the one god, are reduced to sprites, angels, + demons, etc. But it ought not to be necessary to insist on + this, for an American monotheist that believes in angels and + devils is the same sort of monotheist. The Hindu calls the + angels 'gods' or 'divinities,' but they are only attendant + hosts of the One.] + + [Footnote 39: Some of the Çivaite sects are, indeed, + Buddhistic in origin, a fact which raises the question + whether Buddhism, instead of disappearing from India, was + not simply absorbed; much as Unitarianism in New England has + spent its vitality in modifying the orthodox creed. Thus the + _karma_ of Buddhism may still be working in the person of + some modern Hindu sects. See the next note below.] + + [Footnote 40: Most of the Yogi jugglers are Çivaites (when + they are not Buddhistic), and to-day they share with the + (Mohammedan) fakirs the honor of being not only ascetics but + knaves. The juggler Yogi is, however, a figure of + respectable antiquity. The magical tricks practiced on the + epic heroes are doubtless a reflex of the current mesmerism, + which deceives so cleverly to-day. We have shown above a + Buddhistic strain of Mah[=a]tmaism in an early Buddhistic + tract, and Barth, p. 213, suggests a Buddhistic origin for + the K[=a]naph[=a]ts. See also Holtzmann, _loc. cit._ The + deistic Yogis of Gorakhn[=a]th's sect are respectable enough + (see an account of some of this sort in the Dabist[=a]n, II. + 6), but they are of Buddhistic origin. The K[=a]naph[=a]ts + of Kutch (Danodhar) were once a celibate brotherhood. JRAS. + 1839, p. 268.] + + [Footnote 41: See JAOS. xi. 272. To ascribe this verse to + the 'older Manu' would be a grave slip on the part of a + Sanskrit scholar.] + + [Footnote 42: i. 1. 76.] + + [Footnote 43: The Dabist[=a]n, without any animus, reports + of the Ç[=a]ktas of the seventeenth century that "Çiva is, + in their opinion, _with little exception_, the highest of + the deities" (II. 7). Williams calls Ç[=a]ktaism "a mere + offshoot of Çivaism" _Religious Thought and Life_, p. 184.] + + [Footnote 44: The Dabist[=a]n rather assumes as a matter of + course that a body of Yogis would kill and eat a boy of the + Mohammedan faith (II. 12); but here the author may be + prejudiced.] + + [Footnote 45: The present sect of this name consists only of + a few miserable mendicants, particularly savage and filthy + (Wilson).] + + [Footnote 46: All of them now represent Çakti, the female + principle. Linga-worship has also its counterpart, + Bhaga-worship (here Yoni), perhaps represented by the altar + itself. Compare the Dabist[=a]n, II. 7, on the Çivaite + interpretation of the Mohammedan altar. To Durga human + beings were always sacrificed. After mentioning a gold idol + of Durg[=a] (to whom men were sacrificed yearly), the author + adds: "Even now they sacrifice in every village of the + Kohistan of Nandapur and the country adjacent, a man of + good family" (_ib._). Durg[=a] {above, p. 416) is Vishnu's + sister.] + + [Footnote 47: The sexual antithesis, so unimportant in the + earliest Aryan nature-hymns, becomes more and more + pronounced in the liturgical hymns of the Rig Veda, and may + be especially a trait of the older fire-cult in opposition + to _soma_-cult (compare RV. X. 18. 7). At any rate it is + significant that Yoni means the altar itself, and that in + the fire-cult the production of fire is represented as + resulting from the union of the male and female organs.] + + [Footnote 48: Nevertheless the Brahmanic, and even the + Hinduistic, law-codes condemn all intoxicating liquors + except in religious service. To offer such drink to a man of + the lower castes, even to a Ç[=u]dra, is punishable with a + fine; but to offer intoxicating liquor to a priest is + punishable with death (Vishnu, V. 100).] + + [Footnote 49: Formerly performed by the Kar[=a]ris. "The + Ç[=a]ktas hold the killing of a man to be permitted," + Dabist[=a]n, II. 7. "Among them it is a meritorious act to + sacrifice a man," _ib_.] + + [Footnote 50: Hence the name of K[=a][=n]culiyas + _[ka[=n]culi_, a woman's garment).] + + [Footnote 51: This has no parallel in Vishnuism except among + some of the R[=a]dh[=a] devotees. Among the R[=a]dh[=a] + Vallabh[=i]s the vulgarities of the Çivaites are quite + equalled; and the assumption of women's attire by the + Sakh[=i] Bh[=a]vas of Benares and Bengal ushers in rites as + coarse if less bloody than those of the Çivaites.] + + [Footnote 52: Of course each god of the male trinity has his + Çakti, female principle. Thus Brahm[=a]'s Çakt[=i] is + S[=a]vitr[=i] (in the epic), or Sarasvat[=i], or V[=a]c; + that of Vishnu is Çr[=i], or Lakshm[=i], or R[=a]dh[=a]; + that of Çiva is Um[=a], Durg[=a], K[=a]l[=i], etc. Together + they make a female trinity (Barth, p. 199); So even the + Vedic gods had their (later) wives, who, as in the case of + S[=u]ry[=a], were probably only the female side of a god + conceived of as androgynous, like Praj[=a]pat[=i] in the + Brahmanic period.] + + [Footnote 53: Historically, Thags, like Panj[=a]b, + Santh[=a]ls, etc, is the more correct form, but phonetically + the forms Thugs, Punj[=a]b, Sunth[=a]ls or Sonth[=a]ls, are + correct, and [=a], the indeterminate vowel (like o in + London), is generally transcribed by u or o (in Punj[=a]b, + Nep[=a]l, the [=a] is pronounced very like au, and is + sometimes written so, Punjaub, etc).] + + [Footnote 54: The Jemidar, captain, gives the order to the + Buttoat, strangler, who takes the _rumal_ (yard of cotton) + with a knot tied in the left end, and, holding his right + hand a few inches further up, passes it from behind over the + victim's head. As the latter falls the strangler's hands are + crossed, and if done properly the Thugs say that "the eyes + stand out of the head and life becomes extinct, before the + body falls to the ground" (Notes on the 'Thags, Thugs, or + Thegs,' by Lieutenant Reynolds; of whom Lieutenant-Colonel + Smythe says that he knew more than any other European about + the Thugs, 1836). The Buttoat received eight annas extra for + his share. Each actor in the scene had a title; the victim + was called Rosy. For their argot see the R[=a]maseeana.] + + [Footnote 55: Thugs (defined as 'knaves' by Sherwood, more + probably 'throttlers') must be distinguished from Decoits. + The latter (Elphinstone, i. 384) are irreligious gangs, + secretly bound together to sack villages. Peaceable citizens + by day, the Decoits rise at night, attack a village, slay, + torture, rob, and disappear before morning, 'melting into + the population' and resuming honest toil. When the police + are weak enough they may remain banded together; otherwise + they are ephemerally honest and nocturnally assassins. The + Thugs or Ph[=a]ns[=i]gars (_ph[=a]ns[=i]_, noose) killed no + women, invoked K[=a]li (as Jay[=i]), and attacked + individuals only, whom the decoys, called Tillais, lured + very cleverly to destruction. They never robbed without + strangling first, and always buried the victim. They used to + send a good deal of what they got to K[=a]li's temple, in a + village near Mirz[=a]pur, where the establishment of priests + was entirely supported by them. K[=a]li (or Bhav[=a]n[=i]) + herself directed that victims should be strangled, not bled + (so the Thug legend). Their symbol was a pick, emblem of the + goddess, unto whom a religious ceremony was performed before + and after the murder was committed. Local small bankers + often acted as fence for them.] + + [Footnote 56: This is called either + P[=u]rva-m[=i]m[=a]ms[=a] (Karma-m[=i]m[=a]ms[=a]) or simply + M[=i]m[=a]ms[=a].] + + [Footnote 57: Or Ç[=a]r[=i]raka-m[=i]m[=a]msa, or + Brahma-m[=i]m[=a]ms[=a] (_m[=i]m[=a][=m.]sa,_ reflexion, + philosophy).] + + [Footnote 58: Kapila's system, usually known as the + S[=a]nkhya.] + + [Footnote 59: And attributed to Pata[=n.]jali. Compare + Deussen, _System des Ved[=a]nta,_ p. 20.] + + [Footnote 60: Born In 788. But some scholars refer him to + the seventh century. See IA. xiii. 95; xvi. 41. His name, a + title of Çiva, indicates his nominal sect.] + + [Footnote 61: For the meaning of Ved[=a]nta (whether 'end of + Veda,' or 'goal of Veda') compare Deussen, _loc. cit._ p. 3, + note (above, p. 253, note).] + + [Footnote 62: The Supreme Spirit or All-Spirit is either + purely non-dualistic or qualifiedly non-dualistic; in the + latter event he is, says the sectary, identical with Vishnu, + who may be represented either by Krishna or R[=a]ma + (sub-sects). Pure non-duality (unconditioned _[=a]tm[=a]_) + was taught by Çankara.] + + [Footnote 63: Gough, _Philosophy of the Upanishads_.. + Compare Williams, _loc. cit_. In our own view the + unsystematic Upanishads teach both doctrines (above, p. 228, + note).] + + [Footnote 64: Before K[=a]m[=a]nuja it was taught by + Ç[=a]ndilya that _brahma_ (and the individual spirit) was + conditioned, a doctrine supposed to be that of the old + Bh[=a]gavatas or P[=a][.n]car[=a]tras; but this is quite + uncertain. The Ç[=a]ndilyan chapter of the Ch[=a]ndogya + Upanishad (above, p. 221) may be thus interpreted, _vis_, + that the (conditioned) individual spirit is identical with + _brahma_.] + + [Footnote 65: Thibaut, _Introduction to the Ved[=a]nta + S[=u]tras_, SBE. XXXIV. p. XXXI; Deussen, _System des + Ved[=a]nta_, p.469.] + + [Footnote 66: Philosophical illusion, _m[=a]n[=a]_, appears + first in late Upanishads.] + + [Footnote 67: The author of the Dabist[=a]n (seventeenth + century) tells a Berkeleyan story in regard to Çankara's + doctrine of illusion. His enemies wished to test his belief + in his own philosophy; so they drove an elephant at him, on + which the philosopher ran away. "Ho!" they jeered, "Did you + not maintain that all was a mere illusion? Then an elephant + is illusion. Yet you take to flight before it." "Yes," + replied the philosopher, "all is illusion; there was no + elephant, and there was no flight" (II. 4).] + + [Footnote 68: The Sm[=a]rta (orthodox) Brahman believes, on + the other hand, that Vishnu, Çiva, and Brahm[=a] are all + mere forms of the Supreme [=A]lm[=a].] + + [Footnote 69: If Mohammed were regarded as one with Allah + there would be an Occidental parallel to the Krishna and + R[=a]ma sects.] + + [Footnote 70: Whether the Hindu trinitarianism derives from + the Occident or not (the former view being historically + probable, but not possible to prove) the importance of the + dogma and its place in Hindu theology is very different to + the condition of things in the Christian church. In India + trinitarianism is merely a convenience in adjusting the + claims of two heterodox sects and orthodoxy, each believer + being willing to admit that the god of the other is his own + god, only with the understanding that the last is a superior + manifestation. In late Çivaism both Vishnu and Brahm[=a] are + indeed called the 'sons of God' (Çiva). but in the sense + that they are distinctly subordinate creatures of Çiva + (JAOS. iv. 147).] + + [Footnote 71: But some Hindus worship both Vishnu and Çiva + without insisting that one is higher than the other. + Moreover, there is a Mahratta sect of Vishnuites who + complacently worship Buddha (Vishnu's ninth _avatar_) as + Vi[t.]h[t.]hala or P[=a]ndura[.n]ga. These are simply + eclectic, and their god is without or with quality. Buddha + is here not a deceiver, but an instructor (JRAS. 1842, p. + 66; IA. XI. 56, 149).] + + [Footnote 72: The Çivaites, too, are divided on the + questions both of predestination and of free grace. The + greater body of them hold to the 'monkey doctrine'; the + Paçupatas, to the 'cat.'] + + [Footnote 73: Sanskrit _kal[=a]_, school + (_marka[t.]a-ny[=a]ya_ and _m rj[=a]ra-ny[=a]ya_). The + Southern school has its own Veda written in Tamil. Williams, + JRAS. xiv. 301. According to the same writer the Ten-galais + hold that Vishnu's wife is finite, created, and a mediator; + the Vada-galais, that she is infinite, and uncreated.] + + [Footnote 74: All Vishnuites have the vertical sign; + Çivaites have a horizontal sign (on the forehead).] + + [Footnote 75: _Proceed. AOS_. 1894, p. iii. The Vada-school + may be affected by Çivaism.] + + [Footnote 76: A divine monkey appears in the Rig Veda, but + not as an object of devotion.] + + [Footnote 77: The teachers of the Ramaites are generally + Brahmans, but no disciples are excluded because of their + caste. R[=a]m[=a]nuja adopted the monastic system, which + Çankara is said to have taken from the Buddhists and to have + introduced into Brahmanic priestly life. Both family priests + and cenobites are admitted into his order.] + + [Footnote 78: What the Linga is to Çivaite the + Ç[=a]lagr[=a]ma is to the Vishnuite (who also reveres the + _tulas[=i]_ wood). The Ç[=a]lagr[=a]ma is a black pebble; + the L[=i]nga is a white pebble or glass (Williams). The + Çivaites have appropriated the _d[=u]rv[=a]_ grass as sacred + to Ganeça. Sesamum seeds and _d[=u]rv[=a]_ are, however, + Brahmanically holy. Compare Çat. Br. iv. 5-10, where + _d[=u]rv[=a]_ grass is even holier than _kuça_-grass. The + rosaries used by the sects have been the subject of a paper + by Leumann, and are described by Williams. Thirty-two or + sixty-four berries of _eleocapus ganitrus (rudr[=a]ksha_) + make the Çivaite rosary. That of the Vishnuite is made of + lotus-seeds or of _tuls[=a]_ wood in one hundred and eight + pieces.] + + [Footnote 79: For an account and list of the works of + Tulas[=i]d[=a]s[=a] (Tuls[=i]d[=a]s), compare IA. xxii. 89, + 122, 227. Jayadeva (twelfth century), the author of the + G[=i]ta Govinda (translated by Jones, Lassen, and Ruckert), + is sometimes reckoned falsely to the adherents of + R[=a]m[=a]nand, but he is really a Krishnaite.] + + [Footnote 80: The _bhakti_ doctrine is that of the extant + Ç[=a]ndilya S[=u]tras, which make faith and not works or + knowledge a condition of salvation. They are modern, as + Cowell, in his preface to the work, has shown. Cowell here + identifies K[=a]çyapa with Ka[n.][=a]da, the V[=a]içeshika + philosopher, his school holding that the individual spirits + are infinite in number, distinct from the Supreme Spirit.] + + [Footnote 81: The infant-cult is of course older than these + sects. For an account of the ritual, as well as its + intrusion into the earlier cult of the Pur[=a]nas, with the + accompanying resemblances to Madonna-cult, and the new + features (the massacre of the innocents, the birth in the + stable, the three wise men, etc.) that show borrowing from + Christianity, compare Weber's exhaustive treatise referred + to above, the _K[=r.][=s.][n.]ajanm[=a][=s.][=t.]am[=i], + Krishna's Geburtsfest_.] + + [Footnote 82: Williams, _loc. cit._] + + [Footnote 83: 'Gosain' means shepherd, like Gop[=a]la. Some + of the sects, like the Kart[=a]bh[=a]js, recognize only the + Teacher as God. Williams states that in Bengal a fourth + member has been added to this sect-trinity. On Dancing-girls + see IA. XIII-165.] + + [Footnote 84: The philosophical tenet of this sect 'pure + _adv[=a]ita_' (non-duality) distinguishes it from the + qualified duality taught by R[=a]m[=a]nuja. This is a + reversion to Çankara. The C[=a]itanya sect teaches not + absorption but individual existence in a heaven of sensuous + (sensual) pleasure.] + + [Footnote 85: "In the temples where the Mah[=a]r[=a]jas + (priests) do homage to the idols men and women do homage to + the Mah[=a]r[=a]jas.... The best mode of propitiating the + god Krishna is by ministering to the sensual appetites of + his vicars upon earth. Body and soul are literally made over + to them, and women are taught to deliver up their persons to + Krishna's representatives," Williams, _loc. cit_. p. 309.] + + [Footnote 86: On these sects see Wilson, Hunter (Statistical + Account), Williams, JRAS. xiv. 289. The festival verses in + honor of the Madonna are: "Honor to thee, Devak[=i], who + hast borne Krishna; may the goddess who destroys sin be + satisfied, revered by me. Mother of God art thou, Adit[=i], + destroying sin. I will honor thee as the gods honor thee," + _etc_. (Weber, _Janm[=a][s.][t.]am[=i]_, p. 286). The + birth-day celebration is not confined to Krishnaites; but in + the R[=a]ma sect, though they celebrate the birth, they do + not represent the man-god as a suckling. In other respects + this feast is imitated from that of Krishna (Weber, p. 310, + note). The R[=a]macandra celebration takes place in the + spring. The birth-day of Ganeça is also celebrated by the + Çivaites (in August-September).] + + [Footnote 87: He himself claimed to be an incarnate god. He + adopted the qualified non-duality of R[=a]m[=a]nuja. See + Williams' account of him and of the two great temples of the + sect, _loc. cit_.] + + [Footnote 88: From Williams, _loc. cit_. p. 291 ff. The + three qualities (sometimes interpreted as activity, purity, + and indifference) are met with for the first time in the + Atharva Veda, where are found the Vedantic 'name' and 'form' + also; Muir, v. p. 309. The three qualities that condition + the idealist Vedantist's personal Lord in his causal body + are identical with those that constitute the 'nature,' + _prak[=r.]ti_, of the S[=a]nkhya dualist.] + + [Footnote 89: Among the Vallabhas (above, p. 505). The + Teacher is the chief god of most of the Vallabhas (Barth, p. + 235}. For the Vi[t.]h[t.]hal view of caste see 1A. XI.152.] + + [Footnote 90: It is true of other sectaries also, Ramaites + and Çivaites, that the mere repetition of their god's name + is a means of salvation.] + + [Footnote 91: Now chiefly in the South. The Dabist[=a]n + gives several divisions of sun-worshippers. For more details + see Barth, p. 258. Apollonius of Tyana saw a sun-temple at + Taxila, JRAS. 1859, p. 77.] + + [Footnote 92: More direct than in the form of Vishnu, who at + first is merely the sun. Of the relation with Iranian + sun-worship we have spoken above.] + + [Footnote 93: They brand themselves with the Vishnu-mark, + are generally high-caste, live in monasteries, and profess + celibacy. They are at most unknown in the North. They are + generally known by their founder's name, but are also called + Brahma-Samprad[=a]yins, 'Brahma-adherents.'] + + [Footnote 94: So the P[=a]çupata doctrine is that the + individual spirit is different to the supreme lord and also + to matter (_p[=a]ça_, the fetter that binds the individual + spirit, _paçu_, and keeps it from its Lord, _paçupat[=i]_). + The fact is that every sectary is more a monotheist than a + pantheist. Especially is this true of the Çivaite. The + supreme is to him Çiva.] + + [Footnote 95: Wilson gives a full account of this sect in + the _As[=i]atick Researches_, xvi, p. 100.] + + [Footnote 96: Of the Kab[=i]r Panth[=i]s Wilson says: "It is + no part of their faith to worship any Hindu deity." A glance + at the Dabist[=a]n will preclude the possibility of claiming + much originality for the modern deism of India. This work + was written in 1645, and its Persian author describes, as a + matter of every-day occurrence, religious debates between + 'Jews, Nazarines, Mussulmen, and Hindus,' who meet more to + criticise than to examine, but yet to hear explained in full + the doctrines of their opponents, in just such tourneys of + argument as we showed to be popular among the priests of the + Upanishads and epic. Speaking of the Vedas, the author says + that every one derives from them arguments in favor of his + own creed, whether it be philosophical, mystical, unitarian, + atheistic, Judaic, or Christian. Dabist[=a]n, vol. II, p. + 45.] + + [Footnote 97: Before election the Guru must be examined. If + the faithful are not satisfied, they may reject him. but, + having elected him, they are bound to obey him implicitly. + He can excommunicate, but he may not punish corporally. This + deification of the Guru was retained by the Sikhs, and the + office was made hereditary among them (by Arjun), till + Govind, the tenth pontiff, who left no successor, declared + that after his death the Granth (bible) should be the sole + authority of the church.] + + [Footnote 98: The 'half' contributor was a woman, and hence + was not reckoned as a complete unit.] + + [Footnote 99: The word Sikh means 'disciple' (of N[=a]nak). + The name the Sikhs assumed as a nation was Singhs + (_si[.m]has_), 'Lions of the Punj[=a]b.'] + + [Footnote 100: The 'true name,' _sat n[=a]m_, is the + appellation of God.] + + [Footnote 101: JRAS. 1846, p. 43, Prinsep's compilation + (Wilson). Compare Trumpp, ib. V. 197 (1871); and + [=A]digranth, 1877.] + + [Footnote 102: This sect was founded by a descendant of + N[=a]nak.] + + [Footnote 103: It was not till Mohammedan persecution + influenced them that the religious Sikhs of N[=a]nak became + the political haters and fighters of Govind.] + + [Footnote 104: It is said that Govind sacrificed to Durg[=a] + the life of one of his own disciples to prepare himself for + his ministry. Trumpp, [=A]digranth; Barth, p. 204. The lives + of the later Gurus will be found in Elphinstone's history + and Prinsep's sketch (a _résumé_ by Barth, p. 248 ff.).] + + [Footnote 105: With some small verbal alterations.] + + [Footnote 106: The conclusion of this extract shows the + narrower polemic spirit: "Pundits and Q[=a]z[=i]s are fools. + What avails it to collect a heap of books? Let your minds + freely meditate on the spirit of God. Wear not away your + lives by studying the Vedas."] + + [Footnote 107: For the data of the following paragraphs on + the deistic reformers of to-day we are indebted to an + article of Professor Williams, which first appeared in the + thirteenth volume of the _Journal of the Royal Asiatic + Society,_ and has since been published in the same author's + _Brahmanism and Hinduism._] + + [Footnote 108: Born in 1818.] + + [Footnote 109: _ekam[=a]tr[=a]dvit[=i]ya_ (masculine); with + this form contrast below, in the Br[=a]hma Dharma (religion) + of Debendran[=a]th, the neuter _ekam ev[=a]dvit[=i]yam_. The + only God of the first Sam[=a]j; is a person; that of the + reform is exoterically Nature.] + + [Footnote 110: But, as will be noticed in the four articles + (which are in part a compilation of phrases from the + Upanishads) the personality of Brahm[=a] is not insisted on + for the outer church. For this reason, although the inner + church doubtless understands It as He, yet this neuter + should be preserved in the translation. The articles are so + drawn up as to enable any deist to subscribe (without + Vedantic belief as a condition of acceptance) to the + essential creed of the Congregation. One or two sentences in + the original will reveal at a glance the origin of the + phraseology: _brahma_ (being) _v[=a] ekam idam-agra + [=a]s[=i]t; tad ida[.m] sarvam as[r.]jal; tad eva nityam, + ekam ev[=a]dvit[=i]yam; tasmia pr[=i]tis ... + tadup[=a]sanam_. Compare Ch[=a]ndogya Upanishad: _sad_ + (being) _idam agra [=a]s[=i]d ekam ev[=a]dvit[=i]yam_; and + the V[=a]jasaney[=i]-Br[=a]hmana Upanishad: _brahma v[=a] + idam-agra [=a]s[=i]t_, etc.] + + [Footnote 111: It is interesting to see this fervor, or + ecstatic delirium, surviving from the time of the Rig Veda, + where already (albeit only in the latest hymns, which are + quite Brahmanic) flourishes the mad _muni:_ and fervid + ascetism ('heat,'_tapas_) begins to appear as a means of + salvation. RV. x. 109, 136.] + + [Footnote 112: "I regard myself as Christ and C[=a]itanya," + reported by Sen's own missionary as the words of the former. + Sen's disciples deny some of these assertions, but they seem + to be substantiated, and Sen's own language shows that he + claimed miraculous powers. Compare the discussions on this + point, JRAS. xiii. 281 ff.] + + [Footnote 113: This was afterwards excused on the ground + that the marriage would not have been legal without these + rites. But Sen presumably was aware of this in advance. From + the performance of the rites he had the decency to absent + himself. It should be said, however, in Sen's behalf, that + the marriage itself had nothing revolting about it, and + though in consenting to it Sen violated his faith, as is + evident from the protest of the Sam[=a]j, yet was the + marriage not an extreme case of child-marriage, for both the + 'children' were sixteen. Sen's own excuse (he thought excuse + necessary) was that he was inspired when he consented to the + nuptials.] + + [Footnote 114: The theistic tendency in the Hindu mind is so + exaggerated that even now it is with the greatest difficulty + that the vulgar can be restrained from new idolatry. Not + only priests, but even poets are regarded as gods. + Jñ[=a]ndev and Tuk[=a]r[=a]m, the hymn-makers of the + Mahratta Vi[t.]h[t.]hals, are demi-gods to-day (IA. xi. 56. + 149). A few striking examples are almost requisite to make + an Occidental reader understand against what odds the deism + of India has to contend. In 1830 an impudent boy, who could + train snakes, announced that he could also work miracles. + The boy was soon accepted as Vishnu's last _avatar_; hymns, + _abhangs_, were sung to him, and he was worshipped as a god + even after his early demise (from a snake-bite). A weaver + came soon after to the temple, where stood the boy's now + vacant shrine, and fell asleep there at night. In the + morning he was perplexed to find himself a god. The people + had accepted him as their snake-conquering god in a new + form. The poor weaver denied his divinity, but that made no + difference. In 1834 the dead boy-god was still receiving + flowers and prayers. Another case: In the eighties some + Englishmen on entering a temple were amazed to see revered + as an _avatar_ of Vishnu the brass castings of the arms of + the old India Co. This god was washed and anointed daily. + Even a statue of Buddha (with the inscription still upon it) + was revered as Vishnu. In 1880 a meteorite fell in Beh[=a]r. + In 1882 its cult was fully established, and it was + worshipped as the 'miraculous god.' A Mohammedan inscription + has also been found deified and regularly worshipped as a + god, JRAS. 1842, p. 109; 1884, pt. III, pp. I, LIX.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +RELIGIOUS TRAITS OF THE WILD TRIBES. + + +Besides the phases of pure Aryan and modified Aryan religions which +have already been examined, there are represented in India several +other aspects of civilized religion; for, apart from Brahmanic and +sectarian worships, and apart from Tamil (southern) imitations of +these, there are at present in the country believers of the Jewish +religion to the number of seventeen thousand; of Zoroastrianism, +eighty-seven thousand; of Christianity, two and a quarter millions; of +Mohammedanism, more than fifty-seven millions. But none of these +faiths, however popular, comes into an historical account of India's +religions in a greater extent than we have brought them into it +already, that is, as factors of minor influence in the development of +native faiths till, within the last few centuries, Mohammedanism, +which has been the most important of them all in transfiguring the +native theistic sects, draws a broad line across the progress of +India's religious thought. + +All these religions, however, whether aboriginal or imported, must +again be separated from the more general phenomena of superstition +which are preserved in the beliefs of the native wild tribes. One +descends here to that lowest of rank undergrowth which represents a +type of religious life so base that its undifferentiated form can be +mated with like growths from all over the world. These secondary +religions are, therefore, important from two points of view, that of +their universal aspect, and, again, that of their historical +connection with the upper Indic growth above them;[1] for it is almost +certain that some +of their features have conditioned the development of the latter. + +The native wild tribes of India (excluding the extreme Northern +Tibeto-Burman group) fall into two great classes, that of the +Kolarians and that of the Dravidians, sometimes distinguished as the +Yellow and the Black races respectively. The former, again, are called +Indo-Chinese by some writers, and the geographical location of this +class seems, indeed, to show that they have generally displaced the +earlier blacks, and represent historically a yellow wave of +immigration from the Northeast (through Tibet) prior to the Aryan +white wave (from the Northwest), which latter eventually treated them +just as they had treated the aboriginal black Dravidians.[2] Of the +Kolarians the foremost representatives are the Koles, the Koches, the +Sunth[=a]ls, and the Sav[=a]ras (Sauras), who are all regarded by +Johnston as the yellow Dasyus, barbarians, of the earliest period; +while he sees in the V[=a]içyas, or third caste of the Hindu political +divisions, the result of a union of the Northwest and Northeast +conquerors. But, although the V[=a]içyas are called 'yellow,' yet, +since they make the most important numerical factor of the Aryans, +this suggestion can scarcely be accepted, for there is no evidence to +show that the yellow Mongoloid barbarians were amalgamated so early +with the body politic of the Aryans. The chief representatives of the +Dravidians, +on the other hand, are the Khonds and Gonds of the middle of +the peninsula, together with the Or[=a]ons and the Todas of the +extreme South.[3] All of these tribes are of course sub-divided, and +in some degree their religious practices have followed the bent of +their political inclinations. We shall examine first the religions of +the older tribes, the Dravidians, selecting the chief features or such +traits as have peculiar interest. + + +THE DRAVIDIANS. + +Gonds: These savages, mentioned in early literature, are the most +numerous and powerful of the wild tribes, and appear to have been less +affected by outside belief than were any other, except the related +Khonds. Their religion used to consist in adoring a representation of +the sun, to which were offered human sacrifices.[4] As among the +Or[=a]ons, a man of straw (literally) is at the present day +substituted for the human victim. Besides the sun, the moon and stars +are worshipped by them. They have stones for idols, but no temples.[5] +Devils, witchcraft, and the evil eye also are feared. They sacrifice +animals, +and, with the exception of the R[=a]j Gonds,[6] have been so little +affected by Hindu respect for that holiest of animals, that they +slaughter cows at their wedding-feasts, on which occasion the +bacchanalian revels in which they indulge are accompanied with such +excess as quite to put them upon the level of Çivaite bestiality. The +pure Gonds are junglemen, and have the virtues usually found among the +lowest savages, truth, honesty, and courage. Murder is no crime, but +lying and stealing are sinful; for cowardice is the greatest crime, +and lying and stealing (instead of straightforward and courageous +robbery and murder) are regarded as indications of lack of courage. +But the 'impure,' that is the mixed Gonds that have been corrupted by +mingling with Hindus and other tribes, lie and steal like civilized +people. In fact, the mixed Gonds are particularly noted for servility +and dishonesty. The uncivilized Gonds of the table-lands are said +still to cut up and eat their aged relatives and friends, not to speak +of strangers unfortunate enough to fall into their hands. Among the +pure Gonds is found the practice of carrying an axe, which is the sign +of their religious devotion to the sacrifice-god.[7] The favorite +religious practice used to be to take a prisoner alive, force him to +bow before the god-stone, and at the moment when he bent his head, to +cut it off. To this and to self-defence against other gods (wild +beasts) the hatchet is devoted, while for war are used the bow and +knife. One particular celebration of the Gonds deserves special +notice. They have an annual feast and worship of the snake. The +service is entirely secret, and all that is known +of it is that it is of esoteric, perhaps phallic character. Both at +the sun-feast and snake-feast[8] licentious and bacchanalian worship +are combined, and the latter trait is also the chief feature of +wedding and funeral sports. In the former case (the natives of the +same tribe intermarry, but with the same pretence of running off with +the bride that is found in the Hindu ritual)[9] there is given a +wedding feast by the bridegroom's father, and the feast ends with a +_causerie de lundi_ (the favorite drink of the Gonds is called +_lundi_); while on the latter occasion there is a mourning feast, or +wake, which also ends in general drunkenness. + +The Khonds: Even more striking is the religion of the Khonds. Their +chief rite is human sacrifice to the earth-goddess,[10] Tari; but, +like the Gonds, they worship the sun as chief divinity. Other gods +among them are the river-god, rain-god, spring, wealth, hill-god, and +smallpox-god. All their religious feasts are excuses for excess both +in drinking and otherwise. One of their beliefs is that there is a +river of hell, which flows around a slippery rock, up which climbs the +one that would escape torment. Their method of sacrificing a human +victim is to put him into the cleft of a tree, where he is squashed, +or into fire. They seem to have an odd objection to shedding blood for +this purpose, and in this respect may be compared with the Thugs. +Another very interesting trait is the religion which is intertwined +with business, and its peculiar features. Victims offered either to +the sun or to the war-god serve to mark boundary lines. Great is the +patience with which +these victims, called _merias_, are waited for. The sacrificer +captures fit specimens when they are young, and treats them with +particular kindness till they are almost grown up. Indeed, they are +treated thus by the whole village. At the appointed time they are +slowly crushed to death or smothered in a mud bath, and bits of their +flesh are then cut out and strewn along the boundary lines. Boys are +preferred, but either boys or girls may be used. This sacrifice is +sometimes made directly to the 'Boundary-god,'[11] an abstraction +which is not unique; for, besides the divinities recorded above, +mention is made also of a 'Judgment-god.' Over each village and house +preside the Manes of good men gone; while the 'father is god on earth' +to every one. They used to destroy all their female children, and +this, together with their national custom of offering human +sacrifices, has been put down with the greatest difficulty by the +British, who confess that there is every probability that in reality +the crime still *obtains among the remoter clans. These Khonds are +situate in the Madras presidency, and are aborigines of the Eastern +Gh[=a]ts. The most extraordinary views about them have been published. +Despite their acknowledged barbarity, savageness, and polytheism, they +have been soberly credited with a belief in One Supreme God, 'a theism +embracing polytheism,' and other notions which have been abstracted +from their worship of the sun as 'great god.' + +Since these are by far the most original savages of India, a completer +sketch than will be necessary in the case of others may not be +unwelcome. The chief god is the light-or sun-god. "In the beginning +the god of light created a wife, the goddess of earth, the source of +evil." On the other hand, the +sun-god is a good god. Tari, the earth-divinity, tried to prevent +Bella[12] Pennu (sun-god) from creating man. But he cast behind him a +handful of earth, which became man. The first creation was free of +evil; earth gave fruit without labor (the Golden Age); but the dark +goddess sowed in man the seed of sin. A few were sinless still, and +these became gods, but the corrupt no longer found favor in Bella (or +Boora) Pennu's eyes. He guarded them no more. So death came to man. +Meanwhile Bella and Tari contended for superiority, with comets, +whirlwinds, and mountains, as weapons. According to one belief, Bella +won; but others hold that Tari still maintains the struggle. The +sun-god created all inferior deities, of rain, fruit, *hunt, +boundaries, etc., as well as all tutelary local divinities.[13] Men +have four kinds of fates. The soul goes to the sun, or remains in the +tribe (each child is declared by the priest to be N.N. deceased and +returned), or is re-born and suffers punishments, or is +annihilated.[14] The god of judgment lives on Grippa Valli, the +'leaping rock,' round which flows a black river, and up the rock climb +the souls with great effort. The Judgment-god +decides the fate of the soul); sending it to the sun (the +sun-soul), or annihilating it, etc. The chief sins are, to be +inhospitable, to break an oath, to lie except to save a guest, to +break an old custom, to commit incest, to contract debts (for which +the tribe has to pay), to be a coward, to betray council. The chief +virtues are, to kill in battle, to die in battle, to be a priest, to +be the victim of a sacrifice. Some of the Khonds worship the sun-god; +some the earth-goddess, and ascribe to her all success and power, +while they hold particularly to human sacrifice in her honor. They +admit (theoretically) that Bella is superior, but they make Tari the +chief object of devotion, and in her honor are held great village +festivals. They that do not worship Tari do not practice human +sacrifice. Thus the Çivaite sacrifice of man to the god's consort is +very well paralleled by the usage that obtains among them. The Khond +priests may indulge in any occupation except war; but some exercise +only their priestcraft and do nothing else. The chief feast to the +sun-god is Salo Kallo (the former word means 'cow-pen'; the latter, a +liquor), somewhat like a _soma_-feast. It is celebrated at harvest +time with dancing, and drinking, "and every kind of licentious +enjoyment." Other festivals of less importance celebrate the +substitution of a buffalo for human sacrifice (not celebrated, of +course, by the Tari worshippers). The invocation at the harvest is +quite Brahmanic: "O gods, remember that our increase of rice is your +increase of worship; if we get little Rice we worship little." Among +lesser gods the 'Fountain-god' is especially worshipped, with a sheep +or a hog as sacrifice. Female infanticide springs from a feeling that +intermarriage in the same tribe is incest (this is the meaning of the +incest-law above; it might be rendered 'to marry in the tribe'). + +Of the Or[=a]ons, or Dhangars,[15] we shall mention but one or +two good parallels to what is found in other religions. These +Dravidians live in Bengal, and have two annual festivals, a harvest +feast and one celebrating the marriage of heaven and earth. Like the +Khonds, they recognize a supreme god in the sun, but, just as we +showed was the case with the Hindus, who ignore Brahm[=a] because they +do not fear him, so here, the Or[=a]ons do not pray to the sun, on the +ground that he does them no harm; but they sacrifice to evil spirits +because the latter are evil-doers. These savages, like the Burmese +Mishmis, have no idea of a future life in heaven; but in the case of +people killed in a certain way they believe in a sort of +metempsychosis; thus, for instance, a man eaten by a tiger becomes a +tiger. In the case of unfortunates they believe that they will live as +unhappy ghosts; in the case of other men they assume only annihilation +as their fate.[16] It is among this tribe that the mouse-totem is +found, which is Çiva's beast and the sign of Ganeça.[17] + +THE KOLARIANS. + +The Sunth[=a]ls: These are immigrants into the West Bengal jungles, +and have descended from the North to their present site. They are +called the finest specimens of the native savage. The guardian of the +tribe is its deceased ancestor, and his ghost is consulted as an +oracle. Their race-god is the 'Great Mountain,' but the sun represents +the highest spirit; though they +worship spirits of every sort, and regard beasts as divine; the men +revering the tiger, and the women, elephants. The particularly nasty +festival called the _bandana_, which is celebrated annually by this +tribe, is exactly like the 'left-hand' cult of the Çaktas, only that +in this case it is a preliminary to marriage. All unmarried men and +women indulge together in an indescribable orgie, at the end of which +each man selects the woman he prefers.[18] + +The Koles ('pig-stickers'): Like the last, this tribe worship the sun, +but with the moon as his wife, and the stars as their children. +Besides these they revere Manes, and countless local and sylvan +deities. Like Druids, they sacrifice only in a grove, but without +images.[19] + +All these tribes worship snakes and trees,[25]] and often the only +oath binding upon them is taken under a tree.[21] The +sun-worship, which is found alike in Kolarian and Dravidian tribes, +may be traced through all the ramifications of either. In most of the +tribes the only form of worship is sacrifice, but oaths are taken on +rice, beasts, ants, water, earth, etc. (among some P[=a]h[=a]riahs on +the arrow). Some have a sort of belief in the divinity of the chief, +and among the Lurka Koles this dignity is of so much importance that +at a chief's death the divine dignity goes to his eldest son, while +the youngest son gets the property. In regard to funeral rites, the +Koles first burn and then bury the remains, placing a stone over the +grave. + +Besides the Or[=a]ons' totem of the mouse, the Sunth[=a]ls have a +goose-totem, and the Garos and Kassos (perhaps not to be included in +either of the two groups), together with many other tribes, have +totems, some of them _avatars_, as in the case of the tortoise. The +Garos, a tribe between Assam and Bengal, are in many respects +noteworthy. They believe that their vessels are immortal; and, like +the Bh[=a]rs, set up the bamboo pole, a religious rite which has crept +into Hinduism (above, p. 378). They eat everything but their totem, +immolate human victims, and are divided into 'motherhoods,' +M[=a]h[=a]ris, particular M[=a]h[=a]ris intermarrying. A man's sister +marries into the family from which comes his wife, and that sister's +daughter may marry his son, and, as male heirs do not inherit, the +son-in-law succeeds his father-in-law in right of his wife, and gets +his wife's mother (that is, his father's sister) as an additional +wife.[22] The advances are always made by the girl. She and her party +select the groom, go to his house, and carry him off, though he +modestly pretends to run away. The sacrifice for the +wedding is that of a cock and hen, offered to the sun. The god they +worship most is a monster (very much like Çiva), but he has no local +habitation. + +Of the Sav[=a]ras or Sauras of the Dekhan the most interesting deity +is the malevolent female called Th[=a]kur[=a]n[=i], wife of Th[=a]kur. +She was doubtless the first patroness of the throttling Thugs (_thags_ +are _[t.]haks_, assassins), and the prototype of their Hindu +K[=a]l[=i]. Human sacrifices are offered to Th[=a]kur[=a]n[=i], while +her votaries, as in the case of the Thugs, are noted for the secrecy +of their crimes. + +Birth-rites, marriage-rites, funeral rites (all of blood), human +sacrifice, _tab[=u]_ (especially among the Burmese), witchcraft, +worship of ancestors, divination, and demonology are almost universal +throughout the wild tribes. In most of the rites the holy stone[23] +plays an important part, and in many of the tribes dances are a +religious exercise. + +Descendants of the great Serpent-race that once ruled M[=a]gadha +(Beh[=a]r), the Bh[=a]rs, and Ch[=i]rus (Cheeroos) are historically of +the greatest importance, though now but minor tribes of Bengal. The +Bh[=a]rs, and Koles, and Ch[=i]rus may once have formed one body, and, +at any rate, like the last, the Bh[=a]rs are Kolarian and not +Dravidian. This is not the place to argue a thesis which might well be +supported at length, but in view of the sudden admixture of foreign +elements with the Brahmanism that begins to expand at the end of the +Vedic period it is almost imperative to raise the question whether the +Bh[=a]rs, of all the northern wild tribes the most cultivated, whose +habitat +extended from Oude (Gorakhpur) on both sides of the Ganges over all +the district between Benares and Allah[=a]b[=a]d, and whose name is +found in the form Bh[=a]rats as well as Bh[=a]rs, is not one with that +great tribe the history of whose war has been handed down to us in a +distorted form under the name of Bh[=a]rata (Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata). The +Bh[=a]ratas, indeed, claim to be Aryans. But is it likely that a race +would have come from the Northeast and another from the Northwest, and +both have the same name? Carnegy believed, so striking was the +coincidence, that the Bh[=a]rats were a R[=a]jput (Hindu) tribe that +had become barbaric. But against this speaks the type, which is not +Aryan but Kolarian.[24] Some influence one may suppose to have come +from the more intelligent tribes, and to have worked on Hindu belief. +We believe traces of it may still be found in the classics. For +instance, the famous Frog-maiden, whose tale is told in the +Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata, reminds one rather forcibly of the fact that in +Oude and Nep[=a]l frog-worship (not as totem) was an established cult. +The time for this worship to Begin is October; it is different to +thunder-worship (July, the _n[=a]ga_-feast), and the frog is +subordinate to the snake. And, again, the snake-worship that grows so +rapidly into the Hindu cult can scarcely have been uninfluenced by the +fact that there are no less than thirty snake-tribes.[2] + +But despite some interesting points of view besides those + + +touched upon here, details are of little added value, since it is +manifest that, whether Kolarian or Dravidian, or, for the matter of +that, American or African, the same rites will obtain with the same +superstition, for they belong to every land, to the Aryan ancestor of +the Hindu as well as to the Hindu himself. Even totemism as a survival +may be suspected in the 'fish' and 'dog' people of the Rig Veda, as +has recently been suggested by Oldenberg. In the Northeast of India +many tribes worship only mountains, rivers, and Manes, again a trait +both Vedic and Hinduistic, but not necessarily borrowed. Some of these +tribes, like the Kh[=a]s[=i]as of Oude, may be of R[=a]jput descent +(the Khasas of Manu, X. 22), but it is more likely that more tribes +claim this descent than possess it. We omit many of the tribal customs +lest one think they are not original; for example, the symbol of the +cross among the [=A]bors, who worship only diseases, and whose symbol +is also found among the American Indians; the sun-worship of the +Katties, who may have been influenced by Hinduism; together with the +cult of Burmese tribes too overspread with Buddhism. But often there +is a parallel so surprising as to make it certain that there has been +influence. The Niadis (of the South), for example, worship only the +female principle. Many other tribes worship _çakti_ almost +exclusively. The Todas worship stone images, buffaloes, and even +cow-bells, but they have a celibate priesthood! We do not hesitate to +express our own belief that the _çakti_-worship is native and drawn +from similar cults, and that the celibate priesthood, on the other +hand, is taken from civilization. + +Such a fate appears to have happened in modern times to several +deities, now half Brahmanized. For example, Vet[=a]la (worshipped in +many places) is said in the Dekhan to be an _avatar_, or, properly +speaking, a manifestation of Çiva. What is he in reality? A native +wild god, without a temple, worshipped in the open air under the shade +of a tree, and in an +enclosure of stones. Just such a deity, in other words, as we have +shown is worshipped in just such a way by the wild tribes. A +monolith[26] in the middle of twelve stones represents this primitive +Druidic deity. The stones are painted red in flame-shape for a certain +distance from the ground, with the upper portion painted white. +Apparently there is here a sun-god of the aborigines. He is worshipped +in sickness, as is Çiva, and propitiated with the sacrifice of a cock, +without the intervention of any priest. The cock to Aesculapius +("_huic gallinae immolabantur_") may have had the same function +originally, for the cock is always the sun-bird. Seldom is Vet[=a]la +personified. When he has an image (and in the North he sometimes has +temples) it is that of an armless and legless man; but again he is +occasionally represented as a giant 'perfect in all his parts.'[27] To +the Brahman, Vet[=a]la is still a mere fiend, and presides over +fiends; nor will they admit that the red on his stones means aught but +blood. In such a god, one has a clue to the gradual intrusion of Çiva +himself into Brahmanic worship. At first a mountain lightning fiend, +then identified with Rudra, a recognized deity, then made +anthropomorphic. There are, especially in the South, a host of minor +Hindu deities, half-acknowledged, all more or less of a fiendish +nature in the eyes of the orthodox or even of the Çivaite. Seen +through such eyes they are no longer recognizable, but doubtless in +many instances they represent a crude form of nature-worship or +demonology, which has been taken from the cult of the wild +tribes, and is now more or less thoroughly engrafted upon that of +their civilized neighbors.[28] + +One of the most interesting, though not remarkable, cases of +similarity between savage and civilized religions is found in the +worship of snakes and trees.[29] In the N[=a]ga or dragon form the +latter cult may have been aided by the dragon-worshipping barbarians +in the period of the northern conquest. But in essentials not only is +the snake and dragon worship of the wild tribes one with that of +Hinduism, but, as has been seen, the tatter has a root in the cult of +Brahmanism also, and this in that of the Rig Veda itself. The +poisonous snake is feared, but his beautiful wave-like motion and the +water-habitat of many of the species cause him to be associated as a +divinity with Varuna, the water-god. Thus in early Hinduism one finds +snake-sacrifices of two sorts. One is to cause the extirpation of +snakes, one is to propitiate them, Apart from the real snake, there is +revered also the N[=a]ga, a beautiful chimerical creature, human, +divine, and snake-like all in one. These are worshipped by sectaries +and by many wild tribes alike. The N[=a]ga tribe of Chota N[=a]gpur, +for instance, not only had three snakes as its battle-ensign, but +built a serpent-temple.[30] + +Tree and plant worship is quite as antique as is snake-worship. For +not only is _soma_ a divine plant, and not only does Yama sit in +heaven under his 'fair tree' (above, p. 129), but 'trees and plants' +are the direct object of invocation in the Rig Veda (V. 41. 8); and +the Brahmanic law enjoins upon the faithful to fling an offering, +_bali_, to the great gods, to the waters, and 'to the trees';[31] as +is the case in the house-ritual. We shall seek, therefore, for the +origin of tree-worship not in the character of the tree, but in that +of the primitive mind which deifies mountains, waters, and trees, +irrespective of their nature. It is true, however, that the greater +veneration due to some trees and plants has a special reason. Thus +_soma_ intoxicates: and the _tulas[=i]_, 'holy basil,' has medicinal +properties, which make it sacred not only in the Krishna-cult, but in +Sicily.[32] This plant is a goddess, and is wed annually to the +Ç[=a]lagr[=a]ma stone with a great feast.[33] So the _çam[=i]_ plant +is herself divine, the goddess Çam[=i]. Again, the mysterious rustle +of the _bo_ tree, _pipal_ may be the reason for its especial +veneration; as its seeming immortality is certainly the cause of the +reverence given to the banian. It is not necessary, however, that any +mystery should hang about a tree. The palm is tall, (Çiva's) _açoka_ +is beautiful, and no trees are more revered. But trees are holy _per +se_. Every 'village-tree' (above, p. 374, and Mbh[=a]. ii. 5. 100) is +sacred to the Hindu. And this is just what is found among the wild +tribes, who revere their hut-trees and village-trees as divine, +without demanding a special show of divinity. The birth-tree (as in +Grecian mythology) is also known, both to Hindu sect and to wild +tribe. But here also +there is no basis of Aryan ideas, but of common human experience. The +ancestor-tree (totem) has been noticed above in the case of the Gonds, +who claim descent from trees. The Bh[=a]rs revere the (Çivaite!) +_bilva_ or _bel_, but this is a medicinal tree. The marriage-tree is +universal in the South (the tree is the male or female ancestor), and +even the Brahmanic wedding, among its secondary after-rites, is not +without the tree, which is adorned as part of the ceremony. + +Two points of view remain to be taken before the wild tribes are +dismissed. The first is that Hindu law is primitive. Maine and Leist +both cite laws as if any Hindu law were an oracle of primitive Aryan +belief. This method is ripe in wrong conclusions. Most of the matter +is legal, but enough grazes religion to make the point important. Even +with the sketch we have given it becomes evident that Hindu law cannot +be unreservedly taken as an exponent of early Brahmanic law, still +less of Aryan law. For instance, Maine regards matriarchy as a late +Brahmanic intrusion on patriarchy, an inner growth.[34] To prove this, +he cites two late books, one being Vishnu, the Hindu law-giver of the +South. But it is from the Southern wild tribes that matriarchy has +crept into Hinduism, and thence into Brahmanism. Here prevails the +matriarchal marriage*rite, with the first espousal to the +snake-guarded tree that represents the mother's family. In many cases +geographical limitations of this sort preclude the idea that the +custom or law of a law-book is Aryan.[35] + +The second point of view is that of the Akkadists. It is claimed by +the late Lacouperie, by Hewitt, and by other well-known writers that a +primitive race overran India, China, and the rest of the world, +leaving behind it traces of advanced religious ideas and other marks +of a higher civilization. Such a cult may have existed, but in so far +as this theory rests, as in a marked degree it does rest, on +etymology, the results are worthless. These scholars identify +Gandharva with Gan-Eden, K[=a]çi (Benares) with the land of the sons +of Kush; Gautama with Chinese ('Akkadian') _gut_, 'a bull,' etc. All +this is as fruitful of unwisdom as was the guess-work of European +savants two centuries ago. We know that the Dasyus had some religion +and some civilization. Of what sort was their barbaric cult, whether +Finnish (also 'Akkadian')[36] or aboriginal with themselves, really +makes but little difference, so far as the interpretation of Aryanism +is concerned; for what the Aryans got from the wild tribes of that day +is insignificant if established as existent at all. A few legends, the +Deluge and the Cosmic Tree, are claimed as Akkadian, but it is +remarkable that one may grant all that the Akkadian scholars claim, +and still deny that Aryan belief has been essentially affected by +it.[37] The Akkadian theory will please them that cannot reconcile the +Rig Veda with their theory of Brahmanic influence, but the fault lies +with the theory. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: The Dasyus, heathen, or pagans, are by no means + a wholly uncivilized mass to the poets of the Rig Veda. They + have wealth, build forts, and are recognized as living in + towns or forts. We learn little about them in Brahmanic + literature, except that they bury their dead and with them + their trinkets. Their graves and dolmen gray-stones are + still found.] + + [Footnote 2: Some scholars think that the Dravidians entered + from the Northwest later than the Kolarians, and, pushing + them to either side of the peninsula, descended through them + to the South. The fact that some Kolarian tribes closely + related by language are separated (to East and West) by + hundreds of miles, and have lost all remembrance of their + former union, favors this view of a Dravidian wedge + splitting and passing through the Kolarian mass. But all + here is guess-work. The Dravidians may have been pushed on + by Kolarians that entered later, while the latter may have + been split by the Aryan invasion; and this seems to us more + probable because the other theory does not explain why the + Kolarians did not go South instead of taking to the hills of + the East and West.] + + [Footnote 3: The whole list of these tribes as given by + Cust, _Sketch of the Modern Languages of the East Indies_, + is as follows: The Kolarians include the Sunth[=a]ls, + Mund[=a]ri Koles (Koches), Kh[=a]rians, Juangs, Korwas, + Kurs, Sav[=a]ras, Mehtos, Gadabas, P[=a]h[=a]rias; the + Dravidians include the tribes called Tamil, Telugu, + Kanarese, Malay[=a]lim, Tulu, Kudagu, Toda, Kota, Khond, + Gond, Or[=a]on, R[=a]jmah[=a]li, Keik[=a]di, Yeruk[=a]la.] + + [Footnote 4: The sacrifices of the wild tribes all appear to + have the object of pleasing or placating the god with food, + animal or vegetable; just as the Brahmanic sacrifice is made + to please, with the secondary thought that the god will + return the favor with interest; then that he is bound to do + so. Sin is carried away by the sacrifice, but this seems to + be merely an extension of the simpler idea; the god condones + a fault after an expression of repentance and good-will. + What lies further back is not revealed in the early texts, + though it is easy to make them fruitful in "theories of + sacrifice."] + + [Footnote 5: Of course no tribe has what civilization would + call a temple, but some have what answer to it, namely, a + filthy hut where live the god and his priest. Yet the Gonds + used to build roads and irrigate very well.] + + [Footnote 6: The (R[=a]j) Gonds were first subdued by the + R[=a]jputs, and where the Hindus and Gonds have intermarried + they are known as R[=a]j Gonds. Others have become the + 'Mohammedan Gonds.' Otherwise, in the case of the pure or + '[=A]ssul' (the greater number), neither Hindu nor + Mohammedan has had much influence over them, either socially + or religiously. The Gonds whipped the British in 1818; but + since then they have become 'pacified.'] + + [Footnote 7: It is often no more than a small hatchet stuck + in the belt, if they wear the latter, which in the jungle is + more raiment than they are wont to put on.] + + [Footnote 8: The snake in the tree is common to many tribes, + both being tutelary. The Gonds are 'sons of the forest + Trees,' and of the northern bull.] + + [Footnote 9: It seems to us that this feature need not be + reckoned as a sign of exogamy. It is often, so far as we + have observed, only a stereotyped form to express + bashfulness.] + + [Footnote 10: Some say earth-_god._ Thus the account given + in JRAS. 1842, p. 172, says 'male earth-god as ancestor,' + but most modern writers describe the divinity as a female. + Some of the Khonds worship only earth (as a peacock). This + is the peacock revered at the Pongol.] + + [Footnote 11: The Gonds also have a boundary-god. Graves as + boundaries are known among the Anglo-Saxons. Possibly Hermes + as boundary-god may be connected with the Hermes that + conducts souls; or is it simply as thief-god that he guards + from theft? The Khond practice would indicate that the + corpse (as something sacred) made the boundary, not that the + boundary was made by running a line to a barrow, as is the + case in the Anglo-Saxon connection between barrow and + bound.] + + [Footnote 12: Some may compare Bellerophon !] + + [Footnote 13: Tutelary deities are of house, village, + groves, etc. The 'House-god' is, of course, older than this + or than Hinduism. The Rig Veda recognizes V[=a]stoshpati, + the 'Lord of the House,' to whom the law (Manu, III. 89, + etc.) orders oblations to be made. But Hinduism prefers a + female house-goddess (see above, p. 374). Windisch connects + this Vedic divinity, V[=a]stos-pati, with Vesta and Hestia. + The same scholar compares Keltic _vassus, vassallus_, + originally 'house-man'; and very ingeniously equates + Vassorix with Vedic _vas[=a][.m] r[=a]j[=a]--viç[=a][.m] + r[=a]j[=a]_, 'king of the house-men' (clan), like + _h[.u]skarlar_,'house-fellows,' in Scandinavian (domesticus, + *_ouk(tes)_). Windisch, _Vassus und Vassallus_, in the + _Bericht. d. k. Sächs. Gesell_. 1892, p. 174.] + + [Footnote 14: That is to say, a dead man's spirit goes to + heaven, or is re-born whole in the tribe, or is re-born + diseased (anywhere, this is penal discipline), or finally is + annihilated. Justly may one compare the Brahmanic division + of the Manes into several classes, according to their + destination as conditioned by their manner of living and + exit from life. It is the same idea ramifying a little + differently; not a case of borrowing, but the growth of two + similar seeds. On the other hand, the un-Aryan doctrine of + transmigration may be due to the belief of native wild + tribes. It appears first in the Çatapatha, but is hinted at + in the 'plant-souls' of the RV. (above, pp. 145,204,432), + possibly in RV. I. 164. 30,38; Bötlingk, _loc. cit_., 1893, + p. 88.] + + [Footnote 15: This tribe now divides with the Lurka Koles + the possession of Chota Nagpur, which the latter tribe used + to command entire. The Or[=a]ons regard the Lurka Koles as + inferiors. Compare JRAS. 1861, p. 370 ff. They are sometimes + erroneously grouped with the Koles, ethnographically as well + as geographically. Risley, _Tribes and Castes of Bengal_, p. + XXXII.] + + [Footnote 16: Something like this is recorded by Brinton, + _Myths of the New World_, p. 243, as the belief of an + American tribe, which holds that the fate of the dead + depends on the manner of death, the funeral rites, or "some + such arbitrary circumstance" (as in Greece).] + + [Footnote 17: Compare the epic 'Mouse-people,' M[=u]shikas, + as well as Apollo's mouse. Possibly another Hindu mark of + sectarianism may be traced to the wild tribes, the use of + vermilion markings. This is the most important element in + the Bengal wedding rite (Risley).] + + [Footnote 18: Above the Sunth[=a]ls, who inhabit the jungle + and lower slopes of the R[=a]jmah[=a]l hills, live the + P[=a]h[=a]r[=i]as, who never tell a lie (it is said), and + whose religion in some aspects is worth noticing. They + believe in one god (over each village god), who created + seven brothers to rule earth. The P[=a]h[=a]r[=i]as descend + from the eldest of these brothers. They believe in + transmigration, a future state, and oracles. But it is + questionable whether they have not been exposed to + Buddhistic influence, as 'Budo Gosain' is the name of the + supreme (sun-)god.] + + [Footnote 19: In the ninth century Orissa was formed of the + territories of Khonds, Koles, and Sav[=a]ras. In the old + grouping of tribes these, together with the Gonds and Bhils, + were the "five children of the soil" between the Vindhya + mountains, the east chain of the Gh[=a]ts, and the mouth of + the God[=a]var[=i] to the centre of the valley of the + Nerbudda. The last mentioned tribe of Bhils (Bheels) is + almost devoid of native religion, but is particularly noted + for truth, honesty, and fidelity. JRAS. 1844, pp. 181, 189, + 192; 1852, p. 216 ff. It is an ancient race, but its origin + is not certain.] + + [Footnote 20: Trees are revered by the Brahmans also, as by + the American Indians. Schoolcraft, i. 368. The tree-spirit + is an advance on this (Brahmanic and Hinduistic).] + + [Footnote 21: Thus the Bhils' wedding is simply a mutual + promise under the _sing[=a]_ tree. These savages, however, + live together only so long as they choose. When the family + separates, the father takes the elder children, and the + mother takes the younger ones. They are polygamous. It is + from this tribe that the worship of Aghor[=i], the Vindhya + fiend, accepted as a form of K[=a]l[=i], was introduced into + Çivaite worship. At present their religion is a mixture of + Hindu and native superstition. Thus, like the Gonds, they + worship stone images of gods placed in a circle, but they + recognize among these gods several of the Hindu divinities.] + + [Footnote 22: Rowney, _Wild Tribes_, p. 194. The goose-totem + of the Sunth[=a]ls is also Brahm[=a]'s sign. As Vishnu is + carried on an eagle, and Çiva on a bull, so Brahm[=a] rides + a goose (or flamingo). The 'ten ancestors' demanded of the + Brahman priest were originally on the mother's side as well + as on the father's. Weber, _R[=a]jas[=u]ya_, p. 78. The + matriarchal theory is, however, southern. (Compare the + oblations to the ancestresses in Vishnu's law-book, 74.)] + + [Footnote 23: The marriage-stone, as in the Hindu rite is + quite common. Of lesser superstitions the _tab[=u]_, + analogous to the avoidance of unlucky names among the + Hindus, may be mentioned. Friendship among girls is cemented + by a religious ceremony. After this, among the Or[=a]ons, + the two avoid each other's name, calling each other only 'my + flower' or 'my meet-to-smile' (Rowney). In this tribe + exogamy is 'more respectable,' but not necessary. The girls + are generally bought, and have fixed prices, but we have + seen the customary price (twenty-five pigs) cited only for + Assam among the Meeris. If one man cannot pay so much, + several unite, for polyandry prevails all through the + northern tribes (JRAS. XI. 38), and even in the Punj[=a]b.] + + [Footnote 24: Sherring (JRAS. V. 376) says decidedly that + Bh[=a]rs, or Bh[=a]rats, and Ch[=i]rus cannot be Aryans. + This article is one full of interesting details in regard to + the high cultivation of the Bh[=a]rat tribe. They built + large stone forts, immense subterranean caverns, and made + enormous bricks for tanks and fortifications (19 X 11 X + 2-1/2 inches), the former being built regularly to east and + west (_surajbedi_). One of their chief cities lay five miles + west of Mirz[=a]pur, and covered several miles, entirely + surrounding the Puranic city of Vindhyacal, built in the + midst of it. Six or seven hundred years ago the Bh[=a]rs + held Oude and Benares. Carnegy's opinion is given in his + _Races, Tribes, and Castes of the Province of Oude_ (Oudh). + The Bh[=a]rs, says Elliot, _Chronicles of Oonayo_, built all + the towns not ending in _pur_, _mow_, or _[=a]b[=a]d_ + (Hindu, Mongol, Mohammedan). Their sacra (totems?) are the + bamboo, _bel_-tree, tortoise, and peacock.] + + [Footnote 25: JRAS. XII. 229; IA. XXII. 293.] + + [Footnote 26: Among the southern Koders the dolmen form + grave-stones; perhaps the religious employment of them in + this wise led to the idea of the god-stone in many cases; + but it is difficult to say in monolith-worship whether the + stone itself be not a god; not a fetish, for (as has been + said by others) a fetish is a god only so long as he is + regarded as being useful, and when shown to be useless he is + flung away; but a god-stone is always divine, whether it + grants prayers or not.] + + [Footnote 27: Wilson's note to Stevenson's description, + JRAS. 1838, p. 197. The epic disease-gods are not unique. + The only god known to the Andaman Islanders (Bay of Bengal) + was a disease-devil, and this is found as a subordinate + deity in many of the wild tribes.] + + [Footnote 28: In the current _Indian Antiquary_ there is an + exceedingly interesting series of papers by the late Judge + Burnell on Devil-worship, with illustrations that show well + the character of these lower objects of worship.] + + [Footnote 29: The standard work on this subject is + Fergusson's _Tree and Serpent Worship_, which abounds in + interesting facts and dangerously captivating fancies.] + + [Footnote 30: JRAS. 1846, p. 407. The ensign here may be + totemistic. In Hinduism the epic shows that the standards of + battle were often surmounted with signa and effigies of + various animals, as was the case, for example, in ancient + Germany. We have collected the material on this point in a + paper in JAOS. XIII. 244. It appears that on top of the + flag-staff images were placed. One of these is the + Ape-standard; another, the Bull standard; another, the + Hoar-standard. Arjuna's sign was the Ape (with a lion's + tail); other heroes had peacocks, elephants, and fabulous + monsters like the _çarabha_. The Ape is of course the god + Hanuman; the Boar, Vishnu; the Bull, Çiva; so that they have + a religious bearing for the most part, and are not + totemistic. Some are purely fanciful, a bow, a swan with + bells, a lily; or, again, they are significant of the + heroe's origin (Drona's 'pot'). Trees and flowers are used + as standards just like beasts. Especially is the palm a + favorite emblem. These signa are in addition to the + battle-flags (one of which is blue, carried with an ensign + of five stars). On the plants compare Williams, _Brahmanism + and Hinduism_, p. 338.] + + [Footnote 31: [=A]pastambo, 2. 2. 3. 22; Manu, III. 88.] + + [Footnote 32: Vule _apud_ Williams.] + + [Footnote 33: _ib_. The Rig Veda, X. 81. 4, knows also a + 'tree of creation.'] + + [Footnote 34: _Early Law and Custom_, p. 73 ff.] + + [Footnote 35: Thus it is common Aryan law that, on the birth + of a child, the mother becomes impure for ten days, either + alone or with the father. But the latter's impurity is only + nominal, and is removed by bathing (Manu, V. 62, and + others). B[=a]udh[=a]yana alone states that "according to + some" only the father becomes impure (1. 5. 11. 21). This is + the custom of a land described by Apollonius Rhodius (II. + 1010}, "where, when women bear children, the men groan, go + to bed, and tie up the head; but the women care for them." + Yet B[=a]udh[=a]yana is a Southerner and a late writer. The + custom is legalized only in this writer's laws. Hence it + cannot be cited as Brahmanic or even as Aryan law. It was + probably the custom of the Southern half-Hinduized + environment.] + + [Footnote 36: American Indians are also Dravidian, because + both have totems![* unknown symbol]] + + [Footnote 37: For the Akkadist theory may be consulted + Lacouperie in the _Babylonian and Oriental Record_, i. 1, + 25, 58; iii. 62 ff.; v. 44, 97; vi. 1 ff.; Hewitt, in + reviewing Risley's _Tribes and Castes of Bengal_, JRAS. + 1893, p. 238 ff. See also Sayce's _Hibbert Lectures_. On the + Deluge and Tree of Life, compare the _Babylonian and + Oriental Record_, iv. 15 and 217.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +INDIA AND THE WEST. + + +If in Hinduism, and even in Brahmanism, there are certain traits +which, with some verisimilitude, may be referred to the immediate +environment of these religions, how stands it in respect of that wider +circle of influence which is represented by the peoples of the West? +With Egypt and Phoenicia, India had intercourse at an early date, but +this appears to have been restricted to mercantile exchange; for India +till very late was affected neither by the literature nor by the +religion of Egyptians or Syrians.[1] Of a more direct sort seem to +have been the relations between India and Babylon, and the former may +owe to the latter her later astronomy, but no definitive proof exists +(or even any great historical probability) that Babylon gave India +even legendary additions to her native wealth of myths.[2] From the +Iranians the Hindus parted too early to receive from Zoroastrianism +any influence. On the contrary, in our opinion the religion of +Zoroaster budded from a branch taken from Indic soil. Even where +Persian influence may, with propriety, be suspected, in the later +Indic worship of the sun, India took no new religion from Persia; but +it is very possible that her own antique and preserved heliolatry was +aided, and acquired new strength from more modern contact with the +sun-worshippers of the West. Of Iranian influence in early times, +along the line of Hindu religious development, there is scarcely a +trace, although in 509 B.C. Darius's general conquered the land about +the Indus.[3] But the most zealous advocate of Persia's prestige can +find little to support his claims in pre-Buddhistic Brahmanic +literature, though such claims have been made, not only in respect of +the position of secondary divinities, but even as regards +eschatological conceptions. It is not so easy to refute an improbable +historical theory as it is to propound it, but, on the other hand, the +_onus probandi_ rests upon him that propounds it, and till now all +arguments on this point have resulted only in increasing the number of +unproved hypotheses, which the historian should mention and may then +dismiss. + +The Northern dynasty that ruled in India in the sixth century seems to +have had a hand in spreading Iranian sun-worship beyond the Indus, but +we doubt whether the radical effect of this dominion and its belief +(it is described by Kosmas, an Egyptian traveller of the time) is as +great as has been claimed.[4] + +From Greece, the Hindus received architectural designs, numismatic, +and perhaps a few literary hints, but they got thence neither +religious myths, nor, with the possible exception of the cult of the +later Love-god and fresh encouragement to phallic +-worship, new rites;[5] though they may have borrowed some fables, and +one even hears of a Buddhistic king endeavoring to buy a sophist of +Antiochus. But there is no ground for assuming philosophical influence +on Brahmanism. + +Christianity came late into the religious life of India, and as a +doctrine made upon her no deep or lasting impression. Certain details +of Christian story have been woven into the legends of Krishna, and +some scholars believe that the monotheistic worshippers depicted in +the pseudo-epic were Christians. But in respect of the latter point it +is enough to say that this account of foreign belief had no new +monotheizing effect upon the pantheism of India; the strange +(unbrahmanic) god was simply accepted as Vishnu. Nor do we believe +that the faith-doctrine of Hindu sectarianism and the trinitarianism +of India were derived from Christian sources. But it must be admitted +to be historically possible that the creed of the Christians, known to +the Hindus of the sixth and seventh centuries, may have suggested to +the latter the idea of the trinity as a means of adjusting the claims +of Brahmanism, Krishnaism, and Çivaism.[6] + +But from the Mohammedan India has taken much, albeit +only in the last few centuries. When Alexander entered India there +were still two bodies of Indic people west of the Indus. But the trend +was eastward, as it had been for centuries, and the first inroad of +the Mohammedan had little further effect than to seize a land forsaken +by Aryans and given over to the hordes of the North. The foundation of +the new empire was not laid till the permanent occupation of the +Punj[=a]b and annexation of Lahore in 1022-23. In the thirteenth +century all Hindustan acknowledged the authority of the slave sultan +of Delhi.[7] Akbar died in 1605. By the end of the century the Mogul +rule was broken; the Mahratta princes became imperial. It is now just +in this period of Mohammedan power when arise the deistic reforming +sects, which, as we have shown, were surrounded with deists and +trinitarians. Here, then, we draw the line across the inner +development of India's religions, with +Kab[=i]r, N[=a]nak, D[=a]du, and perhaps even Basava. In the +philosophy of the age that succeeds the epic there are but two phases +of religion, pantheism for the wise, a more or less deistic polytheism +for the vulgar[8] (in isolated cases may be added the monotheism of +certain scholastic philosophers); and so Indic religion continued till +the advent of Islamism. Nevertheless, though under Mohammedan +influence,[9] the most thoughtful spirits of India received monotheism +and gave up pantheism, yet was the religious attitude of these +thinkers not averse from that taken by the Sankyan philosophers and by +the earlier pantheists. From a philosophical point of view one must, +indeed, separate the two. But all these, the Unitarian Hariharaist, +the real pantheist of the Upanishads, who completed the work of the +Vedic quasi-pantheist, and the circle that comprises Kab[=i]r, +N[=a]nak, and D[=a]du, were united in that they stood against +encircling polytheism. They were religiously at one in that they gave +up the cult of many divinities, which represented respectively +nature-worship and fiend-worship (with beast-worship), for the worship +of one god. Therefore it is that, while native advance stops with the +Mohammedan conquest, one may yet claim an uninterrupted progress for +the higher Indic religion, a continual elevation of the thoughts of +the wise; although at the same time, beside and below this, there is +the circle of lower beliefs that continually revolves upon itself. For +in the zoölatry[10] and polytheism that adores monsters to-day +it is difficult to see a form of religion higher in any respect than +that more simple nature-polytheism which first obtained.[11] + +This lower aspect of Indic religions hinges historically on the +relation between the accepted cults of Hinduism[12] and those of the +wild tribes. We cannot venture to make any statements that will cast +upon this question more light than has been thrown by the above +account of the latter cults and of their points of contact with +Hinduism. It may be taken for granted that with the entrance into the +body politic of a class composed of vanquished[13] or vanquishing +natives, some of the religion of the latter may have been received +also. Such, there is every reason to believe, was the original worship +of Çiva as Çarva, Bhava, and of Krishna; in other words, of the first +features of modern sectarian Hinduism, though this has been so +influenced by Aryan civilization that it has become an integral part +of Hindu religion.[14] + +But, again, for a further question here presents itself, how much in +India to-day is Aryan? We are inclined to answer that very little of +blood or of religion is Aryan. Some priestly families keep perhaps a +strain of Aryan blood. But Hindu literature is not afraid to state how +many of its authors are of low caste, how many of its priests were +begotten of mixed marriages, how many formed low connections; while +both legendary and prophetic (_ex post facto_) history speak too often +of slave-kings and the evil times when low castes will reign, for any +unprejudiced person to doubt that the Hindu population, excluding many +pure priests but including many of the priests and the R[=a]jputs +('sons of kings'), represents Aryanhood even less than the belief of +the Rig Veda represents the primitive religion; and how little of +aboriginal Aryan faith is reflected in that work has been shown +already. + +As one reviews the post-Vedic religions of civilized India he is +impressed with the fact that, heterogeneous as they are, they yet in +some regards are so alike as to present, when contrasted with other +beliefs, a homogeneous whole. A certain uniqueness of religious style, +so to speak, differentiates every expression of India's theosophy from +that of her Western neighbors. What is common and world-wide in the +forms of Indic faith we have shown in a previous chapter. But on this +universal foundation India has erected many individual temples, +temples built after designs which are not uniform, but are all +self-sketched, and therefore peculiar to herself. In each of these +mental houses of God there is revealed the same disposition, and that +disposition is necessarily identical with that expressed in her +profane artistry,[15] for the form of religion is as much a matter of +national taste as is that which is embodied in literature, +architecture, and painting. And this taste, as expressed in religion, +isolates Brahmanic and Hinduistic India, +placing her apart, both from the gloom of Egypt and the grace of +Greece; even as in her earliest records she shows herself individual, +as contrasted with her Aryan kinsfolk. Like Egypt, she feels her dead +ever around her, and her cult is tinged with darkness; but she is fond +of pleasure, and seeks it deliriously. Like Greece, she loves beauty, +but she loves more to decorate it; and again, she rejoices in her +gods, but she rejoices with fear; fear that overcomes reason, and +pictures such horrors as are conjured up by the wild leaps of an +uncurbed fancy. For an imagination that knows no let has run away with +every form of her intellectual productivity, theosophy as well as art. +This is perceptible even in her ritualistic, scientific, and +philosophical systems; for though it is an element that at first seems +incongruous with such systems, it is yet in reality the factor that +has produced them. Complex, varied, minute, exact, as are the details +which she loves to elaborate in all her work, they are the result of +this same unfettered imagination, which follows out every fancy, +pleased with them all, exaggerating every present interest, unconfined +by especial regard for what is essential.[16] This is a heavy charge +to bring, nor can it be passed over with the usual remark that one +must accept India's canon as authoritative for herself, for the taste +of cosmopolitan civilization is the only norm of judgment, a norm +accepted even by the Hindus of the present day when they have learned +what it is. But we do not bring the charge of extravagance for the +sake of comparing India unfavorably with the Occident. Confining +ourselves to the historical method of treatment which we have +endeavored heretofore to maintain, we wish to point out the important +bearings which this intellectual trait has had upon the lesser +products of India's religious activity. + +Through the whole extent of religious literature one finds what are +apparently rare and valuable bits of historical information. It is +these which, from the point of view to which we have just referred, +one must learn to estimate at their real worth. In nine cases out of +ten, these seeming truths are due only to the light imagination of a +subsequent age, playing at will over the records of the past, and +seeking by a mental caper to leap over what it fails to understand. To +the Oriental of an age still later all the facts deducible from such +statements as are embodied in the hoary literature of antiquity appear +to be historical data, and, if mystic in tone, these statements are to +him an old revelation of profoundest truth. But the Occidental, who +recognizes no hidden wisdom in palpable mystification, should hesitate +also to accept at their face value such historical notes as have been +drafted by the same priestly hand. + +Nor would we confine the application of this principle to the output +of extant Brahmanic works. The same truth cuts right and left among +many utterances of the Vedic seers and all the theories built upon +them. To pick out here and there an _ipse dixit_ of one of the later +fanciful Vedic poets, who lived in a period as Brahmanic (that is, as +ritualistic) as is that which is represented by the actual +ritual-texts, and attempt to reconstruct the original form of +divinities on the basis of such vagaries is useless, for it is an +unhistorical method which ignores ancient conditions. + +In less degree, because here the conditions are more obvious, does +this apply to the religious interpretation of the great body of +literature which has conserved for posterity the beginnings of +Hinduism. But upon this we have already animadverted, and now need +only range this literature in line with its predecessors. Not because +the epic pictures Krishna as making obeisance to Çiva is Krishna here +the undeveloped man-god, who represents but the beginning of his +(later) greatness, and is still subject to the older Çiva. On the +contrary, it is the +epic's last extravagance in regard to Çiva (who has already bowed +before the great image of Krishna-Vishnu) that demands a furious +counter-blast against the rival god. It is the Çivaite who says that +Krishna-Vishnu bows; and because it is the Çivaite, and because this +is the national mode of expression of every sectary, therefore what +the Çivaite says is in all probability historically false, and the +sober historian will at least not discover 'the earlier Krishna' in +the Krishna portrayed by his rival's satellites. + +But when one comes to the modern sects, then he has to deplore not so +much the lack of historical data as the grotesque form into which this +same over-vivid imagination of the Hindu has builded his gods. As the +scientific systems grow more and more fancifully, detailed, and as the +liturgy flowers out into the most extraordinary bloom of weird legend, +so the images of the gods, to the eye in their temples, to the mind in +the descriptions of them, take to themselves the most uncouth details +imagined by a curious fancy. This god is an ascetic; he must be +portrayed with the ascetic's hair, the ascetic's wild appearance. He +kills; he must be depicted as a monster, every trait exaggerated, +every conceivable horror detailed. This god sported with the +shepherdesses; he must have love-adventures related in full, and be +worshipped as a darling god of love; and in this worship all must be +pictured in excess, that weaker mortal power may strive to appreciate +the magnitude of the divine in every fine detail. + +These traits are those of late Vedism, Brahmanism, and Hinduism. But +how marked is the contrast with the earlier Vedic age! The grotesque +fancy, the love of minutiae, in a word, the extravagance of +imagination and unreason are here absent, or present only in hymns +that contrast vividly with those of the older tone. This older tone is +Aryan, the later is Hindu, and it is another proof of what we have +already emphasized, that the Hinduizing influence was felt in the +later Vedic +or Brahmanic period. There is, indeed, almost as great a gulf between +the Dawn-hymns and the Çatapatha as there is between the latter and +the Pur[=a]nas. One may rest assured that the perverted later taste +reproduces the advance of Hindu influence upon the Aryan mind exactly +in proportion to the enormity displayed. + +On the other hand, from the point of view of morality, Brahmanic +religion is not in any way individual. The race, whether Aryan or +Hinduistic, had as fragile virtue as have other folks, and shows the +same tentative efforts to become purer as those which characterize +every national advance. There is, perhaps, a little too much formal +insistence on veraciousness, and one is rather inclined to suspect, +despite Müllers brave defence of the Hindu in this regard, that lying +came very naturally to a people whose law-givers were so continuously +harping on the beauty of truth. The vicious caste-system necessarily +scheduled immorality in accordance with the caste order, as certain +crimes in other countries are estimated according to the race of the +sinner rather than according to any abstract standard. In the matter +of precept we know no better moral laws than those promulgated by the +Brahmans, but they are the laws that every people evolves for itself. +Religious immorality, the excess of Çakti worship, is also not +peculiar to the Hindu. If one ask how the morality of India as a whole +compares with that of other countries, we reply that, including +religious excesses, it stands level with the personal morality of +Greece in her best days,[17] +and that without the religiously sensual (Hindu) element, it is +_nominally_ on a par with that of London or New York. There are good +and bad men, and these make good and bad coteries, which stand inside +the pale of a religious profession. There is not much theoretical +difference. Few of the older gods are virtuous, and Right, even in the +Rig Veda, is the moral power, that is, Right as Order, correct +behavior, the prototype both of ritual and of _[=a]c[=a]ra,_ custom, +which rules the gods. In the law-court the gods are a moral group, and +two of them, Varuna and Agni, hate respectively the sins of adultery +and untruth. In the law it is, however, Dharma and the Father-god or +his diadochos, who, handing down heavenly precepts, gives all moral +laws, though it must be confessed that the Father-god is almost the +last to care for morality. And pure Brahmanism stops with Brahm[=a]. +In modern Hinduism, to kill, lust, steal, drink, so far from +offending, may please a god that is amorous, or bloodthirsty, or, like +Çiva, is 'the lord of thieves.' Morality here has God himself against +it. In the Rig Veda, to sin is merely to displease a god. But even in +Brahmanism, as in Buddhism, there is not that intimate connection +between goodness and godness that obtains in Christianity. The +Brahman, like the Buddhist, was self-controlled, in order to exert +control upon the gods and the course of his own future life. He not +only, as is perhaps the case elsewhere, was moral with an ulterior +motive, but his moral code lacked the divine hand. It was felt as a +system which he applied to himself for his own good. He did not assume +that he offended a god by not following it, except in two special +cases, as in sins against Agni and Varuna. Ulterior motives are +deprecated, but because he that seeks absorption into God must quit +desires.[18] + +We have said that the moral code of the Hindus at its best seems to be +on a par with the best as found elsewhere. Not to lie, not to steal, +not to injure another illegally,[19] to be brave, to be loyal, to be +hospitable,--these are the factors of its early and late law. In +certain late cases may be added 'to be self-restrained.' But if these +laws be compared with those of the savage races it will be found that +most of them are also factors of primitive ethics. Therefore we say +that the Hindu code as a whole is savage and antique, and that, +excluding religious excess and debauchery, it is on a par with the +modern ethical code only nominally. In reality, however, this savage +and ancient code is not on a level with that of to-day. And the reason +is that the ideal of each is different. In the savage and old-world +conception of morality it is the ideal virtue that is represented by +the code. It was distinct laudation to say of a man that he did not +lie, or steal, and that he was hospitable.[20] But to-day, while these +factors remain to formulate the code, they no longer represent ideal +virtue. Nay rather, they are but the assumed base of virtue, and so +thoroughly is this assumed that to say of a gentleman that he does not +lie or steal is not praise, but rather an insult, since the imputation +to him of what is but the virtue of children is no longer an encomium +when applied to the adult, who is supposed to have passed the point +where theft and lying are moral temptations, and to have reached a +point where, on the basis of these savage, antique, and now childish +virtues, he strives for a higher moral ideal. And this ideal of +to-day, which makes fair-mindedness, liberality of thought, and +altruism the respective representatives of the savage virtues of +manual honesty, truth-speaking, and hospitality, is just what +is lacking in the more primitive ideal formulated in the code of +savages and of the Brahman alike.[21] It is not found at all among +savages, and they may be left on one side. In India all the factors of +the modern code are entirely lacking at the time when the old code was +first completely formulated. Liberality of thought comes in with the +era of the Upanishads, but it is a restricted freedom. Altruism is +unknown to pure Brahmanism. But it obtains among the Buddhists, who +also have liberality of thought and fair-mindedness. Hence, from the +point of view of the higher morality, one must confess that Buddhism +offers the best parallel to the best of to-day. On the other hand, +Buddhistic altruism exceeds all other. + +We have sketched the sphere of influence exerted by the West upon +India, and found it on the whole inconsiderable. The Indic religions +till the twelfth century assimilated what little they drew from +foreign sources, and stand before the world as a peculiar growth, +native to the soil in all their essential characteristics.[22] + +But to the other side of India's contact with the West we have as yet +barely alluded. India has given as she has received. What influence +has she had upon Western cults and beliefs? The worship that +substituted idols for ideal forms we have traced back to the end of +the Vedic period. It is not, however, a mark of early Brahmanism, nor +is it a pronounced feature before the age of Buddhism. But in Buddha's +time, or soon after, flourished the worship of images, and with it the +respect for relics. The latter feature of the new religion made +necessary shrines to keep the holy objects, sacred museums, which soon +became the formal _st[=u]pas,_ above-ground +and under-ground, and these made the first temples of India.[23] Fully +developed, they became the great religious buildings affected by +Buddhism, with their idol service, prostrations, repetitions of +prayers, dim religious light (lamp-service), offerings of flowers, +fruits, etc. From this source may have been derived many of the +details in the Roman Catholic worship, which appears to have taken +from Buddhism the rosary, originally a mark of the Çivaite.[24] By +what is, to say the least, an extraordinary coincidence, each of these +churches is conspicuous for its use of holy water, choirs, sacred +pictures, tonsure, vestments, the bell in religious service, the +orders of nuns, monks, and the vows of the monastic system.[25] The +most curious loan made by the Roman and Greek churches is, however, +the quasi-worship of Gotama Buddha himself (in so far as a Romanist +worships his saints), for, under cover of the Barlaam and Josaphat +story, Buddha has found a niche as a saint in the row of canonized +Catholic worthies, and has his saint-day in the calendar of the Greek +and Roman churches.[26] But it is not his mother who is the Virgin of +Lamaism, which has made of Buddha the Supreme God. + +Besides external phases of the religious cult, India has given +to the West a certain class of literary works and certain +philosophical ideas. The former consists, of course, in the +fable-literature, which spread from India to Eastern Europe (Babrius) +and has preserved in many tales of to-day nothing more than Buddhistic +Birth-stories or other Indic tales (the Pa[.n]catantra) and +legends.[27] Of these we can make only passing mention here, to turn +at once to the more important question of philosophical and religious +borrowing. + +It has been claimed, as we have incidentally stated, that the Logos +doctrine was imported from India. Were this so, it would, indeed, be a +fact of great historical importance, but, interesting as would be such +a loan, we cannot see that the suggestion is based on data of cogent +character. The history of the doctrine in India and Greece is simply +this: V[=a]c, Speech or Word, appears in the Rig Veda (in the hymn +cited above, p. 143) as an active female divine power, showing grace +to mortals. In the Brahmanic period V[=a]c becomes more and more like +the Greek Logos, and it may truthfuly be said that in this period "the +Word was God." In Greece, on the other hand, the conception of Logos +begins with Heraclitus, passes on to the Stoics; is adopted by Philo; +becomes a prominent feature of Neo-Platonism; and reappears in the +Gospel of St. John. It is certainly legitimate to suppose that +Heraclitus might have received the idea indirectly, if not directly, +from contemporary Eastern philosophers; but the fact that he did so +remains unproved; nor is there any foundation for the assumption of +borrowing other than the resemblance between the Grecian and Indic +conceptions. But this resemblance is scarcely marked enough in +essential features to prejudice one in favor of Weber's theory +(amplified by Garbe), as it is not detailed enough to be striking, for +V[=a]c is never more than one of many female abstractions. + +With the exception of the one case to be mentioned immediately, we are +forced to take the same position in regard to the similarity between +other forms of early Greek and Hindu philosophy. Both Thales and +Parmenides were indeed anticipated by Hindu sages, and the Eleatic +school seems to be but a reflexion of the Upanishads. The doctrines of +Anaximander and Heraclitus are, perhaps, not known first in Greece, +but there is no evidence that they were not original to Greece, or +that they were borrowed from India, however much older may be the +parallel trains of thought on Indic soil. + +Quite as decidedly, however, as we deny all appearance of borrowing on +the part of the founders of other early Grecian schools, must we claim +the thought of India to be the archetype of Pythagorean philosophy. +After a careful review of the points of contact, and weighing as +dispassionately as possible the historical evidence for and against +the originality of Pythagoras, we are unable to come to any other +conclusion than that the Greek philosopher took his whole system +indirectly from India. His 'numbers,' indeed, are the S[=a]nkhya only +in appearances.[28] But his theory of metempsychosis is the Indic +_sams[=a]ra_, and Plato is full of Sankhyan thought, worked out by him +but taken from Pythagoras. Before the sixth century B.C. all the +religious-philosophical ideas of Pythagoras are current in India (L. +von Schroeder, _Pythagoras_). If there were but one or two of these +cases, they might be set aside as accidental coincidences, but such +coincidences are too numerous to be the result of chance. Even in +details the transmigration theory of Pythagoras harmonizes with that +of India. Further (after Schroeder und Garbe) may be mentioned the +curious prohibition against eating beans; the Hesiodic-Pythagorean +[Greek: _pros êlion mê omichein_]; the vow of silence, like that taken +by the Hindu _muni_; the doctrine of _five_ elements (aether as +fifth); above all, the so-called Pythagorean Theorem, developed in the +mathematical +Çulvas[=u]tras[29] of India; the irrrational number [square root +symbol]2; then the whole character of the religious-philosophical +fraternity, which is exactly analogous to the Indic orders of the +time; and finally the mystic speculation, which is peculiar to the +Pythagorean school, and bears a striking resemblance to the +fantastical notions affected by the authors of the Br[=a]hmana.[30] +Greek legend is full of the Samian's travels to Egypt, Chaldaea, +Phoenicia, and India. The fire beneath this smoke is hidden. One knows +not how much to believe of such tales. But they only strengthen the +inference, drawn from 'the Pythagorean school,' the man's work itself, +that the mysticism and numbers with which he is surrounded are taken +from that system of numbers and from that mysticism which are so +astonishingly like his own. All subsequent philosophies borrowed from +Pythagoreanism, and in so far has India helped to form the mind of +Europe.[31] + +But we cannot omit a yet more important religious influence exerted by +India upon the West. As is well known, Neo-Platonism and Christian +Gnosticism owe much to India. The Gnostic ideas in regard to a +plurality of heavens and spiritual worlds go back directly to Hindu +sources. Soul and light are one in the S[=a]nkhya system before they +become so in Greece, and when they appear united in Greece it is by +means of the thought which is borrowed from India. The famous 'three +qualities' of the S[=a]nkhya reappear as the Gnostic 'three classes,' +[Greek: pneumagikoi], [Greek: psuchikoi], [Greek: ulikoi].[32] In +regard to Neo-Platonism, Garbe +says: "The views of Plotinus are in perfect agreement with those of +the S[=a]nkhya system."[33] Porphyry, the disciple of Plotinus, has +the Yoga doctrine of immediate perception of truth leading to union +with the deity. As is well known and undisputed, this Porphyry copies +directly from the treatise of Bardesanes, which contains an account of +the Brahmatis;[34] while in many instances he simply repeats the +tenets of the S[=a]nkhya philosophy. The means of communication may +have been Alexandria, where met the trades of the East and West. +Perhaps the philosophers of India as well as of Greece were brought +together there. But, if the East and West had a mutual meeting-ground, +the ideas common to both occupy no common place in their respective +homes. In Greece, Pythagoreanism and Gnosticism are strange, and are +felt as such by the natives. In India these traits are founded on +ancient beliefs, long current, universal, nationally recognized. The +question of giver and receiver, then, admitting the identity of +thought, can scarcely be raised. If two men meet, one a Methodist and +one a Baptist, and after they have conversed the Methodist be found +totally immersed, he will not be credited with having invented +independently his new mode of baptism. + +India's influence as an intellectual factor in modern European thought +has thus far been of the slightest. Her modern deism is borrowed, and +her pantheism is not scientific. Sanskrit scholars are rather fond of +citing the pathetic words of Schopenhauer, who, speaking of the +Upanishads, says that the study of these works "has been the solace of +my life; it will be the solace of my death"; but Schopenbauer knew the +Upanishads only in a very free form of translation, and it can +scarcely have been the loose philosophy so much as the elevated spirit +of +these works that solaced the unphilosophical bitterness of his life. +This general impression will doubtless continue to be felt by all that +study the best works of Brahmanism. The sincerity, the fearless search +of the Indic sages for truth, their loftiness of thinking, all these +will affect the religious student of every clime and age, though the +fancied result of their thinking may pass without effect over a modern +mind. For a philosophy that must be orthodox can never be definitive. +But, if one turn from the orthodox completed systems to the tentative +beginnings of the Ved[=a]nta (in the Upanishads), he finds as the +basis of this earlier speculation only an _a priori_ meta-physical +assumption.[35] + +Apart from philosophical influence there is at present more or less +interest in Europe and America in Indic superstition and spiritualism, +and half-educated people will doubtless be influenced for some time to +come by Mah[=a]tmaism and Yogism, just as they are moved by native +séance-spirits and mesmerism. Blavatskyism (which represents no phase +of Buddhism) will always find disciples among the ignorant classes, +especially in an agnostic or atheistic environment, so that one should +attribute the mental attitude of such minds to their lack of culture +rather than to India; for if Mah[=a]tmaism had not been discovered, +they would still profess it under another name. Buddhism, too, apart +from Hartmann, may be said to have some influence on popular thought, +yet it is a very unreal Buddhism, which amounts only to the adoption +of an altruistic creed. But we know of none among the many that +profess themselves 'Buddhists' who has really adopted Buddhistic +principles, and but few who even understand those principles. A bar to +the adoption of Buddhism lies in the implicit necessity +of renunciation for all who would become perfected, and in the +explicit doctrine of _karma_ in its native form. The true Buddhist is +not satisfied to be a third-class Buddhist, that is, simply a man that +seeks to avoid lust, anger, and ignorance. He will become a +second-class Buddhist and renounce the world, give up all family ties +and earthly affections, and enter the Order. But he will not do this, +thinking that he is thereby to become perfect. For, to be a +first-class Buddhist, he must get wisdom. He must believe in the +impermanence of everything, and in the awful continuation of his own +_karma_ as a resultant group, which, as such, will continue to exist +if, to the purity and peace of the lower classes of Buddhists, he fail +to add in his own case the wisdom that understands the truth of this +_karma_ doctrine.[36] Now no modern mind will believe this hypothesis +of _karma_ and no modern will even enter the Order. Nevertheless, +while one may not become a true Buddhist in the native sense, it is +possible to be a Buddhist in a higher sense, and in its new form this +is a religion that will doubtless attract many Occidentals, though it +is almost too chaste to win adherents where marriage is not regarded +as detrimental to high thinking. But if one substitute for the +Buddhistic _karma_ the _karma_ of to-day, he may well believe that his +acts are to have effect hereafter, not as a complex but as individual +factors in determining the goodness of his descendants and indirectly +of his environment. Then there remains the attainment of purity, +kindness,[37] and wisdom, which last may be interpreted, in accordance +with the spirit of the Master, as seeing things in their +true relations, and the abandonment of whatever prevents such +attainment, namely, of lust, anger, and ignorance. But to be a true +Buddhist one must renounce, as lust, all desire of evil, of future +life, which brings evil; and must live without other hope than that of +extinguishing all desire and passion, believing that in so doing he +will at death be annihilated, that is, that he will have caused his +acts to cease to work for good or ill, and that, since being without a +soul he exists only in his acts, he will in their cessation also cease +to be. + +At least one thing may be learned from Buddhism. It is possible to be +religious without being devout. True Buddhism is the only religion +which, discarding all animism, consists in character and wisdom. But +neither in sacrificial works, nor in kindness alone, nor in wisdom +alone, lies the highest. One must renounce all selfish desires and +live to build up a character of which the signs are purity, love for +all, and that courageous wisdom which is calm insight into truth. The +Buddhist worked out his own salvation without fear or trembling. To +these characteristics may be added that tolerance and freedom of +thought which are so dissimilar to the traits of many other religions. + +So much may be learned from Buddhism, and it were much only to know +that such a religion existed twenty-four centuries ago. But in what, +from a wider point of view, lies the importance of the study of Hindu +religions? Not, we venture to think, in their face value for the +religious or philosophical life of the Occident, but in the +revelation, which is made by this study, of the origin and growth of +theistic ideas in one land; in the light these cast by analogy on the +origin of such ideas elsewhere; in the prodigious significance of the +religious factor +in the development of a race, as exhibited in this instance; in the +inspiring review of that development as it is seen through successive +ages in the loftiest aspirations of a great people; and finally in the +lesson taught by the intellectual and religious fate of them among +that people that have substituted, like the Brahman ritualist, form +for spirit; like the Vedantist, ideas for ideals; like the sectary, +emotion for morality. But greatest, if woeful, is the lesson taught by +that phase of Buddhism, which has developed into Lamaism and its +kindred cults. For here one learns how few are they that can endure to +be wise, how inaccessible to the masses is the height on which sits +the sage, how unpalatable to the vulgar is a religion without +credulity. + +Ever since Cotton Mather took up a collection to convert the +Hindus,[38] Americans have felt a great interest in missionary labor +in India. Under the just and beneficent rule of the British the Hindus +to-day are no longer plundered and murdered in the way they once were; +nor is there now so striking a contrast between the invader's precept +and example as obtained when India first made the acquaintance of +Christian militants. + +The slight progress of the missionaries, who for centuries have been +working among the Hindus, is, perhaps, justified in view of this +painful contrast. In its earlier stages there can be no doubt that all +such progress was thereby impeded. But it is cause for encouragement, +rather than for dismay, that the slowness of Christian advance is in +part historically explicable, sad as is the explanation. For against +what odds had not the early missionaries to struggle! Not the heathen, +but the Christian, barred the way against Christianity. Four hundred +years ago the Portuguese descended upon the Hindus, cross and sword in +hand. For a whole century these victorious immigrants, with unheard-of +cruelty and tyranny, cheated, stripped, and slaughtered the natives. +After them came the Dutch, but, Dutch or Portuguese, it was the same. +For it was merely another century, during which a new band of +Christians hesitated at no crime or outrage, at no meanness or +barbarity, which should win them power in India. In 1758 the Dutch +were conquered by the English, who, becoming now the chief +standard-bearers of the Christian church, committed, Under +Varisittart, more offences against decency, honor, honesty, and +humanity than is pleasant for believer or unbeliever to record; and, +when their own theft had brought revolt, knew no better way to impress +the Hindu with the power of Christianity than to revive the Mogul +horror and slay. (in their victims' fearful belief) both soul and body +alike by shooting their captives from the cannon's mouth. Such was +Christian example. It is no wonder that the Christian precept ('thou +shalt love thy neighbor as thyself') was uttered in vain, or that the +faith it epitomized was rejected. The hand stole and killed; the mouth +said, 'I love you.' The Hindu understood theft and murder, but it took +him some time to learn English. One may hope that this is now +forgotten, for the Hindu has not the historical mind. But all this +must be remembered when the expenditures of Christianity are weighed +with its receipts.[39] + +In coming to the end of the long course of Hindu religious thought, it +is almost inevitable that one should ask what is the present effect of +missionary effort upon this people, and what, again, will eventually +be the direction which the native religious sense, so strongly +implanted in this folk, will take, whether aided or not by influence +from without. + +Although it is no part of our purpose to examine into the workings of +that honest zeal which has succeeded in planting so many stations up +the Indic coast, there are yet some obvious truths which, in the light +of religious history, should be an assistance to all whose work lies +in making Hindu converts. To compile these truths from this history +will not be otiose. In the first place, Christian dogma was formally +introduced into South India in the sixth century; it was known in the +North in the seventh, and possibly long before this; it was the topic +of debate by educated Hindus in the sixteenth and seventeenth. It has +helped to mould the Hindus' own most intellectual sects; and, either +through the influence of Christian or native teaching, or that of +both, have been created not only the Northern monotheistic schools, +but also the strict unitarianism of the later Southern sects, whose +scriptures, for at least some centuries, have inculcated the purest +morality and simplest monotheistic creed in language of the most +elevated character.[40] In the second place, the Hindu sectary has +interwoven with +his doctrine of pantheism that of the trinity. In the third place, the +orthodox Brahman recognizes in the cult of Christianity, as that cult +is expressed, for instance, in Christmas festivities, one that is +characteristic, in outward form and inner belief, of a native +heterodox sect. In the fourth place, the Hindu sectary believes that +the native expression of trinitarian dogma, faith-doctrine, child-god +worship, and madonna-worship takes historical precedence over that of +Christianity; and the orthodox Hindu believes the same of his +completed code of lofty moral teachings. Vishnuism is, again, so +catholic that it will accept Christ as an _avatar_ of Vishnu, but not +as an exclusive manifestation of God. In the fifth place, the Hindu +doctors are very well educated, and often very clever, both delighting +in debate and acute in argument It follows, if we may draw the obvious +inference, that, to attack orthodox Brahmanism, or even heterodox +Hinduism, requires much logical ability as well as learning, and that +the best thing a missionary can do in India, if he be not conscious of +possessing both these requisites, is to let the native scholars alone. + +But native scholars make but a small part of the population, and among +the uneducated and 'depressed' classes there is plenty for the +missionary to do. Here, too, where caste is hated because these +classes suffer from it, there is more effect in preaching equality and +the brotherly love of Christianity, doctrines abhorrent to the social +aristocrats, and not favored even by the middle classes. But what here +opposes Christian efforts is the splendid system of devotion, the +magnificent fêtes, the gorgeous shows, and the tickling ritualism, +which please and overawe the fancy of the native, who is apt to desire +for himself a pageant of religion, not to speak of a visible god in +idol form; while from his religious teacher he demands either an +asceticism which is no part of the Christian faith, or a leadership in +sensuous and sensual worship. + +What will be the result of proselytizing zeal among these variegated +masses?[41] Evidently this depends on where and how it is exercised. +The orthodox theologian will not give up his inherited faith for one +that to him is on a par with a schismatic heresy, or take dogmatic +instruction from a level which he regards as intellectually below his +own. From the Sam[=a]jas no present help will come to the missionary; +for, while they have already accepted the spirit of Christianity, +liberal Hindus reject the Christian creed.[42] At a later day they +will join hands with the missionary, perhaps, but not before the +latter is prepared to say: There is but one God, and many are his +prophets. + +There remain such of the higher classes as can be induced to prefer +undogmatic Christianity to polytheism, and the lowest class, which may +be persuaded by acts of kindness to accept the dogmas with which these +are accompanied. It is with this class that the missionary has +succeeded best. In other cases his success has been in inverse ratio +to the amount of his dogmatic teaching. And this we believe to be the +key to the second problem. For, if one examine the maze of India's +tangled creeds, he will be surprised to find that, though dogmatic +Christianity has its Indic representative, there yet is no indigenous +representative of undogmatic Christianity. For a +god in human form is worshipped, and a trinity is revered; but this is +not Christianity. Love of man is preached; but this is not +Christianity. Love of God and faith in his earthly incarnation is +taught; but this, again, is not Christianity. No sect has ever +formulated as an original doctrine Christ's two indissoluble +commandments, on which hang all the law and the prophets. + +It would seem, therefore, that to inculcate active kindness, simple +morality, and the simplest creed were the most persuasive means of +converting the Hindu, if the teacher unite with this a practical +affection, without venturing upon ratiocination, and without seeking +to attract by display, which at best cannot compete with native +pageants.[43] Moreover, on the basis of undogmatic teaching, the +missionary even now can unite with the Sam[=a]j and Sittar church, +neither of which is of indigenous origin, though both are native in +their secondary growth. For it is significant that it is the Christian +union of morality and altruism which has appealed to each of these +religious bodies, and which each of them has made its own. In +insisting upon a strict morality the Christian missionary will be +supported by the purest creeds of India itself, by Brahmanism, +unsectarian Hinduism, the Jain heretics, and many others, all of whom +either taught the same morality before Christianity existed, or +developed it without Christian aid. The strength of Christian teaching +lies in uniting with this the practical altruism which was taught by +Christ. In her own religions there is no hope for India, and her best +minds have renounced them. The +body of Hinduism is corrupt, its soul is evil. As for Brahmanism--the +Brahmanism that produced the Upanishads--the spirit is departed, and +the form that remains is dead. But a new spirit, the spirit of +progress and of education, will prevail at last. When it rules it will +undo the bonds of caste and do away with low superstition. Then India +also will be free to accept, as the creed of her new religion, +Christ's words, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and thy neighbor as +thyself.' But to educate India up to this point will take many +centuries, even more, perhaps, than will be needed to educate in the +same degree Europe and America.[44] + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Lassen interprets _ophir_ as Abh[=i]ras, at the + mouth of the Indus. The biblical _koph_ is Sanskrit _kapi_, + ape. Other doubtful equivalents are discussed by Weber, + _Indische Skizzen_, p. 74.] + + [Footnote 2: The legend of the Flood and the fancy of the + Four Ages has been attributed to Babylon by some writers. + Ecstein claims Chaldean influence in Indic atomic + philosophy, _Indische Studien_, ii. 369, which is doubtful; + but the Indic alphabet probably derived thence, possibly + from Greece. The conquests of Semiramis (Serimamis in + the original) may have + included a part of India, but only Brunnhofer finds trace of + this in Vedic literature, and the character of his work we + have already described.] + + [Footnote 3: Senart attributes to the Achaemenides certain + Indic formulae of administration. IA. xx. 256.] + + [Footnote 4: Certain Hindu names, like those to which we + called attention in the epic, containing Mihira, _i.e.,_ + Mithra; the Magas; _i.e.,_ Magi; and recommendations of + sun-worship in the Pur[=a]nas are the facts on which Weber + bases a theory of great influence of Persia at this later + period. Weber claims, in fact, that the native sun-worship + was quite replaced by this importation (_Indische Skizzen_, + p. 104). This we do not believe. Even the great number of + Persians who, driven out by Arabians, settled in Gujar[=a]t + (the name of Bombay is the same with Pumbadita, a Jewish + settlement in Mesopotamia) had no other effect on the + Brahmanic world that absorbed them (_ib._ p. 109) than to + intensify the fervor of a native cult.] + + [Footnote 5: Weber ascribes to Greek influence the Hindus + first acquaintance with the planets. On a possible dramatic + loan see above, p. 2, note. The Greeks were first to get + into the heart of India (as far as Patna), and between the + court of Antiochus the Great and the king S[=a]ubhagasena + there was formal exchange of ambassadors in the third + century B.C. The name of Demetrius appears as Datt[.a]mitra + in the Hindu epic. He had "extended his rule over the Indus + as far as the Hydaspes and perhaps over M[=a]lava and + Gujarat" (about 200 B.C.; Weber, _Skizzen_). In the second + century Menandros (the Buddhists' 'Milinda') got as far as + the Jumna; but his successors retreated to the Punj[=a]b and + eventually to Kabul (_ib_.) Compare also Weber, _Sitz. d. + könig. Preuss. Akad_., 1890, p. 901 ff., _Die Griechien in + Indien_. The period of Greek influence coincides with that + of Buddhist supremacy in its first vigor, and it is for this + reason that Brahmanic literature and religion were so + untouched by it. There is to our mind no great probability + that the Hindu epic owes anything to that of Greece, + although Weber has put in a strong plea for this view in his + essay _Ueber das R[=a]m[=a]ya[n.]a_.] + + [Footnote 6: The romance of a Russian traveller's late + 'discovery,' which Sanskrit scholars estimate at its true + value, but which may seem to others worthy of regard, is + perhaps, in view of the interest taken in it, one that + should be told correctly. Nicholas Notovitch asserts that he + discovered seven years ago in the Tibetan monastery of + Himis, a work which purports to give a life of Christ from + birth to death, including sixteen years spent in India. This + life of 'Issa' (Jesus) is declared to have been written in + the first century of the Christian era. Unfortunately for + the reputation of the finder, he made a mistake in + exploiting his discovery, and stated that his manuscript had + been translated for him by the monks of Himis 'out of the + original P[=a]li,' a dialect that these monks could not + understand if they had specimens of it before them. This + settled Notovitch's case, and since of course he did not + transcribe a word of the MS. thus freely put at his + disposal, but published the forgery in a French + 'translation,' he may be added to the list of other + imposters of his ilk. The humbug has been exposed for some + time, and we know of no one who, having a right to express + an opinion, believes Notovitch's tale, though some ignorant + people have been hoaxed by it. If the blank sixteen years in + Christ's life ever be explained, it may be found that they + were passed in a Zoroastrian environment; but until real + evidence be brought to show that Christ was in India, the + wise will continue to doubt it. As little proof exists, it + may be added, of Buddhistic influence in the making of the + Gospels. But this point is nowadays scarcely worth + discussing, for competent scholars no longer refer vague + likenesses to borrowing. Certain features are common to the + story of Christ and to the legends of Buddha; but they are + common to other divine narratives also. The striking + similarities are not found in the earliest texts of the + Southern Buddhists. [=I]ça for Jesus is modern, Weber, _loc. + cit._, p. 931.] + + [Footnote 7: Elphinstone, I. pp, 140, 508; II. chap. I. The + 'slave dynasty' of Kutab, 1206-1288. It was the bigoted + barbarity of these Mohammedans that drove Brahmanic religion + into the South.] + + [Footnote 8: Though immediately before it the Harihara cult, + survival of Sankhyan dualism, is practically monotheistic. + Basava belongs to the twelfth century.] + + [Footnote 9: The literary exchange in the realm of fable + between Arabia and later Sanskrit writers (of the twelfth + century) is very evident. Thus in Indic dress appear at this + time the story of Troy, of the passage over the Red Sea, of + Jonas, etc. On the other hand, the Arabians translated + native Hindu fables. See Weber, IS. iii. 327, _Ueber den + Zusammenhang griechischer Fabeln mit indischen_, and + _Indische Skizzen_, p. 111, and _Die Griechen in Indien_. + Arabia further drew on India for philosophical material, and + Alber[=u]ni himself translated Kapila's work (Weber,_loc. + cit_.).] + + [Footnote 10: Whereby cows, snakes, cats (sacred to one of + the Çivaite 'mothers'), crocodiles, monkeys, etc, are + worshipped.] + + [Footnote 11: Pantheists in name alone, most of the lower + caste-men are practically polytheists, and this means that + they are at bottom dualists. They are wont to worship + assiduously but one of the gods they recognize.] + + [Footnote 12: Where Brahmanism may be said to cease and + Hinduism to begin can be defined but vaguely. Krishnaism is + rank Hinduism. But Çivaism is half Brahmanic. For the rest, + in its essential aspects, Hinduism is as old as the Hindus. + Only the form changes (as it intrudes upon Brahmanism).] + + [Footnote 13: It is highly probable that the mention of the + Northwestern Ç[=u]dras in Mbh[=a]. VI. 9. 67 refers to the + Afghan S[=u]droi, and that the slave-caste as a whole, which + bears the name Ç[=u]dra, received this appellation first as + conquered tribes of Afghanistan.] + + [Footnote 14: Brahmanism has always been an island in a sea. + Even in the Brahmanic age there is evidence to show that it + was the isolated belief of a comparatively small group of + minds. It did not even control all the Aryan population.] + + [Footnote 15: We refer partly to literature, that of the + drama and novel, for instance; and partly to the fine arts. + But in connection with the latter it may be remarked that + painting, and the fine arts generally, are expressly + reckoned as the pursuit of slaves alone. For instance, even + as late a jurist as he that wrote the law-code of 'Vishnu' + thus (chap. ii.) parcels out the duties and occupations of + the four castes: The duty of a priest is to teach the Veda, + his means of livelihood is to sacrifice for others and to + receive aims; the duty of the warrior is to fight, his means + of livelihood is to receive taxes for protecting the other + castes; the duty of the V[=a]içya is to tend cattle, his + means of livelihood 1s gain from flocks, farm, trade, or + money-lending. The duty of a slave, Çudra, is to serve the + three upper castes; his means of livelihood is the fine + arts.] + + [Footnote 16: It is this that has exaggerated, though not + produced, that most marked of native beliefs, a faith which + Intertwines with every system, Brahmanic, Buddhistic, or + Hinduistic, a belief in an ecstatic power in man which gives + him control over supernatural forces. Today this Yogism and + Mah[=a]tmaism, which is visible even in the Rig Veda, is + nothing but unbridled fancy playing with mesmerism and + lies.] + + [Footnote 17: The Hindu sectarian cults are often strangely + like those of Greece in details, which, as we have already + suggested, must revert to a like, though not necessarily + mutual, source of primitive superstition. Even the sacred + free bulls, which roam at large, look like old familiar + friends, [Greek: aphetôn dniôn taurôn en tps tou IIoseidônos + Ierps] (Plato, _Kritias_, 119); and we have dared to + question whether Lang's 'Bull-roarer' might not be sought in + the command that the priest should make the bull roar at the + sacrifice; and in the verse of the Rig Veda which says that + the priests "beget (produce) the Dawn by means of the roar + of a bull" (vii. 79. 4); or must the bull be _soma_? For + Müller's defence of the Hindu's veraciousness, see his + _/India, What Can It Teach Us_, p. 34.] + + [Footnote 18: Some exception may be taken to this on the + ground that moral laws really are referred to the Creator in + one form or another, This we acknowledge as a theory of + authority, but it so seldom comes into play, and there is so + little rapport between gods and moral goodness, that the + difference in this regard is greater by far than the + resemblance. A Christian sins against God, a Hindu sins + against himself. The Christian may be punished by God; the + Hindu punishes himself (the _karma_). The latter may say + that moral laws are of God, but he means that they are + natural laws, the violation of which has the same effect as + touching fire.] + + [Footnote 19: The _lex talionis_ is in full force in Hindu + law, even in the codes of Hinduism; for example, 'Vishnu,' + V. 19.] + + [Footnote 20: Deceit of a foe is no sin in any system. "All + is fair in war."] + + [Footnote 21: This idea may be carried out in other + instances. The bravery of civilization is not the bravado + that savages call bravery, and modesty is now a virtue where + boasting used to be reckoned as the necessary complement of + bravery. As for hospitality in the old sense, it is not now + a 'virtue' not to kill a guest.] + + [Footnote 22: India's relations with Rome were late and + wholly of mercantile character.] + + [Footnote 23: It is interesting, as showing incidentally the + close connection between Buddhism and Çivaism in other than + philosophical aspects, that the first Indic grotto-temple + mentioned by foreigners (in the third century A.D.) was one + which contained a statue of an androgynous (Çivaite) deity + (Weber, _Indische Skizzen_, p. 86, note).] + + [Footnote 24: Rosaries are first mentioned in the AV. + Pariçista, XLIII. 4. 11 (Leumann, Rosaries).] + + [Footnote 25: In Lamaism there is also the tiara-crowned + pope, and the transubstantiation theory; the reverence to + Virgin and Child, confessions, fasts, purgatory, abbots, + cardinals, etc. Compare David's _Hibbert Lectures_, p. 193.] + + [Footnote 26: The literature on this subject is very + extensive (see the Bibliography). On Buddhism and + Christianity see Bohlen's _Altes Indien_, I. 334 (Weber, + _Indische Skizzen_, p. 92). At a recent meeting of the + British Association E.B. Tylor presented a paper in which is + made an attempt to show Buddhistic influence on + pre-Columbian culture in America. On comparing the Aztec + picture-writing account of the journey of the soul after + death with Buddhistic eschatology, he is forced to the + conclusion that there was direct transmission from Buddhism. + We require more proof than Aztec pictures of hell to believe + any such theory; and reckon this attempt to those already + discussed in the eighth chapter.] + + [Footnote 27: It is a mooted question in how far the + influence in this line has been reciprocal. See _Indische + Studien_, iii. 128.] + + [Footnote 28: The S[=a]nkhya has no systematic connection + with the 'numbers' of Pythagoras.] + + [Footnote 29: Compare on the Çulvas[=u]tras, Thibaut, J.A. + Beng. xliv. p. 227; Von Schroeder, _Pythagoras und die + Inder; Literatur und Cultur_, p. 718 ff, who also cites + Cantor, _Geschichte der Mathematik_, p. 540, and refutes the + possibility, suggested by the latter, of the loan being from + Greece to India on the ground that the Çulvas[=u]tra are too + old to belong to the Alexandrine period, and too essentlal a + part of the religious literature to have been borrowed; and + also on the ground that they are not an addition to the + Çr[=a]utas[=u]tra, but they make an independent portion (p. + 721, note).] + + [Footnote 30: Compare Garbe (_loc. cit_. below), and his + _S[=a][.m]khya Philosophic_, p. 94.] + + [Footnote 31: This view is not one universally accepted by + Sanskrit scholars. See, for instance, Weber, _Die Griechen + in Indien_. But to us the minute resemblance appears too + striking to be accidental.] + + [Footnote 32: Lassen, and Weber, _Indische Skizzen, p_. 91.] + + [Footnote 33: Garbe, in a recent number of the _Monist_, + where is given a _résumé_ of the relations between Greek and + Hindu philosophical thought.] + + [Footnote 34: Weber, _loc. cit._] + + [Footnote 35: The existence of a soul (spirit) in man is + always assumed in the Upanishads. In the pantheistic system + (the completed Ved[=a]nta) the verity of traditional belief + is also assumed. The latter assumption is made, too, though + not in so pronounced a manner, in the Upanishads.] + + [Footnote 36: The Upanishad philosopher sought only to save + his life, but the Buddhist, to lose it.] + + [Footnote 37: This is not a negative 'non-injury' kindness. + It is a love 'far-reaching, all*pervading' (above, p. 333). + The Buddhist is no Stoic save in the stoicism with which he + looks forward to his own end. Rhys Davids has suggested that + the popularity of Tibet Buddhism in distinction from + Southern Buddhism may have been due to the greater weight + laid by the former on altruism. For, while the earlier + Buddhist strives chiefly for his own perfection, the + spiritualist of the North affects greater love for his kind, + and becomes wise to save others. The former is content to be + an Arhat; the latter desires to be a Bodhisat, 'teacher of + the law' (_Hibbert Lectures_, p. 254). We think, however, + that the latter's success with the vulgar was the result + rather of his own greater mental vulgarity and animism.] + + [Footnote 38: Hurst's _Indika_, chap. XLIX, referring to + _India Christiana_ of 1721, and the correspondence between + Mather and Ziegenbalg, who was then a missionary in India. + The wealthy 'young men' who contributed were, in Hurst's + opinion, Harvard students.] + + [Footnote 39: The Portuguese landed in Calcutta in 1498. + They were driven out by the Dutch, to whom they ceded their + mercantile monopoly, in 1640-1644. The Dutch had arrived in + 1596, and held their ground till their supremacy was wrested + from them by Clive in 1758, The British had followed the + Dutch closely (arriving in 1600), and were themselves + followed soon after by the Germans and Danes (whose activity + soon subsided), and by the French. The German company, under + whose protection stood Ziegenbalg, was one of the last to + enter India, and first to leave it (1717-1726). The most + grotesquely hideous era in India's history is that which was + inaugurated by the supremacy of the Christian British. Major + Munroe's barbaric punishment of the Sepoys took place, + however, in Clive's absence (1760-1765). Marshman, I, p. + 305, says of this Munroe only that he was "an officer of + undaunted resolution"! Clive himself was acquitted by his + own countrymen of theft, robbery, and extortion; but the + Hindus have not acquitted him or Hastings; nor will + Christianity ever do so.] + + [Footnote 40: For specimens of the sacred Kural of + Tiruvalluvar N[=a]r[=a]yana*N[=a]yan[=]r, see the examples + given by Pope, _Indian Antiquary_, seventh and following + volumes. The Sittars, to whom we have referred above, are a + more modern sect. Their precept that love is the essential + of religion is not, as in the case of the Hindu idolators, + of erotic nature. They seem to be the modern representatives + of that Buddhistic division (see above) called S[=a]ugatas, + whose religion consists in 'kindness to all.' In these sects + there is found quietism, a kind of quakerism, pure morality, + high teaching, sternest (almost bigoted) monotheism, and the + doctrine of positive altruism, strange to the Hindu idolator + as to the Brahman. The Prem S[=a]gar, or 'Ocean of Love,' is + a modern Hindu work, which illustrates the religious love + opposed to that of the Sittars, namely, the mystic love of + the Krishnaite for his savior, whose grace is given only to + him that has faith. It is the mystic rapt adoration that in + expression becomes erotic and sensual.] + + [Footnote 41: Hinduism itself is unconsciously doing a + reforming work among the wild tribes that are not touched by + the Christian missionary. These tribes, becoming Hinduized, + become civilized, and, in so far as they are thus made + approachable, they are put in the way of improvement; though + civilization often has a bad effect upon their morals for a + season.] + + [Footnote 42: The substitution of the doctrine of redemption + for that of _karma_ is intellectually impossible for an + educated Hindu. He may renounce the latter, but he cannot + accept the former. The nearest approach to such a conception + is that of the Buddhistic 'Redeemer' heresy referred to + above. In all other regards Samaj and pantheism are too + catholic to be affected; In this regard they are both + unyielding.] + + [Footnote 43: We question, for instance, the advisability of + such means to "fill up the church" as is described in a + missionary report delivered at the last meeting of the + Missionary Union of the Classis of New York for the current + year: "A man is sent to ride on a bicycle as fast as he can + through the different streets. This invariably attracts + attention. Boys and men follow him to the church, where it + is easy to persuade them to enter." But this is an admission + of our position in regard to the classes affected. The + rabble may be Christianized by this means, but the + intelligent will not be attracted.] + + [Footnote 44: After the greater part of our work had passed + the final revision, and several months after the whole was + gone to press, appeared Oldenberg's _Die Religion des Veda_, + which, as the last new book on the subject, deserves a + special note. The author here takes a liberal view, and does + not hesitate to illustrate Vedic religion with the light + cast by other forms of superstition. But this method has its + dangers, and there is perhaps a little too much straining + after original types, giant-gods as prototypes and totemism + in proper names, where Vedic data should be separated from + what may have preceded Vedic belief. Oldenberg, as a + ritualist, finds in Varuna, Dawn, and the Burial Service the + inevitable stumbling-blocks of such scholars as confuse + Brahmanism with early Vedism. To remove these obstacles he + suggests that Varuna, as the moon, was borrowed from the + Semites or Akkadians (though be frankly admits that not even + the shadow of this moon lingers in Vedic belief); explains + Dawn's non-participation in _soma_ by stating that she never + participates in it (which explains nothing); and jumps over + the Burial Hymn with the inquiry whether, after all, it + could not be interpreted as a cremation-hymn (the obvious + answer being that the service does imply burial, and does + not even hint at cremation). On the other hand, when + theoretical barbarism and ritualism are foregone, Oldenberg + has a true eye for the estimation of facts, and hence takes + an unimpeachable position in several important particulars, + notably in rejecting Jacobi's date of the Rig Veda; in + rejecting also Hillebrandt's moon-_soma_; in denying an + originally supreme Dy[=a]us; in his explanation of + henotheism (substantially one with the explanation we gave a + year ago); and in his account of the relation of the Rig + Veda to the (later) Atharvan. Despite an occasional + brilliant suggestion, which makes the work more exciting + than reliable, this book will prove of great value to them + that are particularly interested in the ritual; though the + reader must be on his guard against the substitution of + deduction for induction, as manifested in the confusion of + epochs, and in the tendency to interpret by analogy rather + than in accordance with historical data. The worth of the + latter part of the book is impaired by an unsubstantiated + theory of sacrifice, but as a whole it presents a clear and + valuable view of the cult.] + + * * * * * + + + + +ADDENDA. + + +Page 154, note 3: Add to (RV.) x. 173, AV. vi. 88. + +Page 327, third line from the top: Read Buddhaghosha. According to +Chalmers, as quoted by T.W. Rhys Davids in his recent lectures, traces +of mysticism are found in some of the early texts (as yet +unpublished). The fact that the canonical P[=a]li books know nothing +of the controversy (involving the modification of traditional rules) +of the second council gives a terminus to the canon. Senart, on the +other hand, thinks that the vague language of the Açoka inscriptions +precludes the fixing of the canon at so early a date. + +Page 340, note 4: The gods here are priests. The real meaning seems to +be that the Brahman priests, who were regarded as gods, have been put +to naught in being reduced to their true estate. Compare Senart, +(revised) _Inscriptions de Piyadasi_, third chapter. Açoka dismissed +the Brahman priests that his father had maintained, and substituted +Buddhist monks. + +Page 436, note 2: From B[=e]r[=u]n[=i] it would appear that the Gupta +and Valabh[=i] eras were identical (319-20 A.D). See Fleet, Indian +Antiquary, xvii. 245. Many scholars now assign Kum[=a]rila to the +eighth century rather than to the end of the seventh. + + * * * * * + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY.[1] + + +GENERAL WORKS. + +#Journals#: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Soctety (JRAS.);[2] Journal of +the German Oriental Society (Zeitschrift der Deutschen +Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, ZDMG.); Journal Asiatique (JA.); +Journal of the American Oriental Society (JAOS.); Branch-Journals of +the JRAS.; Calcutta Review; Madras Journal; Indian Antiquary (IA.). +Some of the articles in the defunct Zeitschrift für die Kunde des +Morgenlandes (ZKM.), and in the old Asiatick Researches (AR.) are +still worth reading. Besides these, the most important modern journals +are the transactions of the royal Austrian, Bavarian, Prussian, and +Saxon Academies, the Muséon and the Revue de l'histoire des religions. +Occasional articles bearing on India's religions or mythology will be +found in the American Journal of Philology (AJP.); the Wiener +Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes (WZKM.); the Babylonian and +Oriental Record (BOR.); Kühn's Zeitschrift für vergleichende +Sprachforschuhg (KZ.); Bezzenberger's Beiträge (BB.); and the +Indogermanische Forschungen (IF.). + +#Histories, studies, etc.#: Prinsep, Essays (Indian Antiquities); +Lassen, Indische Alterthumskunde. Histories of India by Elphinstone +(religious material, chapters iv book i, and iv book ii), by +Elliot, by Marshman (complements Elphinstone), and by Wheeler +(unreliable); The Rulers of India; Hunter's Indian Empire and Brief +History. Mill's excellent History of India is somewhat prejudiced. +Dutt's History of Civilization in Ancient India is praise-worthy +(1890). Invaluable are the great descriptive Archaeological Surveys by +Cunningham, Burgess, and Bühler, and Hunter's Statistical Account of +Bengal. Literary History:[3] Colebrooke, Essays, reedited by Cowell, +with notes by Whitney; Wilson, Essays; Weber, Indische Studien (IS.); +Benfey, Orient and Occident (OO.); Müller, Ancient Sanskrit Literature +(ASL.), Science of Religion; Weber, Vorlesungen über Indische +Literaturgeschichte (also translated), Indische Streifen, Indische +Skizzen; L. von Schroeder, Indiens Literatur und Cultur; Whitney, +Oriental and Linguistic Studies, Language and the Study of Language; +Duncker, Geschichte des Alterthums (third volume, may be bought +separately); Williams, Indian Wisdom (inaccurate but readable). + + +VEDIC RELIGION. + +#Literature#: Roth, Zur Literatur und Geschichte des Weda;[4] Benfey, +Vedica und Verwandtes; Zimmer, Altindisches Leben (AIL.); +R[=a]jendralala Mitra, Indo-Aryans(unreliable); Bergaigne, La Religion +Védique (also JA. ix, xiii); De Gubernatis, Letture sopra la Mitologia +Vedica; Pischel and Geldner, Vedische Studien;[5] Regnaud, Le Rig Veda +et les origines de la mythologie indo-européenne, and Les hymnes du +Rig Veda, sont-ils prières? (Ann. d. Mus. Guimet, Bibl. d'études, t. +i, and special studies). Regnaud's point of view renders nugatory most +of what he writes on the Veda.[6] The most useful collection of Vedic +and Brahmanic Texts that illustrate Hindu Mythology and Religion is to +be found in Muir's Original Sanskrit Texts (OST.), especially the +fourth and fifth volumes.[7] For the Sacred Books of the East (SBE.) +see Hems below. + +#Translations of the rig veda#: Complete, by Grassmann and by Ludwig; +partial, by Roth, Benfey, Langlois, Bergaigne; in English chiefly by +Wilson, Müller, Muir, Peterson, Griffith. Of these the German +translation of Grassmann is often inaccurate;[8] that of Ludwig, often +unintelligible. Benfey has translated a number of specimens, OO., BB., +i, vii, and in Kleinere Schriften. The incomplete translation of +Wilson has been carried on by Cowell; those of Peterson and Griffith +are publishing in India; Langlois' is useless. Müller's partial +translations will be found in various volumes, Ancient Sanskrit +Literature, India: What Can it Teach Us, Chips, Hibbert Lectures, +JRAS. ii. 448, iii. 199, etc.; and all the Hymns to the Maruts, SBE. +xxxii. Whitney has translated the cosmogonic hymn, PAOS., May, 1882; +and Deussen has just published the philosophical hymns, Geschichte der +Philosophie, i, 1. A group of Vedic hymns in English dress will be +found in Muir, OST. v.; extracts (without connection) are given by +Bergaigne, in La Religion Védique, and special essays in JA. (above). +In German a capital little collection is the Siebzig Lieder of Geldner +and Kaegi. The best general introductory manual for the study of the +Rig Veda, accompanied with frequent translations, is Kaegi's Der Rig +Veda (translated into English by Arrowsmith). + +#Translations of the atharva veda# are all partial. The handiest +collection is Grill's Hundert Lieder des Atharva Veda. Specimens will +be found translated by Aufrecht, IS. i. 121 (book xv); (Roth) Bruce, +JRAS. 1862, p. 321 (book xii. 1); Kuhn, Indische und Germanische +Segensspriiche, KZ. xiii. 49, 113; Weber, IS. iv. 393, v. 195, 218, +xiii. 129, xvii. 178 (books i-iii, xiv); Grohmann, _ib._ ix. 381; +Ludwig, vol. iii, of his translation of the Rig Veda; Zimmer, AIL.: +Victor Henry, books vii and xiii (Les hymnes Rohitas);[9] Bloomfield, +Seven Hymns, and Contributions AJP. vii. 466, xi. 319, xii. 414, JAOS. +xv. 143, xvi. 1; ZDMG. xlviii. 541; Florenz, BB. xii. 249 (book vi.). +Of The S[=a]ma V[=e]da: Stevenson (1842) in English (inaccurate) and +Benfey (1848) in Gcrman have made translations. On the Yajur Veda +see Schroeder, Literatur und Cultur, and below. + +#Vedic mythology#: Windischmann, Ursagen der Arischen Völker, Bay. +Ak., 1858; Kuhn, KZ. iv. 88, Herabkunft des Feuers (Prometheus);[10] +Roth, Die höchsten Götter der Arischen Völker, ZDMG. vi. 67 (_ib._ +vii. 607); Wilson, Preface of Langlois: Cox, Aryan Mythology; Whitney, +Oriental and Linguistic Studies, ii. p. 149, JAOS. iii. 291, 331; +Müller, Second Series of Science of Language, Biographies of +Words.[11] General interpretation of divinities, Müller, Muir, +Bergaigne, Kaegi, Pischel-Geldner, _loc. cit._ The last books on the +subject are Oldenberg's scholarly volume, Die Religlon des Veda (note, +p. 571, above), and Phillip's The Teaching of the Vedas (1895), the +work of a charlatan. + +SPECIAL STUDIES OF VEDIC DIVINITIES: + +#Aditi#: Roth, IS. xiv. 392; Hillebrandt, Ueber die Göttin Aditi; +Müller, SBE. xxxii. 241; Colinet, Étude sur le mot Aditi, Muséon, xii. +81. [=A]dityas, Roth, ZDMG. vi. 67 (above); Darmesteter, Ormazd et +Ahriman. + +#Agni#: L. von Schroeder, Apollon-Agni, KZ. xxix. 193[12] (see epic, +below). + +#Apsaras# (see Gandhanas). + +#Aryaman# (Açvins, Mitra, etc.): Bollensen, ZDMG. xli. 494. + +#Asura# as Asen, Schrader, p. 599; P. von Bradke, Dy[=a]us Asura. See +Dy[=a]us. + +#Açvins#: Myriantheus, Die Açvins oder Arischen Dioskuren; _not_ +Dioskuroi, Pischel, Vedische Studien, Preface, p. xxvii; as +constellation, etc., Benfey, OO. ii. 245, iii. 159; Gemini, Weber, +last in R[=a]jas[=u]ya, p. 100; as Venus, 'span-god,' Bollensen, ZDMG. +xli. 496; other literature, Muir, OST. v. 234; Colinet, Vedic Chips, +BOR. iii. 193 (n[=a]satya, Avestan n[=a]onhaithya, n[=a] as +'very').[13] + +#Brihaspati#: Roth, ZDMG. i. 66; Muir, v. 272; Hillebrandt, Vedische +Mythologie, i. 404. + +#Dawn# (see Ushas). + +#Dy[=a]us#: P. von Bradke, Dy[=a]us Asura, also Beiträge, ZDMG. xl. +347; not the same with Teutonic Tiu, Bremer, IF. iii. 301; as +'all-father' of primitive Aryans, Müller, Origin of Religion, p. 209; +followed by Tiele, Outlines of History of Ancient religions, p. 106; +see Hopkins, PAOS. Dec. 1894; form of Word, Collitz. KZ. xxvii. 187; +BB. xv. 17. + +#Earth# (see Nritus). + +#Gandharvas#: KZ. i. 513; Meyer, Gandharven-Kentauren (list of +Apsarasas); Pischel, VS. i. 78; Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, i. +427. + +#Haritas# (sun's steeds) as Charites, KZ. x. 96; ib. 365; Sonne, _loc. +cit. s_. S[=u]ryra; Müller, Science of Language, ii. 388. + +#Heaven# (see Dy[=a]us and Varuna). + +#Indra# (etymology, Benfey, OO. i. 49; PW. sv.; añdra, A.-Sax. 'ent,' +'giant,' BB. i. 342;[17]] nar, [Greek: _anor-_, Jacobi, KZ. xxxi. 316; +Indra's bolt, vadha, 'wetter,' Delbrück, KZ. xvi. 266): Perry, Indra +in the Rig Veda, JAOS. xi. 117 (see epic, below). + +#K[=a]ma#: Weber, ZDMG. xiv. 269, IS. v. 224, xvii. 290; Muir, v. 402. + +#Manu#:[15] Roth, ZDMG. iv. 430; Weber, IS. i. 194 ('man and moon'), +ZDMG. iv. 302; Muir, OST. i. 161; Kuhn, KZ. iv. 91; Burnouf, Preface +of Bh[=a]g. Pur[=a]na, p. iii; Ascoli (m[=a]nus, mactus), KZ. xvii. +334; Maspiter as 'man,' Corssen, KZ. ii. 32;[16] Manu's wife, Weber, +ZDMG. xviii. 286. Compare also KZ. xii. 293, xix. 156, Mannus (see +Laws, below). + +#Maruts# (dubious etymology, Grassmann, KZ. xvi. 161; P. von Bradke, +_loc. cit. s._. Dy[=a]us): von Bradke, Wunderliche Geburt, Festgruss +an Roth, p. 117 (Brahmanic, same point of view in parody, RV. x. 102, +ZDMG. xlvi. 445). Hymns to Maruts, translated by Müller, SBE. xxxii. + +#Mitra#: Windischmann, Abh. K.M., 1857; Weber, IS. xvii. 212 (see +Varuna). + +#Namuci#: Lanman, JAS. Beng. viii. 1889; Bloomfield, JAOS. xv. 143. + +#Nritus# as Nerthus, Hoffmann; (Roth) Bruce, Vedic Conceptions of the +Earth, JRAS. 1862, p. 321; Prithiv[=i], ZDMG. xli. 494. + +#Parjanya#: Bühler, Zur Mythologic des Rig Yeda, OO. i. 214; Hirt, 1F. +i. 481, 'oak-god.'[4] + +#Purandhi#: Pischel, VS. i. 202; Hillebrandt, WZKM. iii. 188, 259; +Colinet, BOR. ii. 245, iv. 121 ('abundance'), Congress, 1892. + +#Priçni# (p[r.]çni) as Frigy, KZ. ii. 478; 'freckles,' KZ. xix. 438. + +#P[=u]shan#: Muir, OST. v. 171; Bergaigne, La Relig. Vèd. ii. 420; +Hillebrandt, ved. myth., i. 456 (with soma); gubernatis, letture, p. +82 (as setting sun); pischel, vs. i. 11 (s[=u]ry[=a] and p[=u]shan); +perry, notes on the vedic deity p[=u]shan, drisler memorial, p. 240. + +#Ribhus# ([r.]bhavas, etymology, 'alf,' 'Orpheus'; or Orpheus from +[r.]gh, [Greek: orchietai], Kuhn KZ. iv. 103; Wackernagel, KZ. xxiv. +297); Ludwig, iii. 187, as Seasons. Nève, Études sur les hymnes +(1842), and Essai sur le mythe des Ribhavas (1847, misleading, Ribhu +as apotheosis). + +#Rohitas#: Henry (above). + +#Rudra# (etymology, Pischel, VS. i. 57[18]): Weber, Vedic Conception +of, IS. ii. 19; Pischel, Vedica, ZDMG. xl. 120; Rudra's mouse +and Smintheus, KZ. iii. 335; Grohmann, Apollo Smintheus und die +Bedeutung der Mäuse in der Mythologie der Indogermanen. + +#Sarany[=u]# (sara[n.]y[=u]): [Greek: ertngis], ZDA. vi. 117; KZ. i. +439 (storm; riddle, _ib_. 440); Bloomfield, JAOS. xv. 172; as Dawn, +Müller, Lectures, Second Series; Saram[=a], and S[=a]rameyas as +Hermeias, _ib._; Aufrecht, ZDMG. xiii. 493 (RV. x. 108, translated). + +#Soma#: Windischmann, Ueber den Somacultus der Arier, Abh. Münch. Ak., +iv; Roth, ZDMG. xxxv. 681, xxxviii. 134; Ehni, _ib._ xxxiii. 166; +Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, i; Soma and the eagle, Kuhn, +Herabkunft (above); Roth, ZDMG. xxxvi. 353; Bloomfield, JAOS. xvi (p. +1, further literature), Festgruss an Roth, p. 149; Weber, Vedische +Beiträge, p. 3 (Sitz. Berl. Ak. 1894, p. 775); and Agni ritual, +Knauer, Vedische Fragen, Festgruss an Roth, p. 61. + +#Surya# (see Haritas): sonne, hymn to, kz. xii-xv; form of word, j. +schmidt, kz. xxvi. 9. see p[=u]shan (and hinduism, below). +s[=a]vitr[=i], whitney, colebrooke's essays, ii. iii. + +#Trita#: Macdonnell, Mythological Studies, JRAS. 1893, p. 419 (ap[=a]m +nap[=a]t, lightning; Trita as Thridhi, name of Odin, 'third' form of +fire); form of word, BB. ix. 99; Perry, see Indra (p. 26); Bloomfield, +PAOS. 1894, p. cxix. Other literature, Kaegi, _loc. cit._, note 112 d. + +#Ushas# (U[S.]AS): Muir, v. 181; Bergaigne, i. 241, etc; Sonne, KZ. x. +416; Müller, Science of Language, ii. 391, etc. + +#Vv[=a]c#: logos, Weber, IS. ix. 473. + +#Varuna# (varu[n.]a): Roth, ZDMG. vi. 71; Weber, IS. xvii. 212; Muir, +v. 58; Bergaigne, iii. 110; Hillebrandt, Varu[n.]a und Mitra; +Darmesteter, Ormazd et Ahriman; Sonne, KZ. xii. 364; Pischel, VS. i. +188; Geldner, _ib_. 142; Ludwig, iii. 314; Oldenberg as a borrowed god +(PAOS. 1894); as water, Geldner, BB. xi. 329; form of word, Bolensen, +ZDMG. xli. 504 (var 'hell sein'); Bohnenberger (Roth), Varu[n.]a nach +den Liedern des Rig Veda (Mitra as appellative becomes a new god, p. +85);[19] as svar, Regnaud, Rev. xix. 79. + +#Vastoshpati# ('house-lord'): Windisch, Vassus und Vassallus, Bericht. +d. k. Säch. Gesell. 1892, p. 174 (vassus for vast). + +#V[=a]ta#, vayu (v[=a]ta is [Greek: aêtês], 'wind'): Stokes, BB. xix. +74, compares Irish fath, 'breath,' but gives also fáth, a kind of poem +(vates, vôds, English 'wood' as 'mad'). V[=a]ta, Wuotan, Zimmer, ZDA. +vii. (19) 179 + +#Vishnu# (vi[s.][n.]u like jishnu, ji[s.][n.]u, vi, 'fly,' the +heavenly bird?): Muir, iv and v (older texts relative to Vishnu), +PAOS. Dec. 1894. + +#Yama#: Roth, ZDMG. ii. 216, iv, 417 (Jemshid), JAOS. iii. 335, IS. +xiv. 393; Whitney, Oriental and Linguistic Studies, i. 46; Müller, +Science of Language, ii. 528, 534; Westergaard, with Weber's notes, +IS. iii. 402; Muir, JRAS. i. 287; OST. v. 284; Bergaigne, i. 86, ii. +96, etc; Grassmann, KZ. xi. 13, 'binder'; Ehni, Der Vedische Mythus +des Yama; Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, i. 489; Bloomfield, JAOS. +xv. 163, 172; Hopkins, PAOS. 1891, p. xciv; Scherman, +Visionsliteratur; Leumann, KZ. xxxii. 301 (Yam[=i][20]); L. von +Schroeder, Literatur, p. 217 (Ymir, Praj[=a]pati); Bréal, Hercule et +Circus; Benfey, Vedica, 149; Van den Gheyn, Cerbère (1883); +Casartelli, Dog of Death, BOR. iv. 265.[21] Yama's sadana, Pischel, +VS. i. 242.[22] + +#Veda and brahmanism#: Oldenberg, Die Hymnen des Rig Veda, and ZDMG. +xlii. 199, Ueber die Liedverfasser des Rig Yeda (see Hinduism, below); +Roth, _ib_. iv. 514, divisions of the Rig Veda; Bergaigne, Recherches +sur l'histoire de la Samhit[=a] du Rig Veda, JA. (1886 and following +years), also on the liturgy, _ib_. 1888; JA. x. No. 3; Pincott, JRAS. +xvi. 381; Hillebrandt, Spuren einer älteren Rig Veda Recension, BB. +viii. 195; Lanman, JAOS. x. 580; Brunnhofer, KZ, xxv. 374, BB. x. 234 +(Collitz, BB. vii. 183); Roth, on the worth of tradition, ZDMG. xxi. +1; Whitney, on Translation of Veda, OLS.; PAOS. Oct. 1867; Goldstücker +on S[=a]ya[n.]a, in Preface to P[=a][n.]ini. Cult against mantra, +Roth, ZDMG. vii. 604; viii. 467; Weber, _ib._ viii. 389; Pischel and +Geldner, Preface to Vedische Studien and ZDMG. xlviii. 702; Colinet, +Les Principes de I'exégèse védique, Muséon, 1890; Bloomfield, +Contributions (above); E. Hardy, Die Vedisch-brahmanische Periode d. +Relig. d. Alt. Ind.; Muir, Priests and Interpreters of the Veda, JRAS. +ii. 257, 303; Haug, Contribution, 1863, and Interpretation of the +Veda, Congress, 1874; Ludwig, Die philosophischen und religiösen +Anschanungen des Veda; also Ludwig, Rig-Veda, iii (Mantra-Literatur), +pp. 262, 284, 301, and his works, Ueber Methode bei Interpretationen +des Rig Veda, and Ueber die neuesten Arbeiten auf dem Gebiet der RV. +Forschung. Further (Vedic and later literature), Oldenberg, ZDMG. +xxxvii. 54; _ib_. xxxix. 52; Windisch, Verh. d. Geraer Philologen +Versammlung, Vedische Wettfahrtt in Festgruss an Roth; Weber, Episches +im Vedischen Ritual, Sitz. Berl. Ak., 1891; Schermann, Philosophische +Hymnen (also Visionsliteratur). + +#Vedic and brahmanic belief#: Pott, Vedic and Orphic Kosmic Egg, +Ovidiana, KZ. viii. 179 (Peleus as _Urschlamm I_); von Bradke, +Beiträge z. altind. Religions und Sprachgescbichte, ZDMG. xl. 347, +655; Schrader, chapter xiii; Zimmer, AIL.; Roth and Böhtlingk, +Vedische Räthsel, ZDMG. xxxvii. 109; (and eschatology) xlvi. 759; +Windisch, _ib_. xlviii. 353.[23] Eschatology: Weber, Eine Legende, +ZDMG. ix. 237 (Bhrigu) and 308; Burnell, a Legend from the +Talavak[=a]ra, Congress, 1880, IA. xiii. 16, 21; Benfey, Orient und +Occident, iii. 169, and Hermes, Minos, Tartaros; Whitney, PAOS., Nov., +1858, May, 1886; Böhtlingk, Bericht d. k. Sächs. Gesell, 23. April, +1893, p. 88; Henotheism: Whitney, _loc. cit_., Oct. 1881, see IA. +xi. 146; Hopkins, Drisler Memorial. Social position of priests +(castes), Weber,[24] Nachträge, p. 795; Collectanea, IS. x; Muir, +JRAS. ii. 257; OST. i; Hopkins, Four Castes, also JAOS. xiii; +Schlagintweit (Caste at Present), ZDMG. xxxiii. 549. Cult: E. Hardy, +_loc. cit_. above; on _Om_ see Bloomfield, PAOS. Oct. 1889; Cult of. +Manes, Caland, Altind. Ahnencult, and Ueber Totenverehrung bei Einigen +der IE. Völker; Winternitz, WZKM. iv. 199; Whitney, OLS. i. 46; Kaegi, +_loc. cit_., note 265, with literature. Funeral: Roth, ZDMG. viii. +467; Müller, _ib_. ix. pp. i and xiiii (sic); Wilson, JRAS. 1854, p. +201; Regnaud, Çr[=a]ddha védique, Rev. d'hist. d. relig. xxv. 1; +Donner, pi[n.][d.]apit[r.]yajña; Lanman, Mortuary Urns, PAOS. May, +1891. Wedding: Weber, Hochzeitssprüche, IS. v. 177; Stenzler, +P[=a]raskara, ZDMG. vii. 527; Haas, Heiratsgebräuche d. alten Inder, +IS. v. 267; Schröder, Die Hochzeitsbräuche der Esten; Winternitz, Das +Ai. Hochzeitsrituell. Omens, Ordeals, etc.: Weber, Zwei Vedische +Texte über Omina und Portenta, Wurfel-Orakel, Vedische Beiträge;[25] +Schlagintweit, Gottesurtheile; Stenzler, ZDMG. ix. 661; Kaegi, Alter +und Herkunft der germanischen Gottesurtheile (with further +literature); Jolly, Beiträge zur Rechtsgeschichte, ZDMG. xliv. 347. +The earliest essay on Ordeals was presented by Warren Hastings, 1784, +Asiatick Researches, i. 389. Star-lore: Colebrooke; Weber, IS. ii. +236; Haug, Introduction to [=A]it. Br.; Weber, Die Vedischen +Nachrichten von d. Nakshatra; Sitz. Berl. Ak. 1861, p. 267;[26] +Müller, Ancient Hindu Astronomy and Chronology; Burgess, JRAS. xxv. +717; Jacobi, Methods and Tables. Witchcraft, Medicine: Kuhn, KZ. +xiii. 49; Grohmann, IS. ix. 381; Bloomfield, Contributions, AJP. vii, +xi, xii; Pictet, KZ. v. 24, 321; Jolly, Knoblauch, Festgruss an Roth, +p. 18; medicine and divination, Bower MS., +JASB. 1891; IA. xxi. 29, 129; WZKM. v. 103. Blood-money: Roth, ZDMG. +xli. 672; Aryan and Indic, Bühler and Schroeder, Festgruss an Roth; +Jolly, _loc. cit._., p. 339. Sacrifices: Hillebrandt, Das altind. +Neu-u. Vollmondsopfer, and Nationale Opfer, Festgruss an Böhtlingk; +Lindner, Die Diksk[=a], and _loc. cit._, Ernteopfer; Weber, +V[=a]japeya and R[=a]jas[=u]ya, Sitz. Berl. Ak., 1892, 1893, and Zur +Kenntniss d. Ved. Opferrituals, IS. x. 321, xiii. 217; Schwab, Das +Altindische Thieropfer. Suttee and Human Sacrifices: Colebrooke, +Duties of Faithful Hindu Widow, Asiatick Researches, iv. 209; Wilson, +JRAS. 1851, p. 96, 1854, p. 201, 1859, p. 209; Müller, Chips, ii. 34; +Hall, JRAS. iii. 183, 193; R[=a]jendral[=a]la Mitra, Indo-Aryans, ii. +114; Weber, ZDMG. vii. 585, xviii. 262 (Manu, Minotaur, _ib._ p. 286), +Ind. Streifen, i. 54; Zimmer, AIL. p. 328; Hillebrandt, ZDMG. xl. 711. + +#Ritual, etc#: (above and) Müller, ZDMG. ix. p. xliii; Garbe, ZDMG. +xxxiv. 319 (Pravargya); Rarity of Soma-sacrifice, Haug, ZDMG. xvi. +273; Hindu Doctrine of Atonement, Stenzler, Congress, 1874, p. 205; +Atharva Ritual, Garbe, V[=a]it[=a]na S[=u]tra; Magoun, Asur[=i] Kalpa; +Agni Sacrifice, Thibaut, Agni Citi, Pandit, JAS. Beng., xliv, 1875, +Çulva S[=u]tra; Koulikovski, Les Trois Feux Sacrés, Rev. xx. 121. +Serpent-worship: Stier, Sarpedon, KZ. xi. 234; Fergusson, Tree and +Serpent Worship; Cuthbert, Serpent Temples, JRAS. 1846, p. 407; +compare _ib_, 1891; Winternitz, Sarpabali, Schlangencult, Mit. d. +anthrop. Gesell., Wien, xviii; IA. xv. 258; Bühler, _ib_. vi. 270; +Snakes and Buddha, Bendall, Meghas[=u]tra, JRAS. xii. 286; Senart, +Buddha; Oldham, JRAS. xxiii. 361. Idols: Weber, Omina und Portenta, +p. 337; Ludwig, Nachrichten; Bollensen, ZDMG. xxii. 587, xlvii. 586; +Müller, Chips, i. 37;[27] Muir, OST., v. 453; Kaegi, Rig Veda, note +79^a. Ages and Holy Numbers:[28] Roth, Ueber den AV., and Ueber den +Mythus von den fünf Menschen-Geschlechtern bei Hesiod; Weber, Cycles, +IS. ix. 460; ZDMG. xv. 132; Kaegi, Die Neunzahl; Schroeder, seven as +holy number, KZ. xxix. 224; Hopkins, Holy Numbers of the Rig Veda.[29] +See Star-lore, above. + +#Brahmanism#: Specimens, Muir, OST. iv; S[=a]man, Benfey, Griffith; +Sha[d.]vi[.m]ça, Weber, Omina (above); M[=a]it. S., Haug, IS. ix. 174; +von Schroeder, Literatur, and ZDMG. xxxiii. 177; Çatapatha, partial +translation, Eggeling, SBE., xii, xxvi, xli; Muir, JRAS. 1862, p. 31 +(OST.); Weber, IS. i. 161 and Ind. Streifen, i. 9; first chapter, +ZDMG. iv. 289; Brunnhofer (relation of parts), BB. x. 234; [=A]it. +Br., Haug; Weber, IS. ix. 177; Deluge, etc., Bopp, Sündflüt; Weber, +ZDMG. v. 525, Ind. Streifen, i. 9; Roth, ZDMG. vi. 243; Lindner, Ir. +Fluthsage, Festgruss an Roth. Upanishads:[30] Cowell, Roer, Bib. +Ind.; Whitney, Böhtlingk (Ka[t.]ha, Ch[=a]ndogya, Ait +K[=a]ush[=i]tak[=i], Kena, B[r.]had[=a]ra[n.]yaka); Weber, IS. i, ii, +ix; Müller, SBE., i, xv (all the chief works);[31] Oertel, +J[=a]imin[=i]ya, PAOS. 1894; list of, Müller, ZDMG. xix. 137; +Concordance of Upanishads, Jacob. For a general introduction the best +work in English are the translations in the Sacred Books. Gough's +Philosophy of the Upanishads has many translations, but the book is +otherwise not to be recommended. On [=a]tm[=a] as [Greek: autmên], see +KZ. xvii 145. Philosophy: Deussen, Das System des Ved[=a]nta, 1883, +is now the standard work;[32] to which should be added the same +author's S[=u]tra; Jacob's Ved[=a]ntas[=a]ra; and Thibaut, Ved[=a]nta +S[=u]tra, SBE. xxxiv.[33] For the S[=a]nkhya, Davies, S[=a]nkhya; and +Ballantyne, Aphorisms; but the best work is now Garbe, Die S[=a]mkhya +Philosophie (1894). A good general introduction to Hindu Pantheism has +been given by Lanman, Beginnings of Hindu Pantheism. The best general +summary[34] of Hindu philosophies is found in the revised edition of +Colebrooke's Essays. Other special studies include Roth, Brahma und +die Brahmanen,[35] ZDMG. i. 66 (on _brahma_); Müller, _ib_. vi. 1, +219, vii. 287 (Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Ind. Phil.); Roer, _ib_. +xxi. 309, xxii. 383 (Die Lehrsprüche der Vaiçeshika Philosophie); +Muir, Theism in Vaiçeshika Philosophy, JRAS. 1862, p. 22; Ballantyne, +Ny[=a]yas[=u]tras; Windisch, Ueber das Ny[=a]yabh[=a]shya, 1888, an +Sitz der denkenden Seele, Beitr. d. k. Sächs. Gesell., 1891, p. 55; +Ballantyne and Cowell, Ç[=a][n.][d.]ilya's Aphorisms (text by B., +translation by C., Bib. Ind.); Regnaud, Le Pessimisme Br[=a]hmanique, +Ann. du Mus. Guimet, i, and Matériaux pour servir à l'histoire de la +philosophie d'Inde. The Sarvadarçanasa[.n]graha is translated by +Cowell and Gough. The S[=u]tras of the six systems have all been +translated (with the texts) in India. On the date of Çankara see +Pathak, IA. xi. 174; and Telang and Fleet, _ib_. xiii. 95, xvi. 41; +Logan, _ib_. xvi. 160. + +#House-rules and law#: All the most important manuals of custom and +law have been translated by Stenzler, Bühler, Jolly, Oldenberg, +Bloomfield and Knauer (SBE. ii, vii, xiv, xxv, xxix, xxx, xxxiii; +Stenzler, P[=a]raskara, [=A]çval[=a]yana and Y[=a]jñavalkya; +Oldenberg, IS. xv. 1, Ç[=a]ñkh[=a]yana; Knauer, Gobhila, also Vedische +Fragen, Festgruss an Roth; Bloomfield, Gobhila, ZDMG. xxxv. 533).[36] + +JAINISM. + +Colebrooke's Essays (Cowell), ii. 402; Lassen, iv. 763; Wilson, +Essays, i. 319; Weber, IS. xv. 263, xvi. 211, xvii. 1,[37] and Berlin +MSS., vol. ii, 1892; Klatt, Stotra (MSS.), ZDMG. xxxiii. 445; Leumann, +Berichte von den Schismen der Jaina, IS. xvii. 91; Jacobi, Stutayas +and Stotra, ZDMG. xxxii. 509, IS. xiv. 359, also origin of sects, +ZDMG. xxxviii. 1, Introduction to Kalpa S[=u]tra (Abh. k. M.,[38] +1879, Mab[=a]v[=i]ra is N[=a]taputta). Compare also Jacobi, ZDMG. +xxxiv. 247; Oldenberg, _ib_. 748; Jacobi, _ib_. xxxv. 667, xl. 92; +Burnell, IA. i. 354; Rice and Bühler, _ib_. iii. 153, vii. 28, 143, +etc; Burgess, _ib._ xiii. 191; Windisch, Hemacandra's Yogaç[=a]stra, +ZDMG. xxviii. 185. Jacobi has translated Ac[=a]r[=a]nga and Kalpa +S[=u]tras for SBE. xxii. Hoernle, Digambara Pattavalis, IA. xx. 341, +xxi. 57. A popular essay on Jains by Williams appeared JRAS. xx. 279. +On Jain tradition compare Bühler, Sitz. Wien. Ak. 1883, WZKM. i. 165, +ii. 141, iii. 233, iv. 313, v. 59, 175 (Mathur[=a], Congress, 1892, p. +219). On Gos[=a]la compare Hoernle, Bib. Ind., Uv[=a]saga Das[=a]o +(seventh Anga) with Leumann's review; and Rockhill, Life of Buddha, p. +249. Compare also Jain Bh[=a]rata and R[=a]m[=a]ya[n.]a of Pampa, +Rice, JRAS. xiv. 19; Leumann, Daçavaikalika-S[=u]tra und Niryukti, +Jinabhadra's J[=i]takalpa, Sitz. Berl. Ak. 1892, Die Legende von Citta +und Sa[.m]bh[=u]ta, WZKM. v. 111, vi. 1; Thomas, Early Faith of Açoka +(to show prior Jainism; a dubious contention) JRAS. ix. 155. On the +Jain nurture of vermin see JRAS. 1834, p. 96. On dates compare Jacobi, +Kalpas[=u]tra and Oldenberg (above). The Çatruñjaya M[=a]h[=a]tmyam +(Weber, Abh. k. M., 1858) is probably not an early work (Bühler, Three +New Edicts, IA. vi. 154). On Weber's view in regard to Jain-Greek +legends see his essay Ahaly[=a]-Achilleus, Sitz. Berl. Ak., 1887. See +too Barth, Revue, xix. 292 ff., xx. 332. + +BUDDHISM. + +Colebrook's Essays; Wilson, Buddha and Buddhism, JRAS., 1856, pp. 229, +357; Bennett, Gaudama, JAOS. ii. 3; R. Spence Hardy, Eastern +Monarchism and Manual of Buddhism; E. Hardy, Der Buddhismus nach +älteren P[=a]liwerken; Burnouf, Le Lotus de la Bonne Loi and +Introduction à l'histoire du Bouddhisme indien (Nepal); Köppen, Die +Religion des Buddha; Weber, Ueber den Buddhismus, Ind. Skizzen, and +Streifen, i. 104; Barthélemy Saint-Hilaire, Le Bouddha et sa religion +(now antiquated); Oldenberg, Buddha; Kern, Der Buddhismus; T.W. Rhys +Davids, Manual of Buddhism, and Hibbert Lectures; Copleston, Buddhism; +Monier Williams, Buddhism;[39] Mary Sumner's Histoire (ed. Foucaux); +Senart's Essai sur la légende du Buddha, JA. 1873, p. 114; 1874, p. +249; 1875, P. 97, and published separately. Valuable is the same +author's article, JA. viii, 1876, Notes, and work (containing) Les +Inscriptions de Piyadasi; compare IA. xvii. 188; ZDMG. xl. 127 +(bühler). on N[=a]g[=a]rjuna (second century) see Beal, IA. xv. 353. +Of historical interest, if otherwise valueless, are Schoebel, Le +Buddha et le Bouddhisme, 1857; and Holmboe, Traces de Buddhisme en +Norvège avant l'introduction du christianisme. Lillie, Buddha and +Early Buddhism, also influence of Buddhism on Christianity, and JRAS. +xiv. 218, Buddhist Saint Worship, and _ib_. xv. 419, on Ceylon +Buddhism; Beal, Schools, IA. ix. 299. + +#Buddhist texts#: Burnouf, Foucaux, above; Weber, Dhammapada,[40] +ZDMG. xiv. 29: Müller, Science of Religion, and SBE. x, with +Fanshöll's Sutta Nip[=a]ta; J. Weber and Huth, Tib. Buddhist +S[=u]tras, ZDMG. xlv. 577; Pischel, Assal[=a]yana Sutta; Childers, +Khuddaka P[=a]tha, JRAS. iv. 309.; Davids, Buddhist Suttas translated +from the P[=a]li; and Davids and Oldenberg,[41] Vinaya Texts, SBE. xi, +xiii, xvii, xx; Kern, Lotus, _ib_. xxi; Davids, Milinda, _ib_. xxxv; +Cowell and Müller, Mah[=a]y[=n]na S[=u]tras, _ib_. xlix; Foucaux, +Lalita Vistara, Ann. du MG. vi, xix; Pratimokha, above, and Beal and +Gogerly, JRAS. 1862, p. 407; Dickson, _ib_. vii. 1, viii. 62; +Childers, _ib_. vii. 49; viii. 219; Rogers (and Müller), +Buddhaghosha's Parables; Foulkes, IA. xix. 105; Carus, Gospel of +Buddha. + +#Nirv[=a][n.]a#: Out of the immense literature we select Müller +(Buddhist Nihilism), Science of Religion, p. 141; Oldenberg, Buddha, +p. 273; Frankfurter, JRAS. xii. 548; Rhys Davids, Manual, and Hibbert +Lectures, tenth Appendix. + +#Date of nirv[=a][n.]a#: Westergaard, Buddha's Totesjahr, Ueber den +ältesten Zeitraum der Ind. Geschichte; Cunningham, Bhilsa Topes; +Bühler IA. vi. 149 ff., Three New Edicts of Açoka; Kern, Jaar-telling; +Müller, Acad. March 1, 1884, SBE. x.: Davids, Ancient Coins and +Measures of Ceylon, p. 57; Oldenberg, Vinaya Pitaka, SBE. xiii. p. +xxii.[42] + +#Foreign buddhism#: Stan. Julien, Histoire de la vie de Hiouen Thsang, +Mémoires (compare JA. Dec. 1857), Voyages des Pélerins Bouddhistes; +Wassiljew, Der Buddhismus; Bigandet, Life of Gaudama; Fergusson, +Hiouen Thsang's Journey from Patna, JRAS. vi. 213, 396; Wilson, _ib._ +1859, p. 106 ('Summary Account'); JAS. Beng. i; As. Researches, xx +(Csoma, Asiatic Buddhism); Beal, Diamond S[=u]tras (etc., JRAS.); +Gutzlatf (Sykes), Buddhism in China, JRAS. 1854, p. 73; 1856, pp. 316, +357 (Wilson, Notes, Inscriptions); Edkins, Chinese Buddhism; Beal +(Chinese), Dhammapada, The Romantic Legend, and Travels of the +Buddhist Pilgrim Fah-Hian,[43] Life of Buddha, BOR. _passim_; Müller, +Buddhist Pilgrims, Chips, i; Köppen (above); Hodgson, Memoirs; Burnouf +(above); Schlagintweit, Buddhistic Idols in Tibet, JRAS. 1863, p. 437, +and (Ann. du Musée Guimet, iii) Buddhism in Tibet (Lamaism in the +second part); Rockhill, The Life of Buddha, and The Land of the Lamas; +Lamaistic succession, Mayers, JRAS. iv. 284; Lamaist extension of +Buddhist Confession, IA. xxiii. 73; Lamaism and Catholicism, Davids, +Hibbert Lectures; Modern Lamaism, Waddell, Buddhism of Thibet or +Lamaism; Schiefner, T[=a]ran[=a]tha's Geschichte (and Tibetische +Lebensbeschreibung); Tibet texts (above); Bastian, Buddhist Literature +of the Burmese, ZDMG. xvii. 697, and Buddhist Psychology, _ib._ xx. +419; Führer, Buddhist Manu, BBRAS. xv. 329; Jardine and Forchhammer, +Notes on Buddhist Law (in Burmah); Friederich, Buddhism in Bali, JRAS. +viii 158, ix. 59; dharmaç[=a]stra, IA. xiii. 24; Crawfurd, Hindu +Religion in Bali, AR. xiii. 128;[44] in Ceylon, Foulkes, IA. xvii. +100. + +#Buddhist legends#: Burnouf, Introduction; Davids, Buddhist Birth +Stories, and BOR. iv. 9; Beal, JRAS. vi. 377; Fausböll, Two +J[=a]takas, JRAS. v. i., Five and Ten (1872); Feer, JA. 1875 +(v, vi);[45] Fausböll, Weber, IS. v. 412; Açvaghosha (fifth ccntury); +Weber, Streifen, i. 186; Cowell, Açvaghosha; Lévi, JA. 1892, p. 201; +Beal, SBE. xix. Hells: Feer, Études Bouddhiques, l'Enfer indien, JA. +1892, p. 185, 1893, p. 112;[46] Köppen, p. 239; Senart, Notes, JA. +viii. 477. Symbols: Cunningham, JRAS. 1851, pp. 71, 114; Hodgson, +_ib._ 1861, p. 393; Sewell and Pincott, _ib._ xix. 238 and xxii. +299;[47] IA. vii. 176; _ib._ xv. 61, 89, 217, and following volumes +(sacred trees); Lillie, Saints and Trees, JRAS. xiv. 218. Topes, +Temples: Cunningham, above, p. 108, and St[=u]pa of Bharhut, Bhilsa +Topes (synods, schisms); Fergusson, Rock-cut Temples of India, JRAS. +1844, p. 30, and Topes of S[=a]nchi and Amar[=a]vat[=i]; Beal, JRAS. +v. 164; Burgess, Arch. Surv. of Western India, and Cave Temples of +India (symbols) with Fergusson; the latter, History of Indian and +Eastern Architecture, Tree and Serpent Worship; Simpson, JRAS. xxi. 49 +(temples from tombs); Müller, Dagobas from Ceylon, ZDMG. xii. 514[48] +(also dates). Women leaders of Buddhist Reformation, Miss Bode, JRAS. +xxv. 517. + +#Brahmanism and Buddhism#: Burnouf, Bh. P. Introd. p. 137 (Indra +highest god); Williams, JRAS. xviii. 127; Holtzmann, Zur Geschichte, +p. 103; (and Jainism) Leumann, Die Legende von Citta und Sambh[=u]ta, +WZKM (above); Bastian, Brahmanic Inscriptions in Buddhist Temples (of +Siam), JAOS. viii. 377. + +#Buddhist heresies#, D[=i]pava[.m]sa (above); doctrines, Wassiljew +(above); Le Buddhisme et les Grecs, Lévi, Revue, xxiii. 36. + +HINDUISM. + +EPIC: Ktesias, IA. x. 296 ff.; McCrindle, Ancient India as +described by Ktesias and by Megasthenes and Arrian;[49] date of +Bh[=a]rata, Bühler, Kirste, Ind. Studies, No. ii; in Cambodia, +Barth, Inscriptions Sanskrites du Cambodge; of R[=a]m[=a]ya[n.]a, +Weber, R[=a]m[=a]ya[n.]a, IA., reprint; Jacobi, R[=a]m[=a]ya[n.]a,[50] +Festgruss an Böhtlingk, p. 44, GGA., Nos. 16 of 1892, 1893; epic +language, Franke, Was ist Sanskrit? BB. xvii. 54; epos and Veda, +Oldenberg, ZDMG. xxxvii. 54, xxxviii. 439, xxxix. 52; Weber, Episches +im Vedischen Ritual,[51] Sitz, Berl. Ak. 1891; Ludwig, Ironie, +Festgruss an Böhtlingk. Résumé, Wheeler, History (unreliable); +Williams, Indian Wisdom. Translations, Wilson, Sabh[=a], JRAS. 1842, +p. 137; Thomson (1855), Davies, Lorinser, and Telang (SBE. viii), +Bhagavad G[=i]ta, etc; Milman, Nala; Muir, IA. vii, viii, Metrical +Translations, and OST.; Arnold, S[=a]vitr[=i], Idylls, etc. (free); +Holtzmann (Sr.), Indische Sagen; Foucaux, 'Kairata Parva'; Sadous, +fragments (1858); H. Fauche (several books of Bh[=a]rata); Pratapa +Chandra Roy (almost all); Griffith, R[=a]m[=a]ya[n.]a, Schoebel. (Mus. +Guimet, xiii), Gorresio, Fauche, _id_. Studies, Holtzmann, Indra, +Apsaras, Brahm[=a],[52] ZDMG. xxxii. 290, xxxiii. 631, xxxviii. 167, +Agni, Arjuna (each separately), Zur Geschichte, Neunzehn Bücher +(literature); Hopkins, Manu in Epic, JAOS. xi. 239, Ruling Caste, +_ib_. xiii, etc.; Sauer, Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata and Wate (primitive epic, +unconvincing); Nève, Morals and Women (antiquated); Weber, +Mother-Worship, Zwei Ved. Texte, and West, IA. x. 245; Roussel, Les +idées religieuses, Muséon, xii. 263, 295. For Philosophy, see above. +Pur[=a][n.]as, Modern Sects: Lassen, i. 481; Wilson, Analysis, +1838-39 (essays); Burnouf, Bh[=a]gavata; Wilson, Vishnu; Rückert, +M[=a]rka[n.][d.]eya, Wortham, JRAS. xiii. 103, 355 (partial); _ib_. +xvii. 221; Wolheim, Padma (Latin, partial); Stevenson, Ga[n.]eça, +JRAS. 1846, p. 319; Ante-Brahmanic Religions, and Feudalism, _ib_. +1846, pp. 330, 390; in Dekhan, _ib_. 1838, p. 189; Sykes, Traits, +_ib_. 1860, p. 223; G[=i]ta-Govinda, Lassen (Latin), Rückert, +ZKM. i. 132. Fables: WZKM. vii. 215; Pratapa Chandra Gosha, +Durg[=a]p[=u]j[=a]; T[=i]rtha: Williams, Hinduism (list), IA. v. 209, +Cunningham, Survey; Hunter, Indian Empire (sects), Orissa, and Report; +Çivaite sects, Sen[=a]th[=i] R[=a]ja, Mus. Guim. vii; Krishna, Weber, +ZDMG. vi. 92; Berl. Ak., 1867, p. 217, IS. xiii. 354; Nève, Des +éléments étrangers, etc; Phallus, IA. iv. 211, v. 183, Kittel, Ueber +d. Ursprung des Linga Cultus (refutes Wurm, Geschichte der Indischen +Religion); Stevenson, JRAS. 1846, p. 337; P[=a]ñcar[=a]tra, Hall, +V[=a]savadatta. C[=a]rv[=a]ka, Colebrooke, Muir, _loc. cit_. +Var[=a]hamihira, see above. Fate: IA. xviii. 46. Sects: Jones, AR. ii. +334; names of week-days, Cunningham, IA. xiv. i; Grierson, _ib_. 322; +Dikshit, _ib_. xvi. 113; Wilson's Sketch of the Religious Sects of the +Hindus, AR., Essays; Hunter's Statistical Account of Bengal; Kitt's +Compendium of Castes and Tribes; Elphinstone's History; Müller, Chips, +iv. 329; Williams, Religious Thought and Life, and Brahmanism and +Hinduism; W.J. Wilkins, Modern Hinduism; Wilson, On the Sikhs, JRAS. +1846, p. 43; Prinsep, Origin of Sikh Power; MacGregor, History of +Sikhs;[53] Kab[=i]r; Trumpp, [=A]digranth, JRAS. v. 197, Congress, +1880, p. 159, and [=A]digranth (complete), IA. vi ff.; Die Religion +der Sikhs. Vishnuism, Williams, JRAS. xiv. 289. Mohammedanism in +Hinduism, Dabist[=a]n, vol. ii.[54] Ritual: Bühler, IA. 1883; temples; +Hurst, Indika (especially p. 294); Burgess, IA. xii. 315; Williams, +Thought and Life, p. 448 (see Buddhism). Thugs: Reynolds, JRAS. 1837, +p. 200; Sherwood, AR. xiii. 25, Ph[=a]ns[=i]gars; Shakespear, _ib_. +xiii. 282; also Sleeman, Report, and Ramaseeana (Thugs' Argot and +papers on Thugs); Elphinstone, i. 369, 371 (Bh[=a]ts and Ch[=a]rans), +384 (Thugs and Decoits). C[=a]itanyas, Hunter, Statistical Account, +Williams and Wilkins, _loc. cit_.; On 'pocket-altars,' JRAS. 1851, p. +71; Vidh[=a]nas, Burnell, Meyer; K[=a]nph[=a]tis, Celibates, of Kutch, +JRAS. 1839, p. 268; Ling[=a]yits, Kittel, above, and IA. iv, v; Tulsi +D[=a]s, R[=a]m[=a]ya[n.]a, works of Ramavat sect, Grierson, IA. xxii. +89, 122, 227; Pandus as gods, IA, vii. 127; their fish-emblems, _ib_. +xxii. 61; Bombay Dancing Girls, IA. xiii. 165; Sun-worship, temples, +St. Julien, Voy. iii. 172; Burgess, Survey, p. 216; in Taxila, JRAS. +1859, p. 77; in Pur[=a][n.]as, Lassen, ii. 832, 919; IA. vi. 11, vii. +69, 71, viii. 30 ([=a]dityabhaktas). Theistic Reformers: Wilson, +Essays; Hunter, Account; Müller, Chips; Williams, JRAS. xiii. I, 281; +Tiru Valluvar, Graul, Kural, and Pope, IA. vii ff.; N[=a]ngi +Panth[=i]s, IA. xiii. 1; Tamil Çivaites, Foulkes, Catechism; JAOS. iv. +129; Ph[=a]ndarpur Vishnuites, Vi[t.]h[t.]ala Bhaktas (Kab[=i]r), +Stevenson, JRAS. 1842 p. 64; especially Mitchell, IA. xi. 56, 149, +hyrons of Tuk[=a], and celebration, Congress, 1892, p. 282. +Festivals:[55] above, V[=a]japeya; Hillebrandt, Sonnwendfeste; JRAS. +1846, p. 60; Gover, _ib_. v. 91; IA. xx. 430; Holi, JRAS. 1838, p. +189; 1841, p. 239; Vet[=a]la, _ib_. 1838, p. 192; Dekhan deities, +_ib_. 1842, p. 105. + +WILD TRIBES. + +Johnston. Yellow Men of India; Hunter, _loc. cit_.; Hewitt, Early +History of Northern India (speculative), JRAS. xx. 321, etc.; Oppert, +Original Inhabitants, Madras Journal, 1887, 1888; Breeks, Account of +Primitive Tribes, etc. (Nilagiris, Todas); Hodgson, Aboriginal Tribes, +JAS. Beng., xxv. 31; Samuelis, Native Dress and Religious Dances, +_ib_. 295; Neumann, English Realm in India, ii; Latham, Ethnology of +India; Macpherson, JRAS. 1842, p. 172, and 1852, p. 216(Khonds); +Briggs, Aboriginal Races, _ib_. 275; Sherring, Hindu (Bengal) Tribes; +the Sacred City of the Hindus; also Bhar-tribe by the same, JRAS. v. +376; Risley, Tribes and Castes of Bengal; Rowney, Wild Tribes; Khonds, +Koles,[56] S[=a]uras, Gonds (and Bh[=i]ls) JRAS. 1852, p, 216 (1844, +p. 181); also _ib_. 1842, p. 172; Marshman, History, iii. p. 108 +(Khonds); thirty Snake-tribes, JRAS. xii. 229; _ib_. 1859, p.1,[57] +Frye, Uriya and Khonds, religious dances, p. 16; creed and sacrifice, +pp. 20, 36; Marshman ii. p. 164 (infanticide); Kitt, Compendium of +Castes and Tribes found in India; Santh[=a]ls, JRAS. 1852, p. 285; IA. +xxii. 294 (emigration); Avery, Aboriginal Tribes, IA. xiv. 125; +Carnegy, Races Tribes and Castes (Oude); Dalton (Bengal), Descriptive +Ethnology; Social Customs in Kashmeer and Oude, IA. xviii. 287, 386; +Campbell, Sant[=a]l folklore (totemistic origin from goose);[58] +Kork[=u]s, Kolarian Tribe in middle of (Dravidian) Gonds, JRAS. xvi. +164; Newbold, Chenchwars, wild tribe in forests of eastern Ghauts, +JRAS. 1845, p. 271; Cain, Koi, southern tribe of Gonds, JRAS. xiii. +410 (witches, Pandus, etc); Dunbar, Lurka Koles, JRAS., 1861, p. 370; +Dravidians, Kittel, and Caldwell, _loc. cit._; Polyandry, Thomas, +JRAS. xi. 37; Simpson (rites, sacrifices, etc.), P[=u]jas in the +Sutlej valley, JRAS. xvi. 13; Burnell, Devil-worship of Tuluvas, IA. +1894; Waddell, Frog-worship (Nepal), IA. xxii. 293; Steere, Swahili +Tales, IA. _passim_.[59] A volume has lately been published on the +Chittagong Hill Tribes[60] by Riebeck with superb illustrations; and +photographic illustrations of racial types may be studied in Watson's +and Kaye's volumes, The People of India. Discussion (biassed) of +_r[=a]jputs_ of Scythian origin, Elphinstone, i. 440. On Dravidian +literature, see Elliot, IA. xvi. 158. On Gipsies, Grierson, _ib._ 35; +etymology, _ib._ 239. + + +GEOGRAPHY, INDIA AND THE WEST. + +Schmidt, Die Urheimath d. Indog. u. d. europäische Zahlsystem, Sitz. +Berl. Akad. 1890, p. 297; Hirt,[61] Die Urheimath d. Indogermanen, IF. +i. 464; Schrader, Sprachvergleichung und Urgeschlchte, p. 616; Lassen, +Indische Alterthumskunde, i. 643; Vivien de Saint Martin, Études sur +la Géographie du Véda; Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 3; Aufrecht, +ZDMG. xiii. 498 (Ras[=a] as Milky Way); Ludwig, Nachrichten über +Geographie, etc.; Whitney, Language and the Study of Language; +Oldenberg, Buddha, p. 399 (we cite from the first edition); Thomas, +Rivers of the Rig Veda, JRAS. xv. 357.[62] On the relations of the +Hindus and the West: Weber (relations with Semites), Indische +Skizzen, and Die Griechen in Indien, in Sitz. Berl. Akad. 1890, p. +901; Steinthal, ZDMG. xi. 396; Grill, _ib_. xxvii. 425; Stein, IA. +xvii. 89. Leo's view in regard to German-Indian unity (reviewed, ZDMG. +viii. 389) is worth citing as a curioslty.[63] Brunnhofer's works have +been cited above, p. 15. On the Beziehungen der Indier zum Westen a +valuable article has lately been written by Franke (ZDMG. xlvii. 595). +Weber, Ueber d. P[=a]ras[=i]prakaça d. K[r.][s.][n.]ad[=a]sa, as well +as in his R[=a]jas[=u]ya, V[=a]japeya, Vedische Beiträge, etc., has +treated of the relations with Persia (Fables, IS. iii. 327). In the +works cited above the same author has discussed the relations with all +other Western nations, including the Greeks, on which Sykes, Notes on +Religious State of India, JRAS. 1841, p. 243, is readable; Bohlen, +_Altes-Indien,_ and Lévi, La Grèce et I'lnde d'après les documents +indiens (revue des études grecques, 1891) should be read.[64] The +subject of Early Christianity in India has been treated by Burnell, +IA. iii. 308, iv. 153, etc. (see also above, p. 479); while Priaulx, +in JRAS. 1861, 1862, has written a series of interesting articles on +India's Connection with Rome. The Indian travels of Apollonius of +Tyana, JRAS. 1859, p. 70, etc., are of no value beside those of +Ktesias and Megasthenes. The origin of the Hindu Alphabet and the +native system of Dates have to do with the originality of parts of +Hindu literature, but these outlying subjects, which have a literature +of their own, we can only touch upon. A good _résumé_ of the +discussion in regard to the alphabet will be found in JRAS. xvi. 325, +by Cust; a new theory of Franke's, ZDMG. xlvi. 731. Halévy derives the +alphabet from Greece. But see now Bühler, Ind. Studies, iii, 1895 +(North Semitic, seventh century, B.C.) The native eras are discussed +by Cunningham, Book of Indian Eras; and in Müller's India, What Can It +Teach Us? p. 282. On the native date for the beginning of the +Kali-yuga, _i.e._ this age (the year 3101 or 3102 B.C), JRAS. iv. 136, +and Thomas, edition of Prinsep's Antiquities, may be read.[65] A +general survey of primitive Aryan culture will be found in Schrader, +_loc. cit._, to which may be added on Vedic (Aryan) metres, Westphal, +KZ. ix. 437; and Allen, _ib._ xxiv. 556 (style, Heinzel, Stil d. +altgerm. Poesie). On the name [=A]rya, besides _loc. cit._ above, p. +25, may be added, Windisch, Beitr. z. Geschichte d. D. Sprache, iv. +211; Pott, Internat. Zt. für allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, ii. p. 105 +ff. Criticism of a too great confidence in the results of the +comparattve method, AJP. xv. 154; PAOS. 1895. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: This bibliography is meant only to orient the + reader in regard to exegetical literature. It is not + complete, nor does it give editions of texts. The order + follows in general that of the chapters, but the second and + last paragraphs respectively must be consulted for + interpretation and geography. Works that cover several + fields are placed under the literature of the first. The + special studies on Vedic divinities have been arranged + alphabetically.] + + [Footnote 2: On account of the inconvenient form in which + appeared the earlier numbers of the JRAS. we cite the Old + Series only by date. All references without date refer to + the New Series (vol i, NS., 1864).] + + [Footnote 3: On the artistic side Emil Schlagintweit's great + work, Indien in Wort und Bild, contains much of interest to + the student of religious paraphernalia. See also below under + wild tribes.] + + [Footnote 4: Roth, Morality of the Veda; Whitney, Result of + Vedic Researches (JAOS. iii. 289 and 331); Whitney, History + of the Vedic Texts, _ib_. iv. 245.] + + [Footnote 5: Under this title Roth has an essay (on the + comparison of texts), KZ. xxvi. 45.] + + [Footnote 6: See below. Defence of the same by the author, + WZKM. vii. 103.] + + [Footnote 7: JRAS, i. 51 ff., and subsequent volumes, + Contributions to a Knowledge of the Vedic Theogony and + Mythology and Progress of the Vedic Religion toward Abstract + Conceptions of the Deity.] + + [Footnote 8: It cannot be too much emphasized that + Grassmann's translation should never be used for comparative + purposes. At the same time, for a general understanding of + the contents of the whole Rig Veda it is the only book that + can be recommended. Ludwig's translation is so uncouth that + without a controlling knowledge of the original it is often + meaningless.] + + [Footnote 9: Bloomfield, AJP. xii. 429. Compare also + Regnaud, Le Mythe de Rohita. The same author has published + various Vedic articles in the Rev. de l'histoire des + religions, vols. xv-xxvi. Whitney's complete translation of + AV. will soon appear.] + + [Footnote 10: Sexual side of fire-cult; whirlwind of fire, + M[=a]tariçvan, Schwartz, KZ. xx. 202; compare Hillebrandt, + ZDMG. xxxiii. 248.] + + [Footnote 11: Neisser's Vorvedisches im Veda, BB. xvii. 244, + is not a mythological study.] + + [Footnote 12: Apollon here is Saparye[n.]ya, 'worshipful.' + This derivation is attacked by Froehde, Apollon, BB. xix. + 230 (compare Fick, _ib._ xviii. 138), who derives Apollon + from [Greek: phellhôn], 'word,' comparing [Greek: hapellhaxein], + 'conciliare,' _pell_ being 'spell' (in Gospel, etc.), + 'inter-pellare.' Thus Apollo would be 'prophet,' 'wârspello.' + On _vahni_, Agni, compare Neisser, Vedica, BB. xviii. 301 + (xix. 120, 248).] + + [Footnote 13: Oldenberg, _loc. cit_., interprets Açvins as + morning and evening stars! The epithet (of Agni and Açvins) + _bhura[n.]yu_ has been equated with Phor[=o]neus, we forget + by whom.] + + [Footnote 14: Oldenberg's (Die Religion des Veda) + Old-Man-of-the-Mountains-Indra thus gets etymological + support.] + + [Footnote 15: For convenience included in this list.] + + [Footnote 16: Maspiter is Mars-pater.] + + [Footnote 17: Hirt equates Parjanya, Perkunas, Fjörgyn, as + originally epithet of Dy[=a]ns-Zeus, with [Greek: + phêgotaios], the 'Oak-god.' See also Zimmer, ZDA. vii. (19) + 164.] + + [Footnote 18: Müller explains Rudra as 'howler'; Leo + identifies him with Wuotan; Jones with Apollo, Kuhn. KZ. + iii. 335; as A. Sax. Rodor, _ib_. ii. 478: P. von Bradke. + ZDMG. xi. 361. Oldenberg's delineation of Rudra in Die + Religion des Veda is based on the Brahmanic Rudra-Çiva (see + PAOS. Dec 1894).] + + [Footnote 19: Kerbaker, Varuna e gli Aditya (Naples, + Proceedings of the Royal Academy) is known to us only by + title.] + + [Footnote 20: The author justly remarks that no sociological + data can be made of Yama's wife or sister.] + + [Footnote 21: Dog sees Death, sharp sight of dog causes + myth.] + + [Footnote 22: Other less important examples of etymological + ingenuity are Scherer, Brahman as flamen ([Greek: Brhagkos], + Bragi, see Kaegi, Rig Veda, note 82); abhrad[=i]t[=a] as + Aphrodite, Sonne, KZ. x. 415; Ahaly[=a] as Achilleus, Weber, + Sitz. Berl. Ak., 1887; Id[=a] as Iris (Windischmann), + Poseidon, potídas, i[=d.]aspati (Fick, KZ. xxi. 462); but in + KZ. i. 459 Poseidon is patye davan. On the form compare BB. + viii. 80; x. 237; KZ. xxx. 570. Prellwitz, BB. ix. 327, + agrees with Fick and Pott as to i[d.]as representing + [Greek: oidma] and compares [prosklhôtios]. Garga is Gorgo, + Kern, JRAS. iv. 431; P[=a]jasya is Pegasos, etc, KZ. i. 416, + xxix. 222; Parvata is Pelasgos, Burda, KZ. xxi. 470; but + compare Stier, _ib_. xi. 229, where Pelasgoi are 'cranes'; + and Pische, _ib_. xx. 369, where they are [Greek: + parhrhhasioi]. Sabheya is Yavi[s.][t.]ha (not Hephaistos, as + says Kuhn), Müller, _ib._ xviii. 212; and v[r.]trahan is not + Bellerophon (as says Pott), _ib_. iv. 416, v. 140 (bellero + is varvara). Çarád is Ceres, Müller, _ib_. xviii. 211; + svav[=a]n is [Greek: enas], Autrecht, ZDMG. xiii 499; svar + 'sing' in Silenus, Siren: Buddhaguru in Pythagoras, etc. + Helena is Saram[=a], and Hermes 1s S[=a]rameya. Müller, + Chips, ii. 138, note. Compare for further clever guesses + Cox's Aryan Mythology, Müller's Lectures, Second Series, and + Biographies of Words.] + + [Footnote 23: Compare Deussen, Geschichte der Philosophie, + i. 105. On Vedic and Sanskrit Riddles, _loc. cit_.; also + Haug, Vedische Räthselfragen (also Brahma und die + Brahmanen); Führer, ZDMG. xxxix. 99.] + + [Footnote 24: There is an essay on this subject by Kern, + Ind. Theorieen over de Standenverdeeling, which we have not + seen.] + + [Footnote 25: Sitz. Berl. Ak. 1858, 1859, and 1894, + respectively. The Wurfel-Orakel (and Schiefner) is published + also in Ind. Streifen, i. 274. The essay on Omina and + Portenta contains translations of parts of the + Sha[d.]vi[.m]ça Br[=a]hma[n.]a, of the S[=a]ma Veda, and of + the K[=a]uçika (AV.) S[=u]tra.] + + [Footnote 26: (Whitney) Burgess, S[=u]ryasiddh[=a]nta, + JAOS. vi; JRAS. 1863, p. 345; Whitney, _ib_. i. 316; Lunar + Zodiac, Or. Ling. St., ii. 341; Kern, translation of BS., + JRAS. iv-vii; IS. x, xiv, xv; Weber, Ueber altir[=a]nische + Sternnamen, Sitz. Berl. Ak., 1888; see also Whitney, JAOS. + viii. 1, 382; Burgess, _ib_. 309; Weber, IS. ix. 424, x. + 213; Whitney _vs_. Ludwig, PAOS., 1885. On the twelve + intercalated days, 'Twelfth Night,' see Weber, IS. v. 437 + (Çabal[=i]-homa), xvii. 224.] + + [Footnote 27: The statement is here made that the Vedic + religion knows nothing of idols; but see the other cited + works which seem to disprove this.] + + [Footnote 28: The 'Fifteen Puzzle' is Indic (IA. x. 89, xi. + 83).] + + [Footnote 29: Triton und Euphemos, oder Die Argonauten in + Libyen, by Water, in 1849, treats of the holy seven in a + ridiculous way. Not less ridiculous is the author's attempt + to explain everything by the Moon-Cult, thus anticipating + modern vagaries.] + + [Footnote 30: A curious though useless classic is Anquetil + du Perron's Oupnekhat, 1801, the first European version of + the Upanishads (through the Persian).] + + [Footnote 31: Whitney, AJP. vii. 1, xi. 407; Jacob, IA. xv. + 279; Whitney Trans. Phil. Ass. xxi. 88; Böhtlingk, Bericht + d. k. Sächs. Gesellschaft, 1890, and separately.] + + [Footnote 32: Compare Windischmann, Sancara, 1833; Ecstein, + IS. ii. 369; and Bruining-Bijdrage tot de Kennis van den + Ved[=a]nta, 1871.] + + [Footnote 33: Compare two native expositions, JRAS. x. 33 + (Vedantic conception of _brahma_), and WZKM. ii. 95 + (Çankara's _advaita_ philosophy); also Müller, Three + Lectures.] + + [Footnote 34: Compare Ballantyne's Hindu Philosophy, + Williams' Indian Wisdom, Brahmanism and Hinduism, Religious + Thought and Life, and also the excellent chapters in Weber's + Lectures (above), and in Schroeder's Literatur und Cultur. + Of Deussen's Allgemeine Geschichte der Philosophie one half + volume has appeared.] + + [Footnote 35: Haug has an article on the M[=a]it. Sa[.m]h. + with the same title, Brahma und Die Brahmanen.] + + [Footnote 36: House-ritual: [=A]çval[=a]yana, Gobhila, + Ç[=a][.n]kh[=a]yana, P[=a]raskara, Kh[=a]dira, + Hira[n.]yakeçin, [=A]pastamba. Law: [=A]pastamba, + G[=a]utama, Vasistha, B[=a]udh[=a]yana, Y[=a]jñavalkya, + Vishnu, N[=a]rada, Brihaspati, Manu. The last is also + translated by Loiseleur, Jones, Burnell and Hopkins (besides + Bühler, SBE., above).] + + [Footnote 37: Ueber die heiligen Schriften, translated into + English by Smyth in the Indian Antiquary, 1893.] + + [Footnote 38: Feer, JA. 1888 (xii), p. 209. Leumann has + published in the same German series the Aupap[=a]tika + S[=u]tra, but as yet only the text (1883) has appeared.] + + [Footnote 39: Of the many manuals we recommend especially + those of Rhys Davids for ontology (also J[=a]takis. First + Part) and Oldenberg (now in second edition). For Northern + Buddhism Köppen's Religion is still excellent, although it + is vitiated by the point of view taken by the author, who + regards Buddha as an emancipator, a political innovator, + etc. Davids has two recent articles on Buddhist sects, JRAS. + xxiii. 409; xxiv. 1 (see abo below).] + + [Footnote 40: L. von Schroeder, Worte der Wahrheit. On the + word Dhammapada, Franke ZDMG. xlvi. 734.] + + [Footnote 41: Also Oldenberg, D[=i]pava[.m]sa, with text.] + + [Footnote 42: For Nirv[=a]na and its date all the manuals + may be consulted. See also D'Alwis, Nirv[=a]na (with + translation); Edkins, JRAS. xiii. 59, Congress, 1880, p. + 195; Childers, Dictionary, JRAS. v. 219, 289, vii. 49, etc.; + Fergusson, _ib._ iv. 81 (Indic Chronology); Müller, Origin + of Religion, p. 130, note, and Introduction to Buddhaghosha, + and to Dhammapada (above). We incline to accept 471 to 483 + as the extreme limits of the date of Buddha's death (Kern, + 380; Davids, 412).] + + [Footnote 43: On Hsing (671) see Beal, IA. x. 109, 194; + Müller, India. 'Fà-Hien's travels are now published by + Legge, 'Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms.' There are other + editions. See also Sykes, JRAS. 1841, p. 248; Beal, _ib._ + xix. 191.] + + [Footnote 44: On Japanese Buddhism there have been published + some texts by Japanese scholars (ed. Müller, Aryán Series of + Anecdota Oxoniensia). See JRAS. xii. 153.] + + [Footnote 45: Chalmers, J[=a]takas (ed. Cowell, vol. 1) is + announced. Compare JRAS. xxiv. 423. On Barlaam u. Joasaph + see now the exhaustive essay of Kuhn, Abh. d.k. Bayerisch. + Ak. 1894 (with all literature).] + + [Footnote 46: By the same, Avad[=a]naçataka, Mus. Guimet, + xviii (JA. 1879, xiv). The Da[t.]havamça, Melloné, Ann. du + MG. vii.] + + [Footnote 47: Triratna and triçula. The articles following + are by Murray-Aynsley (Asiatic Symbolism), on svastika, + trees, serpents, evil eye, etc. On the evil eye and the + poison-girl, vi[s.]akany[=a], see now the interesting essay + of Hertz (Abh. d. Bayern. Akad, 1894), who connects the + superstition with the religious practice described above, p. + 505, note 2.] + + [Footnote 48: For older essays see also Schönberg, ZDMG. + vii. 101 (rock-temples); JAS. Beng. xxv. 222 (Khandgiri + temples); Yule, JAS. Beng., 1857, Ancient Buddhistic Remains + (on the Irawady): Sykes, Miniature Caityas in Buddhist + topes, JRAS. 1854, pp. 37, 227.] + + [Footnote 49: Çiva is here falsely interpreted as Herakles, + p. 39. Compare too Weber, IS. ii. 409, and his + Ahaly[=a]-Achilleus, Berl. Ak. 1887. The original Greek is + edited by Schwanbeck. On Darius' conquest see Marshman, i. + p. 10.] + + [Footnote 50: Sixth or eighth century, developed with + Buddhistic or Greek influence.] + + [Footnote 51: An example of the survival of the Hindu cult + in the Çr[=a]uta ritual is given by Weber, IS. v. 437, + Çabal[=i]-homa.] + + [Footnote 52: Weber on Skanda, IS. iii. 478.] + + [Footnote 53: Compare also Malcolm, AR. xi (1812), 197; ZKM. + v. 1, Die Religion und der Staat der Sikh.] + + [Footnote 54: The Dalast[=a]n or School of Manners, + translated from the Persian, with notes by Shea and Troy, + 1843.] + + [Footnote 55: Williams' Hinduism and the third chapter of + Wilkins' Modern Hinduism contain a list of the modern + festivals. Grierson, Peasant Life, describes Beh[=a]r.] + + [Footnote 56: M[=o]ns and Koles, JRAS. x, 234. Lards, + Congress, 1874, by Drew; 1880, by Leitner.] + + [Footnote 57: Snake-nation in America, Shoshone, Clark, + Sign-language, p. 337; snake-symbol of life, Schoolcraft, i. + 375.] + + [Footnote 58: Totemism repudiated, Kennedy, on N[=a]gas, + JRAS. xxiii. 480.] + + [Footnote 59: The Indian Antiquary contains a vast fund of + folk-lore stones of more or less religious importance. See + Barth's note, Rev. xxix. 55, for the Orientalist.] + + [Footnote 60: Early accounts of Burmah will be found in + Buchanan's Religion and Literature of the Burmas, AR. vi. + 163; of the R[=a]jmahal tribes, T. Shaw, _ib._ iv. 45; of + the inhabitants of the Garrow Hills, Eliot, _ib._ iii. 17; + of the Kookies, MacRae (or McRae), _ib._ vii. 183; of Nepal + (temples, etc.), _ib._ ii. 307. An account of the + Tibeto-Burman tribes by Damant will be found in JRAS. xii. + 228.] + + [Footnote 61: Compare a suggestive paper by the same author, + IF. iv, p. 36 (1894), on Die Verwandtschaftsverhältnisse der + Indogermanen (linguistic, but historically important).] + + [Footnote 62: Volga as 'Pâ, Ranha, Ras[=a], Kuhn, KZ. xxviii + 214; the Sarasvat[=i] and the lost river, Oldham, JRAS. xxv. + 49.] + + [Footnote 63: Another curiosity will be found in JRAS., + 1854, p. 199, where Curzon claims that the Aryan Hindus are + autochthonous.] + + [Footnote 64: Leitner, Greek Influence on India, Congress, + 1880, p. 113. On the Drama see above, pp. 2 and 438.] + + [Footnote 65: Further, Westergaard, Ueber den ältesten + Zeitraum der Indischen Geschichte; Fergusson, JRAS. xii. + 259; Fleet, _samvat_ for Çaka-era, JRAS., 1884, p. lxxi; + Gupta, IA. xv. 189, and xvi. 141; (B[=e]r[=u]n[=i]), _ib._ + xvii. 243, 359; also Kielhorn, Vikrama, IA. xix. 24 ff.; + xxii. III; Bühler, WZKM. v. 215. Methods and Tables for + Computing Hindu Dates, Jacobi, IA. xvii. 145; and Epigraphia + ind. I. 430. Last literature on date of Rig Veda, above, p. + 5, and add now Oldenberg, ZDMG. xlviii. 629. Further + references, above, pp. 436, 571, notes.] + + * * * * * + + + + +INDEX. + + + A (alpha), 226, 397. + + abbots, 557. + + abhangs, 522. + + abhidhamma, 326. + + Abhinavagupta, 482. + + Abh[=i]ras, 543. + + ab[=i]r, 454, 455. + + absorption, 496 + + abstractions,112, 135. + + [=a]c[=a]ra, 554. + + Achaemenides, 544. + + [=A]di Br[=a]hma Sam[=a]j, 517, 519. + + [=A]digranth, 511 ff. + + Aditi, 55, 73, 139, 142, 154 + + [=A]dityas (see Aditi, Varu[n.]a, etc), 55 + (A[.n]ça), 143, 167; + [=a]dityabhaktas, see sun and S[=a]uras. + + adultery, 203 + + adv[=a]ita, 396, 496, 505. + + Aesculapius, 538. + + Afghanistan, 30, 548. + + [=a]gamas, 295, 439. + + ages, 227, 259, 418 ff., 444, 530. + + Aghor[=i], 490, 533. + + Agnes, saint, 451. + + Agni, 43, 101, 105 ff., 123, 144, 168, 353, + 356, 377, 401, 414. 445, 449, 476, 480, 554. + + ahimas[=a], 199, 287, 310, 365. + + Ahura Mazd[=a]o, 49, 67, 167. 170. + + [=A]k[=a]çamukhas, 486. + + Akbar, 437, 546. + + Akkadians, Akkadists, 542, 571. + + ak[s.]am[=a]la (see rosary) 374. + + Al B[=e]r[=u]n[=i], 547, Addenda. + + Alexander, 431, 546. + + Alexandria, 431, 561. + + All-god, 139, 141, 496. + + All-gods, 137, 144, 450. + + Allah [=u]d d[=i]n, 437. + + alphabet, 543, 595. + + altars, 475. 490 + + altruism, 478, 555, 556, 563, 567. + + American Indians, see Indians. + + [=A]nanda, 309, 311; + [=A]nanda Giri, 445, 447; + [=A]nandat[=i]rtha, 509. + + Ananta, 397. + + ancestors (see female, Manes), ten, 534. + + Anaximander, 559. + + ancestor-tree, 541. + + Andaman gods, 538. + + androgynous, 447, 492, 557. + + a[.n]gas,440. + + A[.n]g[=i]ras, 108, 167, 477. + + A[n.][=i]m[=a][n.][d.]avya, 432. + + Aniruddha, 441, 442, 457. + + annihilation (see Nirv[=a][n.]a), 421, 531, 532. + + ant-oath, 534. + + Antiochus, 545. + + Anug[=i]t[=a], 401. + + Aphrodite, 471. + + Apollonius, 508. + + April-Fool, 455. + + Apsaras, 137, 169, 355, 365. + + Arabia, 547. + + [=A]ra[n.]yakas, 178, 219. + + ardhan[=a]r[=i]çvara, 447. + + Arhat, 280, 285, 303, 320, 564. + + Arjun, 511. + + Arjuna, 361. + + Arrian, 459. + + arrow-oath, 534. + + art, artists, 549. + + Aryaman, 46, 121, 397. + + Aryan, 11, 26, 548. + + [=A]rya Sam[=a]j, 521. + + açani, 464. + + ascetics, 148, 254, 258, 304, 352 ff.; + asceticism, 287, 366, 470, 520. + + açoka, 540. + + Açoka, 311, 340, 341, 435. + + astrology, 256, 438, 543. + + Asuras, 42, 49, 104, 170 ff., 186 ff., 358 + + Asura Maya, 368. + + Açvins, 38, 54, 78, 80, 381. + + Atharva Veda, 3, 29, 43, 151, 175, 419, 477, 571. + + Atharvan, 110, 378, 477. + + [=A]tm[=a], 42, 47 (soul), 56, 220 ff., 232, + 249, 354, 396, 398, 442. + + [=A]tm[=i]ya Sabh[=a], 516. + + atonement, 376. + + Avadh[=u]tas, 502. + + avasthas, 412. + + avatar, 162, 196, 215, 340, 389, 393, 404, 424, + 430; + number of, 444, 468; + Vishnu's last avatar, 522. + + Avesta (see Iranian), 12, 16, 422. + + avy[=u]ha 442. + + Ayenar, 464. + + axe (see Paraçu R[=a]ma), 527. + + Aztecs, 557. + + + B[=a]b[=a]l[=a]ls, 514. + + Baber, 437. + + Babrius, 558. + + Babylon, 543. + + Bacchic rites, 414, 427, 528. + + Bactria, 32, 33, 434. + + B[=a]dar[=a]ya[n.]a, 495, 497. + + B[=a]la Gop[=a]la, 503. + + Balar[=a]ma, 442, 469. + + bali, 540. + + Bali, 478. + + bamboo (see pole-rite), 536. + + bandana, 533. + + banian, 540. + + Bardesanes, 561. + + Barlaam, 557. + + Basava, 482, 547. + + basil, see tulas[=i]. + + Baskets, see Tripi[t.]aka. + + Beh[=a]r, 435. + + bel-tree, 453, 536, 541. + + bell, 557. + + Bella Pennu, 530. + + Bellerophon, 530. + + Benares, 459. + + Bhaga, 41, 50 ff.; + bhaga, 490. + + Bhagavad G[=i]t[=a], 389 ff., 399, 400, 401, 447. + + Bhagavat, 303, 389. + + Bh[=a]gavatas, 447, 497. + + Bh[=a]irava, 464, 491. + + Bh[=a]ktas, 447. + + bhakti (see faith), 429, 503, 519. + + Bh[=a]rata, 349 ff., 438, 457. + + Bh[=a]rs, 534, 535 ff. + + Bh[=a]ts, 479. + + Bhava, 462, 464, 548. + + Bhav[=a]n[=i], 494. + + bhik[s.]u, 258, 281, 303, 310, 374; + bhik[s.]uk[=i], 426. + + Bhils, 533. + + Bh[r.]gu, 168, 397, 423. + + bicycle, used to make converts, 570. + + bigotry, 445. + + bila, 12. + + bilva, see bel. + + bird (of the sky) 45, 49, 113, 124, 140, 164; + birds as spirits, 432. + + birth-impurity, 541. + + Birth-stories, see J[=a]takas. + + birth-tree, 540. + + Blavatskyism, 562. + + Blessed One, 19, 388 ff. + + blood-money, 162. + + blood-revenge, 375. + + bloodless sacrifice (see ahi[.m]s[=a], Thugs), + 528. + + boar, 404, 407, 445. + + Bodhisat, bodhisattva, 303, 564. + + Bhodhi-tree, bo-tree, Bodhi Gay[=a], 304, 308, + 540. + + boundary-god, 529. + + brahma, 156, 178, 195, 217, 220 ff., 231 ff., + 381, 389, 393 ff., 398, 403, 419, 420, 474, + 496, 518. + + Brahm[=a], 195, 218, 332, 346, 372, 403 ff., + 407, 412, 421, 446, 451, 458 ff., + 464 ff., 487, 492, 499, 518, 534. + + Br[=a]hma Dharma, 517. + + Brahmaloka, 256. + + Brahmamaha, 371, 411. + + Br[=a]hma[n.]as, 4, 5, C^ 22, 23, 174, 219, 502. + + Brahmanism, 24, 176 ff., 548. + + Br[=a]hma Sam[=a]j, 516; + of India, 519. + + Bahmasamprad[=a]yins, 509. + + brahmodya, 383. + + branding, 440, 447. + + B[r.]haspati, 54 (Lord of Strength), 101, 136, + 159, 379, 386. + + B[=r.]hat Sa[.m]hit[=a], 438. + + brothers, 370. + + Buddha, 258, 280, 303 ff., 426; + precedent Buddhas, 309, 523, 557; + avatar of Vishnu, 469, 500; + brother of Çiva, 478. + + Buddhagho[s.]a, 327, 343. + + Buddhism, 4, 5, 6, 7, 26, 225, 298 ff., 310, + 401, 448; + Northern and Southern, 326, 327, 341; + esoteric, 320, 334; + epic, 423 ff.; + Çivaite, 485, 486; + morals of, 554, 556; + Occidental, 563; + lesson of, 564. + + Budo Gosain, 533. + + buffalo (see cow-bells), 445, 531, 537. + + bull, 407, 445, 528, 534. + + bull-roarer, 204, 553. + + burial, 60, 271, 364, 528, 534, 571. + + buttoat, 493. + + + Calvinism, 501. + + Candragupta, 311, 434. + + Candraçekhara, 470. + + cara[n.]a, 255. + + C[=a]ra[n.]as, 367. + + Caran D[=a]s[=i]s, 506. + + Cardinals, 557. + + Carnival, 455. + + C[=a]rv[=a]ka, 298, 374, 448. + + castes, 27, 28, 29, 40, 141, 226, 263, 426, + 507, 571; + duties and occupations of, 549. + + cat, holy, 547. + + cat-doctrine, 500. + + cataclysms, 259, 260. + + cattle (see cow), 50, 462 ff., 450. + + caturm[=u]rti, 413. + + caturthi, 451. + + caturvy[=u]ha, 442. + + celibates (see monks), 537. + + Ceylon, Buddhism of, 341. + + C[=a]itanya, 503. + + chandas, 142, 174, 477. + + Ch[=a]rans, 479. + + chief, divinity of, 534. + + child-marriages, 519. + + children, sacrifice of (see merias), 450. + + Ch[=i]rus, 535. + + choirs, 557. + + chrematheism, 135, 166. + + Christ, Christianity, 389, 395, 428 ff., 431, + 479, 482, 503, 524, 545, 566, 569, 570; + and Buddhism, 546, 557. + + Christmas, 430, 568. + + churik[=a], 441. + + circumambulations, 271, 454. + + Citragupta, 424. + + Clive, 566. + + cock, 415, 535, 538. + + commandments (see morals), 267, 317, 401, 479, + 506. + + confessional, 203, 373, 557. + + cosmic tree, see tree. + + courage, 527. + + covenants, 192, 361 ff. + + cow, 156, 189, 527, 547. + + cow-bells, worship of buffalo cow-bells, 537. + + cow-boys, 454. + + creation, 60, 141, 173, 207 ff., 216, 540. + + creator, 384, 444. + + crocodile, 450, 547. + + cross, 537. + + Cupid, see Love. + + custom, 531, 554. + + + Dabist[=a]n, 480, 510. + + D[=a]d[=u] Panth[=i]s, 480, 502, 510, 513, 547. + + daevas, 10, 168. + + Dak[s.]a, 406. + + D[=a]navas, see devils. + + dance, 443, 454, 456, 504, 535. + + Darius, 544. + + darkness (as hell and evil), 147, 206, 227, 422. + + Daçan[=a]mis, 482. + + Daçapeya, 477. + + Dasyus, 524, 542. + + dates, 3-8, 434 ff., 571, 595, note. + + Datt[=a]mitra, 545. + + Dawn (see Ushas), hymns, character of, 553, 571. + + Day[=a]nanda, 521. + + Death (see dogs, M[=a]ra), 43, 129, 136. + + Debendran[=a]th, 516 ff. + + Decoits, 494. + + Dedr[=a]j, 514. + + deism, 498, 515, 523. + + deluge, 160, 162 214, 369, 421, 542, 543. + + demons, see devils. + + demonology, 46, 135, 168, 538. + + Demetrius, 545. + + depressed classes, 568. + + devas, 10, 168. + + Devadatta, 309. + + Devak[=i], 465, 467. + + devils, 368, 414, 423, 475, 526, 539. + + Dhammapada,346. + + dhan, 508. + + Dha[=n.]gars, 531. + + Dharma, dharma (see Path, Right), 249 ff., + 358, 373, 380 417, 420, 554. + + dharma, 361. + + Dhav[=a], 452. + + Dh[r.]ti, 452. + + dhvaja, 443. + + Digambaras, 284 ff., 480. + + Dionysos, 458 ff. + + D[=i]p[=a]l[=a], 456. + + discus, 440, 462. + + disease (see small-pox god), 452 ff., 538. + + divination, 535. + + dogs of Death, 132, 138, 147, 163. + + Dol[=a] Y[=a]tr[=a], dolotsava, 453 ff. + + dolmen, 538. + + dolphin, 450. + + dragon (see N[=a]ga, snake), 42, 48, 165, 539. + + drama, 2, 436, 438. + + Dravidian religion, 416, 425, 426 ff., 542. + + dreams, 42. + + drugha[n.]a, 441. + + Druids, 533. + + drunkenness, 491. + + dualism (see ptak[r.]ti, S[=a][.n]khya), 13, + 396, 414. + + Durg[=a], 416, 451, 456, 490, 492, 513. + + d[=u]rv[=a], 502. + + Dutch rule in India, 566. + + dv[=a]para, 420. + + Dy[=a]us, 9, 19 (heaven), 58, 172, 571. + + + eagle (see soma), 534. + + Earth, 58 ff., 168, 445; + earth-worshippers, 480, 531. + + Easter, 454. + + education, salvation of, 571. + + egg, mundane, 166, 208, 411. + + Egypt, 543, 550. + + ek[=a]ntinas, 413; + eka deva, 420. + + Eleatics, 559. + + elements, 1, 559. + + elephant, 445, 533. + + eleocarpus ganitrus, 502. + + emperors, imperialism, 36, 435 ff. + + English rule in India, 566. + + ensigns, 539. + + epic, 2, 25, 348 ff., 425, 444, 496; + Greek influence on, 545. + + Epicureans, 505. + + eras, 436. + + Eros, see Love. + + eschatology (see Heaven, Hell, Manes), + 173, 204, 216, 253, 367, 394, 496, 530. + + ethnologists, 11. + + euphemism, 251. + + Europe and India, 556 ff. + + evil eye, 155, 526, 589, note 3. + + exogamy (see marriage), 534, 535. + + + fables, 545, 558. + + faith, bhakti, 396, 506, 507, 545. + + fakirs, 486. + + family, see matriarchy. + + fasting, 452, 557. + + fate (see karma), 369, 417, 477. + + Father-god, see Praj[=a]pati; + Fathers, see Manes; + father (see parents), 529. + + fauna, 35. + + fees, 192. + + female (see abstractions, infanticide, + mothers, çakti), divinities, 51, 138, + 184, 416; + female ancestors, 441, 534. + + Feridun, 11. + + festivals, 202, 448. + + fetishism, 169, 363; + distinction between fetish and god-stone, 538. + + fire (see Agni), as germ of life, 141; + fire-cult, 158, 378; + destroys world, see Sa[.m]vartaka; + cult, 454, 460, 491. + + flood, see deluge. + + flowers, 440, 540, 557. + + forest (see wood), 528. + + fountain-god, 531. + + free-will, 384. + + frogs, 14, 100 ff.; + frog-maiden, frog-feast, 536. + + funeral, see burial. + + + gambler, 14, 162, 376. + + games, 328, 451. + + Gandharva, 125, 130, 167, 367, 419, 442, 542. + + Gan-eden, 542. + + Ga[n.]eça, 414, 416, 447, 450 ff., 456, 466, 487, 506, 532. + + G[=a][n.]eças, 413. + + Ganges, 30, 372, ff., 450. + + Garos, 534. + + Garutman, Garuda, 45, 360, 378, 446. + + G[=a]ur[=i], 452. + + Gautama, 302 ff.; + Gotama, 308, note; 542. + + g[=a]yatr[=i], 46, 124. + + generosity, 374. + + geography, 28, 29, 177, 193, 314, 342 ff. + + Ghori, 437. + + ghosts, 532. + + giants, 470, 571. + + Giriça, 463. + + g[=i]t[=a], see Bhagavad. + + G[=i]ta Govinda, 457, 503. + + Gnosticism, 560. + + gods (see devas), 29, 90, 141, 182, 209, 395, 402. + + golden age, see ages. + + golden germ, 141, 208, 507. + + golden rule, 479. + + Gonds, 444, 526 ff. + + goose-totem, 534. + + gop[=i]s, 456. + + Gorakhn[=a]th, 486. + + gosain, 504. + + Gos[=a]la, 283. + + gospels, 546. + + Gotama, see Gautama. + + Govind, 511. + + grace of God, 143, 384, 393, 396, 413, 429. + + grahas (see planets), 415. + + gr[=a]mas, 27. + + Greece, Greeks, 1, 3, 6, 416, 431, 434 ff., + 458 ff., 470, 471, 544 ff., 550. + + Grippa Valli, 530. + + G[=u][d.]aras, 487. + + guest, 369, 531. + + gu[n.]as, 507. + + Gupta era, 436, Addenda. + + guru, 246, 510. + + + Hanuman (see monkey), 368, 502. + + haoma, 16. + + Hara, 462. + + Harahvati, 31. + + Harihara, 464, 547. + + Hariva[.n]ça, 424, 428, 439, 464, 467. + + H[=a]r[=i]ta, 440. + + Hartmann, 562. + + Harvard students, 565. + + harvest (see festival), 531, 532. + + Hastings, 567. + + Heathen, 524. + + Heaven (see Dy[=a]us, Varu[n.]a, eschatology), + 48, 143, 145 ff., 253, + 365, 417, 448. + + Helen, 12, 168. + + Hell, 147, 165, 206, 232 ff., 253, 267, + 336, 363, 381, 402, 443, 478, + 528, 557. + + henotheism, 139, 177, 571. + + Herakles, 458 ff., 470. + + Heraklitus, 558. + + Hestia, 530. + + hills, see mountains and wild tribes. + + Hinduism, 24, 348 ff., 434 ff., 548, 568 ff. + + Hindukush, 31. + + Hira[n.]yagarbha (see golden germ), 447. + + history, 434. + + holiness, 442. + + Holl, 453. + + holy-days, 204, 248 ff. + + holy-places, 444. + + holy-stone, see Ç[=a]lagr[=a]ma and stone. + + holy-water, 557. + + horse-sacrifice, 444. + + honesty, 527, 555. + + hospitality (see guest), 555, 556. + + house-god, 374, 530. + + H[r.][s.]ikeça, 432. + + humanitarianism, 428. + + humanity, 433. + + + idealism, see adv[=a]ita. + + idolatry, modern, 522. + + idols, 95, 370, 371, 374, 442, 446, 477, 537, 556 ff. + + Ilium, 12. + + illusion, 395, 396, 401, 421, 497. + + immaculate conception, 431, 460. + + immortality (see Heaven), 141, 396, 422; + immortality of pots, 534. + incarnation (see magic), 470. + + Incarnation, see avatar. + + incest (see commandments, left-hand), 531. + + Indians, 161 ff., 452, 532, 533, 542. + + Indra, 10, 20, 39, 56, 57, 89, 91 ff., + 101, 123, 332, 353, 355 ff., 69, 377, + 404, 405, 412, 414, 445, 448, 449, 473 ff. + + Indramaha, 378, 457, 460. + + Indus, 30. + + infanticide, 529, 531. + + infidelily, 448, 475. + + Innocents day, 455. + + inspiration, 305. + + Iranians, 6, 15, 26, 32 ff., 67, 132, 168, 170, 186, 422, 543. + + [=I]ça, 546. + + islands, 431. + + Issa, 546. + + Itih[=a]sa, 434, 477. + + + Jagann[=a]th, 440, 449, 456, 505. + + J[=a]imini, 495. + + Jainism, 280, 318, 348, 401, 448, 480. + + Jam[=a]li, 283. + + J[=a]mbavan, 368. + + janas, 26, 27. + + Jangamas, 447, 482. + + Janm[=a][s.][t.]am[=i], 465, 469. + + J[=a]takas, 339 ff., 393, 430, 558. + + J[=a]tavedas, 416. + + Jayadeva, 503. + + Jay[=i], 494. + + Jem[=i]dar, 493. + + Jemshid, 11. + + Jews, 524, 544. + + j[=i]va, 442, 496. + + J[.n][=a]ndev, 522. + + J[.n][=a]triputra, 292. + + John, saint, 558. + + Jonas, story of, 547. + + Josaphat, 557. + + Judgment-god (see Dharma), 529, 531. + + Juggernaut, see Jagann[=a]th. + + jugglers, see Yogi. + + Justice, see Dharma. + + + Ka, 182, 413. + + Kab[=i]r (Panthis), 502, 510, 514, 547. + + Kabul, Kabulistan, 30. + + kal[=a], 501. + + K[=a]la, see Time. + + kali, 421. + + K[=a]l[=i], 416, 438, 441, 490, 492, 533. + + K[=a]lid[=a]sa, 438. + + Kalki, 340, 469. + + kalpa, see ages. + + K[=a]ma, see Love. + + Ka[n.][=a]da, 503. + + K[=a]naph[=a]ts, 486, 487. + + K[=a][.n]culiyas, 492. + + Kani[s.]ka, 435, 436. + + K[=a]p[=a]likas, 487. + + kapi, 543. + + Kapila. 397, 402, 495, 547. + + Kapilavastu, 300. + + karma, 199, 231, 253, 302, 319, 369, 374. 401. + + Karmah[=i]nas, 447. + + Karmam[=i]m[=a][.m]s[=a], 495. + + Kart[=a]bh[=a]ja, 504. + + K[=a]rttikeya, see Skanda. + + K[=a]çyapa, 503. + + Kashmeer, 31, 314, 482. + + Kassos, 534. + + Katties, 537. + + Kh[=a]kis, 502. + + Kh[=a]ls[=a], 512. + + Khasas, Kh[=a]s[=i]as, 537. + + Khonds, 445, 526, 528 ff. + + Kil, 502. + + kindness (see love), 448. + + kings, 226 465. + + Kinnaras, 367. + + kirttan, k[=i]rtan, 508. + + Koches, 525. + + Koles, Kolarians, 525, 531, 532 ff. + + koph, 543. + + Kosmas, 544. + + Krishna (k[r.][s.][n.]a), 349, 361, 388 ff, + 399, 401, 405, 411, 412, 429, 448, 449, + 456, 457, 465, 498, 548, 551. + + Krishnaism, 427, 464, 484 ff., 548. + + Krishnaite[s.], 503 ff. + + k[r.]ta, 419. + + K[s.]apanakas, 448. + + K[s.]atriya, 419. + + K[s.]emendra, 478. + + Kubera, 251, 353, 358, 446. + + kukkuja, see cock. + + Kum[=a]ra K[=a]rttikej-a (see Skanda), 356, 463. + + Kum[=a]rila, 436, 437, 572. + + Kural, 567. + + Kurus, 32, 179. + + Kuruk[s.]etra, 33, 263, 372 ff. + + kush, 542. + + + Lak[s.]m[=i], 451, 492, 501, 506. + + Lalita Vistara, 343. + + Lamaistn, 343, 557, 565. + + Lamp-festival, 456; + service, 557. + + Law-books, religion of, 247 ff.; + Aryanism of, 541. + + Left-hand cult, 490, 506, 533. + + lex talionis, 555. + + liberality of thought, 556. + + light, as right, 422. + + li[.n]ga (see phallus), 447, 453, 456, 462, 475, 488, 502. + + Li[.n]g[=a]yits, 482. + + liquor, 491, 531. + + literature, celebration of, 451. + + Logos, V[=a]c, 142, 195, 251, 492, 558. + + Lohit[=a]yan[=i], 415. + + lotus, 411, 451, 462, 502. + + Lotus of the Law, 343. + + Love, 154; + love-charm, 155; + love as god, 156, 416, 444, 445, 446, + 450, 452, 455, 471, 544. + + lundi, 528. + + Lupercalia, 455. + + Lurka Koles, 531, 534. + + + M[=a]dhava [=A]c[=a]rya, 445. + + M[=a]dhvas, 502, 506, 509, 514. + + Madonna-worship, 469, 503, 505, 506, 557. + + M[=a]gadha, 435. + + Magas, Magi, 544. + + magic, witchcraft, 135, 137, 149, 151 ff., 477, 526. + + Mah[=a]deva, 464; + mah[=a]dev[=i], 490. + + Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata, see Bh[=a]rata. + + Mah[=a]r[=a]jas, 505. + + m[=a]h[=a]ris, 534. + + mah[=a]tmaism, 486, 550, 562. + + Mah[=a]v[=i]ra, 280 ff. + + Maheçvaras, 482. + + Mahmud, 436. + + Mahrattas, 437. + + M[=a]itreya, M[=a]itrakanyaka, 340, 479. + + makara, 450. + + Man, 508, + worshippers of, 481. + + Manes (see Çr[=a]ddha), 10, 11, 132, + 143 ff., 155, 173, 190, 250, 361, + 364, 365, 446, 450, 452, 529, 530, + 532, 533, 537. + + Man-lion, 453, 470. + + mantra, 174, 374, 440, 453, 491, 508. + + Manu, 32, 128, 143, 169, 392; + code of, 263 ff., 391, 397, 399, 401; + verse attributed to, 487. + + manvantara, 439. + + M[=a]ra, 304, 346. + + m[=a]rj[=a]ra ny[=a]ya, 501. + + marka[t.]a ny[=a]ya, 501. + + marriage-rites, 270, 421, 533. + + marriage-tree, 541. + + Maruts, 8, 56, 97 ff. + + Mather, Cotton, 565. + + matriarchy, 441, 541. + + matter (see prak[r.]ti), 400. + + M[=a]y[=a], see illusion. + + May-day, 453. + + meat-eating (see ahi[.m]s[=a]), 365, 368. + + medh[=a], 452. + + Megasthenes, 1, 458 ff. + + Menandros, 545. + + merias, 529. + + metals, 35. + + metempsychosis, 175, 199, 204, 286, 302, 347, + 364, 401, 532, 533, 559; + in the Veda, 145, 432, 530. + + methods of interpretation, 8, 12 ff., 22, 551. + + Mihira, see Mithra. + + Milinda, 545. + + M[=i]m[=a][.m]s[=a], 495. + + miracles, 430. + + missionaries, 566 ff. + + Mitra (see Varu[n.]a), 41, 44, 57, 60, 71, 138; + mitra, mihira, 423, 544. + + Mohammedans, 436 ff., 482, 509, 524, 546 ff. + + monks (see ascetic, bhik[s.]u, Sanny[=a]sin), 285, 324; + monasticism, 502, 557. + + monkey (see Hanuman), 448, 452, 502, 547; + monkey-doctrine, 500. + + monolith, worship of, 538. + + monotheism, 11, 13, 67, 70, 139, 172, 413, 414, + 427, 432, 442, 481, 483, 509, 547. + + monsoon, 35. + + moon (see eschalology, Gandharva, Soma), 185, + 470, 480, 526, 533. + + morals (see commandments, sin), 14, 143, 180, + 203, 353, 375, 401, 443, 553, 570. + + mother-divinities, 415, 492; + motherhoods, 534. + + mountains, divine, 137, 359, 416, 461, 463, 528, 532, 537. + + mouse, 532. + + Mozoomdar, 519. + + muni, 148, 520. + + Munroe, Major, 566. + + murder, 179, 475, 527. + + music, 443. + + M[=u][s.]ikas, 532. + + mysticism (see Yoga), 504. + + + N[=a]gas (see dragon, snake), 536, 539. + + N[=a]g[=a]rjuna, 340, 343. + + Nakh[=i]s, 486. + + name of the Lord, call upon, 507. + + names, 201. + + N[=a]nak, 502, 511 ff., 547. + + N[=a][.n]gi Panthis, 514. + + Nara, N[=a]r[=a]ya[n.]a, 412, 448; + Sv[=a]mi N[=a]raya[n.]a, 506, 514. + + Nature, 397. + + nautch, 454. + + Neo-Platonism, 558, 560. + + New Year's festival, 449, 456. + + Niadis, 537. + + nid[=a]nas, chain of causality, 323. + + Night, 48, 76, 79. + + Nik[=a]ya, 326. + + Nimb[=a]ditya, 508. + + Nirgrantha, 283. + + Nirmalas, 513. + + Nirv[=a][n.]a, 286, 310, 319, 321 ff., 336, 346, 347, 426 ff. + + Ni[s.]ads, 440. + + non-duality, see adv[=a]ita. + + Notovitch, 546. + + numbers, 478. + + nuns, 290, 310, 330, 557. + + nymphs, in heaven, 417. + + Nysian, 458. + + + oath (see ordeals), of king, 213; + may be broken, 255; + water in oath, 362; + other forms of oath, 533, 534. + + observances, 246. + + oceans, 34. + + offerings, 183. + + Om, 395, 453. + + Omens (see magic), 256, 328. + + ophir, 543. + + oracles, 533, 534. + + Or[=a]ons, 526, 531, 535. + + ordeals, 3, 270, 275, 363. + + orders, politica), priestly stadia, 264, 353, 365. + + orthodoxy, 507, 562. + + + pacceka, 305. + + P[=a]h[=a]rias, 533. + + pairs of gods, 83, 102, 138, 462. + + palm, 540. + + palmistry (sce omens), 256. + + P[=a][.n]cajanya fire, 423. + Pa[.n]cak[=a]la, Pa[.n]cak[=a]j[.n]as, 413. + + Pa[.n]camah[=a]kalpa, 413. + + Pa[.n]catantra, 558. + + P[=a][.n]car[=a]tra, 413, 427, 442, 447, 492, 497. + + P[=a][n.][d.]avas, 466, 469. + + P[=a][n.]dur[=a][.n]ga, 500. + + pantheism (see K[r.][s.][n.]a, R[=a]ma, + Vi[s.][n.]u), 37, 47, 57, 138, 140, 248, + 356, 407, 414, 484 ff., 498, 547. + + Paradise, see Heaven. + + Paraçu R[=a]ma, 469. + + parents, 370. + + parimata, 227, 229, 232. + + Parjanya, 100 ff., 369, 378. + + Parmenides, 559. + + parrot, 445, 450. + + P[=a]rvat[=i], (goddess) 'of mountains,' 416. + + Paçupati, 413, 462, 463. + + P[=a]çupata, 447, 482, 509. + + P[=a]taliputta, 311. + + Pata[.n]jali, 495. + + Path, holy, 305 ff., 401,426. + + peacock, 445, 450, 528, 536. + + Persian, see Darius, Iranian. + + pessimism, 306, 314, 316 ff. + + phallus (see li[.n]ga), 150, 414, 443, 470. 471, 528, 544. + + Ph[=a]nsigars, 494. + + Philo, 555. + + philosophy (see S[=a][.n]khya, Ved[=a]nta), 141, 495. + + Phoenicia, 543. + + picture-worship, 374, 557. + + pipal-tree, see bo-tree. + + Piç[=a]cas (see devils), 415. + + planets, 367, 415, 545. + + plants, worship of (see trees), 540; + plant-souls, see metempsychosis. + + Plato, 2, 559. + + Plotinus, 561. + + pocket-altars, 475. + + pole-rite, 378, 443, 534. + + political divisions, 26, 27. + + polyandry, 467, 535. + + polygamy, 533. + + polytheism, 11, 13, 529, 547. + + Pongol, 449, 528. + + pools, 254. 370, 372, 404, 444, 478. + + pope, 557. + + Porphyry, 561. + + Portuguese rule in India, 566. + + Prabh[=a], 452. + + Pradyumna, 441, 442. + + Prabl[=a]da, 397. + + Praj[=a]pati, 142, 182 ff., 196 ff., 404, 412,475, 492, 554. + + prak[=r.]ti, 396, 397, 399, 507. + + pras[=a]da (see grace) 429. + + pray[=a]ga, 435. + + Prem S[=a]gar, 567. + + priest, 28, 29, 40, 176, 179, 370; + privileges of, 263,549; + epic priest, 352. + + P[=r.]çn[=i], 97. + + Prometheus, 107, 165. + + Punj[=a]b, 30, 33, 34. + + Pur[=a][n.]as, 2, 3, 424, 430, 434 ff., 476, 503. + + Puranic S[=a]nkhya, 495. + + purity, 148, 369. + + purgatory, 557. + + Purusa, 142, 397, 447. + + P[=u]rvam[=i]m[=i]m[=a]ms[=a], 495. + + P[=u][s.]an, 5, 41, 47, 50 ff., 80, 101, 463, 464, 475. + + Pu[s.]kara, 372. + + Pu[s.][t.]i, 452. + + P[=u]lan[=a], 444. + + p[=u]tika, 369. + + Pythagoras, 209, 559 ff., 580, note 3. + + + quakerism, 567. + + quietism (see Yoga), 567. + + + R[=a]dh[=a], R[=a]dh[=a] Vallabhis, 492, 506. + + R[=a]hu, 367. + + rain-gods, 99, 528. + + rajas, 507. + + R[=a]jas[=u]ya, 444, 448, 477. + + R[=a]k[s.]as (see devils), 419. + + ram, 445. + + R[=a]ma, 349, 397, 498. + + R[=a]macandra, 454, 506. + + Ramaism, 315, 349, 427, 485, 500 ff. + + R[=a]m[=a]nand, 502, 510, 513. + + R[=a]m[=a]nuja, 447, 482, 496 ff., 505, 507. + + R[=a]m[=a]ya[n.]a, 349 ff. + + Ramcaritmanas, 503. + + R[=a]mmohun Roy, 515. + + Ras[=a] (Volga, 26), 30, 169. + + R[=a]s D[=a]sas, 502. + + R[a=]s Y[=a]tr[=a], 456, 505. + + Rath Y[=a]tr[=a], 456. + + Rail, 452. + + R[=a]udras,447. + + R[=a]vana, 470. + + redemption, doctrine of, 569. + + reformation of sects, 508, 522. + + relics, 556. + + remnant-worship, 151, 157. + + Renaissance, 2, 435. + + renunciation (see Yogi, Sanny[=a]si), 394. + + responsability, moral, 380. + + Ribhus ([R.]bhavas), 93, 123, 169, 382. + + Right (see Dharma), 249, 422, 442, 554. + + Right-hand cult, 490. + + Rig Veda ([r.]g), 3, 5, 7, 9, 10 ff., 22, 29, 37 ff., 44; + in epic, 360, 419. + + Rishis ([R.][s.]is), see Seers. + + ritual, 12 ff., 16 ff., 106, 124, 175. + + ritualism, 568. + + rivers, divine, 30 ff., 32, 99, 138, 528. 537. + + Romans, 6, 556. + + rosary, 374, 413, 478. 502, 557. + + rosy, 493. + + Rudra (see Çatarudriya, Çiva), 50, 54, 97, 99, 379, 388, 406; + Rudra-Çiva, 458 ff.; + Rudrajapas, 463. + + rudr[=a]k[s.]a, 502. + + + sacraments, forty, 255. + + sacrifice, 47, 60, 149, 177 ff., 188, 196, + 198, 211, 225, 246, 363, 369, 375, 406, + 413, 420, 423, 450, 462, 471, 490 ff., + 526, 528, 529, 534, 571. + + S[=a]dhus, 514. + + Ç[=a]ivas (see Çivaites), 413. + + Çaka era, 436. + + Sakh[=i] bh[=a]vas, 492. + + Ç[=a]ktas, 413, 489, 533. + + çakti, 489, 490, 537, 553. + + Çakuntal[=a], 438. + + Ç[=a]kya, 300, 302. + + ç[=a]lagr[=a]ma, holy stone, 447, 502, 540. + + sallo kallo, 531. + + Sam[=a]jas, 516 ff., 369, 570. + + S[=a]ma Veda, 176, 389, 396, 419. + + Samana, 302, 344. + + Çambhu, 487. + + Çam[=i] çam[=i]-plant, 540. + + sa[.m]vartaka fire, 421. + + sa[.m]s[=a]ra. 175, 199, 231, 253, 380, 425. + + sa[.m]sk[r.]ta, 396. + + sa[.m]vat, 436. + + Sanatkum[=a]ra, 466. + + Ç[=a][n.][d.]ila, 221, 497, 509; + s[=u]tras, 503. + + Sandrocottos, 435. + + Sa[.n]gha, 324, 341. + + Ça[n.]kara, 289, 437, 445; + vijaya, 480; 482, 495, 505, 506. + + S[=a][.n]khya, 323, 365, 391 ff., 396, 399, + 400, 402, 460, 482, 484, 489, 495, 509, + 547, 560. + + Sanny[=a]s[=i]n, 258, 281, 508. + + Sara[n.]y[=u], 81, 138. + + Saram[=a], S[=a]rameya, 131, 132, 138. + + Sarasvat[=i], 31 ff., 149, 451, 492. + + Ç[=a]r[=i]rakam[=i]m[=a][.m]s[=a], 495. + + Çarva, 462, 463, 548. + + Sarvadarça[n.]asangraha, 480. + + Çatarudriya, 413, 470. + + Sat n[=a]m, 512. + + sattra, 371, 420. + + sattva, 507. + + Saturnalia, 455. + + S[=a]ubhagasena, 545. + + S[=a]ugatas, 448, 567. + + S[=a]uras, 413,423, 508. + + Sav[=a]ras, Sauras, 535. + + Savitar (see Sun), 41 ff., 46 ff. + + S[=a]vitr[=i], 46, 466, 492. + + S[=a]ya[n.]a, 480. + + Schopenhauer, 561. + + sects, 445. + + Seers, 368. + + Semiramis, 543. + + Semites, 571. + + Sen, 518. + + sesamum, 452, 502. + + Çesa, 446, 465. + + seven, 18, 26, 32, 49, 64, 98, 162, 533. + + Seypoys, 566. + + sex, 43, 59, 183, 490. + + Siddhas, 367, 397, 482. + + Sikhs (Singhs, Si[.m]has), 8, 502, 510-513. + + sin (see commandments, vows), 42, 47, + 51, 60, 65, 329, 376, 392, 530, 554; + venial, 254; + sin and sacrifice, 526. + + si[.n]g[=a]-tree, 533. + + Çiçup[=a]la, 457. + + Sittars, 315, 367, 482, 488, 567, 570. + + Çiva, 25, 50, 99, 112, 150, 178, 251, + 332, 354, 365, 374, 388 ff., 397, + 404, 406, 412 ff. 487, 532-534. + + Çivaism (see Ç[=a]ivas), 348, 389, + 407, 413, 423, 427, 446, 451, 453, + 466, 480, 484, 488, 496, 548; + sacrifice of, 371, 453, 459, 462, 492. + + Çivaites, 481 ff., 483. + + Skanda (K[=a]rttikeya), 354, 410, 414, 445, 466. + + slaves, 29, 425, 477, 548, 549. + + small-pox god, 452, 528. + + Sm[=a]rtas, 482, 507. + + Sm[r.]ti, 440. + + snake (see dragon, N[=a]ga), 20, 94, + 154, 164, 186, 344, 361, 376, 397, + 419, 446, 469, 527, 533, 536, 539, 547. + + sociological data, 27, 60, 524 ff. + + solar mylhs, 11. + + Soma, 14, 16, 42, 50, 112 ff., 185, 354, + 369, 378, 477, 491, 531, 540, 571. + + Som[=a]nanda, 482. + + son, importance of, 148, 363. + + sophistry, 383. + + sorcery, see magic. + + soul (see [=a]tm[=a], j[=i]va), 530. + + sources, 3. + + spirit (see [=a]tm[=a]), 400, 442. + + spring, god of, 528. + + spring-festival, 449, 452, 456. + + Çr[=a]ddha (see Manes), 451, 453, 455. + + Çrama[n.]a, 281, 292, 302. + + çravaka, 303. + + Çr[=i], 438, 441, 451, 492. + + Çr[=i]ra[n.]ga, 456. + + Çruti, 245 ff., 373, 378. + + star-souls, 204, 366, 446. + + star-worshippers, 480, 526, 533. + + Stoics, 558, 563. + + stone, worship of (see ç[=a]lagr[=a]ma), 526, + 533, 538; + marriage-stone, 271, 535. + + straw (victim), 526. + + st[=u]pas, 556. + + Subrahma[n.]ya, 466 + + Ç[=u]dra (see slave), 419; + S[=u]droi, 548. + + suicide, 378. + + S[=u]kharas, 487. + + Çulvasutra, 560. + + Sun, 17, 39, 40 ff., 47, 51, 56, 57, 82, 164, + 205, 354, 377, 401, 402, 446, 449, 452, + 460, 492, 508, 509, 526, 528, 530, 532, + 534, 543 ff. + + Sunday, 452. + + Sunth[=a]ls, 532. + + Ç[=u]nyav[=a]ds, 448. + + sur[=a], 127. + + S[=u]ry[=a] (see Sun), 51, 82, 449, 492. + + Sutta, 326. + + suttee, 165, 274, 369, 441. + + S[=u]tras, 3, 4, 5, 7, 174. 245 ff. + + Sv[=a]mi, see N[=a]r[=a]ya[n.]a. + + svastiv[=a]canam, 371. + + Çvet[=a]mbaras, 284 ff., 480. + + swing, see D[=o]l[=a]. + + + tab[=u], 251, 535. + + tamas (see darkness), 507. + + Tamerlane, 436. + + Tamil, + poetry, 315; + religion, 524. + + tan, 508. + + Tantras, 2, 439, 476, 491 + + tapas (see asceticism), 520. + + Tari, 528, 530. + + Tath[=a]gata, 303. + + temples, 428, 444, 447, 452, 456, 471, 526, 557; + snake-temple, 539. + + Ten-galais, 501. + + [t.]haks, 535. + + [T.]h[=a]kur[=a][n.][=i], 535. + + Thales, 559. + + theft (see commandments, morals), 527, 554. + + theosophy, 40, 112, 384. + + thieves, god of. 554. + + Thomas, church of, 479. + + three, 42, 49, 110, 164. + + Time, see fate. + + Thugs, 492 ff., 528, 535. + + thunder-worship, 536. + + tiger, 533. + + tillais, 494. + + t[=i]rtha, see pools. + + Tiru-valluvar, 567. + + Todas, 526, 537. + + tonsure, 557. + + tortoise (see avatar), 536. + + totem, totemism, 163, 430, 445, 464, 468, 532, 534, 537, 557. + + traga, 479. + + tr[=a]ipuru[s.]a, 464. + + transmigration, see metempsychosis. + + transubstantiation, 557. + + trees, worship of, 35, 154, 470, 528, 533, 540; + tree of creation, 540, 542. + + tret[=a], 420. + + triad, 42, 46, 183, 377, 404, 460. + + tribes, 26 ff. + + Trida[n.][d.]is, 482. + + trim[=u]rti (see trinity), 447, 464. + + trinity (see triad, trim[=u]rti, tr[=a]ipuru[s.]a), + 57, 105, 237, 387, 404, 410, 411, 412, 432, 439, + 507, 516, 545; + four members, 445; + prayer to, 447; + history of, 457 ff.; + female, 492, 499. + + Tripi[t.]aka, 326, 347. + + Trip[=u]jas, 480. + + Trita, 11, 45, 104, 431. + + Troy, story of, 547. + + truth, 203, 369, 381, 527, 533, 553. + + Tuk[=a]r[=a]m, 524. + + tulas[=i], 456, 502, 540. + + Tulas[=i]d[=a]sa, 503. + + Turanian, 15, 435. + + Tu[s.][t.]i, 452. + + tutelary gods, 530. + + + Ud[=a]sis, 513. + + Ugras, 447. + + [=U]kharas, 487. + + Um[=a], 416, 460, 490, 492. + + Unitarians, 413, 485, 547. + + Up[=a][.n]gas, 440. + + Upani[s.]ads, 3, 4, 5, 7, 24, 181, 216 ff., + 389, 399, 405, 434, 447, 518. + + Upapur[=a][n.]as, 440. + + up[=a]saka, 310. + + Upendra, 409. + + [=U]rdhvab[=a]hus, 486. + + Uçanas, see B[r.]haspati. + + Ushas (U[s.]as), Dawn, 9, 10, 19, 73 ff. + + Uttaram[=i]m[=a][.m]s[=a],495. + + + V[=a]c, see Logos. + + Vada-galais, 501. + + V[=a]ikh[=a]nasas, 447. + + V[=a]ir[=a]gins, 508. + + V[=a]içe[s.][=i]ka, 503. + + V[=a]i[s.][n.]ava, 371, 413. + + V[=a]içv[=a]nara (see Agni), 507. + + V[=a]içya, 419, 487, 525. + + Vala, 20. + + Valabh[=i] era, 436, 572. + + Valentine, saint, 451. + + Vallabhas, 504-508. + + V[=a]lm[=i]ki, 503. + + Var[=a]hamihira, 438. + + Varu[n.]a, 18, 41, 42, 44, 47, 58, + 61 ff., 138, 170, 196, 353, + 354, 397, 448, 539, 554; + as the moon, 571. + + vasanta, see spring festival. + + V[=a]sto[s.]pati, 530. + + vassallus, vassus, 530. + + vasso, 292. + + V[=a]suki, 397. + + V[=a]ta, V[=a]yu, see Wind-god. + + Veda, 12, 15 ff., 142, 174, 188, 222, 256, + 374, 401, 420, 425, 510. + + Ved[=a]nta, 143, 228, 264, 365, 396, 398 ff., + 416, 460, 484, 495 ff.; + s[=u]tra, 437. + + 'Vehicles,' 340. + + vermilion, 532. + + Vesta, 530. + + Vet[=a]la, 537. + + Vidy[=a]dharas, 367. + + Vighneça, 488. + + vih[=a]ra, 435. + + Vikram[=a]ditya, 436. + + village-tree, 540. + + Vinaya, 326. + + Virabhadra, 467. + + Vir[=a]j, 507. + + Virgin-worship, 557. + + virtue (see commandments, dharma, morals), ideals of, 555. + + viças, 27, 194. + + Viç[=a]kha, 466. + + Vishnu (Vi[s.][n.]u), 41, 52, 56, 112, 144, 178, 251, 332, 354, + 365, 388 ff., 412 ff., 451 ff.; + feast of, 456; 460, 487, 492, 498, 508, 534. + + Vishnuism, 143, 348, 389, 413, 446, 464, 480, 494 ff. + + Vishnu's law-book, 441. + + Viçv[=a]mitra, 27. + + Vi[t.]h[t.]hala, 500, 508, 514, 522. + + Vivasvant, 81, 128 ff., 146, 392. + + void, see Ç[=u]nya. + + Volga, see Ras[=a]. + + vows, 293, 317, 378. + + V[r.][s.]abha, 482. + + Vr[=a]tya-hymns, 179. + + Vritra (V[r.]tra), 20, 120, 185, 357, 369. + + Vy[=a]sa, 488, 495. + + + warriors, 28, 29, 419. + + water (origin of all things), 48, 107, 141, 330, 362, 378. + + waters, 99. + + water-pot, 453. + + water-worshippers, 480. + + wealth (see Bhaga), 528. + + White Island, 413, 426 ff:, 431, 545. + + wife, see woman. + + wild-tribes, 471, 490, 493, 534 ff., + 569. + + wind-god, 87 ff., 123, 165, 354, 460; + worshippers, 480. + + witchcraft, see magic. + + witness (see oath), 250. + + women (authors of Rig Veda), 27; + burned, see suttee; as nuns, 291, + 310; religion of, 370; use mantra, + 440, 450, 453; price of wife, 270, + 535. + + wood, see trees. + + wood-goddess, 138, 530. + + worlds, number of, 402. + + writing, 4, 7, 331, 544. 595. + + Yajur Veda, 24, 176 ff., 419. + + Yak[s.]as, 415. + + Yama (see Citragupta, Hell), 16, 45, + 49, 128 ff., 144, 146, 353, 365, 378ff., + 397, 451, 480, 540. + + Yima, 11, 16,128 ff. + + Yoga, yogin or yogi, 262, 281, 304, + 351, 391 ff., 399, 402, 470, 486, + 495, 550. + + yoni, vulva, 475,490. + + yuga, see ages. + + Zarathustra, Zoroaster (see Iranian), + 10, 72, 524. + + Zeus, 9, 66. + + Ziegenbalg. 565. + + Zoölatry, 547. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Religions of India, by Edward Washburn Hopkins + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA *** + +***** This file should be named 14499-8.txt or 14499-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/4/9/14499/ + +Produced by Paul Murray and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. +This file was produced from images generously made available by the +Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at +http://gallica.bnf.fr + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/14499-8.zip b/old/14499-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..15bfacf --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14499-8.zip diff --git a/old/14499.txt b/old/14499.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dff0aa2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14499.txt @@ -0,0 +1,25962 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Religions of India, by Edward Washburn Hopkins + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Religions of India + Handbooks On The History Of Religions, Volume 1, Edited By Morris Jastrow + +Author: Edward Washburn Hopkins + +Release Date: December 28, 2004 [EBook #14499] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA *** + + + + +Produced by Paul Murray and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. +This file was produced from images generously made available by the +Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at +http://gallica.bnf.fr + + + + + + +HANDBOOKS ON THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS + + + + + +EDITED BY MORRIS JASTROW, JR., PH.D. + +_Professor of Semitic Languages +in the University of Pennsylvania_ + + + + + + +VOLUME I + + + + + + +HANDBOOKS ON THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS + + + + + + +THE + +RELIGIONS OF INDIA + + + +BY + + + +EDWARD WASHBURN HOPKINS + +Ph.D. (LEIPSIC) + +PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT AND COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY IN BRYN MAWR COLLEGE + + + + + + + _"This holy mystery I declare unto you: + There is nothing nobler than humanity."_ + + THE MAH[=A]BH[=A]RATA. + + + + + +LONDON + +EDWARD ARNOLD + +37 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND + +PUBLISHER TO THE INDIA OFFICE + +1896 + + +_(All rights reserved)_ + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY + +EDWARD WASHBURN HOPKINS + + + + + + + + +TO THE MEMORY OF + +WILLIAM DWIGHT WHITNEY + +THIS VOLUME + +IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED + +BY THE AUTHOR + + + + + + + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE + +BY THE EDITOR. + + +The growing interest both in this country and abroad in the historical +study of religions is one of the noticeable features in the +intellectual phases of the past decades. The more general indications +of this interest may be seen in such foundations as the Hibbert and +Gifford Lectureships in England, and the recent organization of an +American committee to arrange in various cities for lectures on the +history of religions, in the establishment of a special department for +the subject at the University of Paris, in the organization of the +Musee Guimet at Paris, in the publication of a journal--the _Revue de +l'Histoire des Religions_--under the auspices of this Museum, and in +the creation of chairs at the College de France, at the Universities +of Holland, and in this country at Cornell University and the +University of Chicago,[1] with the prospect of others to follow in the +near future. For the more special indications we must turn to the +splendid labors of a large array of scholars toiling in the various +departments of ancient culture--India, Babylonia, Assyria, Egypt, +Palestine, Arabia, Phoenicia, China, Greece, and Rome--with the result +of securing a firm basis for the study of the religions flourishing in +those countries--a result due mainly to the discovery of fresh sources +and to the increase of the latter brought about by exploration and +incessant research. The detailed study of the facts of religion +everywhere, both in primitive society and in advancing civilization, +and the emphasis laid upon gathering and understanding these facts +prior to making one's deductions, has succeeded in setting aside the +speculations and generalizations that until the beginning of this +century paraded under the name of "Philosophy of Religion." + +Such has been the scholarly activity displayed and the fertility +resulting, that it seems both desirable and timely to focus, as it +were, the array of facts connected with the religions of the ancient +world in such a manner that the summary resulting may serve as the +point of departure for further investigations. + +This has been the leading thought which has suggested the series of +Handbooks on the History of Religions. The treatment of the religions +included in the series differs from previous attempts in the aim to +bring together the ascertained results of scholarship rather than to +make an additional contribution, though the character of the scholars +whose cooeperation has beep secured justifies the hope that their +productions will also mark an advance in the interpretation of the +subject assigned to each. In accord with this general aim, mere +discussion has been limited to a minimum, while the chief stress has +been laid upon the clear and full presentation of the data connected +with each religion. + +A uniform plan has been drawn up by the editor for the order of +treatment in the various volumes, by following which it is hoped that +the continuous character of the series will be secured. + +In this plan the needs of the general reader, as well as those of the +student, for whom, in the first place, the series is designed, have +been kept in view. After the introduction, which in the case of each +volume is to be devoted to a setting forth of the sources and the +method of study, a chapter follows on the land and the people, +presenting those ethnographical and geographical considerations, +together with a brief historical sketch of the people in question, so +essential to an understanding of intellectual and religious life +everywhere. + +In the third section, which may be denominated the kernel of the book, +the subdivisions and order of presentation necessarily vary, the +division into periods being best adapted to one religion, the +geographical order for another, the grouping of themes in a logical +sequence for a third; but in every case, the range covered will be the +same, namely, the beliefs, including the pantheon, the relation to the +gods, views of life and death, the rites--both the official ones and +the popular customs--the religious literature and architecture. A +fourth section will furnish a general estimate of the religion, its +history, and the relation it bears to others. Each volume will +conclude with a full bibliography, index, and necessary maps, with +illustrations introduced into the text as called for. The Editor has +been fortunate in securing the services of distinguished specialists +whose past labors and thorough understanding of the plan and purpose +of the series furnish a guarantee for the successful execution of +their task. + +It is the hope of the Editor to produce in this way a series of +manuals that may serve as text-books for the historical study of +religions in our universities and seminaries. In addition to supplying +this want, the arrangement of the manuals will, it is expected, meet +the requirements of reliable reference-books for ascertaining the +present status of our knowledge of the religions of antiquity, while +the popular manner of presentation, which it will be the aim of the +writers to carry out, justifies the hope that the general reader will +find the volumes no less attractive and interesting. + + UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: In an article by the writer published in the + _Biblical World_ (University of Chicago Press) for January, + 1893, there will be found an account of the present status + of the Historical Study of Religions in this country.] + + * * * * * + + + + + +CHAPTER I.--INTRODUCTION. + + +SOURCES.--DATES.--METHODS OF INTERPRETATION.--DIVISIONS OF SUBJECT. + + +SOURCES. + + +India always has been a land of religions. In the earliest Vedic +literature are found not only hymns in praise of the accepted gods, +but also doubts in regard to the worth of these gods; the beginnings +of a new religion incorporated into the earliest records of the old. +And later, when, about 300 B.C, Megasthenes was in India, the +descendants of those first theosophists are still discussing, albeit +in more modern fashion, the questions that lie at the root of all +religion. "Of the philosophers, those that are most estimable he terms +Brahmans ([Greek: _brachmanas_]). These discuss with many words +concerning death. For they regard death as being, for the wise, a +birth into real life--into the happy life. And in many things they +hold the same opinions with the Greeks: saying that the universe was +begotten and will be destroyed, and that the world is a sphere, which +the god who made and owns it pervades throughout; that there are +different beginnings of all things, but water is the beginning of +world-making, while, in addition to the four elements, there is, as +fifth, a kind of nature, whence came the sky and the stars.... And +concerning the seed of things and the soul they have much to say also, +whereby they weave in myths, just as does Plato, in regard to the +soul's immortality, judgment in hell, and such things."[1] + +And as India conspicuously is a country of creeds, so is its +literature preeminently priestly and religious. From the first Veda to +the last Pur[=a]na, religion forms either the subject-matter of the +most important works, or, as in the case of the epics,[2] the basis of +didactic excursions and sectarian interpolations, which impart to +worldly themes a tone peculiarly theological. History and oratory are +unknown in Indian literature. The early poetry consists of hymns and +religious poems; the early prose, of liturgies, linguistics, "law," +theology, sacred legends and other works, all of which are intended to +supplement the knowledge of the Veda, to explain ceremonies, or to +inculcate religious principles. At a later date, formal grammar and +systems of philosophy, fables and commentaries are added to the prose; +epics, secular lyric, drama, the Pur[=a]nas and such writings to the +poetry. But in all this great mass, till that time which Mueller has +called the Renaissance--that is to say, till after the Hindus were +come into close contact with foreign nations, notably the Greek, from +which has been borrowed, perhaps, the classical Hindu drama,[3]--there +is no real literature that was not religious originally, or, at least, +so apt for priestly use as to become chiefly moral and theosophic; +while the most popular works of modern times are sectarian tracts, +Pur[=]nas, Tantras and remodelled worldly poetry. The sources, then, +from which is to be drawn the knowledge of Hindu religions are the +best possible--the original texts. The information furnished by +foreigners, from the times of Ktesias and Megasthenes to that of +Mandelslo, is considerable; but one is warranted in assuming that what +little in it is novel is inaccurate, since otherwise the information +would have been furnished by the Hindus themselves; and that, +conversely, an outsider's statements, although presumably correct, +often may give an inexact impression through lack of completeness; as +when--to take an example that one can control--Ktesias tells half the +truth in regard to ordeals. His account is true, but he gives no +notion of the number or elaborate character of these interesting +ceremonies. + +The sources to which we shall have occasion to refer will be, then, +the two most important collections of Vedic hymns--the Rig Veda and +the Atharva Veda; the Brahmanic literature, with the supplementary +Upanishads, and the S[=u]tras or mnemonic abridgments of religious and +ceremonial rules; the legal texts, and the religious and theological +portions of the epic; and the later sectarian writings, called +Pur[=a]nas. The great heresies, again, have their own special +writings. Thus far we shall draw on the native literature. Only for +some of the modern sects, and for the religions of the wild tribes +which have no literature, shall we have to depend on the accounts of +European writers. + + +DATES. + +For none of the native religious works has one a certain date. Nor is +there for any one of the earlier compositions the certainty that it +belongs, as a whole, to any one time. The Rig Veda was composed by +successive generations; the Atharvan represents different ages; each +Br[=a]hmana appears to belong in part to one era, in part to another; +the earliest S[=u]tras (manuals of law, etc.) have been interpolated; +the earliest metrical code is a composite; the great epic is the work +of centuries; and not only do the Upanishads and Pur[=a]nas represent +collectively many different periods, but exactly to which period each +individually is to be assigned remains always doubtful. Only in the +case of the Buddhistic writings is there a satisfactorily approximate +terminus a quo, and even here approximate means merely within the +limit of centuries. + +Nevertheless, criteria fortunately are not lacking to enable one to +assign the general bulk of any one work to a certain period in the +literary development; and as these periods are, if not sharply, yet +plainly distinguishable, one is not in so desperate a case as he might +have expected to be, considering that it is impossible to date with +certainty any Hindu book or writer before the Christian era. For, +first, there exists a difference in language, demarcating the most +important periods; and, secondly, the development of the literature +has been upon such lines that it is easy to say, from content and +method of treatment, whether a given class of writings is a product of +the Vedic, early Brahmanic, or late Brahmanic epochs. Usually, indeed, +one is unable to tell whether a later Upanishad was made first in the +early or late Brahmanic period, but it is known that the Upanishads, +as a whole, _i.e._, the literary form and philosophical material which +characterize Upanishads, were earlier than the latest Brahmanic period +and subsequent to the early Brahmanic period; that they arose at the +close of the latter and before the rise of the former. So the +Br[=a]hmanas, as a whole, are subsequent to the Vedic age, although +some of the Vedic hymns appear to have been made up in the same period +with that of the early Br[=a]hmanas. Again, the Pur[=a]nas can be +placed with safety after the late Brahmanic age; and, consequently, +subsequent to the Upanishads, although it is probable that many +Upanishads were written after the first Pur[=a]nas. The general +compass of this enormous literature is from an indefinite antiquity to +about 1500 A.D. A liberal margin of possible error must be allowed in +the assumption of any specific dates. The received opinion is that +the Rig Veda goes back to about 2000 B.C., yet are some scholars +inclined rather to accept 3000 B.C. as the time that represents this +era. Weber, in his _Lectures on Sanskrit Literature_ (p. 7), rightly +says that to seek for an exact date is fruitless labor; while Whitney +compares Hindu dates to ninepins--set up only to be bowled down again. +Schroeder, in his _Indiens Literatur und Cultur_, suggests that the +prior limit may be "a few centuries earlier than 1500," agreeing with +Weber's preferred reckoning; but Whitney, Grassmann, and Benfey +provisionally assume 2000 B.C. as the starting point of Hindu +literature. The lowest possible limit for this event Mueller now places +at about 1500, which is recognized as a very cautious view; most +scholars thinking that Mueller's estimate gives too little time for the +development of the literary periods, which, in their opinion, require, +linguistically and otherwise, a greater number of years. Brunnhofer +more recently has suggested 2800 B.C. as the terminus; while the last +writers on the subject (Tilak and Jacobi) claim to have discovered +that the period from 3500 to 2500 represents the Vedic age. Their +conclusions, however, are not very convincing, and have been disputed +vigorously.[4] Without the hope of persuading such scholars as are +wedded to a terminus of three or four thousand years ago that we are +right, we add, in all deference to others, our own opinion on this +vexed question. Buddhism gives the first semblance of a date in Hindu +literature. Buddha lived in the sixth century, and died probably about +480, possibly (Westergaard's extreme opinion) as late as 368.[5] +Before this time arise the S[=u]tras, back of which lie the earliest +Upanishads, the bulk of the Br[=a]hmanas, and all the Vedic poems. Now +it is probable that the Brahmanic literature itself extends to the +time of Buddha and perhaps beyond it. For the rest of pre-Buddhistic +literature it seems to us incredible that it is necessary to require, +either from the point of view of linguistic or of social and religious +development, the enormous period of two thousand years. There are no +other grounds on which to base a reckoning except those of Jacobi and +his Hindu rival, who build on Vedic data results that hardly support +the superstructure they have erected. Jacobi's starting-point is from +a mock-serious hymn, which appears to be late and does not establish, +to whatever date it be assigned, the point of departure from which +proceeds his whole argument, as Whitney has shown very well. One is +driven back to the needs of a literature in respect of time sufficient +for it to mature. What changes take place in language, even with a +written literature, in the space of a few centuries, may be seen in +Persian, Greek, Latin, and German. No two thousand years are required +to bridge the linguistic extremes of the Vedic and classical Sanskrit +language.[6] But in content it will be seen that the flower of the +later literature is budding already in the Vedic age. We are unable to +admit that either in language or social development, or in literary or +religious growth, more than a few centuries are necessary to account +for the whole development of Hindu literature (meaning thereby +compositions, whether written or not) up to the time of Buddha. +Moreover, if one compare the period at which arise the earliest forms +of literature among other Aryan peoples, it will seem very strange +that, whereas in the case of the Romans, Greeks, and Persians, one +thousand years B.C. is the extreme limit of such literary activity as +has produced durable works, the Hindus two or three thousand years +B.C. were creating poetry so finished, so refined, and, from a +metaphysical point of view, so advanced as is that of the Rig Veda. +If, as is generally assumed, the (prospective) Hindus and Persians +were last to leave the common Aryan habitat, and came together to the +south-east, the difficulty is increased; especially in the light of +modern opinion in regard to the fictitious antiquity of Persian +(Iranian) literature. For if Darmesteter be correct in holding the +time of the latter to be at most a century before our era, the +incongruity between that oldest date of Persian literature and the +"two or three thousand years before Christ," which are claimed in the +case of the Rig Veda, becomes so great as to make the latter +assumption more dubious than ever. + +We think in a word, without wishing to be dogmatic, that the date of +the Rig Veda is about on a par, historically, with that of 'Homer,' +that is to say, the Collection[7] represents a long period, which was +completed perhaps two hundred years after 1000 B.C, while again its +earliest beginnings precede that date possibly by five centuries; but +we would assign the bulk of the Rig Veda to about 1000 B.C. With +conscious imitation of older speech a good deal of archaic linguistic +effect doubtless was produced by the latest poets, who really belong +to the Brahmanic age. The Brahmanic age in turn ends, as we opine, +about 500 B.C., overlapping the S[=u]tra period as well as that of the +first Upanishads. The former class of writings (after 500 B.C. one may +talk of writings) is represented by dates that reach from circa +600-500 B.C. nearly to our era. Buddhism's _floruit_ is from 500 B.C. +to 500 A.D., and epic Hinduism covers nearly the same centuries. From +500 to 1000 Buddhism is in a state of decadence; and through this time +extend the dramatic and older Puranic writings; while other Pur[=a]nas +are as late as 1500, at which time arises the great modern reforming +sect of the Sikhs. In the matter of the earlier termini a century may +be added or subtracted here and there, but these convenient divisions +of five hundreds will be found on the whole to be sufficiently +accurate.[8] + + +METHODS OF INTERPRETATION. + +At the outset of his undertaking a double problem presents itself to +one that would give, even in compact form, a view of Hindu religions. +This problem consists in explaining, and, in so far as is possible, +reconciling opposed opinions in regard not only to the nature of these +religions but also to the method of interpreting the Vedic hymns. + +That the Vedic religion was naturalistic and mytho-poetic is doubted +by few. The Vedic hymns laud the powers of nature and natural +phenomena as personified gods, or even as impersonal phenomena. They +praise also as distinct powers the departed fathers. In the Rig Veda +I. 168, occur some verses in honor of the storm-gods called Maruts: +"Self-yoked are they come lightly from the sky. The immortals urge +themselves on with the goad. Dustless, born of power, with shining +spears the Maruts overthrow the strongholds. Who is it, O Maruts, ye +that have lightning-spears, that impels you within? ... The streams +roar from the tires, when they send out their cloud-voices," etc. +Nothing would seem more justifiable, in view of this hymn and of many +like it, than to assume with Mueller and other Indologians, that the +Marut-gods are personifications of natural phenomena. As clearly do +Indra and the Dawn appear to be natural phenomena. But no less an +authority than Herbert Spencer has attacked this view: "Facts imply +that the conception of the dawn as a person results from the giving of +dawn as a birth-name."[9] And again: "If, then, Dawn [in New Zealand +and elsewhere] is an actual name for a person, if where there prevails +this mode of distinguishing children, it has probably often been given +to those born early in the morning; the traditions concerning one of +such who became noted, would, in the mind of the uncritical savage ... +lead to identification with the dawn."[10] In another passage: "The +primitive god is the superior man ... propitiated during his life and +still more after his death."[11] Summing up, Spencer thus concludes: +"Instead of seeing in the common character of so-called myths, that +they describe combats of beings using weapons, evidence that they +arose out of human transactions; mythologists assume that the order of +Nature presents itself to the undeveloped mind in terms of victories +and defeats."[12] Moreover (_a posteriori_), "It is not true that the +primitive man looks at the powers of Nature with awe. It is not true +that he speculates about their characters and causes."[13] If Spencer +had not included in his criticism the mythologists that have written +on Vedic religion, there would be no occasion to take his opinion into +consideration. But since he claims by the light of his comparative +studies to have shown that in the Rig Veda the "so-called nature +gods,"[14] were not the oldest, and explains Dawn here exactly as he +does in New Zealand, it becomes necessary to point out, that apart +from the question of the origin of religions in general, Spencer has +made a fatal error in assuming that he is dealing in the Rig Veda with +primitive religion, uncritical savages, and undeveloped minds. And +furthermore, as the poet of the Rig Veda is not primitive, or savage, +or undeveloped, so when he worships _Dyaus pitar_ [Greek: Zeus pataer] +as the 'sky-father,' he not only makes it evident to every reader that +he really is worshipping the visible sky above; but in his +descriptions of gods such as Indra, the Dawn, and some other new gods +he invents from time to time, long after he has passed the savage, +primitive, and undeveloped state, he makes it no less clear that he +worships phenomena as they stand before him (rain, cloud, lightning, +etc.), so that by analogy with what is apparent in the case of later +divinities, one is led inevitably to predicate the same origin as +theirs in the case of the older gods. + +But it is unnecessary to spend time on this point. It is impossible +for any sober scholar to read the Rig Veda and believe that the Vedic +poets are not worshipping natural phenomena; or that the phenomena so +worshipped were not the original forms of these gods. Whether at a +more remote time there was ever a period when the pre-historic Hindu, +or his pre-Indic ancestor, worshipped the Manes exclusively is another +question, and one with which at present we have nothing to do. The +history of Hindu religions begins with the Rig Veda, and in this +period the worship of Manes and that of natural phenomena were +distinct, nor are there any indications that the latter was ever +developed from the former. It is not denied that the Hindus made gods +of departed men. They did this long after the Vedic period. But there +is no proof that all the Vedic gods, as claims Spencer, were the +worshipped souls of the dead. No _argumentum a fero_ can show in a +Vedic dawn-hymn anything other than a hymn to personified Dawn, or +make it probable that this dawn was ever a mortal's name. + +In respect of that which precedes all tradition we, whose task is not +to speculate in regard to primitive religious conceptions, but to give +the history of one people's religious progress, may be pardoned for +expressing no opinion. But without abandoning history (i.e., +tradition) we would revert for a moment to the pre-Indian period and +point out that Zarathustra's rejection of the _daevas_ which must be +the same _devas_ that are worshipped in India, proves that +_deva_-worship is the immediate predecessor of the Hindu religion. As +far back as one can scrutinize the Aryan past he finds, as the +earliest known objects of reverence, 'sun' and 'sky,' besides and +beside the blessed Manes. A word here regarding the priority of +monotheism or of polytheism. The tradition is in favor of the latter, +while on _a priori_ grounds whoever thinks that the more primitive the +race the more apt it is for monotheism will postulate, with some of +the older scholars, an assumed monotheism as the pre-historic religion +of the Hindus; while whosoever opines that man has gradually risen +from a less intellectual stage will see in the early gods of the +Hindus only another illustration of one universal fact, and posit even +Aryan polytheism as an advance on the religion which it is probable +that the remoter ancestors of the Aryans once acknowledged. + +A word perhaps should be said, also, in order to a better +understanding between the ethnologists as represented by Andrew Lang, +and the unfortunate philologists whom it delights him to pommel. +Lang's clever attacks on the myth-makers, whom he persistently +describes as the philologists--and they do indeed form part of that +camp--have had the effect of bringing 'philological theories' into sad +disrepute with sciolists and 'common-sense' people. But the sun-myths +and dawn-myths that the myth-makers discover in Cinderella and Red +Riding Hood, ought not to be fathered upon all philologists. On the +other hand, who will deny that in India certain mythological figures +are eoian or solar in origin? Can any one question that Vivasvant the +'wide gleaming' is sun or bright sky, as he is represented in the +Avesta and Rig Veda? Yet is a very anthropomorphic, nay, earthly +figure, made out of this god. Or is Mr. Lang ignorant that the god +Yima became Jemshid, and that Feridun is only the god Trita? It +undoubtedly is correct to illuminate the past with other light than +that of sun or dawn, yet that these lights have shone and have been +quenched in certain personalities may be granted without doing +violence to scientific principles. All purely etymological mythology +is precarious, but one may recognize sun-myths without building a +system on the basis of a Dawn-Helen, and without referring Ilium to +the Vedic _bila_. Again, myths about gods, heroes, and fairies are to +be segregated. Even in India, which teems with it, there is little, if +any, folklore that can be traced to solar or dawn-born myths. Mr. Lang +represents a healthy reaction against too much sun-myth, but we think +that there are sun-myths still, and that despite his protests all +religion is not grown from one seed. + +There remains the consideration of the second part of the double +problem which was formulated above--the method of interpretation. The +native method is to believe the scholiasts' explanations, which often +are fanciful and, in all important points, totally unreliable; since +the Hindu commentators lived so long after the period of the +literature they expound that the tradition they follow is useful only +in petty details. From a modern point of view the question of +interpretation depends mainly on whether one regard the Rig Veda as +but an Indic growth, the product of the Hindu mind alone, or as a work +that still retains from an older age ideas which, having once been +common to Hindu and Iranian, should be compared with those in the +Persian Avesta and be illustrated by them. Again, if this latter +hypothesis be correct, how is one to interpret an apparent likeness, +here and there, between Indic and foreign notions,--is it possible +that the hymns were composed, in part, before the advent of the +authors into India, and is it for this reason that in the Rig Veda are +contained certain names, ideas, and legends, which do not seem to be +native to India? On the other hand, if one adopt the theory that the +Rig Veda is wholly a native work, in how far is he to suppose that it +is separable from Brahmanic formalism? Were the hymns made +independently of any ritual, as their own excuse for being, or were +they composed expressly for the sacrifice, as part of a formal cult? + +Here are views diverse enough, but each has its advocate or advocates. +According to the earlier European writers the Vedic poets are +fountains of primitive thought, streams unsullied by any tributaries, +and in reading them one quaffs a fresh draught, the gush of +unsophisticated herdsmen, in whose religion there is to be seen a +childlike belief in natural phenomena as divine forces, over which +forces stands the Heaven-god as the highest power. So in 1869 +Pfleiderer speaks of the "primeval childlike naive prayer" of Rig Veda +vi. 51. 5 ("Father sky, mother earth," etc.);[15] while Pictet, in his +work _Les Origines Indo-Europeennes_, maintains that the Aryans had a +primitive monotheism, although it was vague and rudimentary; for he +regards both Iranian dualism and Hindu polytheism as being +developments of one earlier monism (claiming that Iranian dualism is +really monotheistic). Pictet's argument is that the human mind must +have advanced from the simple to the complex! Even Roth believes in an +originally "supreme deity" of the Aryans.[16] Opposed to this, the +'naive' school of such older scholars as Roth, Mueller,[17] and +Grassmann, who see in the Rig Veda an ingenuous expression of +'primitive' ideas, stand the theories of Bergaigne, who interprets +everything allegorically; and of Pischel and Geldner, realists, whose +general opinions may thus be formulated: The poets of the Rig Veda are +not childlike and naive; they represent a comparatively late period of +culture, a society not only civilized, but even sophisticated; a mode +of thought philosophical and sceptical a religion not only ceremonious +but absolutely stereotyped. In regard to the Aryanhood of the hymns, +the stand taken by these latter critics, who renounce even Bergaigne's +slight hold on mythology, is that the Rig Veda is thoroughly Indic. It +is to be explained by the light of the formal Hindu ritualism, and +even by epic worldliness, its fresh factors being lewd gods, harlots, +and race-horses. Bloomfield, who does not go so far as this, claims +that the 'Vedic' age really is a Brahmanic age; that Vedic religion is +saturated with Brahmanic ideas and Brahmanic formalism, so that the +Rig Veda ought to be looked upon as made for the ritual, not the +ritual regarded as ancillary to the Rig Veda[18]. This scholar +maintains that there is scarcely any chronological distinction between +the hymns of the Rig Veda and the Br[=a]hmana, both forms having +probably existed together "from earliest times"; and that not a single +Vedic hymn "was ever composed without reference to ritual +application"; nay, all the hymns were "liturgical from the very +start"[19]. This is a plain advance even on Bergaigne's opinion, who +finally regarded all the family-books of the Rig Veda as composed to +subserve the _soma_-cult.[20] + +In the Rig Veda occur hymns of an entirely worldly character, the +lament of a gambler, a humorous description of frogs croaking like +priests, a funny picture of contemporary morals [describing how every +one lusts after wealth], and so forth. From these alone it becomes +evident that the ritualistic view must be regarded as one somewhat +exaggerated. But if the liturgical extremist appears to have stepped a +little beyond the boundary of probability, he yet in daring remains +far behind Bergaigne's disciple Regnaud, who has a mystical 'system,' +which is, indeed, the outcome of Bergaigne's great work, though it is +very improbable that the latter would have looked with favor upon his +follower's results. In _Le Rig Veda_ [Paris, 1892] Paul Regnaud, +emphasizing again the connection between the liturgy and the hymns, +refers every word of the Rig Veda to the sacrifice in its simplest +form, the oblation. According to this author the Hindus had forgotten +the meaning of their commonest words, or consistently employed them in +their hymns in a meaning different to that in ordinary use. The very +word for god, _deva_ [deus], no longer means the 'shining one' [the +god], but the 'burning oblation'; the common word for mountain, +_giri_ also means oblation, and so on. This is Bergaigne's allegorical +mysticism run mad. + +At such perversion of reasonable criticism is the exegesis of the Veda +arrived in one direction. But in another it is gone astray no less, as +misdirected by its clever German leader. In three volumes[21] +Brunnhofer has endeavored to prove that far from being a Brahmanic +product, the Rig Veda is not even the work of Hindus; that it was +composed near the Caspian Sea long before the Aryans descended into +India. Brunnhofer's books are a mine of ingenious conjectures, as +suggestive in detail as on the whole they are unconvincing. His +fundamental error is the fancy that names and ideas which might be +Iranian or Turanian would prove, if such they really could be shown to +be, that the work in which they are contained must be Iranian or +Turanian. He relies in great measure on passages that always have been +thought to be late, either whole late hymns or tags added to old +hymns, and on the most daring changes in the text, changes which he +makes in order to prove his hypothesis, although there is no necessity +for making them. The truth that underlies Brunnhofer's extravagance is +that there are foreign names in the Rig Veda, and this is all that he +has proved thus far. + +In regard to the relation between the Veda and the Avesta the +difference of views is too individual to have formed systems of +interpretation on that basis alone. Every competent scholar recognizes +a close affinity between the Iranian Yima and the Hindu Yama, between +the _soma_-cult and the _haoma_-cult, but in how far the thoughts and +forms that have clustered about one development are to be compared +with those of the other there is no general agreement and there can be +none. The usual practice, however, is to call the Iranian _Yima, +haoma_, etc., to one's aid if they subserve one's own view of _Yama, +soma,_ and other Hindu parallels, and to discard analogous features as +an independent growth if they do not. This procedure is based as well +on the conditions of the problem as on the conditions of human +judgment, and must not be criticized too severely; for in fact the two +religions here and there touch each other so nearly that to deny a +relation between them is impossible, while in detail they diverge so +widely that it is always questionable whether a coincidence of ritual +or belief be accidental or imply historical connection. + +It is scarcely advisable in a concise review of several religions to +enter upon detailed criticism of the methods of interpretation that +affect for the most part only the earliest of them. But on one point, +the reciprocal relations between the Vedic and Brahmanic periods, it +is necessary to say a few words. Why is it that well-informed Vedic +scholars differ so widely in regard to the ritualistic share in the +making of the Veda? Because the extremists on either side in +formulating the principles of their system forget a fact that probably +no one of them if questioned would fail to acknowledge. The Rig Veda +is not a homogeneous whole. It is a work which successive generations +have produced, and in which are represented different views, of local +or sectarian origin; while the hymns from a literary point of view are +of varying value. The latter is a fact which has been ignored +frequently, but it is more important than any other. For one has +almost no criteria, with which to discover whether the hymns precede +or follow the ritual, other than the linguistic posteriority of the +ritualistic literature, and the knowledge that there were priests with +a ritual when some of the hymns were composed. The bare fact that +hymns are found rubricated in the later literature is surely no reason +for believing that such hymns were made for the ritual. Now while it +can be shown that a large number of hymns are formal, conventional, +and mechanical in expression, and while it may be argued with +plausibility that these were composed to serve the purpose of an +established cult, this is very far from being the case with many +which, on other grounds, may be supposed to belong severally to the +older and later part of the Rig Veda. Yet does the new school, in +estimating the hymns, never admit this. The poems always are spoken of +as 'sacerdotal', ritualistic, without the slightest attempt to see +whether this be true of all or of some alone. We claim that it is not +historical, it is not judicious from a literary point of view, to +fling indiscriminately together the hymns that are evidently +ritualistic and those of other value; for, finally, it is a sober +literary judgment that is the court of appeals in regard to whether +poetry be poetry or not. Now let one take a hymn containing, to make +it an unexceptionable example, nothing very profound or very +beautiful. It is this well-known + + HYMN TO THE SUN (_Rig Veda_, I. 50). + + Aloft this all-wise[22] shining god + His beams of light are bearing now, + That every one the sun may see. + + Apart, as were they thieves, yon stars, + Together with the night[23], withdraw + Before the sun, who seeth all. + + His beams of light have been beheld + Afar, among [all] creatures; rays + Splendid as were they [blazing] fires, + + Impetuous-swift, beheld of all, + Of light the maker, thou, O Sun, + Thou all the gleaming [sky] illum'st. + + Before the folk of shining gods + Thou risest up, and men before, + 'Fore all--to be as light beheld; + + [To be] thine eye, O pure bright Heaven, + Wherewith amid [all] creatures born + Thou gazest down on busy [man]. + + Thou goest across the sky's broad place, + Meting with rays, O Sun, the days, + And watching generations pass. + + The steeds are seven that at thy car + Bear up the god whose hair is flame + O shining god, O Sun far-seen! + + Yoked hath he now his seven fair steeds, + The daughters of the sun-god's car, + Yoked but by him[24]; with these he comes. + +For some thousands of years these verses have been the daily prayer of +the Hindu. They have been incorporated into the ritual in this form. +They are rubricated, and the nine stanzas form part of a prescribed +service. But, surely, it were a literary hysteron-proteron to conclude +for this reason that they were made only to fill a part in an +established ceremony. + +The praise is neither perfunctory nor lacking in a really religious +tone. It has a directness and a simplicity, without affectation, which +would incline one to believe that it was not made mechanically, but +composed with a devotional spirit that gave voice to genuine feeling. + +We will now translate another poem (carefully preserving all the +tautological phraseology), a hymn + + To DAWN _(Rig Veda_ VI. 64). + + Aloft the lights of Dawn, for beauty gleaming, + Have risen resplendent, like to waves of water; + She makes fair paths, (makes) all accessible; + And good is she, munificent and kindly. + + Thou lovely lookest, through wide spaces shin'st thou, + Up fly thy fiery shining beams to heaven; + Thy bosom thou reveals't, thyself adorning, + Aurora, goddess gleaming bright in greatness. + + The ruddy kine (the clouds) resplendent bear her, + The blessed One, who far and wide extendeth. + As routs his foes a hero armed with arrows, + As driver swift, so she compels the darkness. + + Thy ways are fair; thy paths, upon the mountains; + In calm, self-shining one, thou cross'st the waters. + O thou whose paths are wide, to us, thou lofty + Daughter of Heaven, bring wealth for our subsistence. + + Bring (wealth), thou Dawn, who, with the kine, untroubled + Dost bring us good commensurate with pleasure, + Daughter of Heaven, who, though thou art a goddess, + Didst aye at morning-call come bright and early. + + Aloft the birds fly ever from their dwelling, + And men, who seek for food, at thy clear dawning. + E'en though a mortal stay at home and serve thee, + Much joy to him, Dawn, goddess (bright), thou bringest. + +The "morning call" might, indeed, suggest the ritual, but it proves +only a morning prayer or offering. Is this poem of a "singularly +refined character," or "preeminently sacerdotal" in appearance? One +other example (in still a different metre) may be examined, to see if +it bear on its face evidence of having been made with "reference to +ritual application," or of being "liturgical from the very start." + + To INDRA _(Rig Veda_, I.11). + + 'Tis Indra all (our) songs extol, + Him huge as ocean in extent; + Of warriors chiefest warrior he, + Lord, truest lord for booty's gain. + + In friendship, Indra, strong as thine + Naught will we fear, O lord of strength; + To thee we our laudations sing, + The conqueror unconquered.[25] + + The gifts of Indra many are, + And inexhaustible his help + Whene'er to them that praise he gives + The gift of booty rich in kine. + + A fortress-render, youthful, wise, + Immeasurably strong was born + Indra, the doer of every deed, + The lightning-holder, far renowned. + + 'Twas thou, Bolt-holder, rent'st the cave + Of Val, who held the (heavenly) kine;[26] + Thee helped the (shining) gods, when roused + (To courage) by the fearless one.[27] + + Indra, who lords it by his strength, + Our praises now have loud proclaimed; + His generous gifts a thousand are, + Aye, even more than this are they. + +This is poetry. Not great poetry perhaps, but certainly not ground out +to order, as some of the hymns appear to have been. Yet, it may be +said, why could not a poetic hymn have been written in a ritualistic +environment? But it is on the hymns themselves that one is forced to +depend for the belief in the existence of ritualism, and we claim that +such hymns as these, which we have translated as literally as +possible, show rather that they were composed without reference to +ritual application. It must not be forgotten that the ritual, as it is +known in the Br[=a]hmanas, without the slightest doubt, from the point +of view of language, social conditions, and theology, represents an +age that is very different to that illustrated by the mass of the +hymns. Such hymns, therefore, and only such as can be proved to have a +ritualistic setting can be referred to a ritualistic age. There is no +convincing reason why one should not take the fully justified view +that some of the hymns represent a freer and more natural (less +priest-bound) age, as they represent a spirit freer and less +mechanical than that of other hymns. As to the question which hymns, +early or late, be due to poetic feeling, and which to ritualistic +mechanism or servile imitation, this can indeed be decided by a +judgment based only on the literary quality, never on the accident of +subsequent rubrication. + +We hold, therefore, in this regard, that the new school, valuable and +suggestive as its work has been, is gone already farther than is +judicious. The Rig Veda in part is synchronous with an advanced +ritualism, subjected to it, and in some cases derived from it; but in +part the hymns are "made for their own sake and not for the sake of +any sacrificial performance," as said Muller of the whole; going in +this too far, but not into greater error than are gone they that +confuse the natural with the artificial, the poetical with the +mechanical, gold with dross. It may be true that the books of the Rig +Veda are chiefly family-books for the _soma_-cult, but even were it +true it would in no wise impugn the poetic character of some of the +hymns contained in these books. The drag-net has scooped up old and +new, good and bad, together. The Rig Veda is not of one period or of +one sort. It is a 'Collection,' as says its name. It is essentially +impossible that any sweeping statement in regard to its character +should be true if that character be regarded as uniform. To say that +the Rig Veda represents an age of childlike thought, a period before +the priestly ritual began its spiritual blight, is incorrect. But no +less incorrect is it to assert that the Rig Veda represents a period +when hymns are made only for rubrication by priests that sing only for +baksheesh. Scholars are too prone to-day to speak of the Rig Veda in +the same way as the Greeks spoke of Homer. It is to be hoped that the +time may soon come when critics will no longer talk about the +Collection as if it were all made in the same circumstances and at the +same time; above all is it desirable that the literary quality of the +hymns may receive due attention, and that there may be less of those +universal asseverations which treat the productions of generations of +poets as if they were the work of a single author. + +In respect of the method of reading into the Rig Veda what is found in +parallel passages in the Atharva Veda and Br[=a]hmanas, a practice +much favored by Ludwig and others, the results of its application have +been singularly futile in passages of importance. Often a varied +reading will make clearer a doubtful verse, but it by no means follows +that the better reading is the truer. There always remains the lurking +suspicion that the reason the variant is more intelligible is that its +inventor did not understand the original. As to real elucidation of +other sort by the later texts, in the minutiae of the outer world, in +details of priestcraft, one may trust early tradition tentatively, +just as one does late commentators, but in respect of ideas tradition +is as apt to mislead as to lead well. The cleft between the theology +of the Rig Veda and that of the Br[=a]hmanas, even from the point of +view of the mass of hymns that comprise the former, is too great to +allow us with any content to explain the conceptions of the one by +those of the other. A tradition always is useful when nothing else +offers itself, but traditional beliefs are so apt to take the color of +new eras that they should be employed only in the last emergency, and +then with the understanding that they are of very hypothetical value. + +In conclusion a practical question remains to be answered. In the few +cases where the physical basis of a Rig Vedic deity is matter of +doubt, it is advisable to present such a deity in the form in which he +stands in the text or to endeavor historically to elucidate the figure +by searching for his physical prototype? We have chosen the former +alternative, partly because we think the latter method unsuitable to a +handbook, since it involves many critical discussions of theories of +doubtful value. But this is not the chief reason. Granted that the +object of study is simply to know the Rig Veda, rightly to grasp the +views held by the poets, and so to place oneself upon their plane of +thought, it becomes obvious that the farther the student gets from +their point of view the less he understands them. Nay, more, every bit +of information, real as well as fancied, which in regard to the poets' +own divinities furnishes one with more than the poets themselves knew +or imagined, is prejudicial to a true knowledge of Vedic beliefs. Here +if anywhere is applicable that test of desirable knowledge formulated +as _das Erkennen des Erkannten_. To set oneself in the mental sphere +of the Vedic seers, as far as possible to think their thoughts, to +love, fear, and admire with them--this is the necessary beginning of +intimacy, which precedes the appreciation that gives understanding. + + +DIVISIONS OF THE SUBJECT. + +After the next chapter, which deals with the people and land, we shall +begin the examination of Hindu religions with the study of the beliefs +and religious notions to be found in the Rig Veda. Next to the Rig +Veda in time stands the Atharva Veda, which represents a growing +demonology in contrast with _soma_-worship and theology; sufficiently +so at least to deserve a special chapter. These two Vedic Collections +naturally form the first period of Hindu religion. + +The Vedic period is followed by what is usually termed Brahmanism, the +religion that is inculcated in the rituals called Br[=a]hmana and its +later development in the Upanishads. These two classes of works, +together with the Yajur Veda, will make the next divisions of the +whole subject. The formal religion of Brahmanism, as laid down for +popular use and instruction in the law-books, is a side of Brahmanic +religion that scarcely has been noticed, but it seems to deserve all +the space allotted to it in the chapter on 'The Popular Brahmanic +Faith.' We shall then review Jainism and Buddhism, the two chief +heresies. Brahmanism penetrates the great epic poem which, however, in +its present form is sectarian in tendency, and should be separated as +a growth of Hinduism from the literature of pure Brahmanism. +Nevertheless, so intricate and perplexing would be the task of +unraveling the theologic threads that together make the yarn of the +epic, and in many cases it would be so doubtful whether any one thread +led to Brahmanism or to the wider and more catholic religion called +Hinduism, that we should have preferred to give up the latter name +altogether, as one that was for the most part idle, and in some degree +misleading. Feeling, however, that a mere manual should not take the +initiative in coining titles, we have admitted this unsatisfactory +word 'Hinduism' as the title of a chapter which undertakes to give a +comprehensive view of the religions endorsed by the many-centuried +epic, and to explain their mutual relations. As in the case of the +'Popular Faith,' we have had here no models to go upon, and the mass +of matter which it was necessary to handle--the great epic is about +eight times as long as the Iliad and Odyssey put together--must be our +excuse for many imperfections of treatment in this part of the work. +The reader will gain at least a view of the religious development as +it is exhibited in the literature, and therefore, as, far as possible, +in chronological order. The modern sects and the religions of the hill +tribes of India form almost a necessary supplement to these nobler +religions of the classical literature; the former because they are the +logical as well as historical continuation of the great Hindu +sectarian schisms, the latter because they give the solution of some +problems connected with Civaism, and, on the other hand, offer useful +un-Aryan parallels to a few traits which have been preserved in the +earliest period of the Aryans.[28] + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Megasthenes, Fr. XLI, ed. Schwanbeck.] + + [Footnote 2: Epic literature springs from lower castes than + that of the priest, but it has been worked over by + sacerdotal revisers till there is more theology than epic + poetry in it.] + + [Footnote 3: See Weber, _Sanskrit Literature_, p. 224; + Windisch, _Greek Influence on Indian Drama_; and Levi, _Le + theatre indien_. The date of the Renaissance is given as + "from the first century B.C. to at least the third century + A.D." (_India_, p. 281). Extant Hindu drama dates only from + the fifth century A.D. We exclude, of course, from "real + literature" all technical hand-books and commentaries.] + + [Footnote 4: Jacobi, in Roth's _Festgruss_, pp. 72, 73 + (1893); Whitney, _Proceed. A.O.S._, 1894, p. lxxii; Perry, + _P[=u]shan,_ in the _Drisler Memorial_; Weber, _Vedische + Beitraege._] + + [Footnote 5: Westergaard, _Ueber Buddha's Todesjahr_. The + prevalent opinion is that Buddha died in 477 or 480 B.C.] + + [Footnote 6: It must not be forgotten in estimating the + _broad_ mass of Br[=a]hmanas and S[=u]tras that each as a + school represents almost the whole length of its period, and + hence one school alone should measure the time from end to + end, which reduces to very moderate dimensions the + literature to be accounted for in time.] + + [Footnote 7: _'Rig Veda Collection'_ is the native name for + that which in the Occident is called Rig Veda, the latter + term embracing, to the Hindu, all the works (Br[=a]hmanas, + S[=u]tras, etc.) that go to explain the 'Collection' (of + hymns).] + + [Footnote 8: Schroeder, _Indiens Literatur und Cultur,_ + p.291, gives: Rig-Veda, 2000-1000 B.C.; older Br[=a]hmanas, + 1000-800; later Br[=a]hmanas and Upanishads, 800-600; + S[=u]tras, 600-400 or 300.] + + [Footnote 9: _Principles of Sociology_, I. P.448 (Appleton, + 1882).] + + [Footnote 10: Ib. p. 398.] + + [Footnote 11: Ib. p. 427.] + + [Footnote 12: Ib. p. 824.] + + [Footnote 13: Ib.] + + [Footnote 14: Ib. p. 821.] + + [Footnote 15: Compare Muir, _Original Sanskrit Texts_, V. p. + 412 ff., where are given the opinions of Pfleiderer, Pictet, + Roth, Scherer, and others.] + + [Footnote 16: ZDMG., vi. 77: "Ein alter gemeinsam arischer + [indo-iranic], ja vielleicht gemeinsam indo-germanischer + oberster Gott, Varuna-Ormuzd-Uranos."] + + [Footnote 17: In his _Science of Language_, Mueller speaks of + the early poets who "strove in their childish way to pierce + beyond the limits of this finite world." Approvingly cited, + SBE. xxxii. p. 243 (1891).] + + [Footnote 18: The over view may be seen in Mueller's _Lecture + on the Vedas_ (Chips, I. p. 9): "A collection made for its + own sake, and not for the sake of any sacrificial + performance." For Pischel's view compare _Vedische Studien_, + I. Preface.] + + [Footnote 19: Bloomfield, JAOS xv. p. 144.] + + [Footnote 20: Compare Barth (Preface): "A literature + preeminently sacerdotal.... The poetry ... of a singularly + refined character, ... full of ... pretensions to + mysticism," etc.] + + [Footnote 21: _Iran und Turan_, 1889; _Vom Pontus bis zum + Indus_, 1890; _Vom Aral bis zur Gang[=a]_ 1892.] + + [Footnote 22: Or "all-possessing" [Whitney]. The metre of + the translation retains the number of feet in the original. + Four [later added] stanzas are here omitted.] + + [Footnote 23: So P.W. possibly "by reason of [the sun's] + rays"; _i.e._, the stars fear the sun as thieves fear light. + For 'Heaven,' here and below, see the third chapter.] + + [Footnote 24: Yoked only by him; literally "self-yoked." + Seven is used in the Rig Veda in the general sense of + "many," as in Shakespeare's "a vile thief this seven + years."] + + [Footnote 25: _jet[=a]ram [=a]par[=a]jitam_.] + + [Footnote 26: The rain, see next note.] + + [Footnote 27: After this stanza two interpolated stanzas are + here omitted. Grassman and Ludwig give the epithet + "fearless" to the gods and to Vala, respectively. But + compare I.6.7, where the same word is used of Indra. For the + oft-mentioned act of cleaving the cave, where the dragon Val + or Vritra (the restrainer or envelopper) had coralled the + kine(i.e. without metaphor, for the act of freeing the + clouds and letting loose the rain), compare I.32.2, where of + Indra it is said: "He slew the snake that lay upon the + mountains ... like bellowing kine the waters, swiftly + flowing, descended to the sea"; and verse 11: "Watched by + the snake the waters stood ... the waters' covered cave he + opened wide, what time he Vritra slew."] + + [Footnote 28: Aryan, Sanskrit _arya, arya_, Avestan _airya_, + appears to mean the loyal or the good, and may be the + original national designation, just as the Medes were long + called [Greek: _Arioi_]. In late Sanskrit _[=a]rya_ is + simply 'noble.' The word survives, perhaps, in [Greek: + _aristos_], and is found in proper names, Persian + Ariobarzanes, Teutonic Ariovistus; as well as in the names + of people and countries, Vedic [=A]ryas, [=I]ran, Iranian; + (doubtful) Airem, Erin, Ireland. Compare Zimmer, BB. iii. p. + 137; Kaegi, _Der Rig Veda_, p. 144 (Arrowsmith's + translation, p. 109). In the Rig Veda there is a god + Aryaman, 'the true,' who forms with Mitra and Varuna a triad + (see below). Windisch questions the propriety of identifying + [=I]ran with Erin, and Schrader (p. 584^2) doubts whether + the Indo-Europeans as a body ever called themselves Aryans. + We employ the latter name because it is short.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +PEOPLE AND LAND. + + +The Aryan Hindus, whose religions we describe in this volume[1], +formed one of the Aryan or so-called Indo-European peoples. To the +other peoples of this stock, Persians, Armenians, Greeks, Italians, +Kelts, Teutons, Slavs, the Hindus were related closely by language, +but very remotely from the point of view of their primitive religion. +Into India the Aryans brought little that was retained in their +religious systems. A few waning gods, the worship of ancestors, and +some simple rites are common to them and their western relations; but +with the exception of the Iranians (Persians), their religious +connection with cis-Indic peoples is of the slightest. With the +Iranians, the Hindus (that were to be) appear to have lived longest in +common after the other members of the Aryan host were dispersed to +west and south[2]. They stand in closer religious touch with these, +their nearest neighbors, and in the time of the Rig Veda (the Hindus' +earliest literature) there are traces of a connection comparatively +recent between the pantheons of the two nations. + +According to their own, rather uncertain, testimony, the Aryans of the +Rig Veda appear to have consisted of five tribal groups[3]. These +groups, _janas_, Latin gens, are subdivided into _vicas_, Latin vicus, +and these, again, into _gr[=a]mas_. The names, however, are not +employed with strictness, and _jana_, etymologically gens but +politically tribus, sometimes is used as a synonym of _gr[=a]ma_.[4] +Of the ten books of the Rig-Veda seven are ascribed to various +priestly families. In the main, these books are rituals of song as +inculcated for the same rites by different family priests and their +descendants. Besides these there are books which are ascribed to no +family, and consist, in part, of more general material. The +distinction of priestly family-books was one, possibly, coextensive +with political demarcation. Each of the family-books represents a +priestly family, but it may represent, also, a political family. In at +least one case it represents a political body.[5] + +These great political groups, which, perhaps, are represented by +family rituals, were essentially alike in language, custom and +religion (although minor ritualistic differences probably obtained, as +well as tribal preference for particular cults); while in all these +respects, as well as in color and other racial peculiarities, the +Aryans were distinguished from the dark-skinned aborigines, with whom, +until the end of the Rig Vedic period, they were perpetually at war. +At the close of this period the immigrant Aryans had reduced to +slavery many of their unbelieving and barbarian enemies, and formally +incorporated them into the state organization, where, as captives, +slaves, or sons of slaves, the latter formed the "fourth caste." But +while admitting these slaves into the body politic, the priestly +Aryans debarred them from the religious congregation. Between the +Aryans themselves there is in this period a loosely defined +distinction of classes, but no system of caste is known before the +close of the first Vedic Collection. Nevertheless, the emphasis in +this statement lies strongly upon system, and it may not be quite idle +to say at the outset that the general caste-distinctions not only are +as old as the Indo-Iranian unity (among the Persians the same division +of priest, warrior and husbandman obtains), but, in all probability, +they are much older. For so long as there is a cult, even if it be of +spirits and devils, there are priests; and if there are chieftains +there is a nobility, such as one finds among the Teutons, nay, even +among the American Indians, where also is known the inevitable +division into priests, chiefs and commons, sometimes hereditary, +sometimes not. There must have been, then, from the beginning of +kingship and religious service, a division among the Aryans into +royalty, priests, and people, i.e., whoever were not acting as priests +or chieftains. When the people becomes agricultural, the difference +tends to become permanent, and a caste system begins. Now, the Vedic +Aryans appear in history at just the period when they are on the move +southwards into India; but they are no irrupting host. The battles led +the warriors on, but the folk, as a folk, moved slowly, not all +abandoning the country which they had gained, but settling there, and +sending onwards only a part of the people. There was no fixed line of +demarcation between the classes. The king or another might act as his +own priest--yet were there priestly families. The cow-boys might +fight--yet were there those of the people that were especially +'kingsmen,' _r[=a]janyas_, and these were, already, practically a +class, if not a caste[6]. These natural and necessary social +divisions, which in early times were anything but rigid, soon formed +inviolable groups, and then the caste system was complete. In the +perfected legal scheme what was usage becomes duty. The warrior may +not be a public priest; the priest may not serve as warrior or +husbandman. The farmer 'people' were the result of eliminating first +the priestly, and then the fighting factors from the whole body +politic. But these castes were all Aryans, and as such distinguished +most sharply, from a religious point of view, from the "fourth caste"; +whereas among themselves they were, in religion, equals. But they were +practically divided by interests that strongly affected the +development of their original litanies. For both priest and warrior +looked down on the 'people,' but priest and warrior feared and +respected each other. To these the third estate was necessary as a +base of supplies, and together they guarded it from foes divine and +mortal. But to each other they were necessary for wealth and glory, +respectively. So it was that even in the earliest period the religious +litany, to a great extent, is the book of worship of a warrior-class +as prepared for it by the priest. Priest and king--these are the main +factors in the making of the hymns of the Rig Veda, and the gods +lauded are chiefly the gods patronized by these classes. The third +estate had its favorite gods, but these were little regarded, and were +in a state of decadence. The slaves, too, may have had their own gods, +but of these nothing is known, and one can only surmise that here and +there in certain traits, which seem to be un-Aryan, may lie an +unacknowledged loan from the aborigines. + +Between the Rig Veda and the formation or completion of the next Veda, +called the Atharvan, the interval appears to have been considerable, +and the inherent value of the religion inculcated in the latter can be +estimated aright only when this is weighed together with the fact, +that, as is learned from the Atharvan's own statements, the Aryans +were now advanced further southwards and eastwards, had discovered a +new land, made new gods, and were now more permanently established, +the last a factor of some moment in the religious development. +Indications of the difference in time may be seen in the geographical +and physical limitations of the older period as compared with those of +the later Atharvan. When first the Aryans are found in India, at the +time of the Rig Veda, they are located, for the most part, near the +Upper Indus (Sindhu). The Ganges, mentioned but twice, is barely +known. On the west the Aryans lingered in East Kabulistan (possibly in +Kashmeer in the north); and even Kandahar appears, at least, to be +known as Aryan. That is to say, the 'Hindus' were still in +Afghanistan, although the greater mass of the people had already +crossed the Indus and were progressed some distance to the east of the +Punj[=a]b. That the race was still migrating may be seen from the +hymns of the Rig Veda itself.[7] Their journey was to the south-east, +and both before and after they reached the Indus they left +settlements, chiefly about the Indus and in the Punj[=a]b (a +post-Vedic group), not in the southern but in the northern part of +this district.[8] + +The Vedic Aryans of this first period were acquainted with the Indus, +Sutlej (Cutudri), Beas (Vip[=a]c, [Greek: Yphtsis]), Ravi (Parushni or +Ir[=a]vat[=i]); the pair of rivers that unite and flow into the Indus, +viz.: Jhelum (Vitast[=a], Behat), and Chin[=a]b (Asikni,[9] Akesines); +and knew the remoter Kubh[=a] ([Greek: Kophhen], Kabul) and the +northern Suv[=a]stu (Swat); while they appear to have had a legendary +remembrance of the Ras[=a], Avestan Ra[.n]ha (Rangha), supposed by +some to be identical with the Araxes or Yaxartes, but probably (see +below) only a vague 'stream,' the old name travelling with them on +their wanderings; for one would err if he regarded similarity or even +identity of appellation as a proof of real identity.[10] West of the +Indus the Kurum and Gomal appear to be known also. Many rivers are +mentioned of which the names are given, but their location is not +established. It is from the district west of the Indus that the most +famous Sanskrit grammarian comes, and long after the Vedas an Indic +people are known in the Kandahar district, while Kashmeer was a late +home of culture. The Sarasvati river, the name of which is transferred +at least once in historical times, may have been originally one with +the Arghand[=a]b (on which is Kandahar), for the Persian name of this +river (_s_ becomes _h_) is Harahvati (Arachotos, Arachosia), and it is +possible that it was really this river, and not the Indus which was +first lauded as the Sarasvat[=i]. In that case there would be a +perfect parallel to what has probably happened in the case of the +Ras[=a], the name--in both cases meaning only 'the stream' (like +Rhine, Arno, etc.)--being transferred to a new river. But since the +Iranian Harahvati fixes the first river of this name, there is here a +stronger proof of Indo-Iranian community than is furnished by other +examples.[11] + +These facts or suggestive parallels of names are of exceeding +importance. They indicate between the Vedic Aryans and the Iranians a +connection much closer than usually has been assumed. The bearings of +such a connection on the religious ideas of the two peoples are +self-evident, and will often have to be touched upon in the course of +this history. It is of less importance, from the present point of +view, to say how the Aryans entered India, but since this question is +also connected with that of the religious environment of the first +Hindu poets, it will be well to state that, although, as some scholars +maintain, and as we believe, the Hindus may have come with the +Iranians through the open pass of Herat (Haraiva, Haroyu), it is +possible that they parted from the latter south of the Hindukush[12] +(descending through the Kohistan passes from the north), and that the +two peoples thence diverged south-east and south-west respectively. +Neither assumption would prevent the country lying between the +Harahvati and Vitast[=a][13] from being, for generations, a common +camping-ground for both peoples, who were united still, but gradually +diverging. This seems, at least, to be the most reasonable explanation +of the fact that these two rivers are to each people their farthest +known western and eastern limits respectively. With the exception of +the vague and uncertain Ras[=a], the Vedic Hindu's geographical +knowledge is limited by Kandahar in the west, as is the Iranian's in +the east by the Vitast[=a].[14] North of the Vitast[=a] Mount Tricota +(Trikakud, 'three peaks') is venerated, and this together with a Mount +M[=u]javat, of which the situation is probably in the north, is the +extent of modern knowledge in respect of the natural boundaries of the +Vedic people. One hears, to be sure, at a later time, of 'northern +Kurus,' whose felicity is proverbial; and it is very tempting to find +in this name a connection with the Iranian Kur, but the Kurus, like +the Ras[=a] and Sarasvat[=i], are re-located once (near Delhi), and no +similarity of name can assure one of a true connection. If not +coincidences, such likenesses are too vague to be valuable +historically.[15] + +Another much disputed point must be spoken of in connection with this +subject. In the Veda and in the Avesta there is mentioned the land of +the 'seven rivers.' Now seven rivers are often spoken of in the Rig +Veda, but only once does this term mean the country, while in the +'Hymn to the Rivers' no less than twenty-one streams are enumerated +(RV. X. 75). In order to make out the 'seven rivers' scholars have +made different combinations, that most in favor being Mueller's, the +five rivers of the Punj[=a]b together with the Kabul and (Swat or) +Sarasvat[=i]. But in point of fact 'seven' quite as often means many, +as it does an exact number, and this, the older use, may well be +applied here. It is quite impossible to identify the seven, and it is +probable that no Vedic poet ever imagined them to be a group of this +precise number. It would be far easier to select a group of seven +conspicuous rivers, if anywhere, on the west of the Indus. A very +natural group from the Iranian side would be the Her[=i]r[=u]d, +Hilmund, Arghand[=a]b, Kurum, Kabul, Indus, and Vitast[=a]. Against +this, however, can be urged that the term 'seven rivers' may be +Bactrian, older than the Vedic period; and that, in particular, the +Avesta distinguishes Vaikerta, Urva, and other districts from the +'seven rivers.' It is best to remain uncertain in so doubtful a +matter, bearing in mind that even Kurukshetra, the 'holy land,' is +said to-day to be watered by 'seven streams,' although some say nine; +apropos of which fact Cunningham remarks, giving modern examples, that +"the Hindus invariably assign seven branches to all their rivers."[16] + +Within the Punj[=a]b, the Vedic Aryans, now at last really 'Hindus,' +having extended themselves to the Cutudri (Catadru, Sutlej), a +formidable barrier, and eventually having crossed even this, the last +tributary's of the Indus, descended to the jumna (Yamun[=a]), over the +little stream called 'the Rocky' (Drishadvat[=i]) and the lesser +Sarasvat[=i], southeast from Lahore and near Delhi, in the region +Kurukshetra, afterwards famed as the seat of the great epic war, and +always regarded as holy in the highest degree. + +Not till the time of the Atharva Veda do the Aryans appear as far east +as Benares (V[=a]r[=a]nas[=i], on the 'Varan[=a]vat[=i]'), though the +Sarayu is mentioned in the Rik. But this scarcely is the tributary of +the Ganges, Gogra, for the name seems to refer to a more western +stream, since it is associated with the Gomat[=i] (Gomal). One may +surmise that in the time of the Rig Veda the Aryans knew only by name +the country east of Lucknow. It is in the Punj[=a]b and a little to +the west and east of it (how far it is impossible to state with +accuracy) where lies the real theatre of activity of the Rig Vedic +people. + +Some scholars believe that this people had already heard of the two +oceans. This point again is doubtful in the extreme. No descriptions +imply a knowledge of ocean, and the word for ocean means merely a +'confluence' of waters, or in general a great oceanic body of water +like the air. As the Indus is too wide to be seen across, the name may +apply in most cases to this river. An allusion to 'eastern and western +floods,'[17] which is held by some to be conclusive evidence for a +knowledge of the two seas, is taken by others to apply to the +air-oceans. The expression may apply simply to rivers, for it is said +that the Vip[=a]c and Cutudr[=i] empty into the 'ocean', i.e., the +Indus or the Cutudr[=i]'s continuation.[18] One late verse alone +speaks of the Sarasvat[=i] pouring into the ocean, and this would +indicate the Arabian Sea.[19] Whether the Bay of Bengal was known, +even by hearsay and in the latest time of this period, remains +uncertain. As a body the Aryans of the Rig Veda were certainly not +acquainted with either ocean. Some straggling adventurers probably +pushed down the Indus, but Zimmer doubtless is correct in asserting +that the popular emigration did not extend further south than the +junction of the Indus and the Pa[=n]canada (the united five +rivers).[20] The extreme south-eastern geographical limit of the Rig +Vedic people may be reckoned (not, however, in Oldenberg's opinion, +with any great certainty) as being in Northern Beh[=a]r (M[=a]gadha). +The great desert, Marusthala, formed an impassable southern obstacle +for the first immigrants.[21] + +On the other hand, the two oceans are well known to the Atharva Veda, +while the geographical (and hence chronological) difference between +the Rik and the Atharvan is furthermore illustrated by the following +facts: in the Rig Veda wolf and lion are the most formidable beasts; +the tiger is unknown and the elephant seldom alluded to; while in the +Atharvan the tiger has taken the lion's place and the elephant is a +more familiar figure. Now the tiger has his domicile in the swampy +land about Benares, to which point is come the Atharvan Aryan, but not +the Rig Vedic people. Here too, in the Atharvan, the panther is first +mentioned, and for the first time silver and iron are certainly +referred to. In the Rig Veda the metals are bronze and gold, silver +and iron being unknown.[22] Not less significant are the trees. The +ficus religiosa, the tree later called the 'tree of the gods' +(_deva-sadana, acvattha_), under which are fabled to sit the +divinities in heaven, is scarcely known in the Rig Veda, but is well +known in the Atharvan; while India's grandest tree, the _nyagrodha_, +ficus indica, is known to the Atharvan and Brahmanic period, but is +utterly foreign to the Rig Veda. Zimmer deems it no less significant +that fishes are spoken of in the Atharvan and are mentioned only once +in the Rig Veda, but this may indicate a geographical difference less +than one of custom. In only one doubtful passage is the north-east +monsoon alluded to. The storm so vividly described in the Rig Veda is +the south-west monsoon which is felt in the northern Punj[=a]b. The +north-east monsoon is felt to the southeast of the Punj[=a]b, possibly +another indication of geographical extension, withal within the limits +of the Rig Veda itself. + +The seat of culture shifts in the Brahmanic period, which follows that +of the Vedic poems, and is found partly in the 'holy land' of the +west, and partly in the east (Beh[=a]r, Tirhut).[23] The literature of +this period comes from Aryans that have passed out of the Punj[=a]b. +Probably, as we have said, settlements were left all along the line of +progress. Even before the wider knowledge of the post-Alexandrine +imperial age (at which time there was a north-western military +retrogression), and, from the Vedic point of view, as late as the end +of the Brahmanic period, in the time of the Upanishads, the northwest +seems still to have been familiarly known.[24] + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: We take this opportunity of stating that by the + religions of the Aryan Hindus we mean the religions of a + people who, undoubtedly, were full-blooded Aryans at first, + however much their blood may have been diluted later by + un-Aryan admixture. Till the time of Buddhism the religious + literature is fairly Aryan. In the period of "Hinduism" + neither people nor religion can claim to be quite Aryan.] + + [Footnote 2: If, as thinks Schrader, the Aryans' original + seat was on the Volga, then one must imagine the + Indo-Iranians to have kept together in a south-eastern + emigration.] + + [Footnote 3: That is to say, frequent reference is made to + 'five tribes.' Some scholars deny that the tribes are Aryan + alone, and claim that 'five,' like seven, means 'many.'] + + [Footnote 4: RV. III. 33. 11; 53. 12. Zimmer, _Altindisches + Leben_, p. 160, incorrectly identifies _vic_ with tribus + (Leist, _Rechtsgeschichte_, p. 105).] + + [Footnote 5: Vicv[=a]mitra. A few of the hymns are not + ascribed to priests at all (some were made by women; some by + 'royal-seers,' _i.e._ kings, or, at least, not priests).] + + [Footnote 6: Caste, at first, means 'pure,' and signifies + that there is a moral barrier between the caste and outcast. + The word now practically means class, even impure class. The + native word means 'color,' and the first formal distinction + was national, (white) Aryan and 'black-man.' The precedent + class-distinctions among the Aryans themselves became fixed + in course of time, and the lines between Aryans, in some + regards, were drawn almost as sharply as between Aryan and + slave.] + + [Footnote 7: Compare RV. iii. 33, and in I. 131. 5, the + words: 'God Indra, thou didst help thy suppliants; one river + after another they gained who pursued glory.'] + + [Footnote 8: Thomas, _Rivers of the Vedas_ (JRAS. xv. 357 + ff.; Zimmer, loc. cit. cap. 1).] + + [Footnote 9: Later called the Candrabh[=a]ga. For the Jumna + and Sarayu see below.] + + [Footnote 10: This is the error into which falls Brunnhofer, + whose theory that the Vedic Aryans were still settled near + the Caspian has been criticised above (p. 15).] + + [Footnote 11: Compare Geiger, _Ostiranische Cultur_, p. 81. + See also Muir, OST. ii. p. 355.] + + [Footnote 12: Lassen, I. p. 616, decided in favor of the + western passes of the Hindukush.] + + [Footnote 13: From Kandahar in Afghanistan to a point a + little west of Lahore. In the former district, according to + the Avesta, the dead are buried (an early Indian custom, not + Iranian).] + + [Footnote 14: Geiger identifies the Vita[=g]uhaiti or + Vitanghvati with the Oxus, but this is improbable. It lies + in the extreme east and forms the boundary between the true + believers and the 'demon-worshippers' (Yasht, 5, 77; Geiger, + _loc. cit._ p. 131, note 5). The Persian name is the same + with Vitast[=a], which is located in the Punj[=a]b.] + + [Footnote 15: On the Kurus compare Zimmer (loc. cit.), who + thinks Kashmeer is meant, and Geiger, loc. cit. p. 39. Other + geographical reminiscences may lie in Vedic and Brahmanic + allusions to Bactria, Balkh (AV.); to the Derbiker (around + Meru? RV.), and to Manu's mountain, whence he descended + after the flood (Naubandhana): _Catapatha Br[=a]hmana_, I. + 8. 1, 6, 'Manu's descent'.] + + [Footnote 16: _Arch. Survey_, xiv. p. 89; Thomas, loc. cit. + p. 363.] + + [Footnote 17: RV. x. 136. 5.] + + [Footnote 18: RV. iii. 33. 2.] + + [Footnote 19: RV. vii. 95. 2. Here the Sarasvat[=i] can be + only the Indus.] + + [Footnote 20: Pa[=n]ca-nada, Punjnud, Persian 'Punj[=a]b,' + the five streams, Vitas[=a], Asikn[=i], Ir[=a]vat[=i], + Vip[=a]c, Cutudr[=i]. The Punjnud point is slowly moving up + stream; Vyse, JRAS. x. 323. The Sarayu may be the + Her[=i]r[=u]d, Geiger, loc. cit. p. 72.] + + [Footnote 21: Muir, OST. ii. 351; Zimmer, loc. cit. p. 51 + identifies the _K[=i]katas_ of RV. iii. 53. 14 with the + inhabitants of Northern Beh[=a]r. Marusthala is called + simply 'the desert.'] + + [Footnote 22: The earlier _ayas_, Latin _aes_, means bronze + not iron, as Zimmer has shown, loc. cit. p. 51. Pischel, + _Vedische Studien_, I, shows that elephants are mentioned + more often than was supposed (but rarely in family-books).] + + [Footnote 23: Weber, _Indische Studien,_ I. p. 228; + Oldenberg, _Buddha_, pp. 399 ff., 410.] + + [Footnote 24: Very lately (1893) Franke has sought to show + that the P[=a]li dialect of India is in part referable to + the western districts (Kandahar), and has made out an + interesting case for his novel theory (ZDMG. xlvii. p. + 595).] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE RIG VEDA. THE UPPER GODS. + + +The hymns of the Rig Veda may be divided into three classes, those in +which are especially lauded the older divinities, those in which +appear as most prominent the sacrificial gods, and those in which a +long-weakened polytheism is giving place to the light of a clearer +pantheism. In each category there are hymns of different age and +quality, for neither did the more ancient with the growth of new +divinities cease to be revered, nor did pantheism inhibit the formal +acknowledgment of the primitive pantheon. The cult once established +persisted, and even when, at a later time, all the gods had been +reduced to nominal fractions of the All-god, their ritualistic +individuality still was preserved. The chief reason for this lies in +the nature of these gods and in the attitude of the worshipper. No +matter how much the cult of later gods might prevail, the other gods, +who represented the daily phenomena of nature, were still visible, +awe-inspiring, divine. The firmest pantheist questioned not the +advisability of propitiating the sun-god, however much he might regard +this god as but a part of one that was greater. Belief in India was +never so philosophical that the believer did not dread the lightning, +and seek to avert it by praying to the special god that wielded it. +But active veneration in later times was extended in fact only to the +strong Powers, while the more passive divinities, although they were +kept as a matter of form in the ceremonial, yet had in reality only +tongue-worshippers. + +With some few exceptions, however, it will be found impossible to say +whether any one deity belonged to the first pantheon. + +The best one can do is to separate the mass of gods from those that +become the popular gods, and endeavor to learn what was the character +of each, and what were the conceptions of the poets in regard both to +his nature, and to his relations with man. A different grouping of the +gods (that indicated below) will be followed, therefore, in our +exposition. + +After what has been said in the introductory chapter concerning the +necessity of distinguishing between good and bad poetry, it may be +regarded as incumbent upon us to seek to make such a division of the +hymns as shall illustrate our words. But we shall not attempt to do +this here, because the distinction between late mechanical and poetic +hymns is either very evident, and it would be superfluous to burden +the pages with the trash contained in the former,[1] or the +distinction is one liable to reversion at the hands of those critics +whose judgment differs from ours, for there are of course some hymns +that to one may seem poetical and to another, artificial. Moreover, we +admit that hymns of true feeling may be composed late as well as +early, while as to beauty of style the chances are that the best +literary production will be found among the latest rather than among +the earliest hymns. + +It would, indeed, be admissible, if one had any certainty in regard to +the age of the different parts of the Rig Veda, simply to divide the +hymns into early, middle, and late, as they are sometimes divided in +philological works, but here one rests on the weakest of all supports +for historical judgment, a linguistic and metrical basis, when one is +ignorant alike of what may have been accomplished by imitation, and of +the work of those later priests who remade the poems of their +ancestors. + +Best then, because least hazardous, appears to be the method which we +have followed, namely, to take up group by group the most important +deities arranged in the order of their relative importance, and by +studying each to arrive at a fair understanding of the pantheon as a +whole. The Hindus themselves divided their gods into highest, middle, +and lowest, or those of the upper sky, the atmosphere, and the earth. +This division, from the point of view of one who would enter into the +spirit of the seers and at the same time keep in mind the changes to +which that spirit gradually was subjected, is an excellent one. For, +as will be seen, although the earlier order of regard may have been +from below upwards, this order does not apply to the literary +monuments. These show on the contrary a worship which steadily tends +from above earthwards; and the three periods into which may be divided +all Vedic theology are first that of the special worship of sky-gods, +when less attention is paid to others; then that of the atmospheric +and meteorological divinities; and finally that of terrestrial powers, +each later group absorbing, so to speak, the earlier, and therewith +preparing the developing Hindu intelligence for the reception of the +universal god with whom closes the series. + +Other factors than those of an inward development undoubtedly were at +work in the formation of this growth. Especially prominent is the +amalgamation of the gods of the lower classes with those of the +priest-hood. Climatic environment, too, conditioned theological +evolution, if not spiritual advance. The cult of the mid-sphere god, +Indra, was partly the result of the changing atmospheric surroundings +of the Hindus as they advanced into India. The storms and the sun were +not those of old. The tempests were more terrific, the display of +divine power was more concentrated in the rage of the elements; while +appreciation of the goodness of the sun became tinged with +apprehension of evil, and he became a deadly power as well as one +beneficent. Then the relief of rain after drought gave to Indra the +character of a benign god as well as of a fearful one. Nor were +lacking in the social condition certain alterations which worked +together with climatic changes. The segregated mass of the original +people, the braves that hung about the king, a warrior-class rapidly +becoming a caste, and politically the most important caste, took the +god of thunder and lightning for their god of battle. The fighting +race naturally exalted to the highest the fighting god. Then came into +prominence the priestly caste, which gradually taught the warrior that +mind was stronger than muscle. But this caste was one of thinkers. +Their divinity was the product of reflection. Indra remained, but +yielded to a higher power, and the god thought out by the priests +became God. Yet it must not be supposed that the cogitative energy of +the Brahman descended upon the people's gods and suddenly produced a +religious revolution. In India no intellectual advance is made +suddenly. The older divinities show one by one the transformation that +they suffered at the hands of theosophic thinkers. Before the +establishment of a general Father-god, and long before that of the +pantheistic All-god, the philosophical leaven was actively at work. It +will be seen operative at once in the case of the sun-god, and, +indeed, there were few of the older divinities that were untouched by +it. It worked silently and at first esoterically. One reads of the +gods' 'secret names,' of secrets in theology, which 'are not to be +revealed,' till at last the disguise is withdrawn, and it is +discovered that all the mystery of former generations has been leading +up to the declaration now made public: 'all these gods are but names +of the One.' + + +THE SUN-GOD. + +The hymn which was translated in the first chapter gives an epitome of +the simpler conceptions voiced in the few whole hymns to the sun. But +there is a lower and a higher view of this god. He is the shining god +_par excellence_, the _deva, s[=u]rya_,[2] the red ball in the sky. +But he is also an active force, the power that wakens, rouses, +enlivens, and as such it is he that gives all good things to mortals +and to gods. As the god that gives life he (with others)[3] is the +author of birth, and is prayed to for children. From above he looks +down upon earth, and as with his one or many steeds he drives over the +firmament he observes all that is passing below. He has these, the +physical side and the spiritual side, under two names, the glowing +one, S[=u]rya, and the enlivener, Savitar;[4] but he is also the good +god who bestows benefits, and as such he was known, probably locally, +by the name of Bhaga. Again, as a herdsman's god, possibly at first +also a local deity, he is P[=u]shan (the meaning is almost the same +with that of Savitar). As the 'mighty one' he is Vishnu, who measures +heaven in three strides. In general, the conception of the sun as a +physical phenomenon will be found voiced chiefly in the family-books: +"The sightly form rises on the slope of the sky as the swift-going +steed carries him ... seven sister steeds carry him."[5] This is the +prevailing utterance. Sometimes the sun is depicted under a medley of +metaphors: "A bull, a flood, a red bird, he has entered his father's +place; a variegated stone he is set in the midst of the sky; he has +advanced and guards the two ends of space."[6] One after the other the +god appears to the poets as a bull, a bird,[7] a steed, a stone, a +jewel, a flood, a torch-holder,[8] or as a gleaming car set in heaven. +Nor is the sun independent. As in the last image of a chariot,[9] so, +without symbolism, the poet speaks of the sun as made to rise by +Varuna and Mitra: "On their wonted path go Varuna and Mitra when in +the sky they cause to rise Surya, whom they made to avert darkness"; +where, also, the sun, under another image, is the "support of the +sky."[10] Nay, in this simpler view, the sun is no more than the "eye +of Mitra Varuna,"[11] a conception formally retained even when the sun +in the same breath is spoken of as pursuing Dawn like a lover, and as +being the 'soul of the universe' (I. 115. 1-2). In the older passages +the later moral element is almost lacking, nor is there maintained the +same physical relation between Sun and Dawn. In the earlier hymns the +Dawn is the Sun's mother, from whom he proceeds.[12] It is the "Dawns +produced the Sun," in still more natural language;[13] whereas, the +idea of the lover-Sun following the Dawn scarcely occurs in the +family-books.[14] Distinctly late, also, is the identification of the +sun with the all-spirit _([=a]tm[=a],_ I. 115. 1), and the following +prayer: "Remove, O sun, all weakness, illness, and bad dreams." In +this hymn, X. 37. 14, S[=u]rya is the son of the sky, but he is +evidently one with Savitar, who in V. 82. 4, removes bad dreams, as in +X. 100. 8, he removes sickness. Men are rendered 'sinless' by the sun +(IV. 54. 3; X. 37. 9) exactly as they are by the other gods, Indra, +Varuna, etc. In a passage that refers to the important triad of sun, +wind and fire, X. 158. I ff., the sun is invoked to 'save from the +sky,' _i.e._ from all evils that may come from the upper regions; +while in the same book the sun, like Indra, is represented as the +slayer of demons _(asuras)_ and dragons; as the slayer, also, of the +poet's rivals; as giving long life to the worshipper, and as himself +drinking sweet _soma_. This is one of the poems that seem to be at +once late and of a forced and artificial character (X. 170). + +Although S[=u]rya is differentiated explicitly from Savitar (V. 81. 4, +"Savitar, thou joyest in S[=u]a's rays"), yet do many of the hymns +make no distinction between them. The Enlivener is naturally extolled +in fitting phrase, to tally with his title: "The shining-god, the +Enlivener, is ascended to enliven the world"; "He gives protection, +wealth and children" (II. 38.1; IV. 53. 6-7). The later hymns seem, as +one might expect, to show greater confusion between the attributes of +the physical and spiritual sun. But what higher power under either +name is ascribed to the sun in the later hymns is not due to a higher +or more developed homage of the sun as such. On the contrary, as with +many other deities, the more the praise the less the individual +worship. It is as something more than the sun that the god later +receives more fulsome devotion. And, in fact, paradoxical as it seems, +it is a decline in sun-worship proper that is here registered. The +altar-fire becomes more important, and is revered in the sun, whose +hymns, at most, are few, and in part mechanical. + +Bergaigne in his great work, _La Religion Vedique_, has laid much +stress on sexual antithesis as an element in Vedic worship. It seems +to us that this has been much exaggerated. The sun is masculine; the +dawn, feminine. But there is no indication of a primitive antithesis +of male and female in their relations. What occurs appears to be of +adventitious character. For though sun and dawn are often connected, +the latter is represented first as his mother and afterwards as his +'wife' or mistress. Even in the later hymns, where the marital +relation is recognized, it is not insisted upon. But Bergaigne[15] is +right in saying that in the Rig Veda the sun does not play the part of +an evil power, and it is a good illustration of the difference between +Rik and Atharvan, when Ehni cites, to prove that the sun is like +death, only passages from the Atharvan and the later Brahmanic +literature.[16] + +When, later, the Hindus got into a region where the sun was deadly, +they said, "Yon burning sun-god is death," but in the Rig Veda' they +said, "Yon sun is the source of life,"[17] and no other conception of +the sun is to be found in the Rig Veda. + +There are about a dozen hymns to S[=u]rya, and as many to Savitar, in +the Rig Veda.[18] It is noteworthy that in the family-books the hymns +to Savitar largely prevail, while those to S[=u]rya are chiefly late +in position or content. Thus, in the family-books, where are found +eight or nine of the dozen hymns to Savitar, there are to S[=u]rya but +three or four, and of these the first is really to Savitar and the +Acvins; the second is an imitation of the first; the third appears to +be late; and the fourth is a fragment of somewhat doubtful antiquity. +The first runs as follows: "The altar-fire has seen well-pleased the +dawns' beginning and the offering to the gleaming ones; come, O ye +horsemen (Acvins), to the house of the pious man; the sun (S[=u]rya), +the shining-god, rises with light. The shining-god Savitar has +elevated his beams, swinging his banner like a good (hero) raiding for +cattle. According to rule go Varuna and Mitra when they make rise in +the sky the sun (S[=u]rya) whom they have created to dissipate +darkness, being (gods) sure of their habitation and unswerving in +intent. Seven yellow swift-steeds bear this S[=u]rya, the seer of all +that moves. Thou comest with swiftest steeds unspinning the web, +separating, O shining-god, the black robe. The rays of S[=u]rya +swinging (his banner) have laid darkness like a skin in the waters. +Unconnected, unsupported, downward extending, why does not this (god) +fall down? With what nature goes he, who knows (literally, 'who has +seen')? As a support he touches and guards the vault of the sky" (IV. +13). + +There is here, no more than in the early hymn from the first book, +translated in the first chapter, any worship of material phenomena. +S[=u]rya is worshipped as Savitar, either expressly so called, or with +all the attributes of the spiritual. The hymn that follows this[19] is +a bald imitation. In V. 47 there are more or less certain signs of +lateness, _e.g.,_ in the fourth stanza ("four carry him, ... and ten +give the child to drink that he may go," etc.) there is the juggling +with unexplained numbers, which is the delight of the later +priesthood. Moreover, this hymn is addressed formally to Mitra-Varuna +and Agni, and not to the sun-god, who is mentioned only in metaphor; +while the final words _namo dive_, 'obeisance to heaven,' show that +the sun is only indirectly addressed. One cannot regard hymns +addressed to Mitra-Varuna and S[=u]rya (with other gods) as primarily +intended for S[=u]rya, who in these hymns is looked upon as the +subject of Mitra and Varuna, as in VII. 62; or as the "eye" of the two +other gods, and 'like Savitar' in VII. 63. So in VII. 66. 14-16, a +mere fragment of a hymn is devoted exclusively to S[=u]rya as "lord of +all that stands and goes." But in these hymns there are some very +interesting touches. Thus in VII. 60. 1, the sun does not make +sinless, but he announces to Mitra and Varuna that the mortal is +sinless. There are no other hymns than these addressed to S[=u]rya, +save those in the first and tenth books, of which nine stanzas of I. +50 (see above) may be reckoned early, while I. 115, where the sun is +the soul of the universe, and at the same time the eye of +Mitra-Varuna, is probably late; and I. 163 is certainly so, wherein +the sun is identified with Yama, Trita, etc.; is 'like Varuna'; and is +himself a steed, described as having three connections in the sky, +three in the waters, three in the sea. In one of the hymns in the +tenth book, also a mystical song, the sun is the 'bird' of the sky, a +metaphor which soon gives another figure to the pantheon in the form +of Garutman, the sun-bird, of whose exploits are told strange tales in +the epic, where he survives as Garuda. In other hymns S[=u]rya averts +carelessness at the sacrifice, guards the worshipper, and slays +demons. A mechanical little hymn describes him as measuring the +'thirty stations.' Not one of these hymns has literary freshness or +beauty of any kind. They all belong to the class of stereotyped +productions, which differ in origin and content from the hymns first +mentioned.[20] + + +SAVITAR. + +Turning to Savitar one finds, of course, many of the same descriptive +traits as in the praise of S[=u]rya, his more material self. But with +the increased spirituality come new features. Savitar is not alone the +sun that rises; he is also the sun that sets; and is extolled as such. +There are other indications that most of the hymns composed for him +are to accompany the sacrifice, either of the morning or of the +evening. In II. 38, an evening song to Savitar, there are inner signs +that the hymn was made for rubrication, but here some fine verses +occur: "The god extends his vast hand, his arms above there--and all +here obeys him; to his command the waters move, and even the winds' +blowing ceases on all sides." Again: "Neither Indra, Varuna, Mitra, +Aryaman, Rudra, nor the demons, impair his law" We call attention here +to the fact that the Rig Veda contains a strong(stong in the original) +current of demonology, much stronger than has been pointed out by +scholars intent on proving the primitive loftiness of the Vedic +religion. + +In III. 62. 7-9 there are some verses to P[=u]shan, following which is +the most holy couplet of the Rig Veda, to repeat which is essentially +to repeat the Veda. It is the famous G[=a]yatr[=i] or S[=a]vitr[=i] +hymnlet (10-12): + + Of Savitar, the heavenly, that longed-for glory may we win, + And may himself inspire our prayers.[21] + +Whitney (loc. cit.) says of this hymn that it is not remarkable in any +way and that no good reason has ever been given for its fame. The good +reason for this fame, in our opinion, is that the longed-for glory was +interpreted later as a revealed indication of primitive pantheism, and +the verses were understood to express the desire of absorption into +the sun, which, as will be seen, was one of the first divine bodies to +be accepted as the type of the All-god. This is also the intent of the +stanzas added to I. 50 (above, p. 17), where S[=u]rya is "the highest +light, the god among gods," mystic words, taken by later philosophers, +and quite rightly, to be an expression of pantheism. The esoteric +meaning of the G[=a]yatr[=i] presumably made it popular among the +enlightened. Exoterically the sun was only the goal of the soul, or, +in pure pantheism, of the sight. In the following[22] the +sin-forgiving side of Savitar is developed, whereby he comes into +connection with Varuna: + + God Savitar deserveth now a song from us; + To-day, with guiding word, let men direct him here. + He who distributes gifts unto the sons of men, + Shall here on us bestow whatever thing is best; + For thou, O Savitar, dost first upon the gods + Who sacrifice deserve, lay immortality, + The highest gift, and then to mortals dost extend + As their apportionment a long enduring life. + Whatever thoughtless thing against the + race of gods We do in foolishness and human insolence, + Do thou from that, O Savitar, mid gods and men + Make us here sinless, etc. + +But if this song smacks of the sacrifice, still more so does V. 81, +where Savitar is the 'priest's priest,' the 'arranger of sacrifice,' +and is one with P[=u]shan. He is here the swift horse (see above) and +more famous as the divider of time than anything else. In fact this +was the first ritualistic glory of Savitar, that he divides the time +for sacrifice. But he receives more in the light of being the type of +other luminous divinities. In the next hymn, another late effort (V. +82; see the dream in vs. 4), there may be an imitation of the +G[=a]yatr[=i]. Savitar is here the All-god and true lord, and frees +from sin. There is nothing new or striking in the hymns VI. 71; VII. +38 and 45. The same golden hands, and references to the sacrifice +occur here. Allusions to the Dragon of the Deep, who is called upon +with Savitar (VII. 38. 5), and the identification of Savitar with +Bhaga (ib. 6) are the most important items to be gleaned from these +rather stupid hymns. In other hymns not in the family-books +(II.-VIII.), there is a fragment, X. 139. 1-3, and another, I. 22. +5-8. In the latter, Agni's (Fire's) title, 'son of waters,' is given +to Savitar, who is virtually identified with Agni in the last part of +the Rig Veda; and in the former hymn there is an interesting +discrimination made between Savitar and P[=u]shan, who obeys him. The +last hymn in the collection to Savitar, X. 149, although late and +plainly intended for the sacrifice (vs. 5), is interesting as showing +how the philosophical speculation worked about Savitar as a centre. +'He alone, he the son of the waters, knows the origin of water, whence +arose the world.' This is one of the early speculations which recur so +frequently in the Brahmanic period, wherein the origin of 'all this' +(the universe) is referred to water. A hymn to Savitar in the first +book contains as excellent a song as is given to the sun under this +name. It is neither a morning nor an evening song in its original +state, but mentions all the god's functions, without the later moral +traits so prominent elsewhere, and with the old threefold division +instead of thrice-three heavens. + + TO SAVITAR (I. 35). + + I call on Agni first (the god of fire) for weal; + I call on Mitra-Varuna to aid me here; + I call upon the Night, who quiets all that moves; + On Savitar, the shining god, I call for help. + +After this introductory invocation begins the real song in a different +metre. + + Through space of darkness wending comes he hither, + Who puts to rest th' immortal and the mortal, + On golden car existent things beholding, + The god that rouses, Savitar, the shining; + Comes he, the shining one, comes forward, upward, + Comes with two yellow steeds, the god revered, + Comes shining Savitar from out the distance, + All difficulties far away compelling. + His pearl-adorned, high, variegated chariot, + Of which the pole is golden, he, revered, + Hath mounted, Savitar, whose beams are brilliant, + Against the darksome spaces strength assuming. + Among the people gaze the brown white-footed + (Steeds) that the chariot drag whose pole is golden. + All peoples stand, and all things made, forever, + Within the lap of Savitar, the heavenly. + + [There are three heavens of Savitar, two low ones,[23] + One, men-restraining, in the realm of Yama. + As on (his) chariot-pole[24] stand all immortals, + Let him declare it who has understood it!] + + Across air-spaces gazes he, the eagle, + Who moves in secret, th' Asura,[25] well-guiding, + Where is (bright) S[=u]rya now? who understands it? + And through which sky is now his ray extending? + + He looks across the earth's eight elevations,[26] + The desert stations three, and the seven rivers, + The gold-eyed shining god is come, th' Arouser, + To him that worships giving wealth and blessings. + + The golden-handed Savitar, the active one, + Goes earth and heaven between, compels demoniac powers, + To S[=u]rya gives assistance, and through darksome space + Extends to heaven, etc.[27] + + +P[=U]SHAN AND BHAGA AS SUN-GODS. + +With P[=u]shan, the 'bestower of prosperity,' appears an ancient side +of sun-worship. While under his other names the sun has lost, to a +great extent, the attributes of a bucolic solar deity, in the case of +P[=u]shan he appears still as a god whose characteristics are bucolic, +war-like, and priestly, that is to say, even as he is venerated by the +three masses of the folk. It will not do, of course, to distinguish +too sharply between the first two divisions, but one can very well +compare P[=u]shan in these roles with Helios guiding his herds, and +Apollo swaying armed hosts. It is customary to regard P[=u]shan as too +bucolic a deity, but this is only one side of him. He apparently is +the sun, as herdsmen look upon him, and in this figure is the object +of ridicule with the warrior-class who, especially in one family or +tribe, take a more exalted view of him. Consequently, as in the case +of Varuna, one need not read into the hymns more than they offer to +see that, not to speak of the priestly view, there are at least two +P[=u]shans, in the Rig Veda itself.[28] + +As the god 'with braided hair,' and as the 'guardian of cattle,' +P[=u]shan offers, perhaps, in these particulars, the original of +Rudra's characteristics, who, in the Vedic period, and later as +Rudra-Civa, is also a 'guardian of cattle' and has the 'braided hair.' + +Bergaigne identifies P[=u]shan with Soma, with whom the poets were apt +to identify many other deities, but there seems to be little +similarity originally.[29] It is only in the wider circles of each +god's activity that the two approach each other. Both gods, it is +true, wed S[=u]rya (the female sun-power), and Soma, like P[=u]shan, +finds lost cattle. But it must be recognized once for all that +identical attributes are not enough to identify Vedic gods. Who gives +wealth? Indra, Soma, Agni, Heaven and Earth, Wind, Sun, the Maruts, +etc. Who forgives sins? Agni, Varuna, Indra, the Sun, etc. Who helps +in war? Agni, P[=u]shan, Indra, Soma, etc. Who sends rain? Indra, +Parjanya, Soma, the Maruts, P[=u]shan, etc. Who weds Dawn? The Acvins, +the Sun, etc. The attributes must be functional or the identification +is left incomplete. + +The great disparity in descriptions of P[=u]shan may be illustrated by +setting VI. 48. 19 beside X. 92. 13. The former passage merely +declares that P[=u]shan is a war-leader "over mortals, and like the +gods in glory"; the latter, that he is "distinguished by all divine +attributes"; that is to say, what has happened in the case of Savitar +has happened here also. The individuality of P[=u]shan dies out, but +the vaguer he becomes the more grandiloquently is he praised and +associated with other powers; while for lack of definite laudation +general glory is ascribed to him. The true position of P[=u]shan in +the eyes of the warrior is given unintentionally by one who says,[30] +"I do not scorn thee, O P[=u]shan," _i.e.,_ as do most people, on +account of thy ridiculous attributes. For P[=u]shan does not drink +_soma_ like Indra, but eats mush. So another devout believer says: +"P[=u]shan is not described by them that call him an eater of +mush."[31] The fact that he was so called speaks louder than the pious +protest. Again, P[=u]shan is simply bucolic. He uses the goad, which, +however, according to Bergaigne, is the thunderbolt! So, too, the cows +that P[=u]shan is described as guiding have been interpreted as clouds +or 'dawns.' But they may be taken without 'interpretation' as +real cows.[32] P[=u]shan drives the cows, he is armed with a goad, and +eats mush; bucolic throughout, yet a sun-god. It is on these lines +that his finding-qualities are to be interpreted. He finds lost +cattle,[33] a proper business for such a god; but Bergaigne will see +in this a transfer from P[=u]shan's finding of rain and of _soma_.[34] +P[=u]shan, too, directs the furrow[35] + +Together with Vishnu and Bhaga this god is invoked at sacrifices, (a +fact that says little against or for his original sun-ship),[36] and +he is intimately connected with Indra. His sister is his mistress, and +his mother is his wife (Dawn and Night?) according to the meagre +accounts given in VI. 55. 4-5.[37] As a god of increase he is invoked +in the marriage-rite, X. 85. 37. + +As Savitar and all sun-gods are at once luminous and dark, so +P[=u]shan has a clear and again a revered (terrible) appearance; he is +like day and night, like Dyaus (the sky); at one time bright, at +another, plunged in darkness, VI. 58. 1. Quite like Savitar he is the +shining god who "looks upon all beings and sees them all together"; he +is the "lord of the path," the god of travellers; he is invoked to +drive away evil spirits, thieves, footpads, and all workers of evil; +he makes paths for the winning of wealth; he herds the stars and +directs all with _soma_. He carries a golden axe or sword, and is +borne through air and water on golden ships; and it is he that lets +down the sun's golden wheel. These simpler attributes appear for the +most part in the early hymns. In what seem to be later hymns, he is +the mighty one who "carries the thoughts of all"; he is +like _soma_ (the drink), and attends to the filter; he is "lord of the +pure"; the "one born of old," and is especially called upon to help +the poets' hymns.[38] It is here, in the last part of the Rig Veda, +that he appears as [Greek: psuchopompos], who "goes and returns," +escorting the souls of the dead to heaven. He is the sun's messenger, +and is differentiated from Savitar in X. 139. 1.[39] Apparently he was +a god affected most by the Bharadv[=a]ja family (to which is ascribed +the sixth book of the Rig Veda) where his worship was extended more +broadly. He seems to have become the special war-god of this family, +and is consequently invoked with Indra and the Maruts (though this may +have been merely in his rote as sun). The goats, his steeds, are also +an attribute of the Scandinavian war-god Thor (Kaegi, _Rig Veda_, note +210), so that his bucolic character rests more in his goad, food, and +plough. + +Bhaga is recognized as an [=A]ditya (luminous deity) and was perhaps a +sun-god of some class, possibly of all, as the name in Slavic is still +kept in the meaning 'god,' literally 'giver.' In the Rig Veda the word +means, also, simply god, as in _bhagabhakta_, 'given by gods'; but as +a name it is well known, and when thus called Bhaga is still the +giver, 'the bestower' _(vidhart[=a])_. As _bhaga_ is also an epithet +of Savitar, the name may not stand for an originally distinct +personality. Bhaga has but one hymn.[40] There is in fact no reason +why Bhaga should be regarded as a sun-god, except for the formal +identification of him as an [=A]ditya, that is as the son of Aditi +(Boundlessness, see below); but neither S[=u]rya nor Savitar is +originally an [=A]ditya, and in Iranic _bagha_ is only an epithet of +Ormuzd. + + + HYMNS TO P[=U]SHAN AND BHAGA. + + To P[=U]SHAN (vi. 56). + + The man who P[=u]shan designates + With words like these, 'mush-eater he,' + By him the god is not described. + + With P[=u]shan joined in unison + That best of warriors, truest lord, + Indra, the evil demons slays. + + 'T is he, the best of warriors, drives + The golden chariot of the sun + Among the speckled kine (the clouds). + + Whate'er we ask of thee to-day, + O wonder-worker, praised and wise, + Accomplish thou for us that prayer. + + And this our band, which hunts for kine,[41] + Successful make for booty's gain; + Afar, O P[=u]shan, art thou praised. + + We seek of thee success, which far + From ill, and near to wealth shall be; + For full prosperity to-day; + And full prosperity the morn.[42] + + + To BHAGA (vii. 41). + + Early on Agni call we, early Indra call; + Early call Mitra, Varuna, the Horsemen twain; + Early, too, Bhaga, P[=u]shan, and the Lord of Strength; + And early Soma will we call, and Rudra too. + +This stanza has been prefixed to the hymn by virtue of the catch-word +'early' (in the morning), with which really begins this prosaic poem +(in different metre): + + The early-conquering mighty Bhaga call we, + The son of Boundlessness, the gift-bestower,[43] + Whom weak and strong, and e'en the king, regarding, + Cry _bhagam bhakshi_, 'give to me the giver.'[44] + + O Bhaga, leader Bhaga, true bestower, + O Bhaga, help this prayer, to us give (riches), + O Bhaga, make us grow in kine and horses, + O Bhaga, eke in men, men-wealthy be we! + + And now may we be rich, be _bhaga_-holders,[45] + Both at the (day's) approach, and eke at midday, + And at the sun's departure, generous giver. + The favor of the gods may we abide in. + + O gods, (to us) be Bhaga really _bhaga_,[46] + By means of him may we be _bhaga_-holders. + As such an one do all, O Bhaga, call thee, + As such, O Bhaga, be to-day our leader. + + May dawns approach the sacrifice, the holy + Place, like to Dadhikr[=a],[47] like horses active, + Which bring a chariot near; so, leading Bhaga, + Who finds good things, may they approach, and bring him. + +As this is the only hymn addressed to Bhaga, and as it proves itself +to have been made for altar service (in style as well as in special +mention of the ceremony), it is evident that Bhaga, although called +Aditi's son, is but a god of wealth and (like Anca, the Apportioner) +very remotely connected with physical functions. But the hymn appears +to be so late that it cannot throw much light on the original +conception of the deity. We rather incline to doubt whether Bhaga was +ever, strictly speaking, a sun-god, and think that he was made so +merely because the sun (Savitar) was called _bhaga_. A (Greek: Zehys) +Bagaios was worshipped by the Phrygians, while in the Avesta and as a +Slavic god Bhaga has no especial connection with the sun. It must be +acknowledged, however, that every form of the sun-god is especially +lauded for generosity. + + +VISHNU. + +In the person of Vishnu the sun is extolled under another name, which +in the period of the Rig Veda was still in the dawn of its glory. The +hymns to Vishnu are few; his fame rests chiefly on the three strides +with which he crosses heaven, on his making fast the earth, and on his +munificence.[48] He, too, leads in battle and is revered under the +title Cipivishta,[49] of unknown significance, but meaning literally +'bald.' Like Savitar he has three spaces, two called earthly, and one, +the highest, known only to himself. His greatness is inconceivable, +and he is especially praised with Indra, the two being looked upon as +masters of the world.[50] His highest place is the realm of the +departed spirits.[51] The hymns to him appear to be late (thus I. 155. +6, where, as the year, he has four seasons of ninety days each). Like +P[=u]shan (his neighbor in many lauds) he is associated in a late hymn +with the Maruts (V. 87). His later popularity lies in the importance +of his 'highest place' (or step) being the home of the departed +spirits, where he himself dwells, inscrutable. This led to the +spirit's union with the sun, which, as we have said, is one of the +first phases of the pantheistic doctrine. In the family-books Vishnu +gets but two hymns, both in the same collection, and shares one more +with Indra (VII. 99-100; VI. 69). In some of the family-collections, +notably in that of the Visvamitras, he is, if not unknown, almost +ignored. As Indra's friend he is most popular with the Kanva family, +but even here he has no special hymn. + + None born, God Vishnu, and none born hereafter + E'er reaches to the limit of thy greatness; + Twas thou establish'st yon high vault of heaven, + Thou madest fast the earth's extremest mountain. (VII. 99. 2.) + + Three steps he made, the herdsman sure, + Vishnu, and stepped across (the world). (I. 22. i8.) + + The mighty deeds will I proclaim of Vishnu, + Who measured out the earth's extremest spaces, + And fastened firm the highest habitation, + Thrice stepping out with step all-powerful. + + O would that I might reach his path beloved, + Where joy the men who hold the gods in honor. (I. 154. 1, 5.) + +Under all these names and images the sun is worshipped. And it is +necessary to review them all to see how deeply the worship is +ingrained. The sun is one of the most venerable as he is the most +enduring of India's nature-gods.[52] In no early passage is the sun a +malignant god. He comes "as kine to the village, as a hero to his +steed, as a calf to the cow, as a husband to his wife."[53] He is the +'giver,' the 'generous one,' and as such he is Mitra, 'the friend,' +who with Varuna, the encompassing heaven, is, indeed, in the Rig Veda, +a personality subordinated to his greater comrade; yet is this, +perhaps, the sun's oldest name of those that are not descriptive of +purely physical characteristics. For Mithra in Persian keeps the +proof that this title was given to the Indo-Iranic god before the +separation of the two peoples. It is therefore (perhaps with Bhaga?) +one of the most ancient personal designations of the sun,--one, +perhaps, developed from a mere name into a separate deity. + + +HEAVEN AND EARTH. + +Not only as identical with the chief god of the Greeks, but also from +a native Indic point of view, it might have been expected that Dyaus +(Zeus), the 'shining sky,' would play an important role in the Hindu +pantheon. But such is not the case. There is not a single hymn +addressed independently to Dyaus, nor is there any hint of especial +preeminence of Dyaus in the half-dozen hymns that are sung to Heaven +and Earth together. The word _dyaus_ is used hundreds of times, but +generally in the meaning sky (without personification). There is, to +be sure, a formal acknowledgment of the fatherhood of Dyaus (among +gods he is father particularly of Dawn, the Acvins, and Indra), as +there is of the motherhood of Earth, but there is no further +exaltation. No exaggeration--the sign of Hindu enthusiasm--is +displayed in the laudation, and the epithet 'father' is given to half +a dozen Vedic gods, as in Rome Ma(r)spiter stands beside Jup(p)iter. +Certain functions are ascribed to Heaven and Earth, but they are of +secondary origin. Thus they bring to the god he sacrifice,[54] as does +Agni, and one whole hymn may thus be epitomized: 'By the ordinance of +Varuna made firm, O Heaven and Earth, give us blessings. Blest with +children and wealth is he that adores you twain. Give us sweet food, +glory and strength of heroes, ye who are our father and mother.'[55] + +The praise is vague and the benevolence is the usual 'bestowal of +blessings' expected of all the gods in return for praise. Other hymns +add to this something, from which one sees that these deities are not +regarded as self-created; for the seers of old, or, according to one +poet some wonderful divine artisan, "most wondrous worker of the +wonder-working gods," created them. Their chief office is to exercise +benign protection and bestow wealth. Once they are invited to come to +the sacrifice "with the gods," but this, of course, is not meant to +exclude them from the list of gods[56]. + +The antithesis of male and female, to Bergaigne's insistence on which +reference was made above (p. 43), even here in this most obvious of +forms, common to so many religions, shows itself so faintly that it +fails utterly to support that basis of sexual dualism on which the +French scholar lays so much stress. Dyaus does, indeed, occasionally +take the place of Indra, and as a bellowing bull impregnate earth, but +this is wholly incidental and not found at all in the hymns directly +lauding Heaven and Earth. Moreover, instead of "father and mother" +Heaven and Earth often are spoken of as "the two mothers," the +significance of which cannot be nullified by the explanation that to +the Hindu 'two mothers' meant two parents, and of two parents one must +be male,--Bergaigne's explanation. For not only is Dyaus one of the +'two mothers,' but when independently used the word Dyaus is male or +female indifferently. Thus in X. 93. I: "O Heaven and Earth be wide +outstretched for us, (be) like two young women." The position of +Heaven and Earth in relation to other divinities varies with the fancy +of the poet that extols them. They are either created, or they create +gods, as well as create men. In accordance with the physical reach of +these deities they are exhorted to give strength whereby the +worshipper shall "over-reach all peoples"; and, as parents, to be the +"nearest of the gods," to be "like father and mother in kindness." (I. +159; 160. 2, 5.) + +One more attribute remains to be noticed, which connects Dyaus morally +as well as physically with Savitar and Varuna. The verse in which this +attribute is spoken of is also not without interest from a +sociological point of view: "Whatsoever sin we have committed against +the gods, or against a friend, or against the chief of the clan +(family)[57] may this hymn to Heaven and Earth avert it." It was shown +above that Savitar removes sin. Here, as in later times, it is the +hymn that does this. The mystery of these gods' origin puzzles the +seer: "Which was first and which came later, how were they begotten, +who knows, O ye wise seers? Whatever exists, that they carry."[58] But +all that they do they do under the command of Mitra.[59] + +The most significant fact in connection with the hymns to Heaven and +Earth is that most of them are expressly for sacrificial intent. "With +sacrifices I praise Heaven and Earth" (I. 159. 1); "For the sake of +the sacrifice are ye come down (to us)" (IV. 56. 7). In VI. 70 they +are addressed in sacrificial metaphors; in VII. 53. 1 the poet says: +"I invoke Heaven and Earth with sacrifices," etc. The passivity of the +two gods makes them yield in importance to their son, the active +Savitar, who goes between the two parents. None of these hymns bears +the impress of active religious feeling or has poetic value. They all +seem to be reflective, studied, more or less mechanical, and to belong +to a period of theological philosophy. To Earth alone without Heaven +are addressed one uninspired hymn and a fragment of the same +character: "O Earth be kindly to us, full of dwellings and painless, +and give us protection."[60] In the burial service the dead are +exhorted to "go into kindly mother earth" who will be "wool-soft, like +a maiden."[61] The one hymn to Earth should perhaps be placed +parallel with similar meditative and perfunctory laudations in the +Homeric hymns: + + To EARTH (V. 84). + + In truth, O broad extended earth, + Thou bear'st the render of the hills,[62] + Thou who, O mighty mountainous one, + Quickenest created things with might. + Thee praise, O thou that wander'st far, + The hymns which light accompany, + Thee who, O shining one, dost send + Like eager steeds the gushing rain. + Thou mighty art, who holdest up + With strength on earth the forest trees, + When rain the rains that from thy clouds + And Dyaus' far-gleaming lightning come.[62] + +On the bearing of these facts, especially in regard to the secondary +greatness of Dyaus, we shall touch below. He is a god exalted more by +modern writers than by the Hindus! + + +VARUNA. + +Varuna has been referred already in connection with the sun-god and +with Heaven and Earth. It is by Varuna's power that they stand firm. +He has established the sun 'like a tree,' i.e., like a support, and +'made a path for it.'[63] He has a thousand remedies for ills; to his +realm not even the birds can ascend, nor wind or swift waters attain. +It is in accordance with the changeless order[64] of Varuna that the +stars and the moon go their regular course; he gives long life and +releases from harm, from wrong, and from sin.[65] + +Varuna is the most exalted of those gods whose origin is physical. His +realm is all above us; the sun and stars are his eyes; he sits above +upon his golden throne and sees all that passes below, even the +thoughts of men. He is, above all, the moral controller of the +universe. + + To VARUNA (i. 25). + + Howe'er we, who thy people are, + O Varuna, thou shining god, + Thy order injure, day by day, + Yet give us over nor to death, + Nor to the blow of angry (foe), + Nor to the wrath of (foe) incensed.[66] + Thy mind for mercy we release-- + As charioteer, a fast-bound steed-- + By means of song, O Varuna. + + * * * * * + + ('Tis Varuna) who knows the track + Of birds that fly within the air, + And knows the ships upon the flood;[67] + Knows, too, the (god) of order firm, + The twelve months with their progeny, + And e'en which month is later born;[68] + Knows, too, the pathway of the wind, + The wide, the high, the mighty (wind), + And knows who sit above (the wind). + + (God) of firm order, Varuna + His place hath ta'en within (his) home + For lordship, he, the very strong.[69] + Thence all the things that are concealed + He looks upon, considering + Whate'er is done and to be done. + May he, the Son of Boundlessness, + The very strong, through every day + Make good our paths, prolong our life. + + Bearing a garment all of gold, + In jewels clothed, is Varuna, + And round about him sit his spies; + A god whom injurers injure not, + Nor cheaters cheat among the folk, + Nor any plotters plot against; + Who for himself 'mid (other) men + Glory unequalled gained, and gains + (Such glory) also 'mid ourselves. + + Far go my thoughts (to him), as go + The eager cows that meadows seek, + Desiring (him), the wide-eyed (god). + Together let us talk again, + Since now the offering sweet I bring, + By thee beloved, and like a priest + Thou eat'st. + + I see the wide-eyed (god): + I see his chariot on the earth, + My song with joy hath he received. + + Hear this my call, O Varuna, + Be merciful to me today, + For thee, desiring help, I yearn. + + Thou, wise one, art of everything, + The sky and earth alike, the king; + As such upon thy way give ear, + And loose from us the (threefold) bond; + The upper bond, the middle, break, + The lower, too, that we may live. + +In the portrait of such a god as this one comes very near to +monotheism. The conception of an almost solitary deity, recognized as +watcher of wrong, guardian of right, and primitive creator, approaches +more closely to unitarianism than does the idea of any physical power +in the Rig Veda. + +To the poet of the Rig Veda Varuna is the enveloping heaven;[70] that +is, in distinction from Dyaus, from whom he +differs _toto caelo_, so to speak, the invisible world, which embraces +the visible sky. His home is there where lives the Unborn, whose place +is unique, above the highest heaven.[71] + +But it is exactly this loftiness of character that should make one shy +of interpreting Varuna as being originally the god that is presented +here. Can this god, 'most august of Vedic deities,' as Bergaigne and +others have called him, have belonged as such to the earliest stratum +of Aryan belief? + +There are some twelve hymns in the Rig Veda in Varuna's honor. Of +these, one in the tenth book celebrates Indra as opposed to Varuna, +and generally it is considered late, in virtue of its content. Of the +hymns in the eighth book the second appears to be a later imitation of +the first, and the first appears, from several indications, to be of +comparatively recent origin.[72] In the seventh book (vii. 86-89) the +short final hymn contains a distinctly late trait in invoking Varuna +to cure dropsy; the one preceding this is _in majorem gloriam_ of the +poet Vasistha, fitly following the one that appears to be as new, +where not only the mysticism but the juggling with "thrice-seven," +shows the character of the hymn to be recent.[73] In the first hymn of +this book the late doctrine of inherited sin stands prominently forth +(vii. 86. 5) as an indication of the time in which it was composed. +The fourth and sixth books have no separate hymns to Varuna. In the +fifth book the position of the one hymn to Varuna is one favorable to +spurious additions, but the hymn is not otherwise obnoxious to the +criticism of lateness. Of the two hymns in the second book, the first +is addressed only indirectly to Varuna, nor is he here very prominent; +the second (ii. 28) is the only song which stands on a par with the +hymn already translated. There remain the hymns cited above from the +first, not a family-book. It is, moreover, noteworthy that in ii. 28, +apart from the ascription of general greatness, almost all that is +said of Varuna is that he is a priest, that he causes rivers to flow, +and loosens the bond of sin.[74] The finest hymn to Varuna, from a +literary point of view, is the one translated above, and it is mainly +on the basis of this hymn that the lofty character of Varuna has been +interpreted by occidental writers. To our mind this hymn belongs to +the close of the first epoch of the three which the hymns represent. +That it cannot be very early is evident from the mention of the +intercalated month, not to speak of the image of Varuna eating the +sweet oblation 'like a priest.' Its elevated language is in sharp +contrast to that of almost all the other Varuna hymns. As these are +all the hymns where Varuna is praised alone by himself, it becomes of +chief importance to study him here, and not where, as in iii. 62, iv. +41, vi. 51, 67, 68, and elsewhere, he is lauded as part of a +combination of gods (Mitra or Indra united with Varuna). In the last +book of the Rig Veda there is no hymn to Varuna,[75] a time when +pantheistic monotheism was changing into pantheism, so that, in the +last stage of the Rig Veda, Varuna is descended from the height. +Thereafter he is god and husband of waters, and punisher of secret sin +(as in ii. 28). Important in contrast to the hymn translated above is +v. 85. + + +TO VARUNA. + +"I will sing forth unto the universal king a high deep prayer, dear to +renowned Varuna, who, as a butcher a hide, has struck earth apart +(from the sky) for the sun. Varuna has extended air in trees, strength +in horses, milk in cows, and has laid wisdom in hearts; fire in water; +the sun in the sky; _soma_ in the stone. Varuna has inverted his +water-barrel and let the two worlds with the space between flow (with +rain). With this (heavenly water-barrel) he, the king of every created +thing, wets the whole world, as a rain does a meadow. He wets the +world, both earth and heaven, when he, Varuna, chooses to milk out +(rain)--and then do the mountains clothe themselves with cloud, and +even the strongest men grow weak. Yet another great and marvellous +power of the renowned spirit (Asura) will I proclaim, this, that +standing in mid-air he has measured earth with the sun, as if with a +measuring rod. (It is due to) the marvellous power of the wisest god, +which none ever resisted, that into the one confluence run the rivers, +and pour into it, and fill it not. O Varuna, loosen whatever sin we +have committed to bosom-friend, comrade, or brother; to our own house, +or to the stranger; what (we) have sinned like gamblers at play, real +(sin), or what we have not known. Make loose, as it were, all these +things, O god Varuna, and may we be dear to thee hereafter." + +In this hymn Varuna is a water-god, who stands in mid-air and directs +the rain; who, after the rain, reinstates the sun; who releases from +sin (as water does from dirt?). According to this conception it would +seem that Varuna were the 'coverer' rather than the 'encompasser.' It +might seem probable even that Varuna first stood to Dyaus as cloud and +rain and night to shining day, and that his counterpart, (Greek: +Hohyranhos), stood in the same relation to (Greek: Zehys); that were +connecte(Greek: Hohyranhos)d with (Greek: hyrheo) and Varuna with +_vari_, river, _v[=a]ri_, water.[76] + +It is possible, but it is not provable. But no interpretation of +Varuna that ignores his rainy side can be correct. And this is fully +recognized by Hillebrandt. On account of his "thousand spies," _i.e.,_ +eyes, he has been looked upon by some as exclusively a night-god. But +this is too one-sided an interpretation, and passes over the +all-important, fact that it is only in conjunction with the sun +(Mitra), where there is a strong antithesis, that the night-side of +the god is exclusively displayed. Wholly a day-god he cannot be, +because he rules night and rain. He is _par excellence_ the Asura, +and, like Ahura Mazdao, has the sun for an eye, _i.e.,_ he is heaven. +But there is no Varuna in Iranian worship and Ahura is a sectarian +specialization. Without this name may one ascribe to India what is +found in Iran?[77] It has been suggested by Bergaigne that Varuna and +Vritra, the rain-holding demon, were developments from the same idea, +one revered as a god, the other, a demon; and that the word means +'restrainer,' rather than 'encompasser.' + +From all this it will be evident that to claim an original monotheism +as still surviving in the person of Varuna, is impossible; and this is +the one point we would make. Every one must admire the fine hymn in +which he is praised, but what there is in it does not make it seem +very old, and the intercalated month is decisive evidence, for here +alone in the Rig Veda is mentioned this month, which implies the +five-year cyclus, but this belongs to the Brahmanic period (Weber, +_Vedische Beitraege_, p. 38). Every explanation of the original nature +of Varuna must take into consideration that he is a rain-god, a +day-god, and a night-god in turn, and that where he is praised in the +most elevated language the rain-side disappears, although it was +fundamental, as may be seen by comparing many passages, where Varuna +is exhorted to give rain, where his title is 'lord of streams,' his +position that of 'lord of waters.' The decrease of Varuna worship in +favor of Indra results partly from the more peaceful god of rain +appearing less admirable than the monsoon-god, who overpowers with +storm and lightning, as well as 'wets the earth.' + +The most valuable contribution to the study of Varuna is Hillebrandt's +'Varuna and Mitra.' This author has succeeded in completely +overthrowing the old error that Varuna is exclusively a night-god.[78] +Quite as definitively he proves that Varuna is not exclusively a +day-god. + +Bergaigne, on the other hand, claims an especially tenebrous character +for Varuna.[79] Much has been written on luminous deities by scholars +that fail to recognize the fact that the Hindus regard the night both +as light and as dark. But to the Vedic poet the night, star-illumined, +was bright. Even Hillebrandt speaks of "the bright heaven" of day as +"opposed to the dark night-heaven in which Varuna also shows +himself."[80] + +In the Rig Veda, as it stands, with all the different views of Varuna +side by side, Varuna is a universal encompasser, moral as well as +physical. As such his physical side is almost gone. But the conception +of him as a moral watcher and sole lord of the universe is in so sharp +contrast to the figure of the rain-god, who, like Parjanya, stands in +mid-air and upsets a water-barrel, that one must discriminate even +between the Vedic views in regard to him.[81] + +It is Varuna who lets rivers flow; with Indra he is besought not to +let his weapons fall on the sinner; wind is his breath.[82] + +On the other hand he is practically identified with the sun.[83] How +ill this last agrees with the image of a god who 'lives by the spring +of rivers,' 'covers earth as with a garment,' and 'rises like a secret +sea (in fog) to heaven'![84] Even when invoked with the sun, Mitra, +Varuna still gives rain: "To whomsoever ye two are kindly disposed +comes sweet rain from heaven; we beseech you for rain ... you, the +thunderers who go through earth and heaven" (v. 63),--a strange prayer +to be addressed to a monotheistic god of light: "Ye make the lightning +flash, ye send the rain; ye hide the sky in cloud and rain" (_ib_.). +In the hymn preceding we read: "Ye make firm heaven and earth, ye give +growth to plants, milk to cows; O ye that give rain, pour down rain!" +In the same group another short hymn declares: "They are universal +kings, who have _ghee_ (rain) in their laps; they are lords of the +rain" (v. 68). In the next hymn: "Your clouds (cows) give nourishment, +your streams are sweet." Thus the twain keep the order of the seasons +(i. 2. 7-8) and protect men by the regular return of the rainy season. +Their weapons are always lightning (above, i. 152. 2, and elsewhere). +A short invocation in a family-book gives this prayer: "O +Mitra-Varuna, wet our meadows with _ghee_; wet all places with the +sweet drink" (iii. 62. 16). + +The interpretation given above of the office of Varuna as regards the +sun's path, is supported by a verse where is made an allusion to the +time "when they release the sun's horses," _i.e_., when after two or +three months of rain the sun shines again (v. 62. 1). In another verse +one reads: "Ye direct the waters, sustenance of earth and heaven, +richly let come your rains" (viii. 25. 6). + +Now there is nothing startling in this view. In opposition to the +unsatisfactory attempts of modern scholars, it is the traditional +interpretation of Mitra and Varuna that Mitra was god of day (_i.e.,_ +the sun), and Varuna the god of night (_i.e.,_ covering),[85] while +native belief regularly attributes to him the lordship of water[86]. +The 'thousand eyes' of Varuna are the result of this view. The other +light-side of Varuna as special lord of day (excluding the all-heaven +idea with the sun as his 'eye') is elsewhere scarcely referred to, +save in late hymns and VIII. 41.[87] In conjunction with the +storm-god, Indra, the wrath-side of Varuna is further developed. The +prayer for release is from 'long darkness,' _i.e._, from death; in +other words, may the light of life be restored (II. 27. 14-15; II. 28. +7). Grassmann, who believes that in Varuna there is an early +monotheistic deity, enumerates all his offices and omits the giving of +rain from the list;[88] while Ludwig derives his name from _var_ (= +velle) and defines him as the lofty god who wills! + +Varuna's highest development ushers in the middle period of the Rig +Veda; before the rise of the later All-father, and even before the +great elevation of Indra. But when S[=u]rya and Dawn were chief, then +Varuna was chiefest. There is no monotheism in the worship of a god +who is regularly associated as one of a pair with another god. Nor is +there in Varuna any religious grandeur which, so far as it exceeds +that of other divinities, is not evolved from his old physical side. +One cannot personify heaven and write a descriptive poem about him +without becoming elevated in style, as compared with the tone of one +that praises a rain-cloud or even the more confined personality of the +sun. There is a stylistic but not a metaphysical descent from this +earlier period in the 'lords of the atmosphere,' for, as we shall +show, the elevation of Indra and Agni denotes a philosophical +conception yet more advanced than the almost monotheistic greatness +attained by Varuna. But one must find the background to this earlier +period; and in it Varuna is not monotheistic. He is the covering sky +united with the sun, or he whose covering is rain and dew. Indra +treats Varuna as Savitar treats Mitra, supplants him; and for the same +reason, because each represents the same priestly philosophy. + +In the one extant hymn to Mitra (who is Indo-Iranian) it is Mitra that +'watches men,' and 'bears earth and heaven.' He is here (iii. 59) the +kindly sun, his name (Mitra, 'friend') being frequently punned upon. + +The point of view taken by Barth deserves comment. He says:[89] "It +has sometimes been maintained that the Varuna of the hymns is a god in +a state of decadence. In this view we can by no means concur; ... an +appeal to these few hymns is enough to prove that in the consciousness +of their authors the divinity of Varuna stood still intact." If, +instead of 'still intact,' the author had said, 'on the increase, till +undermined by still later philosophical speculation,' the true +position, in our opinion, would have been given. But a distinction +must be made between decadence of greatness and decadence of +popularity. It has happened in the case of some of the Vedic inherited +gods that exactly in proportion as their popularity decreased their +greatness increased; that is to say, as they became more vague and +less individual to the folk they were expanded into wider circles of +relationship by the theosophist, and absorbed other gods' majesty.[89] +Varuna is no longer a popular god in the Rig Veda. He is already a god +of speculation, only the speculation did not go far enough to suit the +later seers of Indra-Savitar-hood. Most certainly his worship, when +compared in popularity with that of Agni and Indra, is unequal. But +this is because he is too remote to be popular. + +What made the popular gods was a union of near physical force to +please the vulgar, with philosophical mysticism to please the priest, +and Indra and Agni fulfilled the conditions, while awful, but distant, +Varuna did not. + +In stating that the great hymn to Varuna is not typical of the +earliest stage of religious belief among the Vedic Aryans, we should +add one word in explanation. Varuna's traits, as shown in other parts +of the Rig Veda, are so persistent that they must be characteristic of +his original function. It does not follow, however, that any one hymn +in which he is lauded is necessarily older than the hymn cited from +the first book. The earliest stage of religious development precedes +the entrance into the Punj[=a]b. It may even be admitted that at the +time when the Vedic Aryans became Hindus, that is, when they settled +about the Indus, Varuna was the great god we see him in the great hymn +to his honor. But while the relation of the [=A]dityas to the spirits +of Ahura in Zoroaster's system points to this, yet it is absurd to +assume this epoch as the starting point of Vedic belief. Back of this +period lies one in which Varuna was by no means a monotheistic deity, +nor even the greatest divinity among the gods. The fact, noticed by +Hillebrandt, that the Vasishtha family are the chief praisers of +Varuna, may also indicate that his special elevation was due to the +theological conceptions of one clan, rather than of the whole people, +since in the other family books he is worshipped more as one of a +pair, Varuna and Mitra, heaven and sun. + + +ADITI. + +The mother of Varuna and the luminous gods is the 'mother of kings,' +Boundlessness (_aditi_)[90] a product of priestly theosophy. Aditi +makes, perhaps, the first approach to formal pantheism in India, for +all gods, men, and things are identified with her (i. 89. 10). Seven +children of Aditi are mentioned, to whom is added an eighth (in one +hymn).[91] The chief of these, who is, _par excellence_ the [=A]ditya +(son of Aditi), is Varuna. Most of the others are divinities of the +sun (x. 72). With Varuna stands Mitra, and besides this pair are found +'the true friend' Aryaman, Savitar, Bhaga, and, later, Indra, as sun +(?). Daksha and Anca are also reckoned as [=A]dityas, and S[=u]rya is +enumerated among them as a divinity distinct from Savitar. But the +word _aditi,_ 'unbound,' is often a mere epithet, of Fire, Sky, etc. +Moreover, in one passage, at least, _aditi_ simply means 'freedom' (i. +24. 1), less boundlessness than 'un-bondage'; so, probably, in i. 185. +3, 'the gift of freedom.' Anca seems to have much the same meaning +with Bhaga, _viz.,_ the sharer, giver. Daksha may, perhaps, be the +'clever,' 'strong' one ([Greek: dexios]), abstract Strength; as +another name of the sun (?). Aditi herself (according to Mueller, +Infinity; according to Hillebrandt, Eternity) is an abstraction that +is born later than her chief sons, Sun and Varuna.[92] Zarathustra +(Zoroaster, not earlier than the close of the first Vedic period) took +the seven [=A]dityas and reformed them into one monotheistic +(dualistic) Spirit (Ahura), with a circle of six moral attendants, +thereby dynamically destroying every physical conception of them. + + +DAWN. + +We have devoted considerable space to Varuna because of the +theological importance with which is invested his personality. If one +admit that a monotheistic Varuna is the _ur_-Varuna, if one see in him +a sign that the Hindus originally worshipped one universally great +superior god, whose image effaced that of all the others,[93] then the +attempt to trace any orderly development in Hindu theology may as well +be renounced; and one must imagine that this peculiar people, starting +with monotheism descended to polytheism, and then leapt again into the +conception of that Father-god whose form, in the end of the Rig Vedic +period, out-varunas Varuna as encompasser and lord of all. If, on the +other hand, one see in Varuna a god who, from the 'covering,' heaven +and cloud and rain, from earliest time has been associated with the +sun as a pair, and recognize in Varuna's loftier form the product of +that gradual elevation to which were liable all the gods at the hands +of the Hindu priests; if one see in him at this stage the highest god +which a theology, based on the worship of natural phenomena, was able +to evolve; then, for the reception of those gods who overthrew him +from his supremacy, because of their greater freedom from physical +restraints, there is opened a logical and historical path--until that +god comes who in turn follows these half-embodied ones, and stands as +the first immaterial author of the universe--and so one may walk +straight from the physical beginning of the Rig Vedic religion to its +spiritual Brahmanic end. + +We turn now to one or two phenomena-deities that were never much +tampered with by priestly speculation; their forms being still as +bright and clear as when the first Vedic worshipper, waiting to salute +the rising sun, beheld in all her beauty, and thus praised + +THE DAWN.[94] + + As comes a bride hath she approached us, gleaming; + All things that live she rouses now to action. + A fire is born that shines for human beings; + Light hath she made, and driven away the darkness. + + Wide-reaching hath she risen, to all approaching, + And shone forth clothed in garments white and glistening, + Of gold her color, fair to see her look is, + Mother of kine,[95] leader of days she gleameth. + + Bearing the gods' eye, she, the gracious maiden, + --Leading along the white and sightly charger[96] + --Aurora, now is seen, revealed in glory, + With shining guerdons unto all appearing. + + O near and dear one, light far off our foes, and + Make safe to us our kines' wide pasture-places. + Keep from us hatred; what is good, that bring us, + And send the singer wealth, O generous maiden. + + With thy best beams for us do thou beam widely, + Aurora, goddess bright, our life extending; + And food bestow, O thou all goods possessing, + Wealth, too, bestowing, kine and steeds and war-cars + + Thou whom Vasistha's[97] sons extol with praises, + Fair-born Aurora, daughter of Dyaus, the bright one, + On us bestow thou riches high and mighty, + --O all ye gods with weal forever guard us. + +In the laudation of Varuna the fancy of the poet exhausts itself in +lofty imagery, and reaches the topmost height of Vedic religious +lyric. In the praise of Dawn it descends not lower than to interweave +beauty with dignity of utterance. Nothing in religious poetry more +graceful or delicate than the Vedic Dawn-hymns has ever been written. +In the daily vision of Dawn following her sister Night the poet sees +his fairest goddess, and in his worship of her there is love and +admiration, such as is evoked by the sight of no other deity. "She +comes like a fair young maiden, awakening all to labor, with an +hundred chariots comes she, and brings the shining light; gleam forth, +O Dawn, and give us thy blessing this day; for in thee is the life of +every living creature. Even as thou hast rewarded the singers of old, +so now reward our song" (I. 48). + +The kine of Dawn are the bright clouds that, like red cattle, wander +in droves upon the horizon. Sometimes the rays of light, which stretch +across the heaven, are intended by this image, for the cattle-herding +poets employed their flocks as figures for various ends. + +The inevitable selfish pessimism of unripe reflection is also woven +into the later Dawn-hymns: "How long will it be ere this Dawn, too, +shall join the Dawns departed? Vanished are now the men that saw the +Dawns of old; we here see her now; there will follow others who will +see her hereafter; but, O Dawn, beam here thy fairest; rich in +blessings, true art thou to friend and right. Bring hither (to the +morning sacrifice) the gods" (I. 113). + +Since the metre (here ignored) of the following hymn is not all of one +model, it is probable that after the fourth verse a new hymn began, +which was distinct from the first; but the argument from metre is +unconvincing, and in any event both songs are worth citing, since they +show how varied were the images and fancies of the poets: "The Dawns +are like heroes with golden weapons; like red kine of the morning on +the field of heaven; shining they weave their webs of light, like +women active at work; food they bring to the pious worshipper. Like a +dancing girl is the Dawn adorned, and opens freely her bosom; as a cow +gives milk, as a cow comes forth from its stall, so opens she her +breast, so comes she out of the darkness (verses 1-4) ...She is the +ever new, born again and again, adorned always with the same color. As +a player conceals the dice, so keeps she concealed the days of a man; +daughter of Heaven she wakes and drives away her sister (Night). Like +kine, like the waves of a flood, with sunbeams she appears. O rich +Dawn, bring us wealth; harness thy red horses, and bring to us +success" (I. 92). The homage to Dawn is naturally divided at times +with that to the sun: "Fair shines the light of morning; the sun +awakens us to toil; along the path of order goes Dawn arrayed in +light. She extendeth herself in the east, and gleameth till she fills +the sky and earth"; and again: "Dawn is the great work of Varuna and +Mitra; through the sun is she awakened" (I. 124; III. 61. 6-7). In the +ritualistic period Dawn is still mechanically lauded, and her beams +"rise in the east like pillars of sacrifice" (IV. 51. 2); but +otherwise the imagery of the selections given above is that which is +usually employed. The 'three dawns' occasionally referred to are, as +we have shown elsewhere,[98] the three dawn-lights, white, red, and +yellow, as they are seen by both the Vedic poet and the Florentine. + +Dawn becomes common and trite after awhile, as do all the gods, and is +invoked more to give than to please. 'Wake us,' cries a later poet, +'Wake us to wealth, O Dawn; give to us, give to us; wake up, lest the +sun burn thee with his light'--a passage (V. 79) which has caused much +learned nonsense to be written on the inimical relations of Sun and +Dawn as portrayed here. The dull idea is that Dawn is lazy, and had +better get up before S[=u]rya catches her asleep. The poet is not in +the least worried because his image does not express a suitable +relationship between the dawn and the sun, nor need others be +disturbed at it. The hymn is late, and only important in showing the +new carelessness as regards the old gods.[99] Some other traits appear +in VII. 75. 1 ff., where Dawn is 'queen of the world,' and banishes +the _druhs_, or evil spirit. She here is daughter of Heaven, and wife +of the sun (4, 5); _ib_. 76. 1, she is the eye of the world; and _ib_ +81. 4, she is invoked as 'mother.' + +There is, at times, so close a resemblance between Dawn-hymns and +Sun-hymns that the imagery employed in one is used in the other. Thus +the hymn VI. 64 begins: "The beams of Dawn have arisen, shining as +shine the waters' gleaming waves. She makes good paths, ... she +banishes darkness as a warrior drives away a foe (so of the sun, IV. +13. 2; X. 37. 4; 170. 2). Beautiful are thy paths upon the mountains, +and across the waters thou shinest, self-gleaming" (also of the sun). +With the last expression may be compared that in VI. 65. 5: "Dawn, +whose seat is upon the hills." + +Dawn is intimately connected not only with Agni but with the Twin +Horsemen, the Acvins (equites)--if not so intimately connected as is +Helen with the Dioskouroi, who, _pace_ Pischel, are the Acvins of +Hellas. This relationship is more emphasized in the hymns to the +latter gods, but occasionally occurs in Dawn-hymns, of which another +is here translated in full. + + TO DAWN (IV. 52). + + The Daughter of Heaven, this beauteous maid, + Resplendent leaves her sister (Night), + And now before (our sight) appears. + + Red glows she like a shining mare, + Mother of kine, who timely comes-- + The Horsemen's friend Aurora is. + + Both friend art thou of the Horsemen twain, + And mother art thou of the kine, + And thou, Aurora, rulest wealth. + + We wake thee with our praise as one + Who foes removes; such thought is ours, + O thou that art possesst of joy. + + Thy radiant beams beneficent + Like herds of cattle now appear; + Aurora fills the wide expanse. + + With light hast thou the dark removed, + Filling (the world), O brilliant one. + Aurora, help us as thou us'st. + + With rays thou stretchest through the heaven + And through the fair wide space between, + O Dawn, with thy refulgent light. + +It was seen that Savitar (P[=u]shan) is the rising and setting sun. +So, antithetic to Dawn, stands the Abendroth with her sister, Night. +This last, generally, as in the hymn just translated, is lauded only +in connection with Dawn, and for herself alone gets but one hymn, and +that is not in a family-book. She is to be regarded, therefore, less +as a goddess of the pantheon than as a quasi-goddess, the result of a +poet's meditative imagination, rather than one of the folk's primitive +objects of adoration; somewhat as the English poets personify "Ye +clouds, that far above me float and pause, ye ocean-waves ... ye +woods, that listen to the night-bird's singing, O ye loud waves, and O +ye forests high, and O ye clouds that far above me soared; thou rising +sun, thou blue rejoicing sky!"--and as in Greek poetry, that which +before has been conceived of vaguely as divine suddenly is invested +with a divine personality. The later poet exalts these aspects of +nature, and endows those that were before only half recognized with a +little special praise. So, whereas Night was divine at first merely as +the sister of divine Dawn, in the tenth book one poet thus gives her +praise: + + + HYMN TO NIGHT (X. 127). + + Night, shining goddess, comes, who now + Looks out afar with many eyes, + And putteth all her beauties on. + + Immortal shining goddess, she + The depths and heights alike hath filled, + And drives with light the dark away. + + To me she comes, adorned well, + A darkness black now sightly made; + Pay then thy debt, O Dawn, and go.[100] + + The bright one coming put aside + Her sister Dawn (the sunset light), + And lo! the darkness hastes away. + + So (kind art thou) to us; at whose + Appearing we retire to rest, + As birds fly homeward to the tree. + + To rest are come the throngs of men; + To rest, the beasts; to rest, the birds; + And e'en the greedy eagles rest. + + Keep off the she-wolf and the wolf, + Keep off the thief, O billowy Night, + Be thou to us a saviour now. + + To thee, O Night, as 'twere an herd, + To a conqueror (brought), bring I an hymn + Daughter of Heaven, accept (the gift).[101] + + +THE ACVINS. + +The Acvins who are, as was said above, the 'Horsemen,' parallel to the +Greek Dioskouroi, are twins, sons of Dyaus, husbands, perhaps brothers +of the Dawn. They have been variously 'interpreted,' yet in point of +fact one knows no more now what was the original conception of the +twain than was known before Occidental scholars began to study +them.[102] Even the ancients made mere guesses: the Acvins came before +the Dawn, and are so-called because they ride on horses _(acva, +equos)_ they represent either Heaven and Earth, or Day and Night, or +Sun and Moon, or two earthly kings--such is the unsatisfactory +information given by the Hindus themselves.[103] + +Much the same language with that in the Dawn-hymns is naturally +employed in praising the Twin Brothers. They, like the Dioskouroi, are +said to have been incorporated gradually into the pantheon, on an +equality with the other gods,[104] not because they were at first +human beings, but because they, like Night, were adjuncts of Dawn, and +got their divinity through her as leader.[105] In the last book of the +Rig Veda they are the sons of Sarany[=u] and Vivasvant, but it is not +certain whether Sarany[=u] means dawn or not; in the first book they +are born of the flood (in the sky).[106] They are sons of Dyaus, but +this, too, only in the last and first books, while in the latter they +are separated once, so that only one is called the Son of the +Sky.[107] They follow Dawn 'like men' (VIII. 5. 2) and are in +Brahmanic literature the 'youngest of the gods.'[108] + +The twin gods are the physicians of heaven, while to men they bring +all medicines and help in times of danger. They were apparently at +first only 'wonder-workers,' for the original legends seem to have +been few. Yet the striking similarity in these aspects with the +brothers of Helen must offset the fact that so much in connection with +them seems to have been added in books one and ten. They restore the +blind and decrepit, impart strength and speed, and give the power and +seed of life; even causing waters to flow, fire to burn, and trees to +grow. As such they assist lovers and aid in producing offspring. + +The Acvins are brilliantly described, Their bird-drawn chariot and all +its appurtenances are of gold; they are swift as thought, agile, +young, and beautiful. Thrice they come to the sacrifice, morning, +noon, and eve; at the yoking of their car, the dawn is born. When the +'banner before dawn' appears, the invocation to the Acvins begins; +they 'accompany dawn.' Some variation of fancy is naturally to be +looked for. Thus, though, as said above, Dawn is born at the Acvins +yoking, yet Dawn is herself invoked to wake the Acvins; while again +the sun starts their chariot before Dawn; and as sons of Zeus they are +invoked "when darkness still stands among the shining clouds +(cows)."[109] + +Husbands or brothers or children of Dawn, the Horsemen are also +S[=u]ry[=a]'s husbands, and she is the sun's daughter (Dawn?) or the +sun as female. But this myth is not without contradictions, for +S[=u]ry[=a] elsewhere weds Soma, and the Acvins are the bridegroom's +friends; whom P[=u]shan chose on this occasion as his parents; he who +(unless one with Soma) was the prior bridegroom of the same +much-married damsel.[110] + +The current explanation of the Acvins is that they represent two +periods between darkness and dawn, the darker period being nearer +night, the other nearer day. But they probably, as inseparable twins, +are the twinlights or twilight, before dawn, half dark and half +bright. In this light it may well be said of them that one alone is +the son of bright Dyaus, that both wed Dawn, or are her brothers. They +always come together. Their duality represents, then, not successive +stages but one stage in day's approach, when light is dark and dark is +light. In comparing the Acvins to other pairs[111] this dual nature is +frequently referred to; but no less is there a triality in connection +with them which often in describing them has been ignored. This is +that threefold light which opens day; and, as in many cases they join +with Dawn, so their color is inseparable. Strictly speaking, the break +of red is the dawn and the white and yellow lights precede this[112]. +Thus in V. 73. 5: "Red birds flew round you as S[=u]ry[=a] stepped +upon your chariot"; so that it is quite impossible, in accordance with +the poets themselves, to limit the Acvins to the twilight. They are a +variegated growth from a black and white seed. The chief function of +the Acvins, as originally conceived, was the finding and restoring of +vanished light. Hence they are invoked as finders and aid-gods in +general (the myths are given in Myriantheus). + +Some very amusing and some silly legends have been collected and told +by the Vedic poets in regard to the preservation and resuscitating +power of the Acvins--how an old man was rejuvenated by them (this is +also done by the three Ribhus, master-workmen of the gods); how brides +are provided by them; how they rescued Bhujyu and others from the +dangers of the deep (as in the classical legends); how they replaced a +woman's leg with an iron one; restored a saint's eye-sight; drew a +seer out of a well, etc, etc. Many scholars follow Bergaigne in +imagining all these miracles to be anthropomorphized forms of solar +phenomena, the healing of the blind representing the bringing out of +the sun from darkness, etc. To us such interpretation often seems +fatuous. No less unconvincing is the claim that one of the Acvins +represents the fire of heaven and the other the fire of the altar. The +Twins are called _n[=a]saty[=a],_ the 'savers' (or 'not untrue +ones[113]'); explained by some as meaning 'gods with good noses[114].' + + +HYMN TO THE HORSEMEN. + +Whether ye rest on far-extended earth, or on the sea in house upon it +made, 'come hither thence, O ye that ride the steeds. If ever for man +ye mix the sacrifice, then notice now the Kanva [poet who sings]. I +call upon the gods [Indra, Vishnu[115]] and the swift-going +Horsemen[116]. These Horsemen I call now that they work wonders, to +seize the works (of sacrifice), whose friendship is preeminently ours, +and relationship among all the gods; in reference to whom arise +sacrifices ... If, to-day, O Horsemen, West or East ye stand, ye of +good steeds, whether at Druhyu's, Anu's, Turvaca's, or Yadu's, I call +ye; come to me. If ye fly in the air, O givers of great joy; or if +through the two worlds; or if, according to your pleasure, ye mount +the car,--thence come hither, O Horsemen. + +From the hymn preceding this, the following verses[117]: + + Whatever manliness is in the aether, in the sky, and among + the five peoples, grant us that, O Horsemen ... this hot + _soma_-drink of yours with laudation is poured out; this + _soma_ sweet through which ye discovered Vritra ... Ascend + the swift-rolling chariot, O Horsemen; hither let these my + praises bring ye, like a cloud ... Come as guardians of + homes; guardians of our bodies. Come to the house for (to + give) children and offspring. Whether ye ride on the same + car with Indra, or be in the same house with the Wind; + whether united with the Sons of Boundlessness or the Ribhus, + or stand on Vishnu's wide steps (come to us). This is the + best help of the horsemen, if to-day I should entice them to + get booty, or call them as my strength to conquer in + battle.... Whatever medicine (ye have) far or near, with + this now, O wise ones, grant protection.... Awake, O Dawn, + the Horsemen, goddess, kind and great.... When, O Dawn, thou + goest in light and shinest with the Sun, then hither comes + the Horsemen's chariot, to the house men have to protect. + When the swollen _soma_-stalks are milked like cows with + udders, and when the choric songs are sung, then they that + adore the Horsemen are preeminent.... + +Here the Acvins are associated with Indra, and even find the evil +demon; but, probably, at this stage Indra is more than god of storms. + +Some of the expanded myths and legends of the Acvins may be found in +i. 118, 119, 158; x. 40. Here follows one with legends in moderate +number (vii. 71): + + Before the Dawn her sister, Night, withdraweth; + The black one leaves the ruddy one a pathway. + Ye that have kine and horses, you invoke we; + By day, at night, keep far from us your arrow. + + Come hither, now, and meet the pious mortal, + And on your car, O Horsemen, bring him good things; + Keep off from us the dry destroying sickness, + By day, at night, O sweetest pair, protect us. + + Your chariot may the joy-desiring chargers, + The virile stallions, bring at Dawn's first coming; + That car whose reins are rays, and wealth upon it; + Come with the steeds that keep the season's order. + + Upon the car, three-seated, full of riches, + The helping car, that has a path all golden, + On this approach, O lords of heroes, true ones, + Let this food-bringing car of yours approach us. + + Ye freed from his old age the man Cyav[=a]na; + Ye brought and gave the charger swift to Pedu; + Ye two from darkness' anguish rescued Atri; + Ye set J[a=]husha down, released from fetters.[118] + + This prayer, O Horsemen, and this song is uttered; + Accept the skilful[sic] poem, manly heroes. + These prayers, to you belonging, have ascended, + O all ye gods protect us aye with blessings![119] + +The sweets which the Acvins bring are either on their chariot, or, as +is often related, in a bag; or they burst forth from the hoof of their +steed. Pegasus' spring in Helicon has been compared with this. Their +vehicles are variously pictured as birds, horses, ships, etc. It is to +be noticed that in no one of their attributes are the Acvins unique. +Other gods bring sweets, help, protect, give offspring, give healing +medicines, and, in short, do all that the Acvins do. But, as Bergaigne +points out, they do all this pacifically, while Indra, who performs +some of their wonders, does so by storm. He protects by not injuring, +and helps by destroying foes. Yet is this again true only in general, +and the lines between warlike, peaceful, and 'sovereign' gods are +often crossed. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Such for instance as the hymn to the Acvins, + RV. ii. 39. Compare verses 3-4: 'Come (ye pair of Acvins) + like two horns; like two hoofs; like two geese; like two + wheels; like two ships; like two spans'; etc. This is the + content of the whole hymn.] + + [Footnote 2: _Deva_ is 'shining' (deus), and _S[=u]rya_ + (sol, [Greek: aelios]) means the same.] + + [Footnote 3: Let the reader note at the outset that there is + scarcely an activity considered as divine which does not + belong to several gods (see below).] + + [Footnote 4: From _su, sav_, enliven, beget, etc. In RV. iv. + 53.6 and vii, 63.2, _pra-savitar_.] + + [Footnote 5: RV. VII. 66. 14-15; compare X. 178. 1. In the + notes immediately following the numbers all refer to the Rig + Veda.] + + [Footnote 6: V. 47, 3; compare vs. 7, and X. 189. 1-2.] + + [Footnote 7: Compare X. 177. 1.] + + [Footnote 8: X. 37. 9.] + + [Footnote 9: V. 63. 7. Varuna and Mitra set the sun's car in + heaven.] + + [Footnote 10: 1 IV. 13. 2-5; X. 37, 4; 85, 1. But _ib_. 149. + 1. Savitar holds the sky 'without support.'] + + [Footnote 11: VII 63.1; I. 115.11; X. 37. 1.] + + [Footnote 12: III. 61.4; VII. 63. 3.] + + [Footnote 13: VII 78.3.] + + [Footnote 14: I. 56,4; IX. 84. 2; Compare I. 92. 11; 115, 2; + 123. 10-12. V. 44. 7, and perhaps 47.6, are late. VII. 75. + 5, is an exception (or late).] + + [Footnote 15: _La Religion Vedique_, I.6; II. 2.] + + [Footnote 16: Ehni, _Yama,_ p. 134.] + + [Footnote 17: RV., IV. 54. 2. Here the sun gives life even + to the gods.] + + [Footnote 18: Ten hundred and twenty-eight hymns are + contained in the 'Rig Veda Collection.'] + + [Footnote 19: IV. 14.] + + [Footnote 20: X. 37; 158; 170; 177; 189. Each has its own + mark of lateness. In 37, the dream; in 158, the triad; in + 170, the sun as _asurah[=a]_; in 177, the mystic tone and + the bird-sun (compare Garutman, I. 164; X. 149); in 189, the + thirty stations.] + + [Footnote 21: See Whitney in _Colebrooke's Essays_, revised + edition, ii. p. 111.] + + [Footnote 22: iv. 54] + + [Footnote 23: Two 'laps' below, besides that above, the word + meaning 'middle' but also 'under-place.' The explanation of + this much-disputed passage will be found by comparing I. + 154. 5 and VII. 99. 1. The sun's three places are where he + appears on both horizons and in the zenith. The last is the + abode of the dead where Yama reigns. Compare IV. 53. The + bracketed verses are probably a late puzzle attached to the + word 'lap' of the preceding verse.] + + [Footnote 24: Doubtful.] + + [Footnote 25: The Spirit, later of evil spirits, demons (as + above, the _asurah[=a]_). Compare Ahura.] + + [Footnote 26: A numerical conception not paralleled in the + Rig Veda, though mountains are called protuberances + ('elevations') in other places.] + + [Footnote 27: The last stanza is in the metre of the first; + two more follow without significant additions.] + + [Footnote 28: The texts are translated by Muir, OST, V. p. + 171 ff.] + + [Footnote 29: _La Religion Vedique_, II. p. 428. Compare + Hillebrandt, _Soma_ p. 456.] + + [Footnote 30: I. 138. 4.] + + [Footnote 31: VI. 56. 1.] + + [Footnote 32: In I. 23. 13-15 P[=u]shan is said to bring + king _(soma),_ "whom he found like a lost herd of cattle." + The fragment is late if, as is probable, the 'six' of vs. 15 + are the six seasons. Compare VI. 54. 5, "may P[=u]shan go + after our kine."] + + [Footnote 33: Compare VI. 54.] + + [Footnote 34: He is the 'son of freeing,' from darkness? VI. + 55. 1.] + + [Footnote 35: IV. 57. 7.] + + [Footnote 36: VI. 17. 11; 48. 11 ff.; IV. 30. 24 ff. He is + called like a war-god with the Maruts in VI. 48.] + + [Footnote 37: So, too, Bhaga is Dawn's brother, I. 123. 5. + P[=u]shan is Indra's brother in VI. 55. 5. Gubernatis + interprets P[=u]shan as 'the setting sun.'] + + [Footnote 38: Contrast I. 42, and X. 26 (with 1. 138. 1). In + the first hymn P[=u]shan leads the way and drives away + danger, wolves, thieves, and helps to booty and pasturage. + In the last he is a war-god, who helps in battle, a + 'far-ruler,' embracing the thoughts of all (as in III. 62. + 9).] + + [Footnote 39: For the traits just cited compare IV. 57. 7; + VI. 17. 11; 48. 15; 53; 55; 56. I-3; 57. 3-4; 58. 2-4; II. + 40; X. 17. 3 ff.; 26. 3-8; I. 23. 14; all of I. 42, and 138; + VIII. 4. 15-18; III. 57. 2. In X. 17. 4, Savitar, too, + guides the souls of the dead.] + + [Footnote 40: That is to say, one hymn is addressed to Bhaga + with various other gods, VII. 41. Here he seems to be + personified good-luck ("of whom even the king says,' I would + have thee,'" vs. 2). In Ihe Br[=a]hmanas 'Bhaga is blind,' + which applies better to Fortune than to the Sun.] + + [Footnote 41: The hymn is sung before setting out on a + forray for cattle. Let one observe how unsupported is + the assumption of the ritualists as applied to this hymn, + that it must have been "composed for rubrication."] + + [Footnote 42: After Muir, V. p. 178. The clouds and cattle + are both called _gas_ 'wanderers,' which helped in the + poetic identification of the two.] + + [Footnote 43: Compare IX. 97. 55, "Thou art Bhaga, giver of + gifts."] + + [Footnote 44: _Bhagam bhakshi_! Compare baksheesh. The word + as 'god' is both Avestan, _bagha_, and Slavic, _bogu_ (also + meaning 'rich'). It may be an epithet of other gods also, + and here it means only luck.] + + [Footnote 45: Literally 'possessed of _bhaga,' i.e_., + wealth.] + + [Footnote 46: May Bhaga be _bhagav[=a]n, i.e_., a true + _bhaga_-holder. Here and below a pun on the name (as + above).] + + [Footnote 47: Mythical being, possibly the sun-horse. + According to Pischel a real earthly racer.] + + [Footnote 48: I.22.17, etc; 154 ff.; VII. too.] + + [Footnote 49: VII. 100. 5-6. Vishnu (may be the epithet of + Indra in I.61.7) means winner (?),] + + [Footnote 50: VI. 69; VII. 99. But Vishnu is ordered about + by Indra (IV. 18. 11; VIII. 89. 12).] + + [Footnote 51: I.154. 5. In II. 1. 3, Vishnu is one with Fire + (Agni).] + + [Footnote 52: Thus, for example, Vishnu in the Hindu + trinity, the separate worship of the sun in modern sects, + and in the cult of the hill-men.] + + [Footnote 53: X. 149.] + + [Footnote 54: II.41.20.] + + [Footnote 55: vi.70.] + + [Footnote 56: I.160.4; IV. 56.1-3; VII. 53. 2.] + + [Footnote 57: I. 185. 8. _(J[=a]spati)._ The expiatory power + of the hymn occurs again in I. 159.] + + [Footnote 58: I. 185. 1.] + + [Footnote 59: IV. 56. 7.] + + [Footnote 60: I. 22. 15.] + + [Footnote 61: X. 18. 10 (or: "like a wool-soft maiden").] + + [Footnote 62: The lightning. In I. 31. 4, 10 "(Father) Fire + makes Dyaus bellow" like "a bull" (v. 36. 5). Dyaus "roars" + in vi. 72. 3. Nowhere else is he a thunderer.] + + [Footnote 63: 1. 24. 7-8. The change in metaphor is not + unusual.] + + [Footnote 64: This word means either order or orders (law); + literally the 'way' or 'course.'] + + [Footnote 65: 1. 24 (epitomized).] + + [Footnote 66: Perhaps better with Ludwig "of (thee) in + anger, of (thee) incensed."] + + [Footnote 67: Or: "Being (himself) in the (heavenly) flood + he knows the ships." (Ludwig.)] + + [Footnote 68: An intercalated month is meant (not the + primitive 'twelve days').] + + [Footnote 69: Or 'very wise,' of mental strength.] + + [Footnote 70: VIII. 41. 7; VII. 82. 6 (Bergaigne); X. 132. + 4.] + + [Footnote 71: Compare Bergaigne, _La Religion Vedique_, iii. + pp. 116-118.] + + [Footnote 72: The insistence on the holy seven, the 'secret + names' of dawn, the confusion of Varuna with Trita. Compare, + also, the refrain, viii. 39-42. For X. 124, see below.] + + [Footnote 73: Compare Hillebrandt's Varuna and Mitra, p. 5; + and see our essay on the Holy Numbers of the Rig Veda (in + the _Oriental Studies_).] + + [Footnote 74: Varuna's forgiving of sins may be explained as + a washing out of sin, just as fire burns it out, and so + loosens therewith the imagined bond, V. 2. 7. Thus, quite + apart from Varuna in a hymn addressed to the 'Waters,' is + found the prayer, "O waters, carry off whatever sin is in me + ... and untruth," I. 23. 22.] + + [Footnote 75: But as in iv. 42, so in x. 124 he shares glory + with Indra.] + + [Footnote 76: Later, Varuna's water-office is his only + physical side. Compare [=A]it. [=A]r. II. I. 7. 7, 'water + and Varuna, children of mind.' Compare with _v[=a]ri, oura_ + = _v[=a]ra_, and _var[=i]_, an old word for rivers, + _var[s.]_ (= _var_ + _s_), 'rain.' The etymology is very + doubtful on account of the number of _var_-roots. Perhaps + dew _(ersa)_ and rain first as 'coverer.' Even _var = vas_ + 'shine,' has been suggested (ZDMG. XXII. 603).] + + [Footnote 77: The old comparison of _Varena cathrugaosha_ + turns out to be "the town of Varna with four gates"!] + + [Footnote 78: In _India: What Can it Teach us_, pp. 197, + 200, Mueller tacitly recognizes in the physical Varuna only + the 'starry' night-side.] + + [Footnote 79: _Loc. cit._, III. 119. Bergaigne admits Varuna + as god of waters, but sees in him identity with Vritra a + 'restrainer of waters.' He thinks the 'luminous side' of + Varuna to be antique also (III. 117-119). Varuna's cord, + according to Bergaigne, comes from 'tying up' the waters; + 'night's fetters,' according to Hillebrandt.] + + [Footnote 80: _Loc. cit._, p. 13.] + + [Footnote 81: One of the chief objections to Bergaigne's + conception of Varuna as restrainer is that it does not + explain the antique union with Mitra.] + + [Footnote 82: II. 28. 4, 7; VII. 82. 1, 2; 87.2] + + [Footnote 83: vii. 87. 6; 88. 2.] + + [Footnote 84: viii. 41. 2, 7, 8. So Varuna gives _soma_, + rain. As a rain-god he surpasses Dyaus, who, ultimately, is + also a rain-god (above), as in Greece.] + + [Footnote 85: Compare Cat. Br. V. 2.5.17, "whatever is dark + is Varuna's."] + + [Footnote 86: In II. 38. 8 _varuna_ means 'fish,' and 'water + in I.184. 3.] + + [Footnote 87: V. 62. I, 8; 64.7; 61. 5; 65. 2; 67. 2; 69.1; + VI. 51.1; 67. 5. In VIII. 47.11 the [=A]dityas are + themselves spies.] + + [Footnote 88: Introduction to Grassmann, II. 27; VI. 42. + Lex. s. v.] + + [Footnote 89: _Religions of India,_ p. 17.] + + [Footnote 90: The Rik knows, also, a Diti, but merely as + antithesls to Aditi--the 'confined and unconfined.' Aditi is + prayed to (for protection and to remove sin) in sporadic + verses of several hymns addressed to other gods, but she has + no hymn.] + + [Footnote 91: Mueller (_loc. cit._, below) thinks that the + 'sons of Aditi' were first eight and were then reduced to + seven, in which opinion as in his whole interpretation of + Aditi as a primitive dawn-infinity we regret that we cannot + agree with him.] + + [Footnote 92: See Hillebrandt, _Die Goettin Aditi_; and + Mueller, SBE, xxxii., p. 241, 252.] + + [Footnote 93: That is to say, if one believe that the + 'primitive Aryans' were inoculated with Zoroaster's + teaching. This is the sort of Varuna that Koth believes to + have existed among the aboriginal Aryan tribes (above, p. + 13, note 2).] + + [Footnote 94: VII. 77.] + + [Footnote 95: Clouds.] + + [Footnote 96: The sun.] + + [Footnote 97: The priest to whom, and to whose family, is + ascribed the seventh book.] + + [Footnote 98: JAOS., XV. 270.] + + [Footnote 99: Much theosophy, and even history (!), has been + read into II. 15, and IV. 30, where poets speak of Indra + slaying Dawn; but there is nothing remarkable in these + passages. Poetry is not creed. The monsoon (here Indra) does + away with dawns for a time, and that is what the poet says + in his own way.] + + [Footnote 100: Transferred by Roth from the penultimate + position where it stands in the original. Dawn here pays + Night for the latter's malutinal withdrawing by withdrawing + herself. Strictly speaking, the Dawn is, of course, the + sunset light conceived of as identical with that preceding + the sunrise ([Greek: usas, heos], 'east' as 'glow').] + + [Footnote 101: Late as seems this hymn to be, it is + interesting in revealing the fact that wolves (not tigers or + panthers) are the poet's most dreaded foes of night. It + must, therefore have been composed in the northlands, where + wolves are the herdsman's worst enemies.] + + [Footnote 102: Myriantheus, _Die Acvins_; Muir, OST. v. + p.234; Bergaigne, _Religion Vedique,_ II. p. 431; Mueller, + _Lectures_, 2d series, p. 508; Weber, _Ind. St_. v. p. 234. + S[=a]yana on I. 180. 2, interprets the 'sister of the + Acvins' as Dawn.] + + [Footnote 103: Muir, _loc. cit_. Weber regards them as the + (stars) Gemini.] + + [Footnote 104: Weber, however, thinks that Dawn and Acvins + are equally old divinities, the oldest Hindu divinities in + his estimation.] + + [Footnote 105: In the Epic (see below) they are called the + lowest caste of gods (C[=u]dras).] + + [Footnote 106: X. 17. 2; I. 46. 2.] + + [Footnote 107: I. 181. 4 (Roth, ZDMG. IV. 425).] + + [Footnote 108: T[=a]itt. S. VII. 2. 7. 2; Muir, _loc. cit_. + p. 235.] + + [Footnote 109: vii. 67. 2; viii. 5. 2; x. 39. 12; viii. 9. + 17; i. 34. 10; x. 61. 4. Muir, _loc. cit._ 238-9. Compare + _ib_. 234, 256.] + + [Footnote 110: Muir, _loc. cit_. p. 237. RV. vi. 58. 4; x. + 85. 9ff.] + + [Footnote 111: They are compared to two ships, two birds, + etc.] + + [Footnote 112: In _Cat. Br_. V. 5. 4. it to the Acvins a + red-white goat is sacrificed, because 'Acvins are + red-white.'] + + [Footnote 113: Perhaps best with Brannhofer, 'the savers' + from _nas_ as in _nasjan_ (AG. p. 99).] + + [Footnote 114: _La Religion Vedique_, II. p. 434. That + _n[=a]snya_ means 'with good noses' is an epic notion, + _n[=a]satyadasr[=a]u sunas[=a]u,_ Mbh[=a]. I. 3. 58, and for + this reason, if for no other (though idea is older), the + etymology is probably false! The epithet is also Iranian. + Twinned and especially paired gods are characteristic of the + Rig Veda. Thus Yama and Yam[=i] are twins; and of pairs + Indra-Agni, Indra-V[=a]yu, besides the older Mitra-Varuna, + Heaven-Earth, are common.] + + [Footnote 115: Perhaps to be omitted.] + + [Footnote 116: _Pischel_, Ved. St. I. p. 48. As swift-going + gods they are called 'Indra-like.'] + + [Footnote 117: VIII. 9 and 10.] + + [Footnote 118: Doubtful] + + [Footnote 119: The last verse is not peculiar to this hymn, + but is the sign of the book (family) in which it was + composed.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE RIG VEDA (CONTINUED).--THE MIDDLE GODS. + + +Only one of the great atmospheric deities, the gods that preeminently +govern the middle sphere between sky and earth, can claim an Aryan +lineage. One of the minor gods of the same sphere, the ancient +rain-god, also has this antique dignity, but in his case the dignity +already is impaired by the strength of a new and greater rival. In the +case of the wind-god, on the other hand, there is preserved a deity +who was one of the primitive pantheon, belonging, perhaps, not only to +the Iranians, but to the Teutons, for V[=a]ta, Wind, may be the +Scandinavian Woden. The later mythologists on Indian soil make a +distinction between V[=a]ta, wind, and V[=a]yu (from the same root; as +in German _wehen_) and in this distinction one discovers that the old +V[=a]ta, who must have been once _the_ wind-god, is now reduced to +physical (though sentient) wind, while the newer name represents the +higher side of wind as a power lying back of phenomena; and it is this +latter conception alone that is utilized in the formation of the Vedic +triad of wind, fire, and sun. In short, in the use and application of +the two names, there is an exact parallel to the double terminology +employed to designate the sun as S[=u]rya and Savitar. Just as +S[=u]rya is the older [Greek: helios] and sol (acknowledged as a god, +yet palpably the physical red body in the sky) contrasted with the +interpretation which, by a newer name (Savitar), seeks to +differentiate the (sentient) physical from the spiritual, so is +V[=a]ta, Woden, replaced and lowered by the loftier conception of +V[=a]yu. But, again, just as, when the conception of Savitar is +formed, the spiritualizing tendency reverts to S[=u]rya, and makes of +him, too, a figure reclothed in the more modern garb of speech, which +is invented for Savitar alone; so the retroactive theosophic fancy, +after creating V[=a]yu as a divine power underlying phenomenal +V[=a]ta, reinvests V[=a]ta also with the garments of V[=a]yu. Thus, +finally, the two, who are the result of intellectual differentiation, +are again united from a new point of view, and S[=u]rya or Savitar, +V[=a]yu or V[=a]ta, are indifferently used to express respectively the +whole completed interpretation of the divinity, which is now visible +and invisible, sun and sun-god, wind and wind-god. In these pairs +there is, as it were, a perspective of Hindu theosophy, and one can +trace the god, as a spiritual entity including the physical, back to +the physical prototype that once was worshipped as such alone. + +In the Rig Veda there are three complete hymns to Wind, none of these +being in the family books. In x. 186, the poet calls on Wind to bring +health to the worshipper, and to prolong his life. He addresses Wind +as 'father and brother and friend,' asking the power that blows to +bring him ambrosia, of which Wind has a store. These are rather pretty +verses without special theological intent, addressed more to Wind as +such than to a spiritual power. The other hymn from the same book is +directed to V[=a]ta also, not to V[=a]yu, and though it is loftier in +tone and even speaks of V[=a]ta as the soul of the gods, yet is it +evident that no consistent mythology has worked upon the purely poetic +phraseology, which is occupied merely with describing the rushing of a +mighty wind (x. 168). Nevertheless, V[=a]ta is worshipped, as is +V[=a]yu, with oblations. + + + HYMN TO WIND (V[=a]ta). + + Now V[=a]ta's chariot's greatness! Breaking goes it, + And thundering is its noise; to heaven it touches, + Goes o'er the earth, cloud[1] making, dust up-rearing; + Then rush together all the forms of V[=a]ta; + To him they come as women to a meeting. + With them conjoint, on the same chariot going, + Is born the god, the king of all creation. + Ne'er sleepeth he when, on his pathway wandering, + He goes through air. The friend is he of waters; + First-born and holy,--where was he created, + And whence arose he? Spirit of gods is V[=a]ta, + Source of creation, goeth where he listeth; + Whose sound is heard, but not his form. This V[=a]ta + Let us with our oblations duly honor. + +In times later than the Rig Veda, V[=a]yu interchanges with Indra as +representative of the middle sphere; and in the Rig Veda all the hymns +of the family books associate him with Indra (vii. 90-92; iv. 47-48). +In the first book he is associated thus in the second hymn; while, ib. +134, he has the only remaining complete hymn, though fragments of +songs occasionally are found. All of these hymns except the first two +simply invite V[=a]yu to come with Indra to the sacrifice, It is +V[=a]yu who with Indra obtains the first drink of soma (i. 134. 6). He +is spoken of as the artificer's, Tvashtar's, son-in-law, but the +allusion is unexplained (viii. 26. 22); he in turn begets the +storm-gods (i. 134. 4). + +With V[=a]yu is joined Indra, one of the popular gods. These +divinities, which are partly of the middle and partly of the lower +sphere, may be called the popular gods, yet were the title 'new gods' +neither wholly amiss nor quite correct. For, though the popular +deities in general, when compared with many for whom a greater +antiquity may be claimed, such as the Sun, Varuna, Dyaus, etc., are of +more recent growth in dignity, yet there remains a considerable number +of divinities, the hymns in whose honor, dating from the latest +period, seem to show that the power they celebrate had been but lately +admitted into the category of those gods that deserved special +worship. Consequently new gods would be a misleading term, +as it should be applied to the plainer products of theological +speculation and abstraction rather than to Indra and his peers, not to +speak of those newest pantheistic gods, as yet unknown. The +designation popular must be understood, then, to apply to the gods +most frequently, most enthusiastically revered (for in a stricter +sense the sun was also a popular god); and reference is had in using +this word to the greater power and influence of these gods, which is +indicated by the fact that the hymns to Agni and Indra precede all +others in the family books, while the Soma-hymns are collected for the +most part into one whole book by themselves. + +But there is another factor that necessitates a division between the +divinities of sun and heaven and the atmospheric and earthly gods +which are honored so greatly; and this factor is explanatory of the +popularity of these gods. In the case of the older divinities it is +the spiritualization of a sole material appearance that is revered; in +the case of the popular gods, the material phenomenon is reduced to a +minimum, the spirituality behind the phenomenon is exalted, and that +spirituality stands not in and for itself, but as a part of a union of +spiritualities. Applying this test to the earlier gods the union will +be found to be lacking. The sun's spiritual power is united with +Indra's, but the sun is as much a physical phenomenon as a +spirituality, and always remains so. On the other hand, the equation +of Varunic power with Indraic never amalgamated the two; and these are +the best instances that can be chosen of the older gods. For in the +case of others it is self-evident. Dyaus and Dawn are but material +phenomena, slightly spiritualized, but not joined with the +spirit-power of others. + +Many have been the vain attempts to go behind the returns of Vedic +hymnology and reduce Indra, Agni, and Soma to terms of a purely +naturalistic religion. It cannot be done. Indra is neither sun, +lightning, nor storm; Agni is neither hearth-fire nor celestial fire; +Soma is neither planet nor moon. + +Each is the transient manifestation of a spirituality lying behind and +extending beyond this manifestation. Here alone is the latch-key of +the newer, more popular religion. Not merely because Indra was a +'warrior god,' but because Indra and Fire were one; because of the +mystery, not because of the appearance, was he made great at the hands +of the priests. It is true, as has been said above, that the idol of +the warriors was magnified because he was such; but the true cause of +the greatness ascribed to him in the hymns lay in the secret of his +nature, as it was lauded by the priest, not in his form, as it was +seen by the multitude. Neither came first, both worked together; but +had it not been for the esoteric wisdom held by the priests in +connection with his nature, Indra would have gone the way of other +meteorological gods; whereas he became chiefest of the gods, and, as +lord of strength, for a time came nearest to the supreme power. + + +INDRA. + +Indra has been identified with 'storm,' with the 'sky,' with the +'year'; also with 'sun' and with 'fire' in general.[2] But if he be +taken as he is found in the hymns, it will be noticed at once that he +is too stormy to be the sun; too luminous to be the storm; too near to +the phenomena of the monsoon to be the year or the sky; too rainy to +be fire; too alien from every one thing to be any one thing. He is too +celestial to be wholly atmospheric; too atmospheric to be celestial; +too earthly to be either. A most tempting solution is that offered by +Bergaigne, who sees in Indra sun or lightning. Yet does this +explanation not explain all, and it is more satisfactory than others +only because it is broader; while it is not yet broad enough. Indra, +in Bergaigne's opinion, stands, however, nearer to fire than to +sun.[3] But the savant does not rest content with his own explanation: +"Indra est peut-etre, de tous les dieux vediques, celui qui resiste le +plus longtemps a un genre d'analyse qui, applique a la plupart des +autres, les resout plus ou moins vite en des personnifications des +elements, soit des phenomenes naturels, soit du culte" (ibid. p. 167). + +Dyaus' son, Indra, who rides upon the storm and hurls the lightnings +with his hands; who 'crashes down from heaven' and 'destroys the +strongholds' of heaven and earth; whose greatness 'fills heaven and +earth'; whose 'steeds are of red and gold'; who 'speaks in thunder,' +and 'is born of waters and cloud'; behind whom ride the storm-gods; +with whom Agni (fire) is inseparably connected; who 'frees the waters +of heaven from the demon,' and 'gives rain-blessings and wealth' to +man--such a god, granted the necessity of a naturalistic +interpretation, may well be thought to have been lightning itself +originally, which the hymns now represent the god as carrying. But in +identifying Indra with the sun there is more difficulty. In none of +the early hymns is this suggested, and the texts on which Bergaigne +relies besides being late are not always conclusive. "Indra clothes +himself with the glory of the sun"; he "sees with the eye of the +sun"--such texts prove little when one remembers that the sun is the +eye of all the gods, and that to clothe ones' self with solar glory is +far from being one with the sun. In one other, albeit a late verse, +the expression 'Indra, a sun,' is used; and, relying on such texts, +Bergaigne claims that Indra is the sun. But it is evident that this is +but one of many passages where Indra by implication is compared to the +sun; and comparisons do not indicate allotropy. So, in ii. II. 20, +which Bergaigne gives as a parallel, the words say expressly "Indra +[did so and so] _like a sun_."[4] To rest a building so important on a +basis so frail is fortunately rare with Bergaigne. It happens here +because he is arguing from the assumption that Indra primitively was a +general luminary. Hence, instead of building up Indra from early +texts, he claims a few late phrases as precious confirmation of his +theory.[5] What was Indra may be seen by comparing a few citations +such as might easily be amplified from every book in the Rig Veda. + +According to the varying fancies of the poets, Indra is armed with +stones, clubs, arrows, or the thunderbolt (made for him by the +artificer, Tvashtar), of brass or of gold, with many edges and points. +Upon a golden chariot he rides to battle, driving two or many red or +yellow steeds; he is like the sun in brilliancy, and like the dawn in +beauty; he is multiform, and cannot really be described; his divine +name is secret; in appearance he is vigorous, huge; he is wise and +true and kind; all treasures are his, and he is a wealth-holder, vast +as four seas; neither his greatness nor his generosity can be +comprehended; mightiest of gods is he, filling the universe; the +heavens rest upon his head; earth cannot hold him; earth and heaven +tremble at his breath; he is king of all; the mountains are to him as +valleys; he goes forth a bull, raging, and rushes through the air, +whirling up the dust; he breaks open the rain-containing clouds, and +lets the rain pour down; as the Acvins restore the light, so he +restores the rain; he is (like) fire born in three places; as the +giver of rain which feeds, he creates the plants; he restores or +begets Sun and Dawn (after the storm has passed);[6] he creates (in +the same way) all things, even heaven and earth; he is associated with +Vishnu and P[=u]shan (the sun-gods), with the Acvins, with the Maruts +(storm-gods) as his especial followers, and with the artisan Ribhus. +With Varuna he is an Aditya, but he is also associated with another +group of gods, the Vasus (x. 66. 3), as Vasupati, or 'lord of the +Vasus.' He goes with many forms (vi. 47. 18).[7] + +The luminous character[8] of Indra, which has caused him to be +identified with light-gods, can be understood only when one remembers +that in India the rainy season is ushered in by such displays of +lightning that the heavens are often illuminated in every direction at +once; and not with a succession of flashes, but with contemporaneous +ubiquitous sheets of light, so that it appears as if on all sides of +the sky there was one lining of united dazzling flame. When it is said +that Indra 'placed light in light,' one is not to understand, with +Bergaigne, that Indra is identical with the sun, but that in day +(light) Indra puts lightning (x. 54. 6; Bergaigne ii. p. 187). + +Since Indra's lightning[9] is a form of fire, there is found in this +union the first mystic dualism of two distinct gods as one. This comes +out more in Agni-worship than in Indra-worship, and will be treated +below. The snake or dragon killed by Indra is Vritra, the restrainer, +who catches and keeps in the clouds the rain that is falling to earth. +He often is called simply the snake, and as the Budhnya Snake, or +snake of the cloud-depths, is possibly the Python (=Budh-nya).[10] +There is here a touch of primitive belief in an old enemy of man--the +serpent! But the Budhnya Snake has been developed in opposite ways, +and has contradictory functions.[11] + +Indra, however, is no more the lightning than he is the sun. One poet +says that he is like the sun;[12] another, that he is like the +lightning (viii. 93. 9), which he carries in his arms (viii. 12. 7); +another, that he is like the light of dawn (x. 89. 12). So various are +the activities, so many the phenomena, that with him first the seer is +obliged to look back of all these phenomena and find in them one +person; and thus he is the most anthropomorphized of the Vedic gods. +He is born of heaven or born of clouds (iv. 18), but that his mother +is Aditi is not certain. As the most powerful god Indra is again +regarded as the All-god (viii. 98. 1-2). With this final supremacy, +that distinction between battle-gods and gods sovereign, which +Bergaigne insists upon--the sovereign gods belonging to _une +conception unitaire de l'ordre du monde_ (iii. p. 3; ii. p. +167)--fades away. As Varuna became gradually greatest, so did Indra in +turn. But Varuna was a philosopher's god, not a warrior's; and Varuna +was not double and mystical. So even the priest (Agni) leaves Varuna, +and with the warrior takes more pleasure in his twin Indra; of him +making an All-god, a greatest god. Varuna is passive; Indra is +energetic; but Indra does not struggle for his lordship. Inspired by +_soma_, he smites, triumphs, punishes. Victor already, he descends +upon his enemies and with a blow destroys them. It is rarely that he +feels the effect of battle; he never doubts its issue. + +There is evidence that this supremacy was not gained without +contradiction, and the novelty of the last extravagant Indra-worship +may be deduced, perhaps, from such passages as viii. 96. 15; and 100. +3, where are expressed doubts in regard to the existence of a real +Indra. How late is the worship of the popular Indra, and that it is +not originality that causes his hymns to be placed early in each +collection, may be judged from the fact that only of Indra (and Agni?) +are there idols: viii. 1. 5; iv. 24. 10: "Who gives ten cows for my +Indra? When he has slain his foe let (the purchaser) give him to me +again."[13] Thus it happens that one rarely finds such poems to Indra +as to Dawn and to other earlier deities, but almost always stereotyped +descriptions of prowess, and mechanical invitations to come to the +altar and reward the hymn-maker. There are few of Indra's many hymns +that do not smack of _soma_ and sacrifice. He is a warrior's god +exploited by priests; as popularly conceived, a sensual giant, friend, +brother, helper of man. One example of poetry, instead of ritualistic +verse-making to Indra, has been translated in the introductory +chapter. Another, which, if not very inspiring, is at least free from +obvious _soma_-worship--which results in Indra being invoked chiefly +to come and drink--is as follows (vi. 30): + + Great hath he grown, Indra, for deeds heroic; + Ageless is he alone, alone gives riches; + Beyond the heaven and earth hath Indra stretched him, + The half of him against both worlds together! + So high and great I deem his godly nature; + What he hath stablished there is none impairs it. + Day after day a sun is he conspicuous, + And, wisely strong, divides the wide dominions. + To-day and now (thou makest) the work of rivers, + In that, O Indra, thou hast hewn them pathway. + The hills have bowed them down as were they comrades; + By thee, O wisely strong, are spaces fastened. + 'Tis true, like thee, O Indra, is no other, + Nor god nor mortal is more venerable. + Thou slew'st the dragon that the flood encompassed, + Thou didst let out the waters to the ocean. + Thou didst the waters free, the doors wide opening, + Thou, Indra, brak'st the stronghold of the mountains, + Becamest king of all that goes and moveth, + Begetting sun and heaven and dawn together. + + +THE MARUTS. + +These gods, the constant followers of Indra, from the present point of +view are not of great importance, except as showing an unadulterated +type of nature-gods, worshipped without much esoteric wisdom (although +there is a certain amount of mystery in connection with their birth). +There is something of the same pleasure in singing to them as is +discernible in the hymns to Dawn. They are the real storm-gods, +following Rudra, their father, and accompanying the great +storm-bringer, Indra. Their mother is the variegated cow Pricni, the +mother cloud. Their name means the shining, gleaming ones. + + HYMN TO THE MARUTS (vii. 56. 1-10). + + Who, sooth, are the gleaming related heroes, + the glory of Rudra, on beauteous chargers? + For of them the birthplace no man hath witnessed; + they only know it, their mutual birthplace. + With wings expanded they sweep each other,[14] + and strive together, the wind-loud falcons. + Wise he that knoweth this secret knowledge, + that Pricni the great one to them was mother.[15] + This folk the Maruts shall make heroic, + victorious ever, increased in manhood; + In speed the swiftest, in light the lightest, + with grace united and fierce in power-- + Your power fierce is; your strength, enduring; + and hence with the Maruts this folk is mighty. + Your fury fair is, your hearts are wrothful, + like maniacs wild is your band courageous. + From us keep wholly the gleaming lightning; + let not your anger come here to meet us. + Your names of strong ones endeared invoke I, + that these delighted may joy, O Maruts. + +What little reflection or moral significance is in the Marut hymns is +illustrated by i. 38. 1-9, thus translated by Mueller: + + What then now? When will ye take us as a dear father takes + his son by both hands, O ye gods, for whom the sacred grass + has been trimmed? + + Where now? On what errand of yours are you going, in heaven, + not on earth? Where are your cows sporting? Where are your + newest favors, O Maruts? Where are blessings? Where all + delights? If you, sons of Pricni, were mortals and your + praiser an immortal, then never should your praiser be + unwelcome, like a deer in pasture grass, nor should he go on + the path of Yama.[16] Let not one sin after another, + difficult to be conquered, overcome us; may it depart, + together with greed. Truly they are terrible and powerful; + even to the desert the Rudriyas bring rain that is never + dried up. The lightning lows like a cow, it follows as a + mother follows after her young, when the shower has been let + loose. Even by day the Maruts create darkness with the + water-bearing cloud, when they drench the earth, etc. + +The number of the Maruts was originally seven, afterwards raised to +thrice seven, and then given variously,[17] sometimes as high as +thrice sixty. They are the servants, the bulls of Dyaus, the glory of +Rudra (or perhaps the 'boys of Rudra'), divine, bright as suns, +blameless and pure. They cover themselves with shining adornment, +chains of gold, gems, and turbans. On their heads are helmets of gold, +and in their hands gleam arrows and daggers. Like heroes rushing to +battle, they stream onward. They are fair as deer; their roar is like +that of lions. The mountains bow before them, thinking themselves to +be valleys, and the hills bow down. Good warriors and good steeds are +their gifts. They smite, they kill, they rend the rocks, they strip +the trees like caterpillars; they rise together, and, like spokes in a +wheel, are united in strength. Their female companion is Rodas[=i] +(lightning, from the same root as _rudra_, the 'red'). They are like +wild boars, and (like the sun) they have metallic jaws. On their +chariots are speckled hides; like birds they spread their wings; they +strive in flight with each other. Before them the earth sways like a +ship. They dance upon their path. Upon their chests for beauty's sake +they bind gold armor. From the heavenly udder they milk down rain. +"Through whose wisdom, through whose design do they come?" cries the +poet. They have no real adversary. The kings of the forest they tear +asunder, and make tremble even the rocks. Their music is heard on +every side.[18] + + +RUDRA. + +The father of the Maruts, Rudra, is 'the ruddy one,' _par excellence_ +and so to him is ascribed paternity of the 'ruddy ones.' But while +Indra has a plurality of hymns, Rudra has but few, and these it is not +of special importance to cite. The features in each case are the same. +The Maruts remain as gods whose function causes them to be invoked +chiefly that they may spare from the fury of the tempest. This idea is +in Rudra's case carried out further, and he is specially called on to +avert (not only 'cow-slaying' and 'man-slaying' by lightning,[19] but +also) disease, pestilence, etc. Hence is he preeminently, on the one +hand, the kindly god who averts disease, and, on the other, of +destruction in every form. From him Father Manu got wealth and health, +and he is the fairest of beings, but, more, he is the strongest god +(ii. 33. 3, 10). From such a prototype comes the later god of healing +and woe--Rudra, who becomes Civa.[20] + + +RAIN-GODS. + +There is one rather mechanical hymn directed to the Waters themselves +as goddesses, where Indra is the god who gives them passage. But in +the unique hymn to the Rivers it is Varuna who, as general god of +water, is represented as their patron. In the first hymn the +rain-water is meant.[21] A description in somewhat jovial vein of the +joy produced by the rain after long drought forms the subject matter +of another lyric (less an hymn than a poem), which serves to +illustrate the position of the priests at the end of this Vedic +collection. The frogs are jocosely compared to priests that have +fulfilled their vow of silence; and their quacking is likened to the +noise of students learning the Veda. Parjanya is the god that, in +distinction from Indra as the first cause, actually pours down the +rain-drops. + + + THE FROGS.[22] + + As priests that have their vows fulfilled, + Reposing for a year complete, + The frogs have now begun to talk,-- + Parjanya has their voice aroused. + + When down the heavenly waters come upon him, + Who like a dry bag lay within the river, + Then, like the cows' loud lowing (cows that calves have), + The vocal sound of frogs comes all together. + + When on the longing, thirsty ones it raineth, + (The rainy season having come upon them), + Then _akkala_![23] they cry; and one the other + Greets with his speech, as sons address a father. + + The one the other welcomes, and together + They both rejoice at falling of the waters; + The spotted frog hops when the rain has wet him, + And with his yellow comrade joins his utterance. + + When one of these the other's voice repeateth, + Just as a student imitates his teacher, + Then like united members with fair voices, + They all together sing among the waters. + + One like an ox doth bellow, goat-like one bleats; + Spotted is one, and one of them is yellow; + Alike in name, but in appearance different, + In many ways the voice they, speaking, vary. + + As priests about th' intoxicating[24] _soma_ + Talk as they stand before the well-filled vessel, + So stand ye round about this day once yearly, + On which, O frogs, the time of rain approaches. + + (Like) priests who _soma_ have, they raise their voices, + And pray the prayer that once a year is uttered; + (Like) heated priests who sweat at sacrifices, + They all come out, concealed of them is no one. + + The sacred order of the (year) twelve-membered, + These heroes guard, and never do neglect it; + When every year, the rainy season coming, + The burning heat receiveth its dismission.[25] + +In one hymn no less than four gods are especially invoked for +rain--Agni, Brihaspati, Indra, and Parjanya. The two first are +sacrificially potent; Brihaspati, especially, gives to the priest the +song that has power to bring rain; he comes either 'as Mitra-Varuna or +P[=u]shan,' and 'lets Parjanya rain'; while in the same breath Indra +is exhorted to send a flood of rain,--rains which are here kept back +by the gods,[26]--and Agni is immediately afterwards asked to perform +the same favor, apparently as an analogue to the streams of oblation +which the priest pours on the fire. Of these gods, the pluvius is +Parjanya: + + Parjanya loud extol in song, + The fructifying son of heaven; + May he provide us pasturage! + He who the fruitful seed of plants, + Of cows and mares and women forms, + He is the god Parjanya. + For him the melted butter pour + In (Agni's) mouth,--a honeyed sweet,-- + And may he constant food bestow![27] + +This god is the rain-cloud personified,[28] but he is scarcely to be +distinguished, in other places, from Indra; although the latter, as +the greater, newer god, is represented rather as causing the rain to +flow, while Parjanya pours it down. Like Varuna, Parjanya also upsets +a water-barrel, and wets the earth. He is identical with the Slavic +Perkuna. + +For natural expression, vividness, energy, and beauty, the following +hymn is unsurpassed. As a god unjustly driven out of the pantheon, it +is, perhaps, only just that he should be exhibited, in contrast to +the tone of the sacrificial hymnlet above, in his true light. +Occasionally he is paired with Wind; and in the curious tendency of +the poets to dualize their divinities, the two become a compound, +_Parjanyav[=a]t[=a]_ ("Parjanya and V[=a]ta"). There is, also, vii. +101, one mystic hymn to Parjanya. The following, v. 83, breathes quite +a different spirit:[29] + + Greet him, the mighty one, with these laudations, + Parjanya praise, and call him humbly hither; + With roar and rattle pours the bull his waters, + And lays his seed in all the plants, a foetus. + + He smites the trees, and smites the evil demons, too; + While every creature fears before his mighty blow, + E'en he that hath not sinned, from this strong god retreats, + When smites Parjanya, thundering, those that evil do. + As when a charioteer with whip his horses strikes, + So drives he to the fore his messengers of rain; + Afar a lion's roar is raised abroad, whene'er + Parjanya doth create the rain-containing cloud. + Now forward rush the winds, now gleaming lightnings fall; + Up spring the plants, and thick becomes the shining sky. + For every living thing refreshment is begot, + Whene'er Parjanya's seed makes quick the womb of earth. + + Beneath whose course the earth hath bent and bowed her, + Beneath whose course the (kine) behoofed bestir them, + Beneath whose course the plants stand multifarious, + He--thou, Parjanya--grant us great protection! + Bestow Dyaus' rain upon us, O ye Maruts! + Make thick the stream that comes from that strong stallion! + With this thy thunder come thou onward, hither, + Thy waters pouring, a spirit and our father.[30] + Roar forth and thunder! Give the seed of increase! + Drive with thy chariot full of water round us; + The water-bag drag forward, loosed, turned downward; + Let hills and valleys equal be before thee! + Up with the mighty keg! then pour it under! + Let all the loosened streams flow swiftly forward; + Wet heaven and earth with this thy holy fluid;[31] + And fair drink may it be for all our cattle! + + When thou with rattle and with roar, + Parjanya, thundering, sinners slayest, + Then all before thee do rejoice, + Whatever creatures live on earth. + + Rain hast thou rained, and now do thou restrain it; + The desert, too, hast thou made fit for travel; + The plants hast thou begotten for enjoyment; + And wisdom hast thou found for thy descendants. + +The different meters may point to a collection of small hymns. It is +to be observed that Parjanya is here the fathergod (of men); he is the +Asura, the Spirit; and rain comes from the Shining Sky (Dyaus). How +like Varuna! + +The rain, to the poet, descends from the sky, and is liable to be +caught by the demon, Vritra, whose rain-swollen belly Indra opens with +a stroke, and lets fall the rain; or, in the older view just +presented, Parjanya makes the cloud that gives the rain--a view united +with the descent of rain from the sky (Dyaus). With Parjanya as an +Aryan rain-god may be mentioned Trita, who, apparently, was a +water-god, [=A]ptya, in general; and some of whose functions Indra has +taken. He appears to be the same with the Persian Thraetaona +[=A]thwya; but in the Rig Veda he is interesting mainly as a dim +survival of the past.[32] The washing out of sins, which appears to be +the original conception of Varuna's sin-forgiving,[33] finds an +analogue in the fact that sins are cast off upon the innocent waters +and upon Trita--also a water-god, and once identified with Varuna +(viii. 41. 6). But this notion is so unique and late (only in viii. +47) that Bloomfield is perhaps right in imputing it to the [later] +moralizing age of the Br[=a]hmanas, with which the third period of the +Rig Veda is quite in touch. + + * * * * * + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Compare I. 134. 3.] + + [Footnote 2: For the different views, see Perry, JAOS. xi. + p. 119; Muir, OST. v. p. 77.] + + [Footnote 3: _La Religion Vedique_, ii. pp. 159, 161, 166, + 187.] + + [Footnote 4: The chief texts are ii. 30. 1; iv. 26. 1; vii. + 98. 6; viii. 93. 1, 4; x. 89. 2; x. 112. 3.] + + [Footnote 5: Other citations given by Bergaigne in + connection with this point are all of the simile class. Only + as All-god is Indra the sun.] + + [Footnote 6: i. 51. 4: "After slaying Vritra, thou did'st + make the sun climb in the sky."] + + [Footnote 7: [=A]ditya, only vii. 85. 4; V[=a]l. 4. 7. For + other references, see Perry (loc. cit.).] + + [Footnote 8: Bergaigne, ii. 160. 187.] + + [Footnote 9: Indra finds and begets Agni, iii. 31. 25.] + + [Footnote 10: Unless the Python be, rather, the Demon of + Putrefaction, as in Iranian belief.] + + [Footnote 11: Demons of every sort oppose Indra; Vala, + Vritra, the 'holding' snake (_ahi_=[Greek: echis]), Cushna + ('drought'), etc.] + + [Footnote 12: So he finds and directs the sun and causes it + to shine, as explained above (viii. 3. 6; iii. 44. 4; i. 56. + 4; iii. 30. 12). He is praised with Vishnu (vi.69) in one + hymn, as distinct from him.] + + [Footnote 13: Bollensen would see an allusion to idols in i. + 145. 4-5 (to Agni), but this is very doubtful (ZDMG. xlvii. + p. 586). Agni, however, is on a par with Indra, so that the + exception would have no significance. See Kaegi, Rig Veda, + note 79a.] + + [Footnote 14: Or 'pluck with beaks,' as Mueller translates, + SBE. xxxii. p. 373.] + + [Footnote 15: "Bore them" (gave an udder). In v. 52. 16 + Rudra is father and Pricni, mother. Compare viii. 94. 1: + "The cow ... the mother of the Maruts, sends milk (rain)." + In x. 78. 6 the Maruts are sons of Sindhu (Indus).] + + [Footnote 16: I.e., die.] + + [Footnote 17: The number is not twenty-seven, as Muir + accidentally states, OST. v. p. 147.] + + [Footnote 18: v. 58. 4, 5; I. 88. 1; 88. 5; v. 54. 11; viii. + 7. 25; i. 166. 10; i. 39. 1; 64. 2-8; v. 54. 6; i. 85. 8; + viii. 7. 34; v. 59. 2.] + + [Footnote 19: He carries lightnings and medicines together + in vii. 46. 3.] + + [Footnote 20: Civa is later identified with Rudra. For the + latter in RV. compare i. 43; 114, 1-5, 10; ii. 33. 2-13.] + + [Footnote 21: vii. 47, and x. 75.] + + [Footnote 22: vii. 103.] + + [Footnote 23: _Akhkhala_ is like Latin _eccere_ shout of joy + and wonder(_Am.J. Phil._ XIV. p. 11).] + + [Footnote 24: Literally, 'that has stood over-night,' i.e., + fermented.] + + [Footnote 25: To this hymn is added, in imitation of the + laudations of generous benefactors, which are sometimes + suffixed to an older hymn, words ascribing gifts to the + frogs. Bergaigne regards the frogs as meteorological + phenomena! It is from this hymn as a starting-point proceed + the latter-day arguments of Jacobi, who would prove the + 'period of the Rig Veda' to have begun about 3500 B.C. One + might as well date Homer by an appeal to the + Batrachomyomachia.] + + [Footnote 26: x. 98. 6.] + + [Footnote 27: vii. 102.] + + [Footnote 28: Compare Buehler, _Orient and Occident_, I. p. + 222.] + + [Footnote 29: This hymn is another of those that contradict + the first assumption of the ritualists. From internal + evidence it is not likely that it was made for baksheesh.] + + [Footnote 30: _[A]suras, pit[=a] nas_.] + + [Footnote 31: Literally, 'with _ghee_'; the rain is like the + _ghee_, or sacrificial oil (melted butter).] + + [Footnote 32: Some suppose even Indra to be one with the + Avestan _A[.n]dra_, a demon, which is possible.] + + [Footnote 33: Otherwise it is the 'bonds of sin' which are + broken or loosed, as in the last verse of the first Varuna + hymn, translated above. But the two views may be of equal + antiquity (above, p. 69, note). On Trita compare JRAS. 1893, + p. 419; PAOS. 1894 (Bloomfield).] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE RIG VEDA (CONTINUED).--THE LOWER GODS. + +AGNI. + + +Great are the heavenly gods, but greater is Indra, god of the +atmosphere. Greatest are Agni and Soma, the gods of earth. + +Agni is the altar-fire. Originally fire, Agni, in distinction from sun +and lightning, is the fire of sacrifice; and as such is he great. One +reads in v. 3. 1-2, that this Agni is Varuna, Indra; that in him are +all the gods. This is, indeed, formally a late view, and can be +paralleled only by a few passages of a comparatively recent period. +Thus, in the late hymn i. 164. 46: "Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, they +say; he is the sun (the bird in the sky); that which is but one they +call variously," etc. So x. 114. 5 and the late passage iii. 38. 7, +have reference to various forms of Agni. + +Indra had a twofold nature in producing the union of lightning and +Agni; and this made him mysteriously great. But in Agni is found the +first triality, which, philosophically, is interpreted as a trinity. +The fire of the altar is one with the lightning, and, again, one with +the sun. This is Agni's threefold birth; and all the holy character of +three is exhausted in application where he is concerned. It is the +highest mystery until the very end of the Vedic age. This Agni it is +that is the real Agni of the Rig Veda--the new Agni; for there was +probably an Agni cult (as simple fire) long before the _soma_ cult. +Indra and Agni are one, and both are called the slayers of the +demons[1]. They are both united as an indissoluble pair (iii. 12, +etc.). Agni, with, perhaps, the exception of Soma, is the most +important god in the Rig Veda; and it is no chance that gives him the +first place in each family hymn-book; for in him are found, only in +more fortunate circumstances, exactly the same conditions as obtain in +the case of Indra. He appealed to man as the best friend among divine +beings; he was not far off, to be wondered at; if terrible, to be +propitiated. He was near and kind to friends. And as he seemed to the +vulgar so he appealed to the theosophy which permeates the spirit of +the poets; for he is mysterious; a mediator between god and man (in +carrying to heaven the offerings); a threefold unity, typical of +earth, atmosphere, and heaven. From this point of view, as in the case +of Indra, so in the case of Agni, only to a greater extent, it becomes +impossible to interpret Agni as one element, one phenomenon. There is, +when a distinction is made, an _agni_ which is single, the altar-fire, +separate from other fires; but it is seldom that Agni is not felt as +the threefold one. + +And now for the interpretation of the modern ritualists. The Hindu +ritual had 'the three fires,' which every orthodox believer was taught +to keep up. The later literature of the Hindus themselves very +correctly took these three fires as types of the three forms of Agni +known in the Rig Veda. But to the ritualists the historical precedence +is inverted, and they would show that the whole Vedic mythological +view of an Agni triad is the result of identifying Agni with the three +fires of the ritual. From this crass method of interpretation it would +result that all Vedic mythology was the child of the liturgy[2]. + +As earthly fire Agni is first ignis:[3] "Driven by the wind, he +hastens through the forest with roaring tongues.... black is thy path, +O bright immortal!" "He mows down, as no herd can do, the green +fields; bright his tooth, and golden his beard." "He devours like a +steer that one has tied up." This is common fire, divine, but not of +the altar. The latter Agni is of every hymn. For instance, the first +stanza of the Rig Veda: "Agni, the family priest, I worship; the +divine priest of sacrifice; the oblation priest, who bestows riches," +where he is invoked under the names of different priests. But Agni is +even more than this; he is the fire (heat) that causes production and +reproduction, visibly manifest in the sun. This dual Agni, it is to be +noticed, is at times the only Agni recognized. The third form is then +added, lightning, and therewith Agni is begotten of Indra, and is, +therefore, one with Indra: "There is only one fire lighted in many +places" (V[=a]l. 10. 2). As a poetical expression, Agni in the last +form is the 'Son of Waters,' an epithet not without significance in +philosophical speculation; for water, through all periods, was +regarded as the material origin of the universe. + +Agni is one with the sun, with lightning (and thunder), and descends +into the plants.[4] To man he is house-priest and friend. It is he +that has "grouped men in dwelling-places" (iii. 1. 17) like +Prometheus, in whose dialectic name, Promantheus, lingers still the +fire-creator, the twirling (_math_) sticks which make fire in the +wood. He is man's guest and best friend (Mitra, iv. 1. 9; above). + +An hymn or two entire will show what was Agni to the Vedic poet. In +the following, the Rig Veda's first hymn, he is addressed, in the +opening stanza, under the names of house-priest, the chief sacrificial +priest, and the priest that pours oblations. In the second stanza he +is extolled as the messenger who brings the gods to the sacrifice, +himself rising up in sacrificial flames, and forming a link between +earth and heaven. In a later stanza he is called the Messenger +(Angiras =[Greek: aggelos]),--one of his ordinary titles: + + To AGNI (i. 1). + + I worship Agni; house-priest, he, + And priest divine of sacrifice, + Th' oblation priest, who giveth wealth. + + Agni, by seers of old adored, + To be adored by those to-day-- + May he the gods bring here to us. + + Through Agni can one wealth acquire, + Prosperity from day to day, + And fame of heroes excellent. + + O, Agni! whatsoe'er the rite + That thou surround'st on every side, + That sacrifice attains the gods. + + May Agni, who oblation gives-- + The wisest, true, most famous priest-- + This god with (all) the gods approach I + + Thou doest good to every man + That serves thee, Agni; even this + Is thy true virtue, Angiras. + + To thee, O Agni, day by day, + Do we with prayer at eve and dawn, + Come, bringing lowly reverence; + + To thee, the lord of sacrifice, + And shining guardian of the rite,[5] + In thine own dwelling magnified. + + As if a father to his son, + Be easy of access to us, + And lead us onward to our weal. + +This is mechanical enough to have been made for an established ritual, +as doubtless it was. But it is significant that the ritualistic gods +are such that to give their true character hymns of this sort must be +cited. Such is not the case with the older gods of the pantheon. +Ritualistic as it is, however, it is simple. Over against it may be +set the following (vi. 8): "Now will I praise the strength of the +variegated red bull (Agni), the feasts of the Knower-of-beings[6] +(Agni); to Agni, the friend of all men, is poured out a new song, +sweet to him as clear _soma_. As soon as he was born in highest +heaven, Agni began to protect laws, for he is a guardian of law (or +order). Great in strength, he, the friend of all men, measured out the +space between heaven and earth, and in greatness touched the zenith; +he, the marvellous friend, placed apart heaven and earth; with light +removed darkness; separated the two worlds like skins. Friend of all +men, he took all might to himself.... In the waters' lap the mighty +ones (gods) took him, and people established him king. M[=a]taricvan, +messenger of the all-shining one, bore him from afar, friend of all +men. Age by age, O Agni, give to poets new glorious wealth for feasts. +O ever-youthful king, as if with a ploughshare, rend the sinner; +destroy him with thy flame, like a tree! But among our lords bring, O +Agni, power unbent, endless strength of heroes; and may we, through +thy assistance, conquer wealth an hundredfold, a thousandfold, O Agni, +thou friend of all; with thy sure protection protect our royal lords, +O helper, thou who hast three habitations; guard for us the host of +them that have been generous, and let them live on, friend of all, now +that thou art lauded." + +Aryan, as Kuhn[7] has shown, is at least the conception if not the +particular form of the legend alluded to in this hymn, of fire brought +from the sky to earth, which Promethean act is attributed elsewhere to +the fire-priest.[8] Agni is here Mitra, the friend, as sun-god, and as +such takes all the celestials' activities on himself. Like Indra he +also gives personal strength: "Fair is thy face, O Agni, to the mortal +that desires strength;--they whom thou dost assist overcome their +enemies all their lives" (vi. 16. 25, 27). Agni is drawn down to earth +by means of the twirling-sticks, one the father, one the mother[9]. +"The bountiful wood bore the fair variegated son of waters and +plants;[10] the gods united in mind, and payed homage to the glorious +mighty child when he was born" (iii. 1. 13). As the son of waters, +Agni loves wood but retreats to water, and he is so identified with +Indra that he 'thunders' and 'gives rain' (as lightning; ii. 6. 5; +iii. 9. 2). + +The deeper significance of Agni-worship is found not alone in the fact +that he is the god in whom are the other gods, nor in that he is the +sun alone, but that "I am Agni, immortality is in my mouth; threefold +my light, eternal fire, my name the oblation (fire)," iii. 26. 7. He +is felt as a mysterious trinity. As a sun he lights earth; and gives +life, sustenance, children, and wealth (iii. 3. 7); as lightning he +destroys, as fire he befriends; like Indra he gives victory (iii. 16. +1); like Varuna he releases the bonds of sin; he is Varuna's brother +(v. 2. 7; vi. 3. 1; iv. 1. 2); his 'many names' are often alluded to +(iii. 20. 3, and above). The ritualistic interpretation of the priest +is that the sun is only a sacrificial fire above lighted by the gods +as soon as the corresponding fire is lighted on earth by men (vi. 2. +3). He is all threefold; three his tongues, his births, his places; +thrice led about the sacrifice given thrice a day (iii. 2. 9; 17. 1; +20. 2; iv, 15. 2; 1. 7; 12. 1). He is the upholder of the religious +order, the guest of mortals, found by the gods in the heavenly waters; +he is near and dear; but he also becomes dreadful to the foe (iii. 1. +3-6; 6. 5; vi. 7. 1; 8. 2; iii. 1. 23; 22. 5; vi. 3. 7; iii. 18. 1; +iv. 4. 4; 1. 6). + +It is easy to see that in such a conception of a triune god, who is +fearful yet kind, whose real name is unknown, while his visible +manifestations are in earth, air, and heaven, whose being contains all +the gods, there is an idea destined to overthrow, as it surpasses, the +simpler conceptions of the naturalism that precedes it. Agni as the +one divine power of creation is in fact the origin of the human race: +"From thee come singers and heroes" (vi. 7. 3). The less weight is, +therefore, to be laid on Bergaigne's 'fire origin of man'; it is not +as simple fire, but as universal creator that Agni creates man; it is +not the 'fire-principle'[11] philosophically elicited from connection +of fire and water, but as god-principle, all-creative, that Agni gets +this praise. + +Several hymns are dedicated to _Indr[=a]gni_, Indra united with Agni; +and the latter even is identified with Dyaus (iv. 1. 10), this +obsolescent god reviving merely to be absorbed into Agni. As water +purifies from dirt and sin (Varuna), so fire purifies (iv. 12. 4). It +has been suggested on account of v. 12. 5: 'Those that were yours have +spoken lies and left thee,' that there is a decrease in Agni worship. +As this never really happened, and as the words are merely those of a +penitent who has lied and seeks forgiveness at the hands of the god of +truth, the suggestion is not very acceptable. Agni comprehends not +only all naturalistic gods, but such later femininities as Reverence, +Mercy, and other abstractions, including Boundlessness. + +Of how great importance was the triune god Agni may be seen by +comparing his three lights with the later sectarian trinity, where +Vishnu, originally the sun, and (Rudra) Civa, the lightning, are the +preserver and destroyer. + +We fear the reader may have thought that we were developing rather a +system of mythology than a history of religion. With the close of the +Vedic period we shall have less to say from a mythological point of +view, but we think that it will have become patent now for what +purpose was intended the mythological basis of our study. Without this +it would have been impossible to trace the gradual growth in the +higher metaphysical interpretation of nature which goes hand in hand +with the deeper religious sense. With this object we have proceeded +from the simpler to the more complex divinities. We have now to take +up a side of religion which lies more apart from speculation, but it +is concerned very closely with man's religious instincts--the worship +of Bacchic character, the reverence for and fear of the death-god, and +the eschatological fancies of the poets, together with those first +attempts at creating a new theosophy which close the period of the Rig +Veda. + + +SOMA. + +Inseparably connected with the worship of Indra and Agni is that of +the 'moon-plant,' _soma_, the intoxicating personified drink to whose +deification must be assigned a date earlier than that of the Vedas +themselves. For the _soma_ of the Hindus is etymologically identified +with the _haoma_ of the Persians (the [Greek: omomi] of Plutarch[12]), +and the cultus at least was begun before the separation of the two +nations, since in each the plant is regarded as a god. The inspiring +effect of intoxication seemed to be due to the inherent divinity of +the plant that produced it; the plant was, therefore, regarded as +divine, and the preparation of the draught was looked upon as a sacred +ceremony[13]. + +This offering of the juice of the _soma_-plant in India was performed +thrice daily. It is said in the Rig Veda that _soma_ grows upon the +mountain M[=u]javat, that its or his father is Parjanya, the rain-god, +and that the waters are his sisters[14]. From this mountain, or from +the sky, accounts differ, _soma_ was brought by a hawk[15]. He is +himself represented in other places as a bird; and as a divinity he +shares in the praise given to Indra, "who helped Indra to slay +Vritra," the demon that keeps back the rain. Indra, intoxicated by +_soma_, does his great deeds, and indeed all the gods depend on _soma_ +for immortality. Divine, a weapon-bearing god, he often simply takes +the place of Indra and other gods in Vedic eulogy. It is the god Soma +himself who slays Vritra, Soma who overthrows cities, Soma who begets +the gods, creates the sun, upholds the sky, prolongs life, sees all +things, and is the one best friend of god and man, the divine drop +(_indu_), the friend of Indra[16]. + +As a god he is associated not only with Indra, but also with Agni, +Rudra, and P[=u]shan. A few passages in the later portion of the Rig +Veda show that _soma_ already was identified with the moon before the +end of this period. After this the lunar yellow god regularly was +regarded as the visible and divine Soma of heaven, represented on +earth by the plant[17]. + +From the fact that Soma is the moon in later literature, and +undoubtedly is recognized as such in a small number of the latest +passages of the Rig Veda, the not unnatural inference has been drawn +by some Vedic scholars that Soma, in hymns still earlier, means the +moon; wherever, in fact, epithets hitherto supposed to refer to the +plant may be looked upon as not incompatible with a description of the +moon, there these epithets are to be referred directly to Soma as the +moon-god, not to _soma_, the mere plant. Thus, with Rig Veda, X. 85 (a +late hymn, which speaks of Soma as the moon "in the lap of the stars," +and as "the days' banner") is to be compared VI. 39. 3, where it is +said that the drop (_soma_) lights up the dark nights, and is the +day's banner. Although this expression, at first view, would seem to +refer to the moon alone, yet it may possibly be regarded as on a par +with the extravagant praise given elsewhere to the _soma_-plant, and +not be so significant of the moon as it appears to be. Thus, in +another passage of the same book, the _soma_, in similar language, is +said to "lay light in the sun," a phrase scarcely compatible with the +moon's sphere of activity[18]. + + +The decision in regard to this question of interpretation is not to be +reached so easily as one might suppose, considering that a whole book, +the ninth, of the Rig Veda is dedicated to Soma, and that in addition +to this there are many hymns addressed to him in the other books. For +in the greater number of passages which may be cited for and against +this theory the objector may argue that the generally extravagant +praise bestowed upon Soma through the Veda is in any one case +merely particularized, and that it is not incongruous to say of the +divine _soma_-plant, "he lights the dark nights," when one reads in +general that he creates all things, including the gods. On the other +hand, the advocate of the theory may reply that everything which does +not apply to the moon-god Soma may be used metaphorically of him. +Thus, where it is said, "Soma goes through the purifying sieve," by +analogy with the drink of the plant _soma_ passing through the sieve +the poet may be supposed to imagine the moon passing through the +sieve-like clouds; and even when this sieve is expressly called the +'sheep's-tail sieve' and 'wool-sieve,' this may still be, +metaphorically, the cloud-sieve (as, without the analogy, one speaks +to-day of woolly clouds and the 'mare's tail'). + +So it happens that, with an hundred hymns addressed to Soma, it +remains still a matter of discussion whether the _soma_ addressed be +the plant or the moon. Alfred Hillebrandt, to whom is due the problem +in its present form, declares that everywhere[19] in the Rig Veda Soma +means the moon. No better hymn can be found to illustrate the +difficulty under which labors the _soma_-exegete than IX. 15, from +which Hillebrandt takes the fourth verse as conclusive evidence that +by _soma_ only the moon is meant. In that case, as will be seen from +the 'pails,' it must be supposed that the poet leaps from Soma to +_soma_ without warning. Hillebrandt does not include the mention of +the pails in his citation; but in this, as in other doubtful cases, it +seems to us better to give a whole passage than to argue on one or two +verses torn from their proper position: + + HYMN TO SOMA (IX. 15). + + QUERY: Is the hymn addressed to the plant as it is pressed + out into the pails, or to the moon? + + 1. This one, by means of prayer (or intelligence), comes + through the fine (sieve), the hero, with swift car, going to + the meeting with Indra. + + 2. This one thinks much for the sublime assembly of gods, + where sit immortals. + + 3. This one is despatched and led upon a shining path, when + the active ones urge (him).[20] + + 4. This one, shaking his horns, sharpens (them), the bull of + the herd, doing heroic deeds forcibly. + + 5. This one hastens, the strong steed, with bright golden + beams, becoming of streams the lord. + + 6. This one, pressing surely through the knotty (sieve?) to + good things, comes down into the vessels. + + 7. This one, fit to be prepared, the active ones prepare in + the pails, as he creates great food. + + 8. Him, this one, who has good weapons, who is most + intoxicating, ten fingers and seven (or many) prayers + prepare. + +Here, as in IX. 70, Hillebrandt assumes that the poet turns suddenly +from the moon to the plant. Against this might be urged the use of the +same pronoun throughout the hymn. It must be confessed that at first +sight it is almost as difficult to have the plant, undoubtedly meant +in verses 7 and 8, represented by the moon in the preceding verses, as +it is not to see the moon in the expression 'shaking his horns.' This +phrase occurs in another hymn, where Hillebrandt, with the same +certainty as he does here, claims it for the moon, though the first +part of this hymn as plainly refers to the plant, IX. 70. 1, 4. Here +the plant is a steer roaring like the noise of the Maruts (5-6), and +then (as above, after the term steer is applied to the plant), it is +said that he 'sharpens his horns,' and is 'sightly,' and further, 'he +sits down in the fair place ... on the wooly back,' etc., which bring +one to still another hymn where are to be found like expressions, +used, evidently, not of the moon, but of the plant, _viz._ to IX. 37, +a hymn not cited by Hillebrandt: + + This strong (virile) _soma_, pressed for drink, flows into + the purifying vessel; this sightly (as above, where + Hillebrandt says it is epithet of the moon), yellow, fiery + one, is flowing into the purifying vessel; roaring into its + own place (as above). This strong one, clear, shining (or + purifying itself), runs through the shining places of the + sky, slaying evil demons, through the sheep-hair-sieve. On + the back of Trita this one shining (or purifying itself) + made bright the sun with (his) sisters.[21] This one, + slaying Vritra, strong, pressed out, finding good things (as + above), uninjured, _soma_, went as if for booty. This god, + sent forth by seers, runs into the vessels, the drop + (_indu_) for Indra, quickly (or willingly). + +So far as we can judge, after comparing these and the other passages +that are cited by Hillebrandt as decisive for a lunar interpretation +of _soma_, it seems quite as probable that the epithets and +expressions used are employed of the plant metaphorically as that the +poet leaps thus lightly from plant to moon. And there is a number of +cases which plainly enough are indicative of the plant alone to make +it improbable that Hillebrandt is correct in taking Soma as the moon +'everywhere in the Rig Veda.' It may be that the moon-cult is somewhat +older than has been supposed, and that the language is consciously +veiled in the ninth book to cover the worship of a deity as yet only +partly acknowledged as such. But it is almost inconceivable that an +hundred hymns should praise the moon; and all the native commentators, +bred as they were in the belief of their day that _soma_ and the moon +were one, should not know that _soma_ in the Rig Veda (as well as +later) means the lunar deity. It seems, therefore, safer to abide by +the belief that _soma_ usually means what it was understood to mean, +and what the general descriptions in the _soma_-hymns more or less +clearly indicate, _viz._, the intoxicating plant, conceived of as +itself divine, stimulating Indra, and, therefore, the _causa movens_ +of the demon's death, Indra being the _causa efficiens_. Even the +allusions to _soma_ being in the sky is not incompatible with this. +For he is carried thence from the place of sacrifice. Thus too in 83. +1-2: "O lord of prayer[22], thy purifier (the sieve) is extended. +Prevailing thou enterest its limbs on all sides. Raw (_soma_), that +has not been cooked (with milk) does not enter into it. Only the +cooked (_soma_), going through, enters it. The sieve of the hot drink +is extended in the place of the sky. Its gleaming threads extend on +all sides. This (_soma_'s) swift (streams) preserve the man that +purifies them, and wisely ascend to the back of the sky." In this, as +in many hymns, the drink _soma_ is clearly addressed; yet expressions +are used which, if detached, easily might be thought to imply the moon +(or the sun, as with Bergaigne)--a fact that should make one employ +other expressions of the same sort with great circumspection. + +Or, let one compare, with the preparation by the ten fingers, 85. 7: +"Ten fingers rub clean (prepare) the steed in the vessels; uprise the +songs of the priests. The intoxicating drops, as they purify +themselves, meet the song of praise and enter Indra." Exactly the same +images as are found above may be noted in IX. 87, where not the moon, +but the plant, is conspicuously the subject of the hymn: "Run into the +pail, purified by men go unto booty. They lead thee like a swift horse +with reins to the sacrificial straw, preparing (or rubbing) thee. With +good weapons shines the divine (shining) drop (_Indu_), slaying +evil-doers, guarding the assembly; the father of the gods, the clever +begetter, the support of the sky, the holder of earth.... This one, +the _soma_ (plant) on being pressed out, ran swiftly into the purifier +like a stream let out, sharpening his two sharp horns like a buffalo; +like a true hero hunting for cows; he is come from the highest +press-stone," etc. It is the noise of _soma_ dropping that is compared +with 'roaring.' The strength given by (him) the drink, makes +him appear as the 'virile one,' of which force is the activity, and +the bull the type. Given, therefore, the image of the bull, the rest +follows easily to elaborate the metaphor. If one add that _soma_ is +luminous (yellow), and that all luminous divinities are 'horned +bulls[23],' then it will be unnecessary to see the crescent moon in +_soma_. Moreover, if _soma_ be the same with Brihaspati, as thinks +Hillebrandt, why are there three horns in V. 43. 13? Again, that the +expression 'sharpening his horns' does not refer necessarily to the +moon may be concluded from x. 86. 15, where it is stated expressly +that the _drink_ is a sharp-horned steer: "Like a sharp-horned steer +is thy brewed drink, O Indra," probably referring to the taste. The +sun, Agni, and Indra are all, to the Vedic poet, 'sharp-horned +steers[24],' and the _soma_ plant, being luminous and strong +(bull-like), gets the same epithet. + +The identity is rather with Indra than with the moon, if one be +content to give up brilliant theorizing, and simply follow the poets: +"The one that purifies himself yoked the sun's swift steed over man +that he might go through the atmosphere, and these ten steeds of the +sun he yoked to go, saying Indra is the drop (_Indu_)." When had ever +the moon the power to start the sun? What part in the pantheon is +played by the moon when it is called by its natural name (not by the +priestly name, _soma_)? Is _m[=a]s_ or _candramas_ (moon) a power of +strength, a great god? The words scarcely occur, except in late hymns, +and the moon, by his own folk-name, is hardly praised except in +mechanical conjunction with the sun. The floods of which _soma_ is +lord are explained in IX. 86. 24-25: "The hawk (or eagle) brought thee +from the sky, O drop (_Indu_[25]), ... seven milk-streams sing to the +yellow one as he purifies himself with the wave in the sieve of +sheep's wool. The active strong ones have sent forth the wise seer in +the lap of the waters." If one wishes to clear his mind in respect of +what the Hindu attributes to the divine drink (expressly drink, and +not moon), let him read IX. 104, where he will find that "the twice +powerful god-rejoicing intoxicating drink" finds goods, finds a path +for his friends, puts away every harmful spirit and every devouring +spirit, averts the false godless one and all oppression; and read also +ix. 21. I-4: "These _soma_-drops for Indra flow rejoicing, maddening, +light-(or heaven-) finding, averting attackers, finding desirable +things for the presser, making life for the singer. Like waves the +drops flow into one vessel, playing as they will. These _soma_-drops, +let out like steeds (attached) to a car, as they purify themselves, +attain all desirable things." According to IX. 97. 41^2 and _ib._ 37. +4 (and other like passages, too lightly explained, p. 387, by +Hillebrandt), it is _soma_ that "produced the light in the sun" and +"makes the sun rise," statements incompatible with the (lunar) Soma's +functions, but quite in accordance with the magic power which the +poets attribute to the divine drink. Soma is 'king over treasure.' +Soma is brought by the eagle that all may "see light" (IX. 48. 3-4). +He traverses the sky, and guards order--but not necessarily is he here +the moon, for _soma_, the drink, as a "galloping steed," "a brilliant +steer," a "stream of pressed _soma_," "a dear sweet," "a helper of +gods," is here poured forth; after him "flow great water-floods"; and +he "purifies himself in the sieve, he the supporter, holder of the +sky"; he "shines with the sun," "roars," and "looks like Mitra"; being +here both "the intoxicating draught," and at the same time "the giver +of kine, giver of men, giver of horses, giver of strength, the soul of +sacrifice" (IX. 2). + +Soma is even older than the Vedic Indra as slayer of Vritra and +snakes. Several Indo-Iranian epithets survive (of _soma_ and _haoma_, +respectively), and among those of Iran is the title 'Vritra-slayer,' +applied to _haoma_, the others being 'strong' and 'heaven-winning,' +just as in the Veda[26]. All three of them are contained in one of the +most lunar-like of the hymns to Soma, which, for this reason, and +because it is one of the few to this deity that seem to be not +entirely mechanical, is given here nearly in full, with the original +shift of metre in the middle of the hymn (which may possibly indicate +that two hymns have been united). + + To SOMA (I. 91). + + Thou, Soma, wisest art in understanding; + Thou guidest (us) along the straightest pathway; + 'Tis through thy guidance that our pious[27] fathers + Among the gods got happiness, O Indu. + + Thou, Soma, didst become in wisdom wisest; + In skill[28] most skilful, thou, obtaining all things. + A bull in virile strength, thou, and in greatness; + In splendor wast thou splendid, man-beholder. + + Thine, now, the laws of kingly Varuna[29]; + Both high and deep the place of thee, O Soma. + Thou brilliant art as Mitra, the beloved[30], + Like Aryaman, deserving service, art thou. + + Whate'er thy places be in earth or heaven, + Whate'er in mountains, or in plants and waters, + In all of these, well-minded, not injurious, + King Soma, our oblations meeting, take thou. + + Thou, Soma, art the real lord, + Thou king and Vritra-slayer, too; + Thou art the strength that gives success. + + And, Soma, let it be thy will + For us to live, nor let us die[31]; + Thou lord of plants[32], who lovest praise. + + Thou, Soma, bliss upon the old, + And on the young and pious man + Ability to live, bestowest. + + Do thou, O Soma, on all sides + Protect us, king, from him that sins, + No harm touch friend of such as thou. + + Whatever the enjoyments be + Thou hast, to help thy worshipper, + With these our benefactor be. + + This sacrifice, this song, do thou, + Well-pleased, accept; come unto us; + Make for our weal, O Soma, thou. + + In songs we, conversant with words, + O Soma, thee do magnify; + Be merciful and come to us. + + * * *[33] + + All saps unite in thee and all strong powers, + All virile force that overcomes detraction; + Filled full, for immortality, O Soma, + Take to thyself the highest praise in heaven. + The sacrifice shall all embrace--whatever + Places thou hast, revered with poured oblations. + Home-aider, Soma, furtherer with good heroes, + Not hurting heroes, to our houses come thou. + Soma the cow gives; Soma, the swift charger; + Soma, the hero that can much accomplish + (Useful at home, in feast, and in assembly + His father's glory)--gives, to him that worships. + + In war unharmed; in battle still a saviour; + Winner of heaven and waters, town-defender, + Born mid loud joy, and fair of home and glory, + A conqueror, thou; in thee may we be happy. + Thou hast, O Soma, every plant begotten; + The waters, thou; and thou, the cows; and thou hast + Woven the wide space 'twixt the earth and heaven; + Thou hast with light put far away the darkness. + With mind divine, O Soma, thou divine[34] one, + A share of riches win for us, O hero; + Let none restrain thee, thou art lord of valor; + Show thyself foremost to both sides in battle[35]. + +Of more popular songs, Hillebrandt cites as sung to Soma (!) VIII. 69. +8-10: + + Sing loud to him, sing loud to him; + Priyamedhas, oh, sing to him, + And sing to him the children, too; + Extol him as a sure defence.... + To _Indra_ is the prayer up-raised. + +The three daily _soma_-oblations are made chiefly to Indra and +V[=a]yu; to Indra at mid-day; to the Ribhus, artisans of the gods, at +evening; and to Agni in the morning. + +Unmistakable references to Soma as the moon, as, for instance, in X. +85. 3: "No one eats of that _soma_ which the priests know," seem +rather to indicate that the identification of moon and Soma was +something esoteric and new rather than the received belief of +pre-Vedic times, as will Hillebrandt. This moon-_soma_ is +distinguished from the "_soma_-plant which they crush." + +The floods of _soma_ are likened to, or, rather, identified with, the +rain-floods which the lightning frees, and, as it were, brings to +earth with him. A whole series of myths depending on this natural +phenomenon has been evolved, wherein the lightning-fire +as an eagle brings down _soma_ to man, that is, the heavenly drink. +Since Agni is threefold and the G[=a]yatri metre is threefold, they +interchange, and in the legends it is again the metre which brings the +_soma_, or an archer, as is stated in one doubtful passage[36]. + +What stands out most clearly in _soma_-laudations is that the +_soma_-hymns are not only quite mechanical, but that they presuppose a +very complete and elaborate ritual, with the employment of a number of +priests, of whom the _hotars_ (one of the various sets of priests) +alone number five in the early and seven in the late books; with a +complicated service; with certain divinities honored at certain hours; +and other paraphernalia of sacerdotal ceremony; while Indra, most +honored with Soma, and Agni, most closely connected with the execution +of sacrifice, not only receive the most hymns, but these hymns are, +for the most part, palpably made for ritualistic purposes. It is this +truth that the ritualists have seized upon and too sweepingly applied. +For in every family book, besides this baksheesh verse, occur the +older, purer hymns that have been retained after the worship for which +they were composed had become changed into a trite making of phrases. + +Hillebrandt has failed to show that the Iranian _haoma_ is the moon, +so that as a starting-point there still is plant and drink-worship, +not moon-worship. At what precise time, therefore, the _soma_ was +referred to the moon is not so important. Since drink-worship stands +at one end of the series, and moon-worship at the other, it is +antecedently probable that here and there there may be a doubt as to +which of the two was intended. Some of the examples cited by +Hillebrandt may indeed be referable to the latter end of the series +rather than to the former; but that the author, despite the learning +and ingenuity of his work, has proved his point definitively, we are +far from believing. It is just like the later Hindu speculation to +think out a subtle connection between moon and _soma_-plant because +each was yellow, and swelled, and went through a sieve (cloud), etc. +But there is a further connecting link in that the divinity ascribed +to the intoxicant led to a supposition that it was brought from the +sky, the home of the gods; above all, of the luminous gods, which the +yellow _soma_ resembled. Such was the Hindu belief, and from this as a +starting-point appears to have come the gradual identification of +_soma_ with the moon, now called Soma. For the moon, even under the +name of Gandharva, is not the object of especial worship. + +The question so ably discussed by Hillebrandt is, however, one of +considerable importance from the point of view of the religious +development. If _soma_ from the beginning was the moon, then there is +only one more god of nature to add to the pantheon. But if, as we +believe in the light of the Avesta and Veda itself, _soma_ like +_haoma_, was originally the drink-plant (the root _su_ press, from +which comes _soma_, implies the plant), then two important facts +follow. First, in the identification of yellow _soma_-plant with +yellow moon in the latter stage of the Rig Veda (which coincides with +the beginning of the Brahmanic period) there is a striking +illustration of the gradual mystical elevation of religion at the +hands of the priests, to whom it appeared indecent that mere drink +should be exalted thus; and secondly, there is the significant fact +that in the Indic and Iranian cult there was a direct worship of +deified liquor, analogous to Dionysiac rites, a worship which is not +unparalleled in other communities. Again, the surprising identity of +worship in Avesta and Veda, and the fact that hymns to the earlier +deities, Dawn, Parjanya, etc, are frequently devoid of any relation to +the _soma_-cult not only show that Bergaigne's opinion that the whole +Rig Veda is but a collection of hymns for _soma_-worship as handed +down in different families must be modified; but also that, as we have +explained _apropos_ of Varuna, the Iranian cult must have branched off +from the Vedic cult (whether, as Haug thought, on account of a +religious schism or not); that the hymns to the less popular deities +(as we have defined the word) make the first period of Vedic cult; and +that the special liquor-cult, common to Iran and India, arose after +the first period of Vedic worship, when, for example, Wind, Parjanya, +and Varuna were at their height, and before the priests had exalted +mystically Agni or Soma, and even Indra was as yet undeveloped. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: viii. 38. 4; i. 108. 3; Bergaigne, ii. 293.] + + [Footnote 2: On this point Bergaigne deprecates the + application of the ritualistic method, and says in words + that cannot be too emphasized: "Mais qui ne voit que de + telles exptications n'expliquent rien, ou plutot que le + detail du rituel ne peut trouver son explication que dans le + mythe, bien loin de pouvoir servir lui-memes a expliquer le + mythe?... Ni le ciel seul ni la terre seule, mais la terre + et le ciel etroitement unis et presque confondus, voila le + vrai domaine de la mythologie vedique, mythologie dont le + rituel n'est que la reproduction" (i. p. 24).] + + [Footnote 3: i. 58. 4; v. 7. 7; vi. 3. 4.] + + [Footnote 4: iii. 14. 4; i. 71. 9; vi. 3. 7; 6. 2; iv. 1. + 9.] + + [Footnote 5: Or of time or order.] + + [Footnote 6: Or 'Finder-of-beings.'] + + [Footnote 7: _Herabkunft des Feuers und des Goettertrankes_.] + + [Footnote 8: RV. vi. 16. 13: "Thee, Agni, from out the sky + Atharvan twirled," _nir amanthata_ (cf. Promantheus). In x. + 462 the Bhrigus, [Greek: phleghyai], discover fire.] + + [Footnote 9: Compare v. 2. 1. Sometimes Agni is "born with + the fingers," which twirl the sticks (iii. 26. 3; iv. 6. + 8).] + + [Footnote 10: Compare ii. 1: "born in flame from water, + cloud, and plants ... thou art the creator."] + + [Footnote 11: Bergaigne, i. p. 32 ff. The question of + priestly names (loc. cit. pp. 47-50), should start with + Bharata as [Greek: purphoros], a common title of Agni (ii. + 7; vi. 16. 19-21). So Bhrigu is the 'shining' one; and + Vasishtha is the 'most shining' (compare Vasus, not good but + shining gods). The priests got their names from their god, + like Jesuits. Compare Gritsamada in the Bhrigu family (book + ii.); Vicv[=a]-mitra, 'friend of all,' in the Bharata family + (book iii.); Gautama V[=a]madeva belonging to Angirasas + (book iv.); Atri 'Eater,' epithet of Agni in RV. (book v.); + Bharadv[=a]ja 'bearing food' (book vi.); Vasishtha (book + vii.); and besides these Jamadagni and Kacyapa, + black-toothed (Agni).'] + + [Footnote 12: De Isid. et Osir. 46. Compare Windischmann, + _Ueber den Somacultus der Arier_ (1846), and Muir, _Original + Sanskrit Texts_, vol. ii. p. 471. Hillebrandt, _Vedische + Mythologie_, i. p. 450, believes _haoma_ to mean the moon, + as does _soma_ in some hymns of the Rig Veda (see below).] + + [Footnote 13: Compare Kuhn, _Herabkunft des Feuers und des + Goettertrankes_ (1859); Bergaigne, _La Religion Vedique_, i. + 148 ff.; Haug's _[=A]itareya Br[=a]hmana_, Introduction, p. + 62; Whitney in _Jour. Am. Or. Soc_. III. 299; Muir, + _Original Sanskrit Texts_, vol. V. p. 258 ff., where other + literature is cited.] + + [Footnote 14: RV. X. 34. 1; IX. 98. 9; 82.3. The Vedic plant + is unknown (not the _sarcostemma viminale_).] + + [Footnote 15: RV. III. 43. 7; IV. 26.6 (other references in + Muir, _loc. cit._ p. 262.) Perhaps rain as _soma_ released by + lightning as a hawk (Bloomfield).] + + [Footnote 16: See the passages cited in Muir, _loc. cit_.] + + [Footnote 17: A complete account of _soma_ was given by the + Vedic texts will be found in Hillebrandt's _Vedische + Mythologie_, vol. I., where are described the different ways + of fermenting the juice of the plant.] + + [Footnote 18: Although so interpreted by Hillebrandt, _loc. + cit._ p. 312. The passage is found in RV. VI. 44. 23.] + + [Footnote 19: _Loc. cit._ pp. 340, 450.] + + [Footnote 20: Compare IX. 79. 5, where the same verb is used + of striking, urging out the _soma_-juice, _r[=a]sa_.] + + [Footnote 21: Compare IX. 32. 2, where "Trita's maidens urge + on the golden steed with the press-stones, _indu_ as a drink + for Indra."] + + [Footnote 22: On account of the position and content of this + hymn, Hillebrandt regards it as addressed to + Soma-Brihaspati.] + + [Footnote 23: So the sun in I. 163. 9, II. 'Sharpening his + horns' is used of fire in i. 140. 6; v. 2. 9.] + + [Footnote 24: VI. 16. 39; vii. 19. I; VIII. 60. 13.] + + [Footnote 25 3: IX. 63. 8-9; 5. 9. Soma is identified with + lightning in ix. 47. 3.] + + [Footnote 26: _Hukhratus, verethrajao, hvaresa_.] + + [Footnote 27: Or: wise.] + + [Footnote 28 3: Or: strength. Above, 'shared riches,' + perhaps, for 'got happiness.'] + + [Footnote 29: Or: thine, indeed, are the laws of King + Varuna.] + + [Footnote 30: Or: brilliant and beloved as Mitra (Mitra + means friend); Aryaman is translated 'bosom-friend'--both + are [=A]dityas.] + + [Footnote 31: Or: an thou willest for us to live we shall + not die.] + + [Footnote 32: Or: lordly plant, but not the moon.] + + [Footnote 33: Some unessential verses in the above metre are + here omitted.] + + [Footnote 34: Or: shining.] + + [Footnote 35: The same ideas are prominent in viii. 48, + where Soma is invoked as '_soma_ that has been drunk,' + _i.e.,_ the juice of the ('three days fermented') plant.] + + [Footnote 36: In the fourth book, iv. 27. 3. On this myth, + with its reasonable explanation as deduced from the ritual, + see Bloomfield, JAOS. xvi. I ff. Compare also Muir and + Hillebrandt, loc. cit.] + + * * * * * + + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE RIG VEDA (CONCLUDED).--YAMA AND OTHER GODS, VEDIC PANTHEISM, +ESCHATOLOGY. + + +In the last chapter we have traced the character of two great gods of +earth, the altar-fire and the personified kind of beer which was the +Vedic poets' chief drink till the end of this period. With the +discovery of _sur[=a], humor ex hordeo_ (oryzaque; Weber, +_V[=a]japeya_, p. 19), and the difficulty of obtaining the original +_soma_-plant (for the plant used later for _soma_, the _asclepias +acida_, or _sarcostemma viminale_, does not grow in the Punj[=a]b +region, and cannot have been the original _soma_), the status of +_soma_ became changed. While _sur[=a]_ became the drink of the people, +_soma_, despite the fact that it was not now so agreeable a liquor, +became reserved, from its old associations, as the priests' (gods') +drink, a sacrosanct beverage, not for the vulgar, and not esteemed by +the priest, except as it kept up the rite. + +It has been shown that these gods, earthly in habitation, absorbed the +powers of the older and physically higher divinities. The ideas that +clustered about the latter were transferred to the former. The +altar-fire, Agni, is at once earth-fire, lightning, and sun. The drink +_soma_ is identified with the heavenly drink that refreshes the earth, +and from its color is taken at last to be the terrestrial form of its +aqueous prototype, the moon, which is not only yellow, but even goes +through cloud-meshes just as _soma_ goes through the sieve, with all +the other points of comparison that priestly ingenuity can devise. + +Of different sort altogether from these gods is the ancient +Indo-Iranian figure that now claims attention. The older religion had +at least one object of devotion very difficult to reduce to terms of a +nature-religion. + + +YAMA + +Exactly as the Hindu had a half-divine ancestor, Manu, who by the +later priests is regarded as of solar origin, while more probably he +is only the abstract Adam (man), the progenitor of the race; so in +Yama the Hindu saw the primitive "first of mortals." While, however, +Mitra, Dyaus, and other older nature-gods, pass into a state of +negative or almost forgotten activity, Yama, even in the later epic +period, still remains a potent sovereign--the king of the dead. + +In the Avesta Yima is the son of the 'wide-gleaming' Vivanghvant, the +sun, and here it is the sun that first prepares the _soma (haoma)_ for +man. And so, too, in the Rig Veda it is Yama the son of Vivasvant (X. +58. 1; 60. 10) who first "extends the web" of (_soma_) sacrifice (VII. +33. 9, 12). The Vedic poet, not influenced by later methods of +interpretation, saw in Yama neither sun nor moon, nor any other +natural phenomenon, for thus he sings, differentiating Yama from them +all: "I praise with a song Agni, P[=u]shan, Sun and Moon, Yama in +heaven, Trita, Wind, Dawn, the Ray of Light, the Twin Horsemen" (X. +64. 3); and again: "Deserving of laudation are Heaven and Earth, the +four-limbed Agni, Yama, Aditi," etc. (X. 92. 11). + +Yama is regarded as a god, although in the Rig Veda he is called only +'king' (X. 14. 1, 11); but later he is expressly a god, and this is +implied, as Ehni shows, even in the Rig Veda: 'a god found Agni' and +'Yama found Agni' (X. 51. 1 ff.). His primitive nature was that of the +'first mortal that died,' in the words of the Atharva Veda. It is +true, indeed, that at a later period even gods are spoken of as +originally 'mortal,'[1] but this is a conception alien from the early +notions of the Veda, where 'mortal' signifies no more than 'man.' Yama +was the first mortal, and he lives in the sky, in the home that "holds +heroes," _i.e._, his abode is where dead heroes congregate (I. 35. 6; +X. 64. 3)[2]. The fathers that died of old are cared for by him as he +sits drinking with the gods beneath a fair tree (X. 135. 1-7). The +fire that devours the corpse is invoked to depart thither (X. 16. 9). +This place is not very definitely located, but since, according to one +prevalent view, the saints guard the sun, and since Yama's abode in +the sky is comparable with the sun in one or two passages, it is +probable that the general idea was that the departed entered the sun +and there Yama received him (I. 105. 9, 'my home is there where are +the sun's rays'; X. 154. 4-5, 'the dead shall go, O Yama, to the +fathers, the seers that guard the sun'). 'Yama's abode' is the same +with 'sky' (X. 123. 6); and when it is said, 'may the fathers hold up +the pillar (in the grave), and may Yama build a seat for thee there' +(X. 18. 13), this refers, not to the grave, but to heaven. And it is +said that 'Yama's seat is what is called the gods' home' (X. 135. +7)[3]. But Yama does not remain in the sky. He comes, as do other +Powers, to the sacrifice, and is invited to seat himself 'with +Angirasas and the fathers' at the feast, where he rejoices with them +(X. 14. 3-4; 15. 8). And either because Agni devours corpses for Yama, +or because of Agni's part in the sacrifice which Yama so joyfully +attends, therefore Agni is especially mentioned as Yama's friend (X. +21. 5), or even his priest (_ib_. 52. 3). Yama stands in his relation +to the dead so near to death that 'to go on Yama's path' is to go on +the path of death; and battle is called 'Yama's strife.' It is even +possible that in one passage Yama is directly identified with death +(X. 165. 4, 'to Yama be reverence, to death'; I. 38. 5; _ib_. 116. +2)[4]. There is always a close connection between Varuna and Yama, and +perhaps it is owing to this that parallel to 'Varuna's fetters' is +found also 'Yama's fetter,' i.e., death (x. 97. 16). + +As Yama was the first to die, so was he the first to teach man the +road to immortality, which lies through sacrifice, whereby man attains +to heaven and to immortality. Hence the poet says, 'we revere the +immortality born of Yama' (i. 83. 5). This, too, is the meaning of the +mystic verse which speaks of the sun as the heavenly courser 'given by +Yama,' for, in giving the way to immortality, Yama gives also the +sun-abode to them that become immortal. In the same hymn the sun is +identified with Yama as he is with Trita (i. 163. 3). This particular +identification is due, however, rather to the developed pantheistic +idea which obtains in the later hymns. A parallel is found in the next +hymn: "They speak of Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni ... that which is one, +the priests speak of in many ways, and call him Agni, Yama, Fire" (or +Wind, i. 164. 46). + +Despite the fact that one Vedic poet speaks of Yama's name as 'easy to +understand' (x. 12. 6), no little ingenuity has been spent on it, as +well as on the primitive conception underlying his personality. +Etymologically, his name means Twin, and this is probably the real +meaning, for his twin sister Yami is also a Vedic personage. The later +age, regarding Yama as a restrainer and punisher of the wicked, +derived the name from _yam_ the restrainer or punisher, but such an +idea is quite out of place in the province of Vedic thought. The +Iranian Yima also has a sister of like name, although she does not +appear till late in the literature. + +That Yama's father is the sun, Vivasvant (Savitar, 'the artificer,' +Tvashtar, x. 10. 4-5),[5] is clearly enough stated in the +Rik; and that he was the first mortal, in the Atharvan. Men come from +Yama, and Yama comes from the sun as 'creator,' just as men elsewhere +come from Adam and Adam comes from the Creator. But instead of an +Hebraic Adam and Eve there are in India a Yama and Yam[=i], brother +and sister (wife), who, in the one hymn in which the latter is +introduced _(loc. cit.),_ indulge in a moral conversation on the +propriety of wedlock between brother and sister. This hymn is +evidently a protest against a union that was unobjectionable to an +older generation. In the Yajur Veda Yami is wife and sister both. But +sometimes, in the varying fancies of the Vedic poets, the artificer +Tvashtar is differentiated from Vivasvant, the sun; as he is in +another passage, where Tvashtar gives to Vivasvant his daughter, and +she is the mother of Yama[6]. + +That men are the children of Yama is seen in X. 13. 4, where it is +said, 'Yama averted death for the gods; he did not avert death for +(his) posterity.' In the Brahmanic tradition men derive from the sun +(T[=a]itt. S. VI. 5. 6. 2[7]) So, in the Iranian belief, Yima is +looked upon, according to some scholars, as the first man. The funeral +hymn to Yama is as follows: + + Him who once went over the great mountains[8] and spied out + a path for many, the son of Vivasvant, who collects men, + King Yama, revere ye with oblations. Yama the first found us + a way ... There where our old fathers are departed.... Yama + is magnified with the Angirasas.... Sit here, O Yama, with + the Angirasas and with the fathers.... Rejoice, O king, in + this oblation. Come, O Yama, with the venerable Angirasas. I + call thy father, Vivasvant, sit down at this sacrifice. + +And then, turning to the departed soul: + + Go forth, go forth on the old paths where are gone our old + fathers; thou shalt see both joyous kings, Yama and God + Varuna. Unite with the fathers, with Yama, with the + satisfaction of desires, in highest heaven.... Yama will + give a resting place to this spirit. Run past, on a good + path, the two dogs of Saram[=a], the four-eyed, spotted + ones; go unto the fathers who rejoice with Yama. + +Several things are here noteworthy. In the first place, the Atharva +Veda reads, "who first of mortals died[9]," and this is the meaning of +the Rig Veda version, although, as was said above, the mere fact that +Varuna is called a god and Yama a king proves nothing[10]. But it is +clearly implied here that he who crossed the mountains and 'collected +men,' as does Yima in the Iranian legend, is an ancient king, as it is +also implied that he led the way to heaven. The dogs of Yama are +described in such a way as to remind one of the dogs that guard the +path the dead have to pass in the Iranian legend, and of Kerberus, +with whose very name the adjective 'spotted' has been compared[11]. +The dogs are elsewhere described as white and brown and as barking +(VII. 55. 2), and in further verses of the hymn just quoted (X. 14) +they are called "thy guardian dogs, O Yama, the four-eyed ones who +guard the path, who look on men ... broad-nosed, dark messengers of +Yama, who run among the people." + +These dogs are due to the same fantasy that creates a Kerberus, the +Iranian dogs[12], or other guardians of the road that leads to heaven. +The description is too minute to make it probable that the Vedic poet +understood them to be 'sun and moon,' as the later Brahmanical +ingenuity explains them, and as they have been explained by modern +scholarship. It is not possible that the poet, had he had in mind any +connection between the dogs and the sun and moon (or 'night and day'), +would have described them as 'barking' or as 'broad-nosed and dark'; +and all interpretation of Yama's dogs must rest on the interpretation +of Yama himself[13]. + +Yama is not mentioned elsewhere[14] in the Rig Veda, except in the +statement that 'metres rest on Yama,' and in the closing verses of the +burial hymn: "For Yama press the _soma_, for Yama pour oblation; the +sacrifice goes to Yama; he shall extend for us a long life among the +gods," where the pun on Yama (_yamad a_), in the sense of 'stretch +out,' shows that as yet no thought of 'restrainer' was in the poet's +mind, although the sense of 'twin' is lost from the name. + +In recent years Hillebrandt argues that because the Manes are +connected with Soma (as the moon), and because Yama was the first to +die, therefore Yama was the moon. Ehni, on the other hand, together +with Bergaigne and some other scholars, takes Yama to be the sun. +Mueller calls him the 'setting-sun[15].' The argument from the Manes +applies better to the sun than to the moon, but it is not conclusive. +The Hindus in the Vedic age, as later, thought of the Manes living in +stars, moon, sun, and air; and, if they were not good Manes but dead +sinners, in the outer edge of the universe or under ground. In short, +they are located in every conceivable place[17]. + +The Yama, 'who collects people,' has been rightly compared with the +Yima, who 'made a gathering of the people,' but it is doubtful whether +one should see in this an Aryan trait; for [Greek: Aidaes Agaesilaos] +is not early and popular, but late (Aeschylean), and the expression +may easily have arisen independently in the mind of the Greek poet. +From a comparative point of view, in the reconstruction of Yama there +is no conclusive evidence which will permit one to identify his +original character either with sun or moon. Much rather he appears to +be as he is in the Rig Veda, a primitive king, not historically so, +but poetically, the first man, fathered of the sun, to whom he +returns, and in whose abode he collects his offspring after their +inevitable death on earth. In fact, in Yama there is the ideal side of +ancestor-worship. He is a poetic image, the first of all fathers, and +hence their type and king. Yama's name is unknown outside of the +Indo-Iranian circle, and though Ehni seeks to find traces of him in +Greece and elsewhere,[18] this scholar's identifications fail, because +he fails to note that similar ideas in myths are no proof of their +common origin. + +It has been suggested that in the paradise of Yama over the mountains +there is a companion-piece to the hyperboreans, whose felicity is +described by Pindar. The nations that came from the north still kept +in legend a recollection of the land from whence they came. This +suggestion cannot, of course, be proved, but it is the most probable +explanation yet given of the first paradise to which the dead revert. +In the late Vedic period, when the souls of the dead were not supposed +to linger on earth with such pleasure as in the sky, Yama's abode is +raised to heaven. Later still, when to the Hindu the south was the +land of death, Yama's hall of judgment is again brought down to earth +and transferred to the 'southern district.' + +The careful investigation of Scherman[19] leads essentially to the +same conception of Yama as that we have advocated. Scherman believes +that Yama was first a human figure, and was then elevated to, if not +identified with, the sun. Scherman's only error is in disputing the +generally-received opinion, one that is on the whole correct, that +Yama in the early period is a kindly sovereign, and in later times +becomes the dread king of horrible hells. Despite some testimony to +the contrary, part of which is late interpolation in the epic, this is +the antithesis which exists in the works of the respective periods. + +The most important gods of the era of the Rig Veda we now have +reviewed. But before passing on to the next period it should be +noticed that no small number of beings remains who are of the air, +devilish, or of the earth, earthy. Like the demons that injure man by +restraining the rain in the clouds, so there are _bh[=u]ts_, ghosts, +spooks, and other lower powers, some malevolent, some good-natured, +who inhabit earth; whence demonology. There is, furthermore, a certain +chrematheism, as we have elsewhere[20] ventured to call it, which +pervades the Rig Veda, the worship of more or less personified things, +differing from pantheism in this,[21] that whereas pantheism assumes a +like divinity in all things, this kind of theism assumes that +everything (or anything) has a separate divinity, usually that which +is useful to the worshipper, as, the plough, the furrow, etc. In later +hymns these objects are generally of sacrificial nature, and the +stones with which _soma_ is pressed are divine like the plant. Yet +often there is no sacrificial observance to cause this veneration. +Hymns are addressed to weapons, to the war-car, as to divine beings. +Sorcery and incantation is not looked upon favorably, but nevertheless +it is found. + +Another class of divinities includes abstractions, generally female, +such as Infinity, Piety, Abundance, with the barely-mentioned +Gung[=u], R[=a]k[=a], etc. (which may be moon-phases). The +most important of these abstractions[22] is 'the lord of strength,' a +priestly interpretation of Indra, interpreted as religious strength or +prayer, to whom are accredited all of Indra's special acts. +Hillebrandt interprets this god, Brahmanaspati or Brihaspati, as the +moon; Mueller, somewhat doubtfully, as fire; while Roth will not allow +that Brihaspati has anything to do with natural phenomena, but +considers him to have been from the beginning 'lord of prayer.' With +this view we partly concur, but we would make the important +modification that the god was lord of prayer only as priestly +abstraction Indra in his higher development. It is from this god is +come probably the head of the later trinity, Brahm[=a], through +personified _brahma_, power; prayer, with its philosophical +development into the Absolute. Noteworthy is the fact that some of the +Vedic Aryans, despite his high pretensions, do not quite like +Brihaspati, and look on him as a suspicious novelty. If one study +Brihaspati in the hymns, it will be difficult not to see in him simply +a sacerdotal Indra. He breaks the demon's power; crushes the foes of +man; consumes the demons with a sharp bolt; disperses darkness; drives +forth the 'cows'; gives offspring and riches; helps in battle; +discovers Dawn and Agni; has a band (like Maruts) singing about him; +he is red and golden, and is identified with fire. Although 'father of +gods,' he is begotten of Tvashtar, the artificer.[23] + +Weber has suggested (V[=a]japeya Sacrifice, p. 15), that Brihaspati +takes Indra's place, and this seems to be the true solution, Indra as +interpreted mystically by priests. In RV. i. 190, Brihaspati is looked +upon by 'sinners' as a new god of little value. Other minor deities +can be mentioned only briefly, chiefly that the extent of the pantheon +may be seen. For the history of religion they are of only collective +importance. The All-gods play an important part in the sacrifice, a +group of 'all the gods,' a priestly manufacture to the end that no god +may be omitted in laudations that would embrace all the gods. The +later priests attempt to identify these gods with the clans, 'the +All-gods are the clans' (_Cat. Br._ v. 5. 1.10), on the basis of a +theological _pun_, the clans, _vicas_, being equated with the word for +all, _vicve_. Some modern scholars follow these later priests, but +without reason. Had these been special clan-gods, they would have had +special names, and would not have appeared in a group alone. + +The later epic has a good deal to say about some lovely nymphs called +the Apsarasas, of whom it mentions six as chief (Urvac[=i], Menak[=a], +etc.).[24] They fall somewhat in the epic from their Vedic estate, but +they are never more than secondary figures, love-goddesses, beloved of +the Gandharvas who later are the singing guardians of the moon, and, +like the lunar stations, twenty-seven in number. The Rik knows at +first but one Gandharva (an inferior genius, mentioned in but one +family-book), who guards Soma's path, and, when Soma becomes the moon, +is identified with him, ix. 86. 36. As in the Avesta, Gandharva is +(the moon as) an evil spirit also; but always as a second-rate power, +to whom are ascribed magic (and madness, later). He has virtually no +cult except in _soma_-hymns, and shows clearly the first Aryan +conception of the moon as a demoniac power, potent over women, and +associated with waters. + +Mountains, and especially rivers, are holy, and of course are deified. +Primitive belief generally deifies rivers. But in the great river-hymn +in the Rig Veda there is probably as much pure poetry as prayer. The +Vedic poet half believed in the rivers' divinity, and sings how they +'rush forth like armies,' but it will not do to inquire too strictly +in regard to his belief. + +He was a poet, and did not expect to be catechized. Of female +divinities there are several of which the nature is doubtful. As Dawn +or Storm have been interpreted Saram[=a] and Sarany[=u], both meaning +'runner.' The former is Indra's dog, and her litter is the dogs of +Yama. One little poem, rather than hymn, celebrates the 'wood-goddess' +in pretty verses of playful and descriptive character. + +Long before there was any formal recognition of the dogma that all +gods are one, various gods had been identified by the Vedic poets. +Especially, as most naturally, was this the case when diverse gods +having different names were similar in any way, such as Indra and +Agni, whose glory is fire; or Varuna and Mitra, whose seat is the sky. +From this casual union of like pairs comes the peculiar custom of +invoking two gods as one. But even in the case of gods not so +radically connected, if their functions were mutually approximate, +each in turn became credited with his neighbor's acts. If the traits +were similar which characterized each, if the circles of activity +overlapped at all, then those divinities that originally were tangent +to each other gradually became concentric, and eventually were united. +And so the lines between the gods were wiped out, as it were, by their +conceptions crowding upon one another. There was another factor, +however, in the development of this unconscious, or, at least, +unacknowledged, pantheism. Aided by the likeness or identity of +attributes in Indra, Savitar, Agni, Mitra, and other gods, many of +which were virtually the same under a different designation, the +priests, ever prone to extravagance of word, soon began to attribute, +regardless of strict propriety, every power to every god. With the +exception of some of the older divinities, whose forms, as they are +less complex, retain throughout the simplicity of their primitive +character, few gods escaped this adoration, which tended to make them +all universally supreme, each being endowed with all the attributes of +godhead. One might think that no better fate could happen to a god +than thus to be magnified. But when each god in the pantheon was +equally glorified, the effect on the whole was disastrous. In fact, it +was the death of the gods whom it was the intention of the seers to +exalt. And the reason is plain. From this universal praise it resulted +that the individuality of each god became less distinct; every god was +become, so to speak, any god, so far as his peculiar attributes made +him a god at all, so that out of the very praise that was given to him +and his confreres alike there arose the idea of the abstract godhead, +the god who was all the gods, the one god. As a pure abstraction one +finds thus Aditi, as equivalent to 'all the gods,'[25] and then the +more personal idea of the god that is father of all, which soon +becomes the purely personal All-god. It is at this stage where begins +conscious premeditated pantheism, which in its first beginnings is +more like monotheism, although in India there is no monotheism which +does not include devout polytheism, as will be seen in the review of +the formal philosophical systems of religion. + +It is thus that we have attempted elsewhere[26] to explain that phase +of Hindu religion which Mueller calls henotheism. + +Mueller, indeed, would make of henotheism a new religion, but this, the +worshipping of each divinity in turn as if it were the greatest and +even the only god recognized, is rather the result of the general +tendency to exaltation, united with pantheistic beginnings. Granting +that pure polytheism is found in a few hymns, one may yet say that +this polytheism, with an accompaniment of half-acknowledged +chrematheism, passed soon into the belief that several divinities were +ultimately and essentially but one, which may be described as +homoiotheism; and that the poets of the Rig Veda were unquestionably +esoterically unitarians to a much greater extent and in an earlier +period than has generally been acknowledged. Most of the hymns of the +Rig Veda were composed under the influence of that unification of +deities and tendency to a quasi-monotheism, which eventually results +both in philosophical pantheism, and in the recognition at the same +time of a personal first cause. To express the difference between +Hellenic polytheism and the polytheism of the Rig Veda the latter +should be called, if by any new term, rather by a name like +pantheistic polytheism, than by the somewhat misleading word +henotheism. What is novel in it is that it represents the fading of +pure polytheism and the engrafting, upon a polytheistic stock, of a +speculative homoiousian tendency soon to bud out as philosophic +pantheism. + +The admission that other gods exist does not nullify the attitude of +tentative monotheism. "Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods?" +asks Moses, and his father-in-law, when converted to the new belief, +says: "Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods."[27] But +this is not the quasi-monotheism of the Hindu, to whom the other gods +were real and potent factors, individually distinct from the one +supreme god, who represents the All-god, but is at once abstract and +concrete. + +Pantheism in the Rig Veda comes out clearly only in one or two +passages: "The priests represent in many ways the (sun) bird that is +one"; and (cited above) "They speak of him as Indra, Mitra, Varuna, +Agni, ... that which is but one they call variously." So, too, in the +Atharvan it is said that Varuna (here a pantheistic god) is "in the +little drop of water,"[28] as in the Rik the spark of material fire is +identified with the sun. + +The new belief is voiced chiefly in that portion of the Rig Veda which +appears to be latest and most Brahmanic in tone. + +Here a supreme god is described under the name of "Lord of Beings," +the "All-maker," "The Golden Germ," the "God over gods, the spirit of +their being" (x. 121). The last, a famous hymn, Mueller entitles "To +the Unknown God." It may have been intended, as has been suggested, +for a theological puzzle,[29] but its language evinces that in +whatever form it is couched--each verse ends with the refrain, 'To +what god shall we offer sacrifice?' till the last verse answers the +question, saying, 'the Lord of beings'--it is meant to raise the +question of a supreme deity and leave it unanswered in terms of a +nature-religion, though the germ is at bottom fire: "In the beginning +arose the Golden Germ; as soon as born he became the Lord of All. He +established earth and heaven--to what god shall we offer sacrifice? He +who gives breath, strength, whose command the shining gods obey; whose +shadow is life and death.... When the great waters went everywhere +holding the germ and generating light, then arose from them the one +spirit (breath) of the gods.... May he not hurt us, he the begetter of +earth, the holy one who begot heaven ... Lord of beings, thou alone +embracest all things ..." + +In this closing period of the Rig Veda--a period which in many ways, +the sudden completeness of caste, the recognition of several Vedas, +etc., is much farther removed from the beginning of the work than it +is from the period of Brahmanic speculation--philosophy is hard at +work upon the problems of the origin of gods and of being. As in the +last hymn, water is the origin of all things; out of this springs +fire, and the wind which is the breath of god. So in the great hymn of +creation: "There was then neither not-being nor being; there was no +atmosphere, no sky. What hid (it)? Where and in the protection of +what? Was it water, deep darkness? There was no death nor immortality. +There was no difference between night and day. That One breathed ... +nothing other than this or above it existed. Darkness was concealed in +darkness in the beginning. Undifferentiated water was all this +(universe)." Creation is then declared to have arisen by virtue of +desire, which, in the beginning was the origin of mind;[30] and "the +gods," it is said further, "were created after this." Whether entity +springs from non-entity or vice versa is discussed in another hymn of +the same book.[31] The most celebrated of the pantheistic hymns is +that in which the universe is regarded as portions of the deity +conceived as the primal Person: "Purusha (the Male Person) is this +all, what has been and will be ... all created things are a fourth of +him; that which is immortal in the sky is three-fourths of him." The +hymn is too well known to be quoted entire. All the castes, all gods, +all animals, and the three (or four) Vedas are parts of him.[32] + +Such is the mental height to which the seers have raised themselves +before the end of the Rig Veda. The figure of the Father-god, +Praj[=a]pati, 'lord of beings,' begins here; at first an epithet of +Savitar, and finally the type of the head of a pantheon, such as one +finds him to be in the Br[=a]hmanas. In one hymn only (x. 121) is +Praj[=a]pati found as the personal Father-god and All-god. At a time +when philosophy created the one Universal Male Person, the popular +religion, keeping pace, as far as it could, with philosophy, invented +the more anthropomorphized, more human, Father-god--whose name is +ultimately interpreted as an interrogation, God Who? This trait lasts +from now on through all speculation. The philosopher conceived of a +first source. The vulgar made it a personal god. + +One of the most remarkable hymns of this epoch is that on V[=a]c, +Speech, or The Word. Weber has sought in this the prototype of the +Logos doctrine (below). The Word, V[=a]c (feminine) is introduced as +speaking (x. 125): + + I wander with the Rudras, with the Vasus,[33] with the + [=A]dityas, and with all the gods; I support Mitra, + Va['r]una, Indra-Agni, and the twin Acvins ... I give wealth + to him that gives sacrifice, to him that presses the _soma_. + I am the queen, the best of those worthy of sacrifice ... + The gods have put me in many places ... I am that through + which one eats, breathes, sees, and hears ... Him that I + love I make strong, to be a priest, a seer, a wise man. 'Tis + I bend Rudra's bow to hit the unbeliever; I prepare war for + the people; I am entered into heaven and earth. I beget the + father of this (all) on the height; my place is in the + waters, the sea; thence I extend myself among all creatures + and touch heaven with my crown. Even I blow like the wind, + encompassing all creatures. Above heaven and above earth, so + great am I grown in majesty. + +This is almost Vedantic pantheism with the Vishnuite doctrine of +'special grace' included. + +The moral tone of this period--if period it may be called--may best be +examined after one has studied the idea which the Vedic Hindu has +formed of the life hereafter. The happiness of heaven will be typical +of what he regards as best here. Bliss beyond the grave depends in +turn upon the existence of the spirit after death, and, that the +reader may understand this, we must say a few words in regard to the +Manes, or fathers dead. "Father Manu," as he is called,[34] was the +first 'Man.' Subsequently he is the secondary parent as a kind of +Noah; but Yama, in later tradition his brother, has taken his place as +norm of the departed fathers, Pitaras. + +These Fathers (Manes), although of different sort than the gods, are +yet divine and have many godly powers, granting prayers and lending +aid, as may be seen from this invocation: "O Fathers, may the +sky-people grant us life; may we follow the course of the living" (x. +57. 5). One whole hymn is addressed to these quasi-divinities (x. 15): + + Arise may the lowest, the highest, the middlemost Fathers, + those worthy of the _soma_, who without harm have entered + into the spirit (-world); may these Fathers, knowing the + seasons, aid us at our call. This reverence be to-day to the + Fathers, who of old and afterwards departed; those who have + settled in an earthly sphere,[35] or among peoples living in + fair places (the gods?). I have found the gracious Fathers, + the descendant(s) and the wide-step[36] of Vishnu; those + who, sitting on the sacrificial straw, willingly partake of + the pressed drink, these are most apt to come hither.... + Come hither with blessings, O Fathers; may they come hither, + hear us, address and bless us.... May ye not injure us for + whatever impiety we have as men committed.... With those who + are our former Fathers, those worthy of _soma_, who are come + to the _soma_ drink, the best (fathers), may Yama rejoicing, + willingly with them that are willing, eat the oblations as + much as is agreeable (to them). Come running, O Agni, with + these (fathers), who thirsted among the gods and hastened + hither, finding oblations and praised with songs. These + gracious ones, the real poets, the Fathers that seat + themselves at the sacrificial heat; who are real eaters of + oblation; drinkers of oblation; and are set together on one + chariot with Indra and the gods. Come, O Agni, with these, a + thousand, honored like gods, the ancient, the original + Fathers who seat themselves at the sacrificial heat.... + Thou, Agni, didst give the oblations to the Fathers, that + eat according to their custom; do thou (too) eat, O god, the + oblation offered (to thee). Thou knowest, O thou knower (or + finder) of beings, how many are the Fathers--those who are + here, and who are not here, of whom we know, and of whom we + know not. According to custom eat thou the well-made + sacrifice. With those who, burned in fire or not burned, + (now) enjoy themselves according to custom in the middle of + the sky, do thou, being the lord, form (for us) a spirit + life, a body according to (our) wishes.[37] + +Often the Fathers are invoked in similar language in the hymn to the +"All-gods" mentioned above, and occasionally no distinction is to be +noticed between the powers and attributes of the Fathers and those of +the gods. The Fathers, like the luminous gods, "give light" (x. 107. +1). Exactly like the gods, they are called upon to aid the living, and +even 'not to harm' (iii. 55. 2; x. 15. 6). According to one verse, the +Fathers have not attained the greatness of the gods, who impart +strength only to the gods.[38] + +The Fathers are kept distinct from the gods. When the laudations +bestowed upon the former are of unequivocal character there is no +confusion between the two.[39] + +The good dead, to get to the paradise awaiting them, pass over water +(X. 63. 10), and a bridge (ix. 41. 2). Here, by the gift of the gods, +not by inherent capacity, they obtain immortality. He that believes on +Agni, sings: "Thou puttest the mortal in highest immortality, O Agni"; +and, accordingly, there is no suggestion that heavenly joys may cease; +nor is there in this age any notion of a _Goetterdaemmerung_. +Immortality is described as "continuing life in the highest sky," +another proof that when formulated the doctrine was that the soul of +the dead lives in heaven or in the sun.[40] + +Other cases of immortality granted by different gods are recorded by +Muir and Zimmer. Yet in one passage the words, "two paths I have heard +of the Fathers (exist), of the gods and of mortals," may mean that the +Fathers go the way of mortals or that of gods, rather than, as is the +usual interpretation, that mortals have two paths, one of the Fathers +and one of the gods,[41] for the dead may live on earth or in the air +as well as in heaven. When a good man dies his breath, it is said, +goes to the wind, his eye to the sun, etc.[42]--each part to its +appropriate prototype--while the "unborn part" is carried +"to the world of the righteous," after having been burned and heated +by the funeral fire. All these parts are restored to the soul, +however, and Agni and Soma return to it what has been injured. With +this Muir compares a passage in the Atharva Veda where it is said that +the Manes in heaven rejoice with all their limbs.[43] We dissent, +therefore, wholly from Barth, who declares that the dead are conceived +of as "resting forever in the tomb, the narrow house of clay." The +only passage cited to prove this is X. 18. 10-13, where are the words +(addressed to the dead man at the burial): "Go now to mother earth ... +she shall guard thee from destruction's lap ... Open wide, O earth, be +easy of access; as a mother her son cover this man, O earth," etc. +Ending with the verse quoted above: "May the Fathers hold the pillar +and Yama there build thee a seat."[44] The following is also found in +the Rig Veda bearing on this point: the prayer that one may meet his +parents after death; the statement that a generous man goes to the +gods; and a suggestion of the later belief that one wins immortality +by means of a son.[45] + +The joys of paradise are those of earth; and heaven is thus described, +albeit in a late hymn:[46] "Where is light inexhaustible; in the world +where is placed the shining sky; set me in this immortal, unending +world, O thou that purifiest thyself (Soma); where is king (Yama), the +son of Vivasvant, and the paradise of the sky;[47] where are the +flowing waters; there make me immortal. Where one can go as he will; +in the third heaven, the third vault of the sky; where are worlds full +of light, there make me immortal; where are wishes and desires +and the red (sun)'s highest place; where one can follow his own habits +[48] and have satisfaction; there make me immortal; where exist +delight, joy, rejoicing, and joyance; where wishes are obtained, there +make me immortal."[49] Here, as above, the saints join the Fathers, +'who guard the sun.' + +There is a 'bottomless darkness' occasionally referred to as a place +where evil spirits are to be sent by the gods; and a 'deep place' is +mentioned as the portion of 'evil, false, untruthful men'; while Soma +casts into 'a hole' (abyss) those that are irreligious.[50] + +As darkness is hell to the Hindu, and as in all later time the demons +are spirits of darkness, it is rather forced not to see in these +allusions a misty hell, without torture indeed, but a place for the +bad either 'far away,' as it is sometimes said _(par[=a]vati)_, or +'deep down,' 'under three earths,' exactly as the Greek has a hell +below and one on the edge of the earth. Ordinarily, however, the gods +are requested simply to annihilate offenders. It is plain, as Zimmer +says, from the office of Yama's dogs, that they kept out of paradise +unworthy souls; so that the annihilation cannot have been imagined to +be purely corporeal. But heaven is not often described, and hell +never, in this period. Yet, when the paradise desired is described, it +is a place where earthly joys are prolonged and intensified. Zimmer +argues that a race which believes in good for the good hereafter must +logically believe in punishment for the wicked, and Scherman, +strangely enough, agrees with this pedantic opinion.[51] If either of +these scholars had looked away from India to the western Indians he +would have seen that, whereas almost all American Indians believe in a +happy hereafter for good warriors, only a very few tribes have any +belief in punishment for the bad. At most a Niflheim awaits the +coward. Weber thinks the Aryans already believed in a personal +immortality, and we agree with him. Whitney's belief that hell was not +known before the Upanishad period (in his translations of the _Katha +Upanishad_) is correct only if by hell torture is meant, and if the +Atharvan is later than this Upanishad, which is improbable. + +The good dead in the Rig Veda return with Yama to the sacrifice to +enjoy the _soma_ and viands prepared for them by their descendants. +Hence the whole belief in the necessity of a son in order to the +obtaining of a joyful hereafter. What the rite of burial was to the +Greek, a son was to the Hindu, a means of bliss in heaven. Roth +apparently thinks that the Rig Veda's heaven is one that can best be +described in Dr. Watt's hymn: + + There is a land of pure delight + Where saints immortal reign, + Eternal day excludes the night, + And pleasures banish pain; + +and that especial stress should be laid on the word 'pure.' But there +is very little teaching of personal purity in the Veda, and the poet +who hopes for a heaven where he is to find 'longing women,' 'desire +and its fulfillment' has in mind, in all probability, purely impure +delights. It is not to be assumed that the earlier morality surpassed +that of the later day, when, even in the epic, the hero's really +desired heaven is one of drunkenness and women _ad libitum_. Of the +'good man' in the Rig Veda are demanded piety toward gods and manes +and liberality to priests; truthfulness and courage; and in the end of +the work there is a suggestion of ascetic 'goodness' by means of +_tapas_, austerity.[52] Grassman cites one hymn as dedicated to + +'Mercy.' It is really (not a hymn and) not on mercy, but a poem +praising generosity. This generosity, however (and in general this is +true of the whole people), is not general generosity, but liberality +to the priests.[53] The blessings asked for are wealth (cattle, +horses, gold, etc.), virile power, male children ('heroic offspring') +and immortality, with its accompanying joys. Once there is a tirade +against the friend that is false to his friend (truth in act as well +as in word);[54] once only, a poem on concord, which seems to partake +of the nature of an incantation. + +Incantations are rare in the Rig Veda, and appear to be looked upon as +objectionable. So in VII. 104 the charge of a 'magician' is furiously +repudiated; yet do an incantation against a rival wife, a mocking hymn +of exultation after subduing rivals, and a few other hymns of like +sort show that magical practices were well known.[55] + +The sacrifice occupies a high place in the religion of the Rig Veda, +but it is not all-important, as it is later. Nevertheless, the same +presumptuous assumption that the gods depend on earthly sacrifice is +often made; the result of which, even before the collection was +complete (IV. 50), was to teach that gods and men depended on the will +of the wise men who knew how properly to conduct a sacrifice, the +key-note of religious pride in the Brahmanic period. + +Indra depends on the sacrificial _soma_ to accomplish his great works. +The gods first got power through the sacrificial fire and _soma_.[56] +That images of the gods were supposed to be powerful may be inferred +from the late verses, "who buys this Indra," etc. (above), but +allusions to idolatry are elsewhere extremely doubtful.[57] + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Compare T[=a]itt. S. VII. 4.2.1. The gods win + immortality by means of 'sacrifice' in this later + priest-ridden period.] + + [Footnote 2: Ludwig (IV. p. 134) wrongly understands a hell + here.] + + [Footnote 3: 'Yama's seat' is here what it is in the epic, + not a chapel (Pischel), but a home.] + + [Footnote 4: This may mean 'to Yama (and) to death.' In the + Atharva Veda, V. 24. 13-14, it is said that Death is the + lord of men; Yama, of the Manes.] + + [Footnote 5: It is here said, also, that the 'Gandharva in + the waters and the water-woman' are the ties of + consanguinity between Yama and Yam[=i], which means, + apparently, that their parents were Moon and Water; a late + idea, as in viii. 48. 13 (unique).] + + [Footnote 6: The passage, X. 17, 1-2, is perhaps meant as a + riddle, as Bloomfield suggests (JAOS. XV. p. 172). At any + rate, it is still a dubious passage. Compare Hillebrandt, + _Vedische Mythologie_, I. p. 503.] + + [Footnote 7: Cited by Scherman, _Visionslitteratur_, p. + 147.] + + [Footnote 8: Possibly, 'streams.'] + + [Footnote 9: AV. XVIII. 3. 13.] + + [Footnote 10: Compare AV. VI. 88. 2: "King Varuna and God + Brihaspati," where both are gods.] + + [Footnote 11: [Greek: Kerberos](=Cabala)=_C[=a]rvara_. + Saram[=a] is storm or dawn, or something else that means + 'runner.'] + + [Footnote 12: Here the fiend is expelled by a four-eyed dog + or a white one which has yellow ears. See the _Sacred Books + of the East_, IV. p. IXXXVII.] + + [Footnote 13: Scherman proposes an easy solution, namely to + cut the description in two, and make only part of it refer + to the dogs! (_loc. cit_. p. 130).] + + [Footnote 14: The dogs may be meant in I. 29. 3, but compare + II. 31. 5. Doubtful is I. 66. 8, according to Bergaigne, + applied to Yama as fire.] + + [Footnote 15: _India_, p. 224.] + + [Footnote 17: Barth, p. 23, cites I. 123. 6; X. 107. 2; 82. + 2, to prove that stars are souls of dead men. These passages + do not prove the point, but it may be inferred from X. 68. + 11. Later on it is a received belief. A moon-heaven is found + only in VIII. 48.] + + [Footnote 18: Especially with Ymir in Scandinavian + mythology.] + + [Footnote 19: _Visionslitteratur_, 1892.] + + [Footnote 20: _Henotheism in the Rig Veda_, p. 81.] + + [Footnote 21: This religious phase is often confounded + loosely with pantheism, but the distinction should be + observed. Parkman speaks of (American) Indian 'pantheism'; + and Barth speaks of ritualistic 'pantheism,' meaning thereby + the deification of different objects used in sacrifice (p. + 37, note). But chrematheism is as distinct from pantheism as + it is from fetishism.] + + [Footnote 22: Some seem to be old; thus Aramati, piety, has + an Iranian representative, [=A]rma[=i]t[=i]. As masculine + abstractions are to be added Anger, Death, etc.] + + [Footnote 23: Compare iv. 50; ii. 23 and 24; v. 43. 12; x. + 68. 9; ii. 26. 3; 23. 17; x. 97. 15. For interpretation + compare Hillebrandt, _Ved. Myth._ i. 409-420; Bergaigne, _La + Rel, Ved._ i. 304; Muir, OST, v. 272 ff. (with previous + literature).] + + [Footnote 24: _Mbh[=a]_.i. 74. 68. Compare Holtzmann, ZDMG. + xxxiii. 631 ff.] + + [Footnote 25: i. 89. 10: "Aditi is all the gods and men; + Aditi is whatever has been born; Aditi is whatever will be + born."] + + [Footnote 26: _Henotheism in the Rig Veda_ (Drisler + Memorial).] + + [Footnote 27: Ex. xv. 11; xviii. 11.] + + [Footnote 28: RV. x. 114. 5; i. 164. 46; AV. iv. 16. 3.] + + [Footnote 29: Bloomfield, JAOS. xv. 184.] + + [Footnote 30: "Desire, the primal seed of mind," x. 129. 4.] + + [Footnote 31: x. 72 (contains also the origin of the gods + from Aditi).] + + [Footnote 32: x. 90, Here _chand[=a][.m]si_, carmina, is + probably the Atharvan.] + + [Footnote 33: Rudras, Vasus, and [=A]dityas, the three + famous groups of gods. The Vasus are in Indra's train, the + 'shining,' or, perhaps, 'good' gods.] + + [Footnote 34: ii. 33. 13; x. 100. 5, etc. If the idea of + manus=bonus be rejected, the Latin _manes_ may be referred + to _m[=a]navas_, the children of Manu.] + + [Footnote 35: Or: "in an earthly place, in the atmosphere, + or," etc.] + + [Footnote 36: That is where the Fathers live. This is the + only place where the Fathers are said to be _nap[=a]t_ + (descendants) of Vishnu, and here the sense may be "I have + discovered _Nap[=a]t_ (fire?)" But in i. 154. 5 Vishnu's + worshippers rejoice in his home.] + + [Footnote 37: Or: "form as thou wilt this body (of a corpse) + to spirit life."] + + [Footnote 38: x. 56. 4; otherwise, Grassmann.] + + [Footnote 39: vi. 73. 9 refers to ancestors on earth, not in + heaven.] + + [Footnote 40: Compare Muir, OST. v. 285, where i. 125. 5 is + compared with x. 107. 2: "The gift-giver becomes immortal; + the gift-giver lives in the sky; he that gives horses lives + in the sun." Compare Zimmer, _Altind. Leben_ p. 409; Geiger, + _Ostiran. Cultur_, p. 290.] + + [Footnote 41: x. 88. 15, word for word: "two paths heard of + the Fathers I, of the gods and of mortals." Cited as a + mystery, Brih. [=A]ran. Up. vi. 2. 2.] + + [Footnote 42: x. 16. 3: "if thou wilt go to the waters or to + the plants," is added after this (in addressing the soul of + the dead man). Plant-souls occur again in x. 58. 7.] + + [Footnote 43: A V. XVIII.4.64; Muir, Av. _loc. cit._ p. 298. + A passage of the Atharvan suggests that the dead may have + been exposed as in Iran, but there is no trace of this in + the Rig Veda (Zimmer, _loc. cit._ p. 402).] + + [Footnote 44: Barth, _Vedic Religions_, p. 23; _ib._, the + narrow 'house of clay,' RV. VII. 89. 1.] + + [Footnote 45: I. 24. 1; I. 125.6; VII. 56.24; cited by + Mueller, _Chips_, I. p. 45.] + + [Footnote 46: IX. 113. 7 ff.] + + [Footnote 47: _Avar[=o]dhana[.m] divas_, 'enclosure of the + sky.'] + + [Footnote 48: Literally, 'where custom' (obtains), _i.e._, + where the old usages still hold.] + + [Footnote 49: The last words are to be understood as of + sensual pleasures (Muir, _loc. cit._ p. 307, notes 462, + 463).] + + [Footnote 50: RV. II. 29. 6; VII. 104. 3, 17; IV. 5. 5; IX. + 73. 8. Compare Mulr, _loc. cit_. pp. 311-312; and Zimmer, + _loc. cit._ pp. 408, 418. Yama's 'hero-holding abode' is not + a hell, as Ludwig thinks, but, as usual, the top vault of + heaven.] + + [Footnote 51: _loc. cit._ p. 123.] + + [Footnote 52: X. 154. 2; 107. 2. Compare the mad ascetic, + _muni_, VIII. 17. 14.] + + [Footnote 53: X. 117. This is clearly seen in the seventh + verse, where is praised the 'Brahman who talks,' _i.e._, can + speak in behalf of the giver to the gods (compare verse + three).] + + [Footnote 54: X. 71. 6.] + + [Footnote 55: Compare X. 145; 159. In X. 184 there is a + prayer addressed to the goddesses Sin[=i]v[=a]l[=i] and + Sarasvat[=i] (in conjunction with Vishnu, Tvashtar, the + Creator, Praj[=a]pati, and the Horsemen) to make a woman + fruitful.] + + [Footnote 56: II. 15. 2; X. 6. 7 (Barth, _loc. cit._ p. 36). + The sacrifice of animals, cattle, horses, goats, is + customary; that of man, legendary; but it is implied in X. + 18.8 (Hillebrandt, ZDMG. Xl p. 708), and is ritualized in + the next period (below).] + + [Footnote 57: Phallic worship may be alluded to in that of + the 'tail-gods,' as Garbe thinks, but it is deprecated. One + verse, however, which seems to have crept in by mistake, is + apparently due to phallic influence (VIII. 1. 34), though + such a cult was not openly acknowledged till Civa-worship + began, and is no part of Brahmanism.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE RELIGION OF THE ATHARVA VEDA. + + +The hymns of the Rig Veda inextricably confused; the deities of an +earlier era confounded, and again merged together in a pantheism now +complete; the introduction of strange gods; recognition of a hell of +torture; instead of many divinities the One that represents all the +gods, and nature as well; incantations for evil purposes and charms +for a worthy purpose; formulae of malediction to be directed against +'those whom I hate and who hate me'; magical verses to obtain +children, to prolong life, to dispel 'evil magic,' to guard against +poison and other ills; the paralyzing extreme of ritualistic reverence +indicated by the exaltation to godhead of the 'remnant' of sacrifice; +hymns to snakes, to diseases, to sleep, time, and the stars; curses on +the 'priest-plaguer'--such, in general outline, is the impression +produced by a perusal of the Atharvan after that of the Rig Veda. How +much of this is new? + +The Rig Veda is not lacking in incantations, in witchcraft practices, +in hymns to inanimate things, in indications of pantheism. But the +general impression is produced, both by the tone of such hymns as +these and by their place in the collection, that they are an addition +to the original work. On the other hand, in reading the Atharvan hymns +the collective impression is decidedly this, that what to the Rig is +adventitious is essential to the Atharvan. + +It has often been pointed out, however, that not only the practices +involved, but the hymns themselves, in the Atharvan, may have existed +long before they were collected, and that, while the Atharvan +collection, as a whole, takes historical place after the Rig Veda, +there yet may be comprised in the former much which is as old as any +part of the latter work. It is also customary to assume that such +hymns as betoken a lower worship (incantations, magical formulae, +etc.) were omitted purposely from the Rig Veda to be collected in the +Atharvan. That which eventually can neither be proved nor disproved +is, perhaps, best left undiscussed, and it is vain to seek scientific +proof where only historic probabilities are obtainable. Yet, if a +closer approach to truth be attractive, even a greater probability +will be a gain, and it becomes worth while to consider the problem a +little with only this hope in view. + +Those portions of the Rig Veda which seem to be Atharvan-like are, in +general, to be found in the later books (or places) of the collection. +But it would be presumptuous to conclude that a work, although almost +entirely given up to what in the Rig Veda appears to be late, should +itself be late in origin. By analogy, in a nature-religion such as was +that of India, the practice of demonology, witchcraft, etc., must have +been an early factor. But, while this is true, it is clearly +impossible to postulate therefrom that the hymns recording all this +array of cursing, deviltry, and witchcraft are themselves early. The +further forward one advances into the labyrinth of Hindu religions the +more superstitions, the more devils, demons, magic, witchcraft, and +uncanny things generally, does he find. Hence, while any one +superstitious practice may be antique, there is small probability for +assuming a contemporaneous origin of the hymns of the two collections. +The many verses cited, apparently pell-mell, from the Rig Veda, might, +it is true, revert to a version older than that in which they are +found in the Rig Veda, but there is nothing to show that they were not +taken from the Rig Veda, and re-dressed in a form that rendered them +in many cases more intelligible; so that often what is respectfully +spoken of as a 'better varied reading' of the Atharvan may be better, +as we have said in the introductory chapter, only in lucidity; and the +lucidity be due to tampering with a text old and unintelligible. +Classical examples abound in illustrations. + +Nevertheless, although an antiquity equal to that of the whole Rig +Veda can by no means be claimed for the Atharvan collection (which, at +least in its tone, belongs to the Brahmanic period), yet is the mass +represented by the latter, if not contemporaneous, at any rate so +venerable, that it safely may be assigned to a period as old as that +in which were composed the later hymns of the Rik itself. But in +distinction from the hymns themselves the weird religion they +represent is doubtless as old, if not older, than that of the Rig +Veda. For, while the Rig Vedic _soma-_cult is Indo-Iranian, the +original Atharvan (fire) cult is even more primitive, and the basis of +the work, from this point of view, may have preceded the composition +of Rik hymns. This Atharvan religion--if it may be called so--is, +therefore, of exceeding importance. It opens wide the door which the +Rik puts ajar, and shows a world of religious and mystical ideas which +without it could scarcely have been suspected. Here magic eclipses +Soma and reigns supreme. The wizard is greater than the gods; his +herbs and amulets are sovereign remedies. Religion is seen on its +lowest side. It is true that there is 'bad magic' and 'good magic' +(the existence of the former is substantiated by the maledictions +against it), but what has been received into the collection is +apparently the best. To heal the sick and procure desirable things is +the object of most of the charms and incantations--but some of the +desirable things are disease and death of one's foes. On the higher +side of religion, from a metaphysical point of view, the Atharvan is +pantheistic. It knows also the importance of the 'breaths,'[1] the +vital forces; it puts side by side the different gods and says that +each 'is lord.' It does not lack philosophical speculation which, +although most of it is puerile, sometimes raises questions of wider +scope, as when the sage inquires who made the body with its wonderful +parts--implying, but not stating the argument, from design, in its +oldest form.[2] + +Of magical verses there are many, but the content is seldom more than +"do thou, O plant, preserve from harm," etc. Harmless enough, if +somewhat weak, are also many other hymns calculated to procure +blessings: + + Blessings blow to us the wind, + Blessings glow to us the sun, + Blessings be to us the day, + Blest to us the night appear, + Blest to us the dawn shall shine, + +is a fair specimen of this innocuous sort of verse.[3] Another example +may be seen in this hymn to a king: "Firm is the sky; firm is the +earth; firm, all creation; firm, these hills; firm the king of the +people (shall be)," etc.[4] In another hymn there is an incantation to +release from possible ill coming from a foe and from inherited ill or +sin.[5] A free spirit of doubt and atheism, already foreshadowed in +the Rig Veda, is implied in the prayer that the god will be merciful +to the cattle of that man "whose creed is 'Gods exist.'"[6] +Serpent-worship is not only known, but prevalent.[7] The old gods +still hold, as always, their nominal places, albeit the system is +pantheistic, so that Varuna is god of waters; and Mitra with Varuna, +gods of rain.[8] As a starting-point of philosophy the dictum of the +Rig Veda is repeated: 'Desire is the seed of mind,' and 'love, _i.e._, +desire, was born first.' Here Aditi is defined anew as the one in +whose lap is the wide atmosphere-- she is parent and child, gods and +men, all in all--'may she extend to us a triple shelter.' As an +example of curse against curse may be compared II. 7: + + The sin-hated, god-born plant, that frees from the curse as + waters (wash out) the spot, has washed away all curses, the + curse of my rival and of my sister; (that) which the Brahman + in anger cursed, all this lies under my feet ... With this + plant protect this (wife), protect my child, protect our + property ... May the curse return to the curser ... We smite + even the ribs of the foe with the evil (_mantra_) eye. + +A love-charm in the same book (II. 30) will remind the classical +student of Theocritus' second idyl: 'As the wind twirls around grass +upon the ground, so I twirl thy mind about, that thou mayst become +loving, that thou mayst not depart from me,' etc. In the following +verses the Horsemen gods are invoked to unite the lovers. +Characteristic among bucolic passages is the cow-song in II. 26, the +whole intent of which is to ensure a safe return to the cows on their +wanderings: 'Hither may they come, the cattle that have wandered far +away,' etc. + +The view that there are different conditions of Manes is clearly +taught in XVIII. 2. 48-49, where it is said that there are three +heavens, in the highest of which reside the Manes; while a distinction +is made at the same time between 'fathers' and 'grandfathers,' the +fathers' fathers, 'who have entered air, who inhabit earth and +heaven.' Here appears nascent the doctrine of 'elevating the Fathers,' +which is expressly taught in the next era. The performance of rites in +honor of the Manes causes them to ascend from a low state to a higher +one. In fact, if the offerings are not given at all, the spirits do +not go to heaven. In general the older generations of Manes go up +highest and are happiest. The personal offering is only to the +immediate fathers. + +If, as was shown in the introductory chapter, the Atharvan represents +a geographical advance on the part of the Vedic Aryans, this fact +cannot be ignored in estimating the primitiveness of the collection. +Geographical advance, acquaintance with other flora and fauna than +those of the Rig Veda, means--although the argument of silence must +not be exaggerated--a temporal advance also. And not less significant +are the points of view to which one is led in the useful little work +of Scherman on the philosophical hymns of the Atharvan. Scherman +wishes to show the connection between the Upanishads and Vedas. But +the bearing of his collection is toward a closer union of the two +bodies of works, and especially of the Atharvan, not to the greater +gain in age of the Upanishads so much as to the depreciation in +venerableness of the former. If the Atharvan has much more in common +with the Br[=a]hmanas and Upanishads than has the Rig Veda, it is +because the Atharvan stands, in many respects, midway in time between +the era of Vedic hymnology and the thought of the philosophical +period. The terminology is that of the Br[=a]hmanas, rather than that +of the Rig Veda. The latter knows the great person; the Atharvan, and +the former know the original great person, _i.e._., the _tausa movens_ +under the _causa efficiens_, etc. In the Atharvan appears first the +worship of Time, Love, 'Support' (Skambha), and the 'highest _brahma_. +The cult of the holy cow is fully recognized (XII. 4 and 5). The late +ritualistic terms, as well as linguistic evidence, confirm the fact +indicated by the geographical advance. The country is known from +western Balkh to eastern Beh[=a]r, the latter familiarly.[9] In a +word, one may conclude that on its higher side the Atharvan is later +than the Rig Veda, while on its lower side of demonology one may +recognize the religion of the lower classes as compared with that of +the two upper classes--for the latter the Rig Veda, for the +superstitious people at large the Atharvan, a collection +of which the origin agrees with its application. For, if it at first +was devoted to the unholy side of fire-cult, and if the fire-cult is +older than the _soma_-cult, then this is the cult that one would +expect to see most affected by the conservative vulgar, who in India +hold fast to what the cultured have long dropped as superstition, or, +at least, pretended to drop; though the house-ritual keeps some magic +in its fire-cult. + +In that case, it may be asked, why not begin the history of Hindu +religion with the Atharvan, rather than with the Rig Veda? Because the +Atharvan, as a whole, in its language, social conditions, geography, +'remnant' worship, etc., shows that this literary collection is +posterior to the Rik collection. As to individual hymns, especially +those imbued with the tone of fetishism and witchcraft, any one of +them, either in its present or original form, may outrank the whole +Rik in antiquity, as do its superstitions the religion of the Rik--if +it is right to make a distinction between superstition and religion, +meaning by the former a lower, and by the latter a more elevated form +of belief in the supernatural. + +The difference between the Rik-worshipper and Atharvan-worshipper is +somewhat like that which existed at a later age between the +philosophical Civaite and Durg[=a]ite. The former revered Civa, but +did not deny the power of a host of lesser mights, whom he was ashamed +to worship too much; the latter granted the all-god-head of Civa, but +paid attention almost exclusively to some demoniac divinity. +Superstition, perhaps, always precedes theology; but as surely does +superstition outlive any one form of its protean rival. And the simple +reason is that a theology is the real belief of few, and varies with +their changing intellectual point of view; while superstition is the +belief unacknowledged of the few and acknowledged of the many, nor +does it materially change from age to age. The rites employed among +the clam-diggers on the New York coast, the witch-charms they use, the +incantations, cutting of flesh, fire-oblations, meaningless formulae, +united with sacrosanct expressions of the church, are all on a par +with the religion of the lower classes as depicted in Theocritus and +the Atharvan. If these mummeries and this hocus-pocus were collected +into a volume, and set out with elegant extracts from the Bible, there +would be a nineteenth century Atharva Veda. What are the necessary +equipment of a Long Island witch? First, "a good hot fire," and then +formulae such as this:[10] + + "If a man is attacked by wicked people and how to banish + them: + + "Bedgoblin and all ye evil spirits, I, N.N., forbid you my + bedstead, my couch; I, N.N., forbid you in the name of God + my house and home; I forbid you in the name of the Holy + Trinity my blood and flesh, my body and soul; I forbid you + all the nail-holes in my house and home, till you have + travelled over every hill, waded through every water, have + counted all the leaves of every tree, and counted all the + stars in the sky, until the day arrives when the mother of + God shall bare her second son." + +If this formula be repeated three times, with the baptismal name of +the person, it will succeed! + + "To make one's self invisible: + + "Obtain the ear of a black cat, boil it in the milk of a + black cow, wear it on the thumb, and no one will see you." + +This is the Atharvan, or fire-and witch-craft of to-day--not differing +much from the ancient. It is the unchanging foundation of the many +lofty buildings of faith that are erected, removed, and rebuilt upon +it--the belief in the supernatural at its lowest, a belief which, in +its higher stages, is always level with the general intellect of those +that abide in it. + +The latest book of the Atharvan is especially for the warrior-caste, +but the mass of it is for the folk at large. It was long before it was +recognized as a legitimate Veda. It never stands, in the older period +of Brahmanism, on a par with the S[=a]man and Rik. In the epic period +good and bad magic are carefully differentiated, and even to-day the +Atharvan is repudiated by southern Br[=a]hmans. But there is no doubt +that _sub rosa_, the silliest practices inculcated and formulated in +the Atharvan were the stronghold of a certain class of priests, or +that such priests were feared and employed by the laity, openly by the +low classes, secretly by the intelligent. + +In respect of the name the magical cult was referred, historically +with justice, to the fire-priests, Atharvan and Angiras, though little +application to fire, other than in _soma_-worship, is apparent. Yet +was this undoubtedly the source of the cult (the fire-cult is still +distinctly associated with the Atharva Veda in the epic), and the name +is due neither to accident nor to a desire to invoke the names of +great seers, as will Weber.[11] The other name of Brahmaveda may have +connection with the 'false science of Brihaspati,' alluded to in a +Upanishad.[12] This seer is not over-orthodox, and later he is the +patron of the unorthodox C[=a]rv[=a]kas. It was seen above that the +god Brihaspati is also a novelty not altogether relished by the Vedic +Aryans. + +From an Aryan point of view how much weight is to be placed on +comparisons of the formulae in the Atharvan of India with those of +other Aryan nations? Kuhn has compared[13] an old German magic formula +of healing with one in the Atharvan, and because each says 'limb to +limb' he thinks that they are of the same origin, particularly since +the formula is found in Russian. The comparison is interesting, but it +is far from convincing. Such formulae spring up independently all over +the earth. + +Finally, it is to be observed that in this Veda first occurs the +implication of the story of the flood (xix. 39. 8), and the saving of +Father Manu, who, however, is known by this title in the Rik. The +supposition that the story of the flood is derived from Babylon, +seems, therefore, to be an unnecessary (although a permissible) +hypothesis, as the tale is old enough in India to warrant a belief in +its indigenous origin.[14] + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: XV. 15.] + + [Footnote 2: X. 2.] + + [Footnote 3: VII. 69. Compare RV. VII. 35, and the epic + (below).] + + [Footnote 4: X. 173.] + + [Footnote 5: V. 30.] + + [Footnote 6: XI. 2. 28.] + + [Footnote 7: XI. 9; VIII. 6 and 7, with tree-worship.] + + [Footnote 8: V. 24. 4-5. On 'the one god' compare X. 8. 28; + XIII. 4. 15. Indra as S[=u]rya, in VII. 11; cf. xiii. 4; + XVII. 1. 24. Pantheism in X. 7. 14. 25. Of charms, compare + ii. 9, to restore life; III. 6, a curse against 'whom I + hate'; III. 23, to obtain offspring. On the stars and night, + see hymn at XIX. 8 and 47. In V. 13, a guard against poison; + _ib._ a hymn to a drum; _ib._ 31, a charm to dispel evil + magic; VI. 133, magic to produce long life; V. 23, against + worms, etc., etc. Aditi, VII. 6. 1-4 (partly Rik).] + + [Footnote 9: Compare Muir, OST. II. 447 ff.] + + [Footnote 10: This old charm is still used among the + clam-diggers of Canarsie, N.Y.] + + [Footnote 11: _Ind. Lit_^2 p. 164.] + + [Footnote 12: _M[=a]it. Up._. vii. 9. He is 'the gods' + Brahm[=a]' (Rik.)] + + [Footnote 13: _Indische und germanische Segenssprueche_; KZ. + xiii. 49.] + + [Footnote 14: One long hymn, xii. 1, of the Atharvan is to + earth and fire (19-20). In the Rik, _atharvan_ is + fire-priest and bringer of fire from heaven; while once the + word may mean fire itself (viii. 9, 7). The name Brahmaveda + is perhaps best referred to _brahma_ as fire (whence + 'fervor,' 'prayer,' and again 'energy,' 'force'). In + distinction from the great _soma_-sacrifices, the fire-cult + always remains the chief thing in the domestic ritual. The + present Atharvan formulae have for the most part no visible + application to fire, but the name still shows the original + connection.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +EARLY HINDU DIVINITIES COMPARED WITH THOSE OF OTHER ARYANS. + + +Nothing is more usual than to attempt a reconstruction of Aryan ideas +in manners, customs, laws, and religious conceptions, by placing side +by side similar traits of individual Aryan nations, and stating or +insinuating that the result of the comparison shows that one is +handling primitive characteristics of the whole Aryan body. It is of +special importance, therefore, to see in how far the views and +practices of peoples not Aryan may be found to be identical with those +of Aryans. The division of the army into clans, as in the Iliad and +the Veda; the love of gambling, as shown by Greeks, Teutons, and +Hindus; the separation of captains and princes, as is illustrated by +Teuton and Hindu; the belief in a flood, common to Iranian, Greek, and +Hindu; in the place of departed spirits, with the journey over a river +(Iranian, Hindu, Scandinavian, Greek); in the after-felicity of +warriors who die on the field of battle (Scandinavian, Greek, and +Hindu); in the reverence paid to the wind-god (Hindu, Iranian, and +Teutonic, V[=a]ta-Wotan); these and many other traits at different +times, by various writers, have been united and compared to illustrate +primitive Aryan belief and religion. + +The traits of the Five Nations of the Veda for this reason may be +compared very advantageously with the traits of the Five Nations of +the Iroquois Indians, the most united and intelligent of American +native tribes. Their institutions are not yet extinct, and they have +been described by missionaries of the 17th century and by some modern +writers, to whom can be imputed no hankering after Aryan primitive +ideas.[1] It is but a few years back since the last _avat[=a]r_ of the +Iroquois' incarnate god lived in Onondaga, N.Y. + +First, as an illustration of the extraordinary development of memory +among rhapsodes, Vedic students, and other Aryans; among the Iroquois +"memory was tasked to the utmost, and developed to an extraordinary +degree," says Parkman, who adds that they could repeat point by point +with precision any address made to them.[2] Murder was compromised for +by _Wehrgeld_, as among the Vedic, Iranic, and Teutonic peoples. The +Iroquois, like all Indians, was a great gambler, staking all his +property[3] (like the Teutons and Hindus). In religion "A mysterious +and inexplicable power resides in inanimate things ... Lakes, rivers, +and waterfalls [as conspicuously in India] are sometimes the +dwelling-place of spirits; but more frequently they are themselves +living beings, to be propitiated by prayers and offerings."[4] The +greatest spirit among the Algonquins is the descendant of the moon, +and son of the west-wind (personified). After the deluge (thus the +Hindus, etc.) this great spirit (Manabozho, _mana_ is Manu?) restored +the world; some asserting that he created the world out of water. But +others say that the supreme spirit is the sun (Le Jeune, Relation, +1633). The Algonquins, besides a belief in a good spirit (_manitou_), +had also a belief in a malignant _manitou_, in whom the missionaries +recognized the devil (why not Ormuzd and Ahriman?). One tribe invokes +the 'Maker of Heaven,' the 'god of waters,' and also the 'seven +spirits of the wind' (so, too, seven is a holy number in the Veda, +etc.). + +The Iroquois, like the Hindu (later), believe that the earth rests on +the back of a turtle or tortoise[5], and that this is ruled over by +the sun and moon, the first being a good spirit; the second, +malignant. The good spirit interposes between the malice of the moon +and mankind, and it is he who makes rivers; for when the earth was +parched, all the water being held back from earth under the armpit of +a monster frog, he pierced the armpit and let out the water (exactly +as Indra lets out the water held back by the demon). According to +some, this great spirit created mankind, but in the third generation a +deluge destroyed his posterity[6]. The good spirit among the Iroquois +is the one that gives good luck (perhaps Bhaga). These Indians believe +in the immortality of the soul. Skillful hunters, brave warriors, go, +after death, to the happy hunting-grounds (as in India and +Scandinavia); the cowardly and weak are doomed to live in dreary +regions of mist and darkness (compare Niflheim and the Iranian +eschatology?). To pass over other religious correspondences, the +sacrifice of animals, use of amulets, love-charms, magic, and sorcery, +which are all like those of Aryans (to compare, also, are the burying +or exposing of the dead and the Hurons' funeral games), let one take +this as a good illustration of the value of 'comparative Aryan +mythology': + +According to the Aryan belief the soul of the dead passes over a +stream, across a bridge, past a dog or two, which guard the gate of +paradise. The Hindu, Iranian, Greek, and Scandinavian, all have the +dog, and much emphasis has been laid on the 'Aryan' character of this +creed. The native Iroquois Indians believed that "the spirits on their +journey (to heaven) were beset with difficulties and perils. There was +a swift river to be crossed on a log that shook beneath the feet, +while a ferocious dog opposed their passage[7]." Here is the Persians' +narrow bridge, and even Kerberos himself! + +It is also interesting to note that, as the Hindus identify with the +sun so many of their great gods, so the Iroquois "sacrifices to some +superior spirit, or to the sun, with which the superior spirits were +constantly confounded by the primitive Indian[8]." + +Weber holds that because Greek and Hindu gave the name 'bear' to a +constellation, therefore this is the "primitive Indo-Germanic name of +the star[9]." But the Massachusetts Indians "gave their own name for +bear to the Ursa major" (Williams' 'Key,' cited Palfrey, I. p. 36; so +Lafitau, further west). + +Again, three, seven, and even 'thrice-seven,' are holy not only in +India but in America. + +In this new world are found, to go further, the analogues of Varuna in +the monotheistic god Viracocha of the Peruvians, to whom is addressed +this prayer: "Cause of all things! ever present, helper, creator, ever +near, ever fortunate one! Thou incorporeal one above the sun, +infinite, and beneficent[10]"; of the Vedic Snake of the Deep, in the +Mexican Cloud-serpent; of the Vedic Lightning-bird, who brings fire +from heaven, in the Indian Thunder-bird, who brings fire from +heaven[11]; of the preservation of one individual from a flood (in the +epic, Manu's 'Seven Seers') in the same American myth, even including +the holy mountain, which is still shown[12]; of the belief that the +sun is the home of departed spirits, in the same belief all over +America;[13] of the belief that stars are the souls of the dead, in +the same belief held by the Pampas;[14] and even of the late Brahmanic +custom of sacrificing the widow (suttee), in the practice of the +Natchez Indians, and in Guatemala, of burning the widow on the pyre of +the dead husband.[15] The storm wind (Odin) as highest god is found +among the Choctaws; while 'Master of Breath' is the Creeks' name for +this divinity. Huraka (hurricane, ouragon, ourage) is the chief god in +Hayti.[16] An exact parallel to the vague idea of hell at the close of +the Vedic period, with the gradual increase of the idea, alternating +with a theory of reincarnation, may be found in the fact that, in +general, there is no notion of punishment after death among the +Indians of the New World; but that, while the good are assisted and +cared for after death by the 'Master of Breath,' the Creeks believe +that the liar, the coward, and the niggard (Vedic sinners _par +excellence!_) are left to shift for themselves in darkness; whereas +the Aztecs believed in a hell surrounded by the water called 'Nine +Rivers,' guarded by a dog and a dragon; and the great Eastern American +tribes believe that after the soul has been for a while in heaven it +can, if it chooses, return to earth and be born again as a man, +utilizing its old bones (which are, therefore, carefully preserved by +the surviving members of the family) as a basis for a new body.[17] + +To turn to another foreign religion, how tempting would it be to see +in Nutar the 'abstract power' of the Egyptian, an analogue of _brahma_ +and the other 'power' abstractions of India; to recognize Brahm[=a] in +El; and in Nu, sky, and expanse of waters, to see Varuna; especially +when one compares the boat-journey of the Vedic seer with R[=a]'s boat +in Egypt. Or, again, in the twin children of R[=a] to see the Acvins; +and to associate the mundane egg of the Egyptians with that of the +Brahmans.[18] Certainly, had the Egyptians been one of the Aryan +families, all these conceptions had been referred long ago to the +category of 'primitive Aryan ideas.' But how primitive is a certain +religious idea will not be shown by simple comparison of Aryan +parallels. It will appear more often that it is not 'primitive,' but, +so to speak, per-primitive, aboriginal with no one race, but with the +race of man. When we come to describe the religions of the wild tribes +of India it will be seen that among them also are found traits common, +on the one hand, to the Hindu, and on the other to the wild tribes of +America. With this warning in mind one may inquire at last in how far +a conservative judgment can find among the Aryans themselves an +identity of original conception in the different forms of divinities +and religious rites. Foremost stand the universal chrematheism, +worship of inanimate objects regarded as usefully divine, and the cult +of the departed dead. This latter is almost universal, perhaps +pan-Aryan, and Weber is probably right in assuming that the primitive +Aryans believed in a future life. But Benfey's identification of +Tartaras with the Sanskrit Tal[=a]tala, the name of a special hell in +very late systems of cosmogony, is decidedly without the bearing he +would put upon it. The Sanskrit word may be taken directly from the +Greek, but of an Aryan source for both there is not the remotest +historical probability. + +When, however, one comes to the Lord of the Dead he finds himself +already in a narrower circle. Yama is the Persian Yima, and the name +of Kerberos may have been once an adjective applied to the dog that +guarded the path to paradise; but other particular conceptions that +gather about each god point only to a period of Indo-Iranian unity. + +Of the great nature-gods the sun is more than Aryan, but doubtless was +Aryan, for S[=u]rya is Helios, but Savitar is a development especially +Indian. Dy[=a]us-pitar is Zeus-pater, Jupiter.[19] Trita, scarcely +Triton, is the Persian Thraetaona who conquers Vritra, as does Indra +in India. The last, on the other hand, is to be referred only +hesitatingly to the demon A[=n]dra of the Avesta. Varuna, despite +phonetic difficulties, probably is Ouranos; but Asura (Asen?) is a +title of many gods in India's first period, while the corresponding +Ahura is restricted to the good spirit, [Greek: kat hexochen]. The +seven [=A]dityas are reflected in the _Amesha Cpentas_ of Zoroastrian +Puritanism, but these are mere imitations, spiritualized and moralized +into abstractions. Bhaga is Slavic Bogu and Persian Bagha; Mitra is +Persian Mithra. The Acvins are all but in name the Greek gods +Dioskouroi, and correspond closely in detail (riding on horses, +healing and helping, originally twins of twilight). Tacitus gives a +parallel Teutonic pair (Germ. 43). Ushas, on the other hand, while +etymologically corresponding to Aurora, Eos, is a specially Indian +development, as Eos has no cult. V[=a]ta, Wind, is an aboriginal god, +and may perhaps be Wotan, Odin.[20] Parjanya, the rain-god, as Buehler +has shown, is one with Lithuanian Perkuna, and with the northern +Fioegyu. The 'fashioner,' Tvashtar (sun) is only Indo-Iranian; +Thw[=a]sha probably being the same word. + +Of lesser mights, Angiras, name of fire, may be Persian _angaros_, +'fire-messenger' (compare [Greek: haggelos]), perhaps originally one +with Sk. _ang[=a]ra_, 'coal.'[21] Hebe has been identified with +_yavy[=a]_, young woman, but this word is enough to show that Hebe has +naught to do with the Indian pantheon. The Gandharva, moon, is +certainly one with the Persian Gandarewa, but can hardly be identical +with the Centaur. Saram[=a] seems to have, together with S[=a]rameya, +a Grecian parallel development in Helena (a goddess in Sparta), +Selene, Hermes; and Sarany[=u] may be the same with Erinnys, but these +are not Aryan figures in the form of their respective developments, +though they appear to be so in origin. It is scarcely possible that +Earth is an Aryan deity with a cult, though different Aryan (and +un-Aryan) nations regarded her as divine. The Maruts are especially +Indian and have no primitive identity as gods with Mars, though the +names may be radically connected. The fire-priests, Bhrigus, are +supposed to be one with the [Greek: phlegixu]. The fact that the fate +of each in later myth is to visit hell would presuppose, however, an +Aryan notion of a torture-hell, of which the Rig Veda has no +conception. The Aryan identity of the two myths is thereby made +uncertain, if not implausible. The special development in India of the +fire-priest that brings down fire from heaven, when compared with the +personification of the 'twirler' (Promantheus) in Greece, shows that +no detailed myth was current in primitive times.[22] The name of the +fire-priest, _brahman_ = fla(g)men(?), is an indication of the +primitive fire-cult in antithesis to the _soma_-cult, which latter +belongs to the narrower circle of the Hindus and Persians. Here, +however, in the identity of names for sacrifice (_yajna, yacna_) and +of _barhis_, the sacrificial straw, of _soma = haoma_, together with +many other liturgical similarities, as in the case of the metres, one +must recognize a fully developed _soma_-cult prior to the separation +of the Hindus and Iranians. + +Of demigods of evil type the _Y[=a]tus_ are both Hindu and Iranian, +but the priest-names of the one religion are evil names in the other, +as the _devas_, gods, of one are the _daevas_, demons, of the +other.[23] There are no other identifications that seem at +all certain in the strict province of religion, although in myth the +form of Manus, who is the Hindu Noah, has been associated with +Teutonic Mannus, and Greek Minos, noted in Thucydides for his +sea-faring. He is to Yama (later regarded as his brother) as is Noah +to Adam. + +We do not lay stress on lack of equation in proper names, but, as +Schrader shows (p. 596 ff.), very few comparisons on this line have a +solid phonetic foundation. Minos, Manu; Ouranos, Varuna; Wotan, +V[=a]ta, are dubious; and some equate flamen with blotan, sacrifice. + +Other wider or narrower comparisons, such as Neptunus from _nap[=a]t +ap[=a]m,_ seem to us too daring to be believed. Apollo (_sapary_), +Aphrodite (Apsaras), Artamis (non-existent _[r.]tam[=a]l_), P[=a]n +(_pavana_), have been cleverly compared, but the identity of forms has +scarcely been proved. Nor is it important for the comparative +mythologist that Okeanus is 'lying around' (_[=a]cay[=a]na_). More +than that is necessary to connect Ocean mythologically with the demon +that surrounds (swallows) the waters of the sky. The Vedic parallel is +rather Ras[=a], the far-off great 'stream.' It is rarely that one +finds Aryan equivalents in the land of fairies and fays. Yet are the +Hindu clever artizan Ribhus[24] our 'elves,' who, even to this day, +are distinct from fairies in their dexterity and cleverness, as every +wise child knows. + +But animism, as simple spiritism, fetishism, perhaps ancestor-worship, +and polytheism, with the polydaemonism that may be called +chrematheism, exists from the beginning of the religious history, +undisturbed by the proximity of theism, pantheism, or atheism; exactly +as to-day in the Occident, beside theism and atheism, exist spiritism +and fetishism (with their inherent magic), and even ancestor-worship, +as implied by the reputed after-effect of parental curses. + +When the circle is narrowed to that of the Indo-Iranian connection the +similarity in religion between the Veda and Avesta becomes much more +striking than in any other group, as has been shown. It is here that +the greatest discrepancy in opinion obtains among modern scholars. +Some are inclined to refer all that smacks of Persia to a remote +period of Indo-Iranian unity, and, in consequence, to connect all +tokens of contact with the west with far-away regions out of India. It +is scarcely possible that such can be the case. But, on the other +hand, it is unhistorical to connect, as do some scholars, the worship +of _soma_ and Varuna with a remote period of unity, and then with a +jump to admit a close connection between Veda and Avesta in the Vedic +period. The Vedic Aryans appear to have lived, so to speak, hand in +glove with the Iranians for a period long enough for the latter to +share in that advance of Varuna-worship from polytheism to +quasi-monotheism which is seen in the Rig Veda. This worship of Varuna +as a superior god, with his former equals ranged under him in a group, +chiefly obtains in that family (be it of priest or tribe, or be the +two essentially one from a religious point of view) which has least to +do with pure _soma_-worship, the inherited Indo-Iranian cult; and the +Persian Ahura, with the six spiritualized equivalents of the old Vedic +[=A]dityas, can have come into existence only as a direct +transformation of the latter cult, which in turn is later than the +cult that developed in one direction as chief of gods a Zeus; in +another, a Bhaga; in a third, an Odin. On the other hand, in the +gradual change in India of Iranic gods to devils, _asuras_, there is +an exact counterpart to the Iranian change of meaning from _deva_ to +_daeva_. But if this be the connection, it is impossible to assume a +long break between India and the west, and then such a sudden tie as +is indicated by the allusions in the Rig Veda to the Persians and +other western lands. The most reasonable view, therefore, appears to +be that the Vedic and Iranian Aryans were for a long time in contact, +that the contact began to cease as the two peoples separated to east +and west, but that after the two peoples separated communication was +sporadically kept up between them by individuals in the way of trade +or otherwise. This explains the still surviving relationship as it is +found in later hymns and in thank-offerings apparently involving +Iranian personages. + +They that believe in a monotheistic Varuna-cult preceding the Vedic +polytheism must then ignore the following facts: The Slavic equivalent +of Bhaga and the Teutonic equivalent of V[=a]ta are to these +respective peoples their highest gods. They had no Varuna. Moreover, +there is not the slightest proof that Ouranos in Greece[25] was ever a +god worshipped as a great god before Zeus, nor is there any +probability that to the Hindu Dyaus Pitar was ever a great god, in the +sense that he ever had a special cult as supreme deity. He is +physically great, and physically he is father, as is Earth mother, but +he is religiously great only in the Hellenic-Italic circle, where +exists no Uranos-cult[26]. Rather is it apparent that the Greek raised +Zeus, as did the Slav Bhaga, to his first head of the pantheon. Now +when one sees that in the Vedic period Varuna is the type of +[=A]dityas, to which belong Bhaga and Mitra as distinctly less +important personages, it is plain that this can mean only that Varuna +has gradually been exalted to his position at the expense of the other +gods. Nor is there perfect uniformity between Persian and Hindu +conceptions. Asura in the Veda is not applied to Varuna alone. But in +the Avesta, Ahura is the one great spirit, and his six spirits are +plainly a protestant copy and modification of Varuna and his six +underlings. This, then, can mean--which stands in concordance with the +other parallels between the two religions--only that Zarathustra +borrows the Ahura idea from the Vedic Aryans at a time when Varuna was +become superior to the other gods, and when the Vedic cult is +established in its second phase[27]. To this fact points also the +evidence that shows how near together geographically were once the +Hindus and Persians. Whether one puts the place of separation at the +Kabul or further to the north-west is a matter of indifference. The +Persians borrow the idea of Varuna Asura, whose eye is the sun. They +spiritualize this, and create an Asura unknown to other nations. + +Of von Bradke's attempt to prove an original Dyaus Asura we have said +nothing, because the attempt has failed signally. He imagines that the +epithet Asura was given to Dyaus in the Indo-Iranian period, and that +from a Dyaus Pitar Asura the Iranians made an abstract Asura, while +the Hindus raised the other gods and depressed Dyaus Pitar Asura; +whereas it is quite certain that Varuna (Asura) grew up, out, and over +the other Asuras, his former equals. + +And yet it is almost a pity to spend time to demonstrate that +Varuna-worship was not monotheistic originally. We gladly admit that, +even if not a primitive monotheistic deity, Varuna yet is a god that +belongs to a very old period of Hindu literature. And, for a worship +so antique, how noble is the idea, how exalted is the completed +conception of him! Truly, the Hindus and Persians alone of Aryans +mount nearest to the high level of Hebraic thought. For Varuna beside +the loftiest figure in the Hellenic pantheon stands like a god beside +a man. The Greeks had, indeed, a surpassing aesthetic taste, but in +grandeur of religious ideas even the daring of Aeschylus becomes but +hesitating bravado when compared with the serene boldness of the Vedic +seers, who, first of their race, out of many gods imagined God. + +In regard to eschatology, as in regard to myths, it has been shown +that the utmost caution in identification is called for. It may be +surmised that such or such a belief or legend is in origin one with a +like faith or tale of other peoples. But the question whether it be +one in historical origin or in universal mythopoetic fancy, and this +latter be the only common origin, must remain in almost every case +unanswered[28]. This is by far not so entertaining, nor so picturesque +a solution as is the explanation of a common historical basis for any +two legends, with its inspiring 'open sesame' to the door of the +locked past. But which is truer? Which accords more with the facts as +they are collected from a wider field? As man in the process of +development, in whatever quarter of earth he be located, makes for +himself independently clothes, language, and gods, so he makes myths +that are more or less like those of other peoples, and it is only when +names coincide and traits that are unknown elsewhere are strikingly +similar in any two mythologies that one has a right to argue a +probable community of origin. + +But even if the legend of the flood were Babylonian, and the Asuras as +devils were due to Iranian influence--which can neither be proved nor +disproved--the fact remains that the Indian religion in its main +features is of a purely native character. + +As the most prominent features of the Vedic religion must be regarded +the worship of _soma_ of nature-gods that are in part already more +than this, of spirits, and of the Manes; the acknowledgment of a moral +law and a belief in a life hereafter. There is also a vaguer nascent +belief in a creator apart from any natural phenomenon, but the creed +for the most part is poetically, indefinitely, stated: 'Most +wonder-working of the wonder-working gods, who made heaven and +earth'(as above). The corresponding Power is Cerus in Cerus-Creator +(Kronos?), although when a name is given, the Maker, Dh[=a]tar, is +employed; while Tvashtar, the artificer, is more an epithet of the sun +than of the unknown creator. The personification of Dh[=a]tar as +creator of the sun, etc., belongs to later Vedic times, and foreruns +the Father-god of the last Vedic period. Not till the classical age +(below) is found a formal identification of the Vedic nature-gods with +the departed Fathers (Manes). Indra, for example, is invoked in the +Rig Veda to 'be a friend, be a father, be more fatherly than the +fathers';[29] but this implies no patristic side in Indra, who is +called in the same hymn (vs. 4) the son of Dyaus (his father); and +Dyaus Pitar no more implies, as say some sciolists, that Dyaus was +regarded as a human ancestor than does 'Mother Earth' imply a belief +that Earth is the ghost of a dead woman. + +In the Veda there is a nature-religion and an ancestor-religion. These +approach, but do not unite; they are felt as sundered beliefs. +Sun-myths, though by some denied _in toto_, appear plainly in the +Vedic hymns. Dead heroes may be gods, but gods, too, are natural +phenomena, and, again, they are abstractions. He that denies any one +of these sources of godhead is ignorant of India. + +Mueller, in his _Ancient Sanskrit Literature_, has divided Vedic +literature into four periods, that of _chandas_, songs; _mantras_, +texts; _br[=a]hmanas;_ and _s[=u]tras_. The _mantras_ are in +distinction from _chandas_, the later hymns to the earlier gods.[30] +The latter distinction can, however, be established only on subjective +grounds, and, though generally unimpeachable, is sometimes liable to +reversion. Thus, Mueller looks upon RV. VIII. 30 as 'simple and +primitive,' while others see in this hymn a late _mantra_. Between the +Rig Veda and the Br[=a]hmanas, which are in prose, lies a period +filled out in part by the present form of the Atharva Veda, which, as +has been shown, is a Veda of the low cult that is almost ignored by +the Rig Veda, while it contains at the same time much that is later +than the Rig Veda, and consists of old and new together in a manner +entirely conformable to the state of every other Hindu work of early +times. After this epoch there is found in the liturgical period, into +which extend the later portions of the Rig Veda (noticeably parts of +the first, fourth, eighth, and tenth books), a religion which, in +spiritual tone, in metaphysical speculation, and even in the +interpretation of some of the natural divinities, differs not more +from the bulk of the Rig Veda than does the social status of the time +from that of the earlier text. Religion has become, in so far as the +gods are concerned, a ritual. But, except in the building up of a +Father-god, theology is at bottom not much altered, and the +eschatological conceptions remain about as they were, despite a +preliminary sign of the doctrine of metempsychosis. In the Atharva +Veda, for the first time, hell is known by its later name (xii. 4. +36), and perhaps its tortures; but the idea of future punishment +appears plainly first in the Brahmanic period. Both the doctrine of +re-birth and that of hell appear in the earliest S[=u]tras, and +consequently the assumption that these dogmas come from Buddhism does +not appear to be well founded; for it is to be presumed whatever +religious belief is established in legal literature will have preceded +that literature by a considerable period, certainly by a greater +length of time than that which divides the first Brahmanic law from +Buddhism. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Compare the accounts of Lafitau; of the native + Iroquois, baptized as Morgan; and the works of Schoolcraft + and Parkman.] + + [Footnote 2: _Jesuits in North America_, Introduction, p. + lxi.] + + [Footnote 3: "Like other Indians, the Hurons were desperate + gamblers, staking their all,--ornaments, clothing, canoes, + pipes, weapons, and wives," _loc. cit._ p. xxxvi. Compare + Palfrey, of Massachusetts Indians. The same is true of all + savages.] + + [Footnote 4: _Ib._ p. lxvii.] + + [Footnote 5: Compare _Cat. Br_. VI. 1. 1, 12; VII. 5. 1, 2 + _sq_., for the Hindu tortoise in its first form. The + totem-form of the tortoise is well known in America. + (Brinton, _Myths of the New World_, p. 85.)] + + [Footnote 6: Charlevoix ap. Parkman.] + + [Footnote 7: Parkman, _loc. cit_. p. LXXII; Brinton, _Myths + of the New World_, p. 248. A good instance of bad comparison + in eschatology will be found in Geiger, _Ostir. Cult_. pp. + 274-275.] + + [Footnote 8: Parkman, _loc. cit_. p. LXXXVI.] + + [Footnote 9: _Sits. Berl. Akad_. 1891, p. 15.] + + [Footnote 10: Brinton, _American Hero Myths_, p. 174. The + first worship was Sun-worship, then Viracocha-worship arose, + which kept Sun-worship while it predicated a 'power beyond.] + + [Footnote 11: Brinton, _Myths of the New World_, pp. 85, + 203.] + + [Footnote 12: _Ib_. pp. 86, 202.] + + [Footnote 13: Brinton, _Myths of the New World_, p. 243. The + American Indians "uniformly regard the sun as heaven, the + soul goes to the sun."] + + [Footnote 14: _Ib._ p. 245.] + + [Footnote 15: _Ib._ p. 239-40.] + + [Footnote 16: _Ib._ p. 50, 51.] + + [Footnote 17: _Ib._ pp. 242, 248, 255; Schoolcraft, III. + 229.] + + [Footnote 18: Renouf, _Religion of Ancient Egypt_; pp. 103, + 113 ff.] + + [Footnote 19: Teutonic Tuisco is doubtful, as the identity + with Dyaus has lately been contested on phonetic grounds.] + + [Footnote 20: V[=a]ta, ventus, does not agree very well with + Wotan.] + + [Footnote 21: _[=A]it. Br._ III, 34. [Greek: haggaron pur] + is really tautological, but beacon fires gave way to + couriers and [Greek: haggaros] lost the sense of fire, as + did [Greek: haggelos].] + + [Footnote 22: But the general belief that fire (Agni, Ignis, + Slavic ogni) was first brought to earth from heaven by a + half-divine personality is (at least) Aryan, as Kuhn has + shown.] + + [Footnote 23: Compare the _kavis_ and _ugijs_ (poets and + priests) of the Veda with the evil spirits of the same names + in the Avesta, like _daeva_ = _deva_. Compare, besides, the + Indo-Iranian feasts, _medha_, that accompany this + Bacchanalian liquor-worship.] + + [Footnote 24: Ludwig interprets the three Ribhus as the + three seasons personified. Etymologically connected is + Orpheus, perhaps.] + + [Footnote 25: [Greek: o de chalkeos asphales aien edos menei + ouranos], Pind. N. vi. 5; compare Preller[4], p.40.] + + [Footnote 26: Wahrscheinlich sind Uranos und Kronos erst aus + dem Culte des Zeus abstrahirt worden. Preller[4], p. 43.] + + [Footnote 27: When Aryan deities are decadent, Trita, Mitra, + etc.] + + [Footnote 28: Spiegel holds that the whole idea of future + punishment is derived from Persia (_Eranische + Altherthumskunde_, I. p. 458), but his point of view is + naturally prejudiced. The allusion to the supposed + Babylonian coin, _man[=a]_, in RV. VIII. 78. 2, would + indicate that the relation with Babylon is one of trade, as + with Aegypt. The account of the flood may be drawn thence, + so may the story of Deucalion, but both Hindu and Hellenic + versions may be as native as is that of the American + redskins.] + + [Footnote 29: IV. 17. 17.] + + [Footnote 30: _loc. cit._ pp. 70, 480.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +BRAHMANISM. + + +Besides the Rig Veda and the Atharva Veda there are two others, called +respectively the S[=a]ma Veda and the Yajur Veda.[1] The former +consists of a small collection of verses, which are taken chiefly from +the eighth and ninth books of the Rig Veda, and are arranged for +singing. It has a few more verses than are contained in the +corresponding parts of the Rik, but the whole is of no added +importance from the present point of view. It is of course made +entirely for the ritual. Also made for the ritual is the Yajur Veda, +the Veda of sacrificial formulae. But this Veda is far more important. +With it one is brought into a new land, and into a world of ideas that +are strange to the Rik. The period represented by it is a sort of +bridge between the Rik and the Br[=a]hmanas. The Yajus is later than +Rik or Atharvan, belonging in its entirety more to the age of the +liturgy than to the older Vedic era. With the Br[=a]hmanas not only is +the tone changed from that of the Rig Veda; the whole moral atmosphere +is now surcharged with hocus-pocus, mysticism, religiosity, instead of +the cheerful, real religion which, however formal, is the soul of the +Rik. In the Br[=a]hmanas there is no freshness, no poetry. There is in +some regards a more scrupulous outward morality, but for the rest +there is only cynicism, bigotry, and dullness. It is true that each of +these traits may be found in certain parts of the Rig Veda, but it is +not true that they represent there the spirit of the age, as they do +in the Brahmanic period. Of this Brahmanic stoa, to which we now turn, +the Yajur Veda forms the fitting entrance. Here the priest is as much +lord as he is in the Br[=a]hmanas. Here the sacrifice is only the act, +the sacrificial forms (_yajus_), without the spirit. + +In distinction from the verse-Veda (the Rik), the Yajur Veda contains +the special formulae which the priest that attends to the erection of +the altar has to speak, with explanatory remarks added thereto. This +of course stamps the collection as mechanical; but the wonder is that +this collection, with the similar Br[=a]hmana scriptures that follow +it, should be the only new literature which centuries have to show.[2] +As explanatory of the sacrifice there is found, indeed, a good deal of +legendary stuff, which sometimes has a literary character. But nothing +is for itself; everything is for the correct performance of the +sacrifice.[3] + +The geographical centre is now changed, and instead of the Punj[=a]b, +the 'middle district' becomes the seat of culture. Nor is there much +difference between the district to which can be referred the rise of +the Yajur Veda and that of the Br[=a]hmanas. No less altered is the +religion. All is now symbolical, and the gods, though in general they +are the gods of the Rig Veda, are not the same as of old. The priests +have become gods. The old appellation of 'spirit,' _asura_, is +confined to evil spirits. There is no longer any such 'henotheism' as +that of the Rig Veda. The Father-god, 'lord of beings,' or simply 'the +father,' is the chief god. The last thought of the Rig Veda is the +first thought of the Yajur Veda. Other changes have taken place. The +demigods of the older period, the water-nymphs of the Rik, here become +seductive goddesses, whose increase of power in this art agrees with +the decline of the warrior spirit that is shown too in the whole mode +of thinking. Most important is the gradual rise of Vishnu and the +first appearance of Civa. Here _brahma_, which in the Rik has the +meaning 'prayer' alone, is no longer mere prayer, but, as in later +literature, holiness. In short, before the Br[=a]hmanas are reached +they are perceptible in the near distance, in the Veda of Formulae, +the Yajus;[4] for between the Yajur Veda and the Br[=a]hmanas there is +no essential difference. The latter consist of explanations of the +sacrificial liturgy, interspersed with legends, bits of history, +philosophical explanations, and other matter more or less related to +the subject. They are completed by the Forest Books, [=A]ranyakas, +which contain the speculations of the later theosophy, the Upanishads +(below). It is with the Yajur Veda and its nearly related literature, +the Br[=a]hmanas, that Brahmanism really begins. Of these latter the +most important in age and content are the Br[=a]hmanas (of the Rig +Veda and Yajur Veda), called [=A]itareya and Cata-patha, the former +representing the western district, the latter, in great part, a more +eastern region. + +Although the 'Northerners' are still respectfully referred to, yet, as +we have just said, the people among whom arose the Br[=a]hmanas are +not settled in the Punj[=a]b, but in the country called the 'middle +district,' round about the modern Delhi. For the most part the +Punj[=a]b is abandoned; or rather, the literature of this period does +not emanate from the Aryans that remained in the Punj[=a]b, but from +the still emigrating descendants of the old Vedic people that used to +live there. Some stay behind and keep the older practices, not in all +regards looked upon as orthodox by their more advanced brethren, who +have pushed east and now live in the country called the land of the +Kurus and Pa[.n]c[=a]las.[5] They are spread farther east, along the +banks of the Jumna and Ganges, south of Nep[=a]l; while some are still +about and south of the holy Kurukshetra or 'plain of Kurus.' East of +the middle district the Kosalas and Videhas form, in opposition to the +Kurus and Pa[.n]c[=a]las, the second great tribe (Tirh[=u]t). There +are now two sets of 'Seven Rivers,' and the holiness of the western +group is perceptibly lessened. Here for the first time are found the +_Vr[=a]tya_-hymns, intended to initiate into the Brahmanic order +Aryans who have not conformed to it, and speak a dialectic +language.[6] From the point of view of language and geography, no less +than from that of the social and spiritual conditions, it is evident +that quite a period has elapsed since the body of the Rig Veda was +composed. The revealed texts are now ancient storehouses of wisdom. +Religion has apparently become a form; in some regards it is a farce. + +"There are two kinds of gods; for the gods are gods, and priests that +are learned in the Veda and teach it are human gods." This sentence, +from one of the most important Hindu prose works,[7] is the key to the +religion of the period which it represents; and it is fitly followed +by the further statement, that like sacrifice to the gods are the fees +paid to the human gods the priests.[8] Yet with this dictum, so +important for the understanding of the religion of the age, must be +joined another, if one would do that age full justice: 'The sacrifice +is like a ship sailing heavenward; if there be a sinful priest in it, +that one priest would make it sink' (_Cat. Br_. IV. 2. 5. 10). For +although the time is one in which ritualism had, indeed, become more +important than religion, and the priest more important than the gods, +yet is there no lack of reverential feeling, nor is morality regarded +as unimportant. The first impression, however, which is gained from +the literature of this period is that the sacrifice is all in all; +that the endless details of its course, and the petty questions in +regard to its arrangement, are not only the principal objects of care +and of chief moment, but even of so cardinal importance that the whole +religious spirit swings upon them. But such is not altogether the +case. It is the truth, yet is it not the whole truth, that in these +Br[=a]hmanas religion is an appearance, not a reality. The sacrifice +is indeed represented to be the only door to prosperity on earth and +to future bliss; but there is a quiet yet persistent belief that at +bottom a moral and religious life is quite as essential as are the +ritualistic observances with which worship is accompanied. + +To describe Brahmanism as implying a religion that is purely one of +ceremonies, one composed entirely of observances, is therefore not +altogether correct. In reading a liturgical work it must not be +forgotten for what the work was intended. If its object be simply to +inculcate a special rite, one cannot demand that it should show +breadth of view or elevation of sentiment. Composed of observances +every work must be of which the aim is to explain observances. In +point of fact, religion (faith and moral behavior) is here assumed, +and so entirely is it taken for granted that a statement emphasizing +the necessity of godliness is seldom found. + +Nevertheless, having called attention to the religious spirit that +lies latent in the pedantic Br[=a]hmanas, we are willing to +admit that the age is overcast, not only with a thick cloud of +ritualism, but also with an unpleasant mask of phariseeism. There +cannot have been quite so much attention paid to the outside of the +platter without neglect of the inside. And it is true that the priests +of this period strive more for the completion of their rites than for +the perfection of themselves. It is true, also, that occasionally +there is a revolting contempt for those people who are not of especial +service to the priest. There are now two godlike aristocrats, the +priest and the noble. The 'people' are regarded as only fit to be the +"food of the nobility." In the symbolical language of the time the +bricks of the altar, which are consecrated, are the warrior caste; the +fillings, in the space between the bricks, are not consecrated; and +these "fillers of space" are "the people" (_Cat. Br_. VI. 1. 2. 25). +Yet is religion in these books not dead, but sleeping; to wake again +in the Upanishads with a fuller spiritual life than is found in any +other pre-Christian system. Although the subject matter of the +Br[=a]hmanas is the cult, yet are there found in them numerous +legends, moral teachings, philosophical fancies, historical items, +etymologies and other adventitious matter, all of which are helpful in +giving a better understanding of the intelligence of the people to +whom is due all the extant literature of the period. Long citations +from these ritualistic productions would have a certain value, in +showing in native form the character of the works, but they would make +unendurable reading; and we have thought it better to arrange the +multifarious contents of the chief Br[=a]hmanas in a sort of order, +although it is difficult always to decide where theology ends and +moral teachings begin, the two are here so interwoven. + + +BRAHMANIC THEOLOGY AND THE SACRIFICE. + +While in general the pantheon of the Rig Veda and Atharva Veda is that +of the Br[=a]hmanas, some of the older gods are now reduced in +importance, and, on the other hand, as in the Yajur Veda, some gods +are seen to be growing in importance. 'Time,' deified in the Atharvan, +is a great god, but beside him still stand the old rustic divinities; +and chrematheism, which antedates even the Rig Veda, is still +recognized. To the 'ploughshare' and the 'plough' the Rig Veda has an +hymn (IV. 57. 5-8), and so the ritual gives them a cake at the +sacrifice (_Cun[=a]c[=i]rya, Cat. Br._ II. 6. 3. 5). The number of the +gods, in the Rig Veda estimated as thirty-three, or, at the end of +this period, as thousands, remains as doubtful as ever; but, in +general, all groups of deities become greater in number. Thus, in TS. +I. 4. 11. 1, the Rudras alone are counted as thirty-three instead of +eleven; and, _ib._ V. 5. 2. 5, the eight Vasus become three hundred +and thirty-three; but it is elsewhere hinted that the number of the +gods stands in the same relation to that of men as that in which men +stand to the beasts; that is, there are not quite so many gods as men +(_Cat. Br._ II. 3. 2. 18). + +Of more importance than the addition of new deities is the subdivision +of the old. As one finds in Greece a [Greek: Zeus katachthonios] +beside a [Greek: Zeus xenios], so in the Yajur Veda and Br[=a]hmanas +are found (an extreme instance) hail 'to K[=a]ya,' and hail 'to +Kasm[=a]i,' that is, the god Ka is differentiated into two divinities, +according as he is declined as a noun or as a pronoun; for this is the +god "Who?" as the dull Br[=a]hmanas interpreted that verse of the Rig +Veda which asks 'to whom (which, as) god shall we offer sacrifice?' +(M[=a]it. S. III. 12. 5.) But ordinarily one divinity like Agni is +subdivided, according to his functions, as 'lord of food,' 'lord of +prayer,' etc.[9] + +In the Br[=a]hmanas different names are given to the chief god, but he +is most often called the Father-god (Praj[=a]pati, 'lord of +creatures,' or the Father, _pit[=a]_). His earlier Vedic type is +Brihaspati, the lord of strength, and, from another point of +view, the All-god.[10] The other gods fall into various groups, the +most significant being the triad of Fire, Wind, and Sun.[11] Not much +weight is to be laid on the theological speculations of the time as +indicative of primitive conceptions, although they may occasionally +hit true. For out of the number of inane fancies it is reasonable to +suppose that some might coincide with historic facts. Thus the +All-gods of the Rig Veda, by implication, are of later origin than the +other gods, and this, very likely, was the case; but it is a mere +guess on the part of the priest. The _Catapatha_, III. 6. 1. 28, +speaks of the All-gods as gods that gained immortality on a certain +occasion, _i.e._, became immortal like other gods. So the [=A]dityas +go to heaven before the Angirasas (_[=A][=i]t. Br_. IV. 17), but this +has no such historical importance as some scholars are inclined to +think. The lesser gods are in part carefully grouped and numbered, in +a manner somewhat contradictory to what must have been the earlier +belief. Thus the 'three kinds of gods' are now Vasus, of earth, +Rudras, of air, and [=A]dityas, of sky, and the daily offerings are +divided between them; the morning offering belonging only to the +Vasus, the mid-day one only to (Indra and) the Rudras, the third to +the [=A]dityas with the Vasus and Rudras together.[12] Again, the +morning and mid-day pressing belong to the gods alone, and strict rule +is observed in distinguishing their portion from that of the Manes +(_Cat. Br_. IV. 4. 22). The difference of sex is quite ignored, so +that the 'universal Agni' is identified with (mother) earth; as is +also, once or twice, P[=u]shan (_ib._ III. 8. 5. 4; 2. 4. 19; II. 5. +4. 7). As the 'progenitor,' Agni facilitates connubial union, and is +called "the head god, the progenitor among gods, the lord of beings" +(_ib._ III. 4. 3. 4; III. 9. 1. 6). P[=u]shan is interpreted to mean +cattle, and Brihaspati is the priestly caste (_ib_. III. 9. 1. 10 +ff.). The base of comparison is usually easy to find. 'The earth +nourishes,' and 'P[=u]shan nourishes,' hence Pushan is the earth; or +'the earth belongs to all' and Agni is called 'belonging to all' +(universal), hence the two are identified. The All-gods, merely on +account of their name, are now the All; Aditi is the 'unbounded' earth +(_ib_. III. 9. 1. 13; IV. 1. 1. 23; i. 1. 4. 5; III. 2. 3. 6). Agni +represents all the gods, and he is the dearest, the closest, and the +surest of all the gods (_ib_. I. 6. 2. 8 ff.). It is said that man on +earth fathers the fire (that is, protects it), and when he dies the +fire that he has made his son on earth becomes his father, causing him +to be reborn in heaven (_ib_. II. 3. 3. 3-5; VI. 1. 2. 26). + +The wives of the gods _(dev[=a]n[=a]m patn[=i]r yajati)_, occasionally +mentioned in the Rig Veda, have now an established place and cult +apart from that of the gods (_ib_. I. 9. 2. 11). The fire on the +hearth is god Agni in person, and is not a divine or mystic type; but +he is prayed to as a heavenly friend. Some of these traits are old, +but they are exaggerated as compared with the more ancient theology. +When one goes on a journey or returns from one, 'even if a king were +in his house' he should not greet him till he makes homage to his +hearth-fires, either with spoken words or with silent obeisance. For +Agni and Praj[=a]pati are one, they are son and father (_ib_. II. 4. +1. 3, 10; VI. 1. 2. 26). The gods have mystic names, and these 'who +will dare to speak?' Thus, Indra's mystic name is Arjuna (_ib_. II. 1. +2. 11). In the early period of the Rig Veda the priest dares to speak. +The pantheism of the end of the Rig Veda is here decided and +plain-spoken, as it is in the Atharvan. As it burns brightly or not +the fire is in turn identified with different gods, Rudra, Varuna, +Indra, and Mitra (_ib_. II. 3. 2. 9 ff.). Agni is all the gods and the +gods are in men (_ib_. III. 1. 3. 1; 4. 1. 19; II. 3. 2. 1: Indra and +King Yama dwell in men). And, again, the Father (Praj[=a]pati) is the +All; he is the year of twelve months and five seasons(_ib_. I. 3. 5. +10). Then follows a characteristic bit. Seventeen verses are to be +recited to correspond to the 'seventeenfold' Praj[=a]pati. But 'some +say' twenty-one verses; and he may recite twenty-one, for if 'the +three worlds' are added to the above seventeen one gets twenty, and +the sun (_ya esa tapati_) makes the twenty-first! As to the number of +worlds, it is said (_ib_. I. 2. 4. 11, 20-21) that there are three +worlds, and possibly a fourth. + +Soma is now the moon, but as being one half of Vritra, the evil demon. +The other half became the belly of creatures (_ib_. I. 6. 3. 17). +Slightly different is the statement that Soma was Vritra, IV. 2. 5. +15. In _[=A]it. Br._ I. 27, King Soma is bought of the Gandharvas by +V[=a]c, 'speech,' as a cow.[13] With phases of the moon Indra and Agni +are identified. One is the deity of the new; the other, of the full +moon; while Mitra is the waning, and Varuna the waxing moon (_Cat. +Br._ II. 4. 4. 17-18). This opposition of deities is more fully +expressed in the attempt to make antithetic the relations of the gods +and the Manes, thus: 'The gods are represented by spring, summer, and +rains; the Fathers, by autumn, winter, and the dewy season; the gods, +by the waxing; the Fathers, by the waning moon; the gods, by day; the +Fathers, by night; the gods, by morning; the Fathers, by afternoon' +(_Cat. Br._ II. 1.-31; _ib_. II. 4. 2. 1. ff.: 'The sun is the light +of the gods; the moon, of the Fathers; fire, of men'). Between morning +and afternoon, as representative of gods and Manes respectively, +stands midday, which, according to the same authority (II. 4. 2. 8), +represents men. The passage first cited continues thus: 'The seasons +are gods and Fathers; gods are immortal; the Fathers are mortal.' In +regard to the relation between spring and the other seasons, the fifth +section of this passage may be compared: 'Spring is the priesthood; +summer, the warrior-caste; the rains are the (_vic_) people.'[14] + +Among the conspicuous divine forms of this period is the Queen of +Serpents, whose verses are chanted over fire; but she is the earth, +according to some passages (_[=A]it. Br._. V. 23; _Cat. Br._ II. 1. 4. +30; IV. 6. 9. 17). In their divine origin there is, indeed, according +to the theology now current, no difference between the powers of light +and of darkness, between the gods and the 'spirits,' _asuras, i.e._, +evil spirits. Many tales begin with the formula: 'The gods and evil +spirits, both born of the Father-god' (_Cat. Br._ I. 2. 4. 8). Weber +thinks that this implies close acquaintance with Persian worship, a +sort of tit-for-tat; for the Hindu would in that case call the holy +spirit, _ahura_, of the Persian a devil, just as the Persian makes an +evil spirit, _daeva_, out of the Hindu god, _deva_. But the relations +between Hindu and Persian in this period are still very uncertain. It +is interesting to follow out some of the Brahmanic legends, if only to +see what was the conception of the evil spirits. In one such +theological legend the gods and the (evil) spirits, both being sons of +the Father-god, inherited from him, respectively, mind and speech; +hence the gods got the sacrifice and heaven, while the evil spirits +got this earth. Again, the two entered on the inheritance of their +father in time, and so the gods have the waxing moon, and the evil +spirits, the waning moon (_ib._ III 2. 1. 18; I. 7. 2. 22). + +But what these Asuras or (evil) spirits really are may be read easily +from the texts. The gods are the spirits of light; the Asuras are the +spirits of darkness. Therewith is indissolubly connected the idea that +sin and darkness are of the same nature. So one reads that when the +sun rises it frees itself 'from darkness, from sin,' as a snake from +its slough (_ib._ II. 3. I. 6). And in another passage it is said that +darkness and illusion were given to the Asuras as their portion by the +Father-god _(ib._ II. 4. 2. 5). With this may be compared also the +frequent grouping of The Asuras or Rakshas with darkness (_e.g., ib._ +III. 8. 2. 15; IV. 3. 4. 21). As to the nature of the gods the +evidence is contradictory. Both gods and evil spirits were originally +soulless and mortal. Agni (Fire) alone was immortal, and it was only +through him that the others continued to live. They became immortal by +putting in their inmost being the holy (immortal) fire (_ib._ II. 2. +2. 8). On the other hand, it is said that Agni was originally without +brightness; and Indra, identified with the sun, was originally dark +(_ib._ IV. 5.4.3; III. 4. 2. 15). The belief in an originally human +condition of the gods (even the Father-god was originally mortal) is +exemplified in a further passage, where it is said that the gods used +to live on earth, but they grew tired of man's endless petitions and +fled; also in another place, where it is stated that the gods used to +drink together with men visibly, but now they do so invisibly (_ib_. +II. 3. 4. 4; III. 6. 2. 26). How did such gods obtain their supremacy? +The answer is simple, 'by sacrifice' (_Cat. Br_. III. 1. 4. 3; +_[=A]it. Br_. II. I. I). So now they live by sacrifice: 'The sun would +not rise if the priest did not make sacrifice' (_Cat. Br_. II. 3. 1. +5). Even the order of things would change if the order of ceremonial +were varied: Night would be eternal if the priests did so and so; the +months would not pass, one following the other, if the priests walked +out or entered together, etc. (_ib._ IV. 3. 1. 9-10). It is by a +knowledge of the Vedas that one conquers all things, and the sacrifice +is part and application of this knowledge, which in one passage is +thus reconditely subdivided: 'Threefold is knowledge, the Rig Veda, +the Yajur Veda, and the S[=a]ma Veda.[15] The Rig Veda, _i.e_., the +verses sung, are the earth; the Yajus is air; the S[=a]man is the sky. +He conquers earth, air, and sky respectively by these three Vedas. The +Rik and S[=a]man are Indra and are speech; the Yajus is Vishnu and +mind' (_ib._ IV. 6. 7. 1 ff.). An item follows that touches on a +modern philosophical question. Apropos of speech and mind: 'Where +speech (alone) existed everything was accomplished and known; but +where mind (alone) existed nothing was accomplished or known' (_ib._ +I. 4. 4. 3-4, 7). Mind and speech are male and female, and as +yoke-fellows bear sacrificed to the gods; to be compared is the +interesting dispute between mind and speech (_ib._ 5. 8). As dependent +as is man on what is given by the gods, so dependent are the gods on +what is offered to them by men (_T[=a]itt. Br._ II. 2. 7. 3; _Cat. +Br._ I. 2. 5. 24). Even the gods are now not native to heaven. They +win heaven by sacrifice, by metres, etc. (_Cat. Br._ IV. 3. 2. 5). + +What, then, is the sacrifice? A means to enter into the godhead of the +gods, and even to control the gods; a ceremony where every word was +pregnant with consequences;[16] every movement momentous. There are +indications, however, that the priests themselves understood that much +in the ceremonial was pure hocus-pocus, and not of such importance as +it was reputed to be. But such faint traces as survive of a freer +spirit objecting to ceremonial absurdities only mark more clearly the +level plain of unintelligent superstition which was the feeding-ground +of the ordinary priests. + +Some of the cases of revolted common-sense are worth citing. +Conspicuous as an authority on the sacrifice, and at the same time as +a somewhat recalcitrant priest, is Y[=a]j[.n]avalkya, author and +critic, one of the greatest names in Hindu ecclesiastical history. It +was he who, apropos of the new rule in ethics, so strongly insisted +upon after the Vedic age and already beginning to obtain, the rule +that no one should eat the flesh of the (sacred) cow ('Let no one eat +beef.... Whoever eats it would be reborn (on earth) as a man of ill +fame') said bluntly: 'As for me I eat (beef) if it is good (firm).[17] +It certainly required courage to say this, with the especial warning +against beef, the meat of an animal peculiarly holy (_Cat. Br._ III. +I. 2. 21). It was, again, Y[=a]jnavalkya (_Cat. Br_., I. 3. I. 26), +who protested against the priests' new demand that the benefit of the +sacrifice should accrue in part to the priest; whereas it had +previously been understood that not the sacrificial priest but the +sacrificer (the worshipper, the man who hired the priest and paid the +expenses) got all the benefit of the ceremony. Against the priests' +novel and unjustifiable claim Y[=a]jnavalkya exclaims: 'How can people +have faith in this? Whatever be the blessing for which the priests +pray, this blessing is for the worshipper (sacrificer) alone.[18] It +was Y[=a]jnavalkya, too, who rebutted some new superstition involving +the sacrificer's wife, with the sneer, 'who cares whether the wife,' +etc. (_kas tad [=a]driyeta, ib._ 21). These protestations are naively +recorded, though it is once suggested that in some of his utterances +Y[=a]jnavalkya was not in earnest (_ib._ IV. 2. 1. 7). The high mind +of this great priest is contrasted with the mundane views of his +contemporaries in the prayers of himself and of another priest; for it +is recorded that whereas Y[=a]jnavalkya's prayer to the Sun was 'give +me light' (or 'glory,' _varco me dehi_), that of [=A]upoditeya was +'give me cows' (_ib_. I. 9. 3. 16). The chronicler adds, after citing +these prayers, that one obtains whatever he prays for, either +illumination or wealth.[19] Y[=a]jnavalkya, however, is not the only +protestant. In another passage, _ib_. ii. 6. 3. 14-17, the sacrificer +is told to shave his head all around, so as to be like the sun; this +will ensure his being able to 'consume (his foes) on all sides like +the sun,' and it is added: But [=A]suri said, 'What on earth has it to +do with his head? Let him not shave.'[20] + +'Eternal holiness' is won by him that offers the sacrifice of the +seasons. Characteristic is the explanation, 'for such an one wins the +year, and a year is a complete whole, and a complete whole is +indestructible (eternal); hence his holiness is indestructible, and he +thereby becomes a part of a year and goes to the gods; but as there is +no destruction in the gods, his holiness is therefore indestructible' +(_ib._ ii. 6. 3. 1). + +Not only a man's self but also his Manes are benefited by means of +sacrifice.[21] He gives the Manes pleasure with his offering, but he +also raises their estate, and sends them up to live in a higher +world.[22] The cosmological position of the Manes are the +_av[=a]ntaradicas_, that is, between the four quarters; though, +according to some, there are three kinds of them, _soma_-Manes, +sacrifice-Manes (Manes of the sacrificial straw), and the burnt, +_i.e_., the spirits of those that have been consumed in fire. They +are, again, identified with the seasons, and are expressly mentioned +as the guardians of houses, so that the Brahmanic Manes are at once +Penates, Lares, and Manes.[23] + +The sacrifice is by no means meant as an aid to the acquirement of +heavenly bliss alone. Many of the great sacrifices are for the gaining +of good things on earth. In one passage there is described a ceremony, +the result of which is to be that the warrior, who is the sacrificer, +may say to a man of the people "fetch out and give me your store" +(_ib._ i. 3. 2. 15; iv. 3. 3. 10). Everybody sacrifices, even the +beasts erect altars and fires![24] That one should sacrifice without +the ulterior motive of gain is unknown. Brahmanic India knows no +thank-offering. Ordinarily the gain is represented as a compensating +gift from the divinity, whom the sacrificer pleases with his +sacrifice. Very plainly is this expressed. "He offers the sacrifice to +the god with this text: 'Do thou give to me (and) I (will) give to +thee; do thou bestow on me (and) I (will) bestow on thee'" (_V[=a]j. +S._ iii. 50; _Cat. Br_. ii. 5. 3. 19). But other ends are +accomplished. By the sacrifice he may injure his enemy, but in +offering it, if he leaves too much over, that part accrues to the good +of his foe (_Cat. Br_. i. 2. 1.7; 9. 1. 18). + +The sacrifice is throughout symbolical. The sacrificial straw +represents the world; the metre used represents all living creatures, +etc.,--a symbolism frequently suggested by a mere pun, but often as +ridiculously expounded without such aid. The altar's measure is the +measure of metres. The cord of regeneration (badge of the twice-born, +the holy cord of the high castes) is triple, because food is +threefold, or because the father and mother with the child make three +(_Cat. Br._ iii. 5. 1. 7 ff.; 2. 1. 12); the _jagati_ metre contains +the living world, because this is called _jagat_ (_ib._ i. 8. 2. 11). + +Out of the varied mass of rules, speculations, and fancies, a few of +general character may find place here, that the reader may gain a +collective impression of the religious literature of the time. + +The fee for the sacrifice is mentioned in one place as one thousand +cows. These must be presented in groups of three hundred and +thirty-three each, three times, with an odd one of three colors. This +is on account of the holy character of the numeral three. 'But +[=A]suri (apparently fearful that this rule would limit the fee) said +"he may give more"' (_Cat. Br._ iv. 5. 8. 14). As to the fee, the +rules are precise and their propounders are unblushing. The priest +performs the sacrifice for the fee alone, and it must consist of +valuable garments, kine, horses,[25] or gold--when each is to be given +is carefully stated. Gold is coveted most, for this is 'immortality,' +'the seed of Agni,' and therefore peculiarly agreeable to the pious +priest.[26] For his greed, which goes so far that he proclaims that he +who gives a thousand kine obtains all things of heaven (_ib._ iv. 5. +1. 11), the priest has good precept to cite, for the gods of heaven, +in all the tales told of them, ever demand a reward from each other +when they help their neighbor-gods. Nay, even the gods require a +witness and a vow, lest they injure each other. Discord arose among +them when once they performed the guest-offering; they divided into +different parties, Agni with the Vasus, Soma with the Rudras, Varuna +with the [=A]dityas, and Indra with the Maruts. But with discord came +weakness, and the evil spirits got the better of them. So they made a +covenant with each other, and took Wind as witness that they would not +deceive each other. This famous covenant of the gods is the prototype +of that significant covenant made by the priest, that he would not, +while pretending to beseech } good for the sacrificer,[27] secretly do +him harm (as he could by altering the ceremonial).[28] The theory of +the fee, in so far as it affects the sacrifices, is that the gods, the +Manes, and men all exist by what is sacrificed. Even the gods seek +rewards; hence the priests do the same.[29] The sacrificer sacrifices +to get a place in _devaloka_ (the world of the gods). The sacrifice +goes up to the world of gods, and after it goes the fee which the +sacrificer (the patron) gives; the sacrificer follows by catching hold +of the fee given to the priests (_ib._. i. 9. 3. 1). It is to be +noted, moreover, that sacrificing for a fee is recognized as a +profession. The work (sacrifice is work, 'work is sacrifice,' it is +somewhere said) is regarded as a matter of business. There are three +means of livelihood occasionally referred to, telling stories, singing +songs, and reciting the Veda at a sacrifice (_Cat. Br_. iii. 2. 4. +16). + +As an example of the absurdities given as 'the ways of knowledge' +(absurdities which are necessary to know in order to a full +understanding of the mental state under consideration) may be cited +_Cat. Br_. iv. 5. 8. 11, where it is said that if the sacrificial cow +goes east the sacrificer wins a good world hereafter; if north, he +becomes more glorious on earth; if west, rich in people and crops; if +south, he dies; 'such are the ways of knowledge.' In the same spirit +it is said that the sun rises east because the priest repeats certain +verses _([=A]it. Br_. i. 7. 4). No little stress is laid on +geographical position. The east is the quarter of the gods; the north, +of men; the south, of the dead (Manes; _Cat. Br_. i. 2. 5. 17); while +the west is the region of snakes, according to _ib_. iii. 1. 1. 7. On +account of the godly nature of the east ("from the east came the gods +westward to men," _ib_. ii. 6. 1. 11) the sacrificial building, like +occidental churches, is built east and west, not north and south. The +cardinal points are elsewhere given to certain gods; thus the north is +Rudra's.[30] + +It has been said that the theological ideas are not clear. This was +inevitable, owing to the tendency to identify various divinities. +Especially noticeable is the identification of new or local gods with +others better accredited, Rudra and Agni, etc. Rudra is the god of +cattle, and when the other gods went to heaven by means of sacrifice +he remained on earth; his local names are Carva, Bhava, 'Beast-lord,' +Rudra, Agni (_Cat. Br_. i. 7. 3. 8; M[=a]it. S. i. 6. 6). Indra is the +Vasu of the gods. The gods are occasionally thirty-four in number, +eight Vasus, eleven Rudras, twelve [=A]dityas, heaven and earth, and +Praj[=a]pati as the thirty-fourth; but this Praj[=a]pati is the All +and Everything (_Cat. Br_. i. 6. 4. 2; iv. 5. 7. 2 ff.). Of these +gods, who at first were all alike and good, three became superior, +Agni, Indra, and S[=u]rya. But, again, the Sun is death, and Agni is +head of all the gods. Moreover, the Sun is now Indra; the Manes are +the seasons, and Varuna, too, is the seasons, as being the year (_Cat. +Br._ iv. 5. 4. 1; i. 6. 4. 18; iv. 4. 5. 18). Aditi, as we have said, +is the Earth; the fee for an offering to her is a cow. Why? Because +Earth is a cow and Aditi is Earth; Earth is a mother and a cow is a +mother. Hence the fee is a cow.[31] + +The tales of the gods, for the most part, are foolish. But they show +well what conception the priests had of their divinities. + +Man's original skin was put by the gods upon the cow; hence a cow runs +away from a man because she thinks he is trying to get back his skin. +The gods cluster about at an oblation, each crying out 'My name,' +_i.e._, each is anxious to get it. The gods, with the evil +spirits--'both sons of the Father'--attract to themselves the plants; +Varuna gets the barley by a pun. They build castles to defend +themselves from the evil spirits. Five gods are picked out as worthy +of offerings: Aditi, Speech, Agni, Soma, the Sun (five, because the +seasons are five and the regions are five). Indra and Wind have a +dispute of possession; Praj[=a]pati, the Father, decides it. The +heavenly singers, called the Gandharvas, recited the Veda to entice +(the divine female) Speech to come to them; while the gods, for the +same purpose, created the lute, and sang and played to her. She came +to the gods; hence the weakness of women in regard to such things. +Indra is the god of sacrifice; the stake of the sacrifice is Vishnu's; +V[=a]yu (Wind) is the leader of beasts; Bhaga is blind;[32] P[=u]shan +(because he eats mush) is toothless. The gods run a race to see who +shall get first to the sacrifice, and Indra and Agni win; they are the +warrior-caste among the gods, and the All-gods are the people (_vicve, +vic._). Yet, again, the Maruts are the people, and Varuna is the +warrior-caste; and, again, Soma is the warrior-caste. The Father-god +first created birds, then reptiles and snakes. As these all died he +created mammalia; these survived because they had food in themselves; +hence the Vedic poet says 'three generations have passed away.'[33] + +Varuna is now quite the god of night and god of purification, as a +water-god. Water is the 'essence (sap) of immortality,' and the bath +of purification at the end of the sacrifice (_avabh[r.]tha_) stands in +direct relation to Varuna. The formula to be repeated is: "With the +gods' help may I wash out sin against the gods; with the help of men +the sin against men" (_Cat. Br_. iv. 4. 3. 15; ii. 5. 2. 47). Mitra +and Varuna are, respectively, intelligence and will, priest and +warrior; and while the former may exist without the latter, the latter +cannot live without the former, 'but they are perfect only when they +cooeperate' (_ib_. iv. 1. 4. 1). + +Of the divine legends some are old, some new. One speaks of the +sacrifice as having been at first human, subsequently changing to +beast sacrifice, eventually to a rice offering, which last now +represents the original sacrificial animal, man.[34] Famous, too, is +the legend of the flood and Father Manu's escape from it (_Cat. Br_. +i. 8. 1. 1 ff.). Again, the Vedic myth is retold, recounting the rape +of _soma_ by the metrical equivalent of fire (_T[=a]itt. Br_. i. 1. 3. +10; _Cat. Br_. i. 8. 2. 10). Another tale takes up anew the old story +of Cupid and Psyche (Pur[=u]ravas and Urvac[=i]); and another that of +the Hindu Prometheus story, wherein M[=a]taricvan fetches fire from +heaven, and gives it to mortals (_T[=a]itt. Br_. iii. 2. 3. 2; _Cat. +Br_. xi. 5. 1. 1; i. 7. 1. 11).[35] + +Interesting, also, is the tale of Vishnu having been a dwarf, and the +tortoise _avatar_, not of Vishnu, but of Praj[=a]pati; also the +attempt of the evil spirits to climb to heaven, and the trick with +which Indra outwitted them.[36] For it is noticeable that the evil +spirits are as strong by nature as are the gods, and it is only by +craft that the latter prevail.[37] + +Seldom are the tales of the gods indecent. The story of Praj[=a]pati's +incest with his daughter is a remnant of nature worship which +survives, in more or less anthropomorphic form, from the time of the +Rig Veda (x. 61.) to that of mediaeval literature,[38] and is found in +full in the epic, as in the Brahmanic period; but the story always +ends with the horror of the gods at the act.[39] + +Old legends are varied. The victory over Vritra is now expounded thus: +Indra, who slays Vritra, is the sun. Vritra is the moon, who swims +into the sun's mouth on the night of the new moon. The sun rises after +swallowing him, and the moon is invisible because he is swallowed ("he +who knows this swallows his foes"). The sun vomits out the moon, and +the latter is then seen in the west, and increases again, to serve the +sun as food. In another passage it is said that when the moon is +invisible he is hiding in plants and waters (_Cat. Br._ i. 6. 3. 17; +4. 18-20). + + +BRAHMANIC RELIGION. + +When the sacrifice is completed the priest returns, as it were, to +earth, and becomes human. He formally puts off his sacrificial vow, +and rehabilitates himself with humanity, saying, "I am even he that I +am."[40] As such a man, through service to the gods become a divine +offering, and no longer human, was doubtless considered the creature +that first served as the sacrificial animal. Despite protestant +legends such as that just recorded, despite formal disclaimers, human +sacrifice existed long after the period of the Rig Veda, where it is +alluded to; a period when even old men are exposed to die.[41] The +_anaddh[=a]purusha_ is not a fiction; for that, on certain occasions, +instead of this 'man of straw' a real victim was offered, is shown by +the ritual manuals and by Brahmanic texts.[42] Thus, in _Cat. Br_. vi. +2. 1. 18: "He kills a man first.... The cord that holds the man is the +longest." It is noteworthy that also among the American Indians the +death of a human victim by fire was regarded as a religious ceremony, +and that, just as in India the man to be sacrificed was allowed almost +all his desires for a year, so the victim of the Indian was first +greeted as brother and presented with gifts, even with a wife.[43] + +But this, the terrible barbaric side of religious worship, is now +distinctly yielding to a more humane religion. The 'barley ewe'[44] is +taking the place of a bloodier offering. It has been urged that the +humanity[45] and the accompanying silliness of the Brahmanic period as +compared with the more robust character of the earlier age are due to +the weakening and softening effects of the climate. But we doubt +whether the climate of the Punj[=a]b differs as much from that of +Delhi and Patna as does the character of the Rig Veda from that of the +Br[=a]hmanas. We shall protest again when we come to the subject of +Buddhism against the too great influence which has been claimed for +climate. Politics and society, in our opinion, had more to do with +altering the religions of India than had a higher temperature and +miasma. As a result of ease and sloth--for the Brahmans are now the +divine pampered servants of established kings, not the energetic peers +of a changing population of warriors--the priests had lost the +inspiration that came from action; they now made no new hymns; they +only formulated new rules of sacrifice. They became intellectually +debauched and altogether weakened in character. Synchronous with this +universal degradation and lack of fibre, is found the occasional +substitution of barley and rice sacrifices for those of blood; and it +may be that a sort of selfish charity was at work here, and the priest +saved the beast to spare himself. But there is no very early evidence +of a humane view of sacrifice influencing the priests. + +The Brahman is no Jain. One must read far to hear a note of the +approaching _ahims[=a]_ doctrine of 'non-injury.' At most one finds a +contemptuous allusion, as in a pitying strain, to the poor plants and +animals that follow after man in reaping some sacrificial benefit from +a ceremony.[46] It does not seem to us that a recognized respect for +animal life or kindness to dumb creatures lies at the root of proxy +sacrifice, though it doubtless came in play. But still less does it +appear probable that, as is often said, aversion to beast-sacrifice is +due to the doctrine of _karma_, and re-birth in animal form. The +_karma_ notion begins to appear in the Brahmanas, but not in the +_sams[=a]ra_ shape of transmigration. It was surely not because the +Hindu was afraid of eating his deceased grandmother that he first +abstained from meat. For, long after the doctrine of _karma_ and +_sams[=a]ra_[47] is established, animal sacrifices are not only +permitted but enjoined; and the epic characters shoot deer and even +eat cows. We think, in short, that the change began as a sumptuary +measure only. In the case of human sacrifice there is doubtless a +civilized repugnance to the act, which is clearly seen in many +passages where the slaughter of man is made purely symbolical. The +only wonder is that it should have obtained so long after the age of +the Rig Veda. But like the stone knife of sacrifice among the Romans +it is received custom, and hard to do away with, for priests are +conservative. Human sacrifice must have been peculiarly horrible from +the fact that the sacrificer not only had to kill the man but to eat +him, as is attested by the formal statement of the liturgical +works.[48] But in the case of other animals (there are five +sacrificial animals, of which man is first) we think it was a question +of expense on the part of the laity. When the _soma_ became rare and +expensive, substitutes were permitted and enjoined. So with the great +sacrifices. The priests had built up a great complex of forms, where +at every turn fees were demanded. The whole expense, falling on the +one individual to whose benefit accrued the sacrifice, must have been +enormous; in the case of ordinary people impossible. But the priests +then permitted the sacrifice of substitutes, for their fees still +remained; and even in the case of human sacrifice some such caution +may have worked, for ordinarily it cost 'one thousand cattle' to buy a +man to be sacrificed. A proof of this lies in the fact that animal +sacrifices were not forbidden at any time, only smaller (cheaper) +animals took the place of cattle. In the completed Brahmanic code the +rule is that animals ought not to be killed except at sacrifice, and +practically the smaller creatures were substituted for cattle, just as +the latter had gradually taken the place of the old horse (and man) +sacrifice. + +If advancing civilization results in an agreeable change of morality +in many regards, it is yet accompanied with wretched traits in others. +The whole silliness of superstition exceeds belief. Because +Bh[=a]llabheya once broke his arm on changing the metre of certain +formulae, it is evident to the priest that it is wrong to trifle with +received metres, and hence "let no one do this hereafter." There is a +compensation on reading such trash in the thought that all this +superstition has kept for us a carefully preserved text, but that is +an accident of priestly foolishness, and the priest can be credited +only with the folly. Why is 'horse-grass' used in the sacrifice? +Because the sacrifice once ran away and "became a horse." Again one is +thankful for the historical side-light on the horse-sacrifice; but the +witlessness of the unconscious historian can but bring him into +contempt.[49] Charms that are said against one are of course cast out +by other charms. If one is not prosperous with one name he takes +another. If the cart creaks at the sacrifice it is the voice of evil +spirits; and a formula must avert the omen. _Soma_-husks are liable to +turn into snakes; a formula must avert this catastrophe. Everything +done at the sacrifice is godly; _ergo_, everything human is to be done +in an inhuman manner, and, since in human practice one cuts his left +finger-nails first and combs the left side of the beard first, at the +sacrifice he must cut nails and beard first on the other side, for +"whatever is human at a sacrifice is useless" (_vy[r.]ddhain v[=a]i +tad yajnasya yad m[=a]nu[s.]am_). Of religious puns we have given +instances already. Agni says: "prop me on the propper for that is +proper" (_hita_), etc, etc.[50] One of these examples of depraved +superstition is of a more dangerous nature. The effect of the +sacrifice is covert as well as overt. + +The word is as potent as the act. Consequently if the sacrificer +during the sacrifice merely mutter the words "let such an one die," he +must die; for the sacrifice is holy, godly; the words are divine, and +cannot be frustrated (_Cat. Br_. iii. 1. 4. 1; iv. 1. 1. 26). + +All this superstition would be pardonable if it were primitive. But +that it comes long after the Vedic poets have sung reveals a +continuance of stupidity which is marvellous. Doubtless those same +poets were just as superstitious, but one would think that with all +the great literature behind them, and the thoughts of the philosophers +just rising among them, these later priests might show a higher level +of intelligence. But in this regard they are to India what were the +monks of mediaeval times to Europe. + +We turn now to the ethical side of religion. But, before leaving the +sacrifice, one point should be explained clearly. The Hindu sacrifice +can be performed only by the priest, and he must be of the highest +caste. No other might or could perform it. For he alone understood the +ancient texts, which to the laity were already only half intelligible. +Again, as Barth has pointed out, the Hindu sacrifice is performed only +for one individual or his family. It was an expensive rite (for the +gaining of one object), addressed to many gods for the benefit of one +man. To offset this, however, one must remember that there were +popular fetes and sacrifices of a more general nature, to which many +were invited and in which even the lower castes took part; and these +were also of remote antiquity. + +Already current in the Br[=a]hmanas is the phrase 'man's debts.' +Either three or four of such moral obligations were recognized, debts +to the gods, to the seers, to the Manes, and to men. Whoever pays +these debts, it is said, has discharged all his duties, and by him all +is obtained, all is won. And what are these duties? To the gods he +owes sacrifices; to the seers, study of the Vedas; to the Manes, +offspring; to man, hospitality (_Cat. Br_. i. 7. 2. 1 ff.; in +_T[=a]itt. Br_. vi. 3. 10. 5, the last fails). Translated into modern +equivalents this means that man must have faith and good works. But +more really is demanded than is stated here. First and foremost is the +duty of truthfulness. Agni is the lord of vows among the gods (RV. +viii. 11. 1; _Cat. Br_. iii. 2. 2. 24), and speech is a divinity +(Sarasvat[=i] is personified speech, _Cat. Br_. iii. 1. 4. 9, etc). +Truth is a religious as well as moral duty. "This (All) is two-fold, +there is no third; all is either truth or untruth; now truth alone is +the gods (_satyam eva dev[=a]s_) and untruth is man."[51] Moreover, +"one law the gods observe, truth" (_Cat. Br_. i. 1.1. 4; iii. 3. 2. 2; +4. 2. 8). There is another passage upon this subject: "To serve the +sacred fire means truth; he who speaks truth feeds the fire; he who +speaks lies pours water on it; in the one case he strengthens his +vital (spiritual) energy, and becomes better; in the other he weakens +it and becomes worse" (_ib_. ii. 2. 2. 19). The second sin, expressly +named and reprobated as such, is adultery. This is a sin against +Varuna.[52] In connection with this there is an interesting passage +implying a priestly confessional. At the sacrifice the sacrificer's +wife is formally asked by the priest whether she is faithful to her +husband. She is asked this that she may not sacrifice with guilt on +her soul, for "when confessed the guilt becomes less."[53] If it is +asked what other moral virtues are especially inculcated besides truth +and purity the answer is that the acts commonly cited as +self-evidently sins are murder, theft, and abortion; incidentally, +gluttony, anger, and procrastination.[54] + +As to the moral virtue of observing days, certain times are allowed +and certain times are not allowed for worldly acts. But every day is +in part a holy-day to the Hindu. The list of virtues is about the +same, therefore, as that of the decalogue--the worship of the right +divinity; the observance of certain seasons for prayer and sacrifice; +honor to the parents; abstinence from theft, murder, adultery. Envy +alone is omitted.[55] + +What eschatological conceptions are strewn through the literature of +this era are vague and often contradictory. The souls of the departed +are at one time spoken of as the stars (_T[=a]itt. S_. v. 4. 1. 3.); at +another, as uniting with gods and living in the world of the gods +_(Cal. Br._. ii. 6. 4. 8). + +The principle of _karma_ if not the theory, is already known, but the +very thing that the completed philosopher abhors is looked upon as a +blessing, viz., rebirth, body and all, even on earth.[56] Thus in one +passage, as a reward for knowing some divine mystery (as often +happens, this mystery is of little importance, only that 'spring is +born again out of winter'), the savant is to be 'born again in this +world' _(punar ha v[=a] 'asmin loke bhavati, Cat. Br._ i. 5. 3. 14). +The esoteric wisdom is here the transfer of the doctrine of +metempsychosis to spring. Man has no hope of immortal life (on +earth);[57] but, by establishing the holy fires, and especially by +establishing in his inmost soul the immortal element of fire, he lives +the full desirable length of life (_ib_. ii. 2. 2. 14. To the later +sage, length of life is undesirable). But in yonder world, where the +sun itself is death, the soul dies again and again. All those on the +other side of the sun, the gods, are immortal; but all those on this +side are exposed to this death. When the sun wishes, he draws out the +vitality of any one, and then that one dies; not once, but, being +drawn up by the sun, which is death, into the very realm of death (how +different to the conception of the sun in the Rig Veda!) he dies over +and over again.[58] But in another passage it is said that when the +sacrificer is consecrated he 'becomes one of the deities'; and one +even finds the doctrine that one obtains 'union with Brahm[=a],' which +is quite in the strain of the Upanishads; but here such a saying can +refer only to the upper castes, for "the gods talk only to the upper +castes" (_Cal. Br._. xi. 4. 4. 1; iii. 1. 1. 8-10). The dead man is +elsewhere represented as going to heaven 'with his whole body,' and, +according to one passage, when he gets to the next world his good and +evil are weighed in a balance. There are, then, quite diverse views in +regard to the fate of a man after death, and not less various are the +opinions in regard to his reward and punishment. According to the +common belief the dead, on leaving this world, pass between two fires, +_agnicikhe_ raging on either side of his path. These fires burn the +one that ought to be burned (the wicked), and let the good pass by. +Then the spirit (or the man himself in body) is represented as going +up on one of two paths. Either he goes to the Manes on a path which, +according to later teaching, passes southeast through the moon, or he +goes northeast (the gods' direction) to the sun, which is his 'course +and stay.' In the same chapter one is informed that the rays of the +sun are the good (dead), and that every brightest light is the +Father-god. The general conception here is that the sun or the stars +are the destination of the pious. On the other hand it is said that +one will enjoy the fruit of his acts here on earth, in a new birth; or +that he will 'go to the next world'; or that he will suffer for his +sins in hell. The last is told in legendary form, and appears to us to +be not an early view retained in folk-lore, but a late modification of +an old legend. Varuna sends his son Bhrigu to hell to find out what +happens after death, and he finds people suffering torture, and, +again, avenging themselves on those that have wronged them. But, +despite the resemblance between this and Grecian myth, the fact that +in the whole compass of the Rik (in the Atharvan perhaps in v. 19) +there is not the slightest allusion to torture in hell, precludes, to +our mind, the possibility of this phase having been an ancient +inherited belief.[59] + +Annihilation or a life in under darkness is the first (Rik) hell. The +general antithesis of light (as good) and darkness (as bad) is here +plainly revealed again. Sometimes a little variation occurs. Thus, +according to _Cat. Br._ vi. 5. 4. 8, the stars are women-souls, +perhaps, as elsewhere, men also. The converse notion that darkness is +the abode of evil appears at a very early date: "Indra brought down +the heathen, _dasyus_, into the lowest darkness," it is said in the +Atharva Veda (ix. 2. 17).[60] + +In the later part of the great 'Br[=a]hmana of the hundred paths' +there seems to be a more modern view inculcated in regard to the fate +of the dead. Thus, in vi. 1. 2. 36, the opinion of 'some,' that the +fire on the altar is to bear the worshipper to the sky, is objected +to, and it is explained that he becomes immortal; which antithesis is +in purely Upanishadic style, as will be seen below. + + +BRAHMANIC THEORIES OF CREATION. + +In Vedic polytheism, with its strain of pantheism, the act of creating +the world[61] is variously attributed to different gods. At the end of +this period theosophy invented the god of the golden germ, the great +Person (known also by other titles), who is the one (pantheistic) god, +in whom all things are contained, and who himself is contain in even +the smallest thing. The Atharvan transfers the same idea in its +delineation of the pantheistic image to Varuna, that Varuna who is the +seas and yet is contained "in the drop of water" (iv. 16), a Varuna as +different to the Varuna of the Rik as is the Atharvan Indra to his +older prototype. Philosophically the Rik, at its close, declares that +"desire is the seed of mind," and that "being arises from not-being." + +In the Br[=a]hmanas the creator is the All-god in more anthropomorphic +form. The Father-god, Praj[=a]pati, or Brahm[=a] (personal equivalent +of _brahma_) is not only the father of gods, men, and devils, but he +is the All. This Father-god of universal sovereignty, Brahm[=a], +remains to the end the personal creator. It is he who will serve as +creator for the Puranic S[=a]nkhya philosophy, and even after the rise +of the Hindu sects he will still be regarded in this light, although +his activity will be conditioned by the will of Vishnu or Civa. In +pure philosophy there will be an abstract First Cause; but as there is +no religion in the acknowledgment of a First Cause, this too will soon +be anthropomorphized. + +The Br[=a]hmanas themselves present no clear picture of creation. All +the accounts of a personal creator are based merely on +anthropomorphized versions of the text 'desire is the seed.' +Praj[=a]pati wishes offspring, and creates. There is, on the other +hand, a philosophy of creation which reverts to the tale of the +'golden germ.'[62] The world was at first water; thereon floated a +cosmic golden egg (the principle of fire). Out of this came Spirit +that desired; and by desire he begat the worlds and all things. It is +improbable that in this somewhat Orphic mystery there lies any +pre-Vedic myth. The notion comes up first in the golden germ and +egg-born bird (sun) of the Rik. It is not specially Aryan, and is +found even among the American Indians.[63] It is this Spirit with +which the Father-god is identified. But guess-work philosophy then +asks what upheld this god, and answers that a support upheld all +things. So Support becomes a god in his turn, and, since he must reach +through time and space, this Support, Skambha, becomes the All-god +also; and to him as to a great divinity the Atharvan sings some of its +wildest strains. When once speculation is set going in the +Br[=a]hmanas, the result of its travel is to land its followers in +intellectual chaos.[64] The gods create the Father-god in one passage, +and in another the Father-god creates the gods. The Father creates the +waters, whence rises the golden egg. But, again, the waters create the +egg, and out of the egg is born the Father. A farrago of +contradictions is all that these tales amount to, nor are they +redeemed even by a poetical garb.[65] + +In the period immediately following the Br[=a]hmanas, or toward the +end of the Brahmanic period, as one will, there is a famous +distinction made between the gods. Some gods, it is said, are +spirit-gods; some are work-gods. They are born of spirit and of works, +respectively. The difference, however, is not essential, but +functional; so that one may conclude from this authority, the Nirukta +(a grammatical and epexigetical work), that all the gods have a like +nature; and that the spirit-gods, who are the older, differ only in +lack of specific functions from the work-gods. A not uninteresting +debate follows this passage in regard to the true nature of the gods. +Some people say they are anthropomorphic; others deny this. "And +certainly what is seen of the gods is not anthropomorphic; for +example, the sun, the earth, etc."[66] In such a period of theological +advance it is matter of indifference to which of a group of gods, all +essentially one, is laid the task of creation. And, indeed, from the +Vedic period until the completed systems of philosophy, all creation +to the philosopher is but emanation; and stories of specific acts of +creation are not regarded by him as detracting from the creative +faculty of the First Cause. The actual creator is for him the factor +and agent of the real god. On the other hand, the vulgar worshipper of +every era believed only in reproduction on the part of an +anthropomorphic god; and that god's own origin he satisfactorily +explained by the myth of the golden egg. The view depended in each +case not on the age but on the man. + +If in these many pages devoted to the Br[=a]hmanas we have produced +the impression that the religious literature of this period is a +confused jumble, where unite descriptions of ceremonies, formulae, +mysticism, superstitions, and all the output of active bigotry; an +_olla podrida_ which contains, indeed, odds and ends of sound +morality, while it presents, on the whole, a sad view of the +latter-day saints, who devoted their lives to making it what it is; we +have offered a fairly correct view of the age and its priests, and the +rather dreary series of illustrations will not have been collected in +vain. We have given, however, no notion at all of the chief object of +this class of writings, the liturgical details of the sacrifices +themselves. Even a resume of one comparatively short ceremony would be +so long and tedious that the explication of the intricate formalities +would scarcely be a sufficient reward. With Hillebrandt's patient +analysis of the New-and Full-Moon sacrifice,[67] of which a sketch is +given by von Schroeder in his _Literatur und Cultur_, the curious +reader will be able to satisfy himself that a minute description of +these ceremonies would do little to further his knowledge of the +religion, when once he grasps the fact that the sacrifice is but show. +Symbolism without folk-lore, only with the imbecile imaginings of a +daft mysticism, is the soul of it; and its outer form is a certain +number of formulae, mechanical movements, oblations, and +slaughterings. + +But we ought not to close the account of the era without giving +counter-illustrations of the legendary aspect of this religion; for +which purpose we select two of the best-known tales, one from the end +of the Br[=a]hmana that is called the [=A]itareya; the other from the +beginning of the Catapatha; the former in abstract, the latter in +full. + + +THE SACRIFICE OF DOGSTAIL (_[=A]it. Br._ vii. 13). + +Hariccandra, a king born in the great race of Ikshv[=a]ku, had no son. +A sage told him what blessings are his who has a son: 'He that has no +son has no place in the world; in the person of a son a man is reborn, +a second self is begotten.' Then the king desired a son, and the sage +instructed him to pray to Varuna for one, and to offer to sacrifice +him to the god. This he did, and a son, Rohita, at last was born to +him. God Varuna demanded the sacrifice. But the king said: 'He is not +fit to be sacrificed, so young as he is; wait till he is ten days +old.' The god waited ten days, and demanded the sacrifice. But the +king said: 'Wait till his teeth come.' The god waited, and then +demanded the sacrifice. But the king said: 'Wait till his teeth fall +out'; and when the god had waited, and again demanded the sacrifice, +the father said: 'Wait till his new teeth come.' But, when his teeth +were come and he was demanded, the father said: 'A warrior is not fit +to be sacrificed till he has received his armor' (_i.e._, until he is +knighted). So the god waited till the boy had received his armor, and +then he demanded the sacrifice. Thereupon, the king called his son, +and said unto him: 'I will sacrifice thee to the god who gave thee to +me.' But the son said, 'No, no,' and took his bow and fled into the +desert. Then Varuna caused the king to be afflicted with dropsy.[68] +When Rohita heard of this he was about to return, but Indra, disguised +as a priest, met him, and said: 'Wander on, for the foot of a wanderer +is like a flower; his spirit grows, and reaps fruit, and all his sins +are forgiven in the fatigue of wandering.'[69] So Rohita, thinking +that a priest had commanded him, wandered; and every year, as he would +return, Indra met him, and told him still to wander. On one of these +occasions Indra inspires him to continue on his journey by telling him +that the _krita_ was now auspicious; using the names of dice +afterwards applied to the four ages.[70] Finally, after six years, +Rohita resolved to purchase a substitute for sacrifice. He meets a +starving seer, and offers to buy one of his sons (to serve as +sacrifice), the price to be one hundred cows. The seer has three sons, +and agrees to the bargain; but "the father said, 'Do not take the +oldest,' and the mother said, 'Do not take the youngest,' so Rohita +took the middle son, Dogstail." Varuna immediately agrees to this +substitution of Dogstail for Rohita, "since a priest is of more value +than a warrior." + +The sacrifice is made ready, and Vicv[=a]mitra (the Vedic seer) is the +officiating priest. But no one would bind the boy to the post. 'If +thou wilt give me another hundred cows I will bind him,' says the +father of Dogstail. But then no one would kill the boy. 'If thou wilt +give me another hundred cows I will kill him,' says the father. The +[=A]pri verses[71] are said, and the fire is carried around the boy. +He is about to be slain. Then Dogstail prays to 'the first of gods,' +the Father-god, for protection. But the Father-god tells him to pray +to Agni, 'the nearest of the gods.' Agni sends him to another, and he +to another, till at last, when the boy has prayed to all the gods, +including the All-gods, his fetters drop off; Hariccandra's dropsy +ceases, and all ends well.[72] Only, when the avaricious father +demands his son back, he is refused, and Vicv[=a]mitra adopts the boy, +even dispossessing his own protesting sons. For fifty of the latter +agree to the exaltation of Dogstail; but fifty revolt, and are cursed +by Vicv[=a]mitra, that their sons' sons should become barbarians, the +Andhras, Pundras, Cabaras, Pulindas, and M[=u]tibas, savage races (of +this time), one of which can be located on the southeast coast. The +conclusion, and the matter that follows close on this tale, is +significant of the time, and of the priest's authority. For it is said +that 'if a king hears this story he is made free of sin,' but he can +hear it only from a priest, who is to be rewarded for telling it by a +gift of one thousand cows, and other rich goods. + +The matter following, to which we have alluded, is the use of +sacrificial formulae to defeat the king's foes, the description of a +royal inauguration, and, at this ceremony, the oath which the king has +to swear ere the priest will anoint him (he is anointed with milk, +honey, butter, and water, 'for water is immortality'): "I swear that +thou mayst take from me whatever good works I do to the day of my +death, together with my life and children, if ever I should do thee +harm."[73] + +When the priest is secretly told how he may ruin the king by a false +invocation at the sacrifice, and the king is made to swear that if +ever he hurts the priest the latter may rob him of earthly and +heavenly felicity, the respective positions of the two, and the +contrast between this era and that of the early hymns, become +strikingly evident. It is not from such an age as this that one can +explain the spirit of the Rig Veda. + +The next selection is the famous story of the flood, which we +translate literally in its older form.[74] The object of the legend in +the Br[=a]hmana is to explain the importance of the Id[=a] (or Il[=a]) +ceremony, which is identified with Id[=a], Manu's daughter. + +"In the morning they brought water to Manu to wash with, even as they +bring it to-day to wash hands with. While he was washing a fish came +into his hands. The fish said, 'Keep me, and I will save thee.' 'What +wilt thou save me from?' 'A flood will sweep away all creatures on +earth. I will save thee from that.' 'How am I to keep thee?' 'As long +as we are small,' said he (the fish), 'we are subject to much +destruction; fish eats fish. Thou shalt keep me first in a jar. When I +outgrow that, thou shalt dig a hole, and keep me in it. When I outgrow +that, thou shalt take me down to the sea, for there I shall be beyond +destruction.' + +"It soon became a (great horned fish called a) _jhasha_, for this +grows the largest, and then it said: 'The flood will come this summer +(or in such a year). Look out for (or worship) me, and build a ship. +When the flood rises, enter into the ship, and I will save thee.' +After he had kept it he took it down to the sea. And the same summer +(year) as the fish had told him he looked out for (or worshipped) the +fish; and built a ship. And when the flood rose he entered into the +ship. Then up swam the fish, and Manu tied the ship's rope to the horn +of the fish; and thus he sailed swiftly up toward the mountain of the +north. 'I have saved thee' said he (the fish). 'Fasten the ship to a +tree. But let not the water leave thee stranded while thou art on the +mountain (top). Descend slowly as the water goes down.' So he +descended slowly, and that descent of the mountain of the north is +called the 'Descent of Manu.' The flood then swept off all the +creatures of the earth, and Manu here remained alone. Desirous of +posterity, he worshipped and performed austerities. While he was +performing a sacrifice, he offered up in the waters clarified butter, +sour milk, whey and curds. Out of these in a year was produced a +woman. She arose when she was solid, and clarified butter collected +where she trod. Mitra and Varuna met her, and said: 'Who art thou?' +'Manu's daughter,' said she. 'Say ours,' said they. 'No,' said she; 'I +am my father's.' They wanted part in her. She agreed to this, and she +did not agree; but she went by them and came to Manu. Said Manu: 'Who +art thou?' 'Thy daughter,' said she. 'How my daughter, glorious +woman?' She said: 'Thou hast begotten me of the offering, which thou +madest in the water, clarified butter, sour milk, whey, and curds. I +am a blessing; use me at the sacrifice. If thou usest me at the +sacrifice, thou shalt become rich in children and cattle. Whatever +blessing thou invokest through me, all shall be granted to thee.' So +he used her as the blessing in the middle of the sacrifice. For what +is between the introductory and final offerings is the middle of the +sacrifice. With her he went on worshipping and performing austerities, +wishing for offspring. Through her he begot the race of men on earth, +the race of Manu; and whatever the blessing he invoked through her, +all was granted unto him. + +"Now she is the same with the Id[=a] ceremony; and whoever, knowing +this, performs sacrifice with the Id[=a], he begets the race that Manu +generated; and whatever blessing he invokes through her, all is +granted unto him." + +There is one of the earliest _avatar_ stories in this tale. Later +writers, of course, identify the fish with Brahm[=a] and with Vishnu. +In other early Br[=a]hmanas the _avatars_ of a god as a tortoise and a +boar were known long before they were appropriated by the Vishnuites. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: In _[=A]it. Br_. I. 22, there is an unexplained + antithesis of Rik, Yajus, S[=a]man, Veda, and Brahma; where + the commentator takes Veda to be Atharva Veda. The priests, + belonging respectively to the first three Vedas, are for the + Rig Veda, the Hotar priest, who recites; for the S[=a]man, + the Udg[=a]tar, 'the singer'; for the Y[=a]jus, the + Adhvaryu, who attends to the erection of the altar, etc. + Compare Mueller, ASL. p. 468.] + + [Footnote 2: It is the only literature of its time except + (an important exception) those fore-runners of later + S[=u]tra and epic which one may suppose to be in process of + formation long before they come to the front.] + + [Footnote 3: There are several schools of this Veda, of + which the chief are the V[=a]jasaneyi, or 'White Yajus,' + collection; the T[=a]ittir[=i]ya collection; and the + M[=a]itr[=a]yan[=i] collection; the first named being the + latest though the most popular, the last two being the + foremost representatives of the 'Black Yajus.'] + + [Footnote 4: The different traits here recorded are given + with many illustrative examples by Schroeder, in his + _Literatur und Cultur_, p. 90 ff.] + + [Footnote 5: Compare Weber, _Ind. Streifen_, II. 197.] + + [Footnote 6: Weber, _Lit_. p. 73.] + + [Footnote 7: The _Cata-patha Br[=a]hmana_ (or "Br[=a]mana of + the hundred paths") II. 2. 2. 6; 4.3.14.] + + [Footnote 8: The chief family priest, it is said in the + _Cat. Br_. II. 4. 4. 5, is a man of great influence. + Sometimes one priest becomes religious head of two clans (an + extraordinary event, however; only one name is reported) and + then how exalted is his position. Probably, as in the later + age of the drama, the chief priest often at the same time + practically prime minister. It is said in another part of + the same book that although the whole earth is divine, yet + it is the priest that makes holy the place of sacrifice + (III. 1. 1. 4). In this period murder is defined as killing + a priest; other cases are not called murder. Weber, _IS_. X. + 66.] + + [Footnote 9: Barth, _loc. cit._ p. 42.] + + [Footnote 10: He has analogy with Agni in being made of + 'seven persons (males),' _Cat. Br._ X. 2. 2. 1.] + + [Footnote 11: Compare M[=a]it. S. IV. 2. 12, 'sons of + Praj[=a]pati, Agni, V[=a]yu, S[=u]rya.'] + + [Footnote 12: _Cat. Br._ I. 3. 4. 12; IV. 3. 5. 1.] + + [Footnote 13: Interesting is the fact that only priests may + eat sacrificial food and drink _soma_ at this period. When + even the king should drink _soma_, he is made to drink some + transubstantiated liquor which, the priests inform him, has + been 'made into _soma_' for him by magic, for the latter is + too holy for any warrior really to drink (VII. 19; VIII. + 20). But in the more popular feasts there are indications + that this rule is often broken. Compare Weber, + _R[=a]jas[=u]ya_ p. 98.] + + [Footnote 14: For the relations of the different castes at + this period, see Weber, in the tenth volume of the _Indische + Studien_.] + + [Footnote 15: The Atharvan is not yet recognized as a Veda.] + + [Footnote 16: And even the pronunciation of a word or the + accent is fateful. The famous godly example of this is where + Tvashtar, the artificer, in anger mispronounced + _indra-catru_ as _indracatru,_ whereby the meaning was + changed from 'conqueror of Indra' to 'Indra-conquered,' with + unexpected result (_Cat. Br._ I. 6. 3. 8; _T[=a]itt. S._ II. + 4. 12. 1).] + + [Footnote 17: The word is _a[.m]sala_, strong, or 'from the + shoulder' (?). In III. 4. 1. 2 one cooks an ox or a goat for + a very distinguished guest, as a sort of guest-sacrifice. So + the guest is called 'cow-killer' (Weber, _Ved. Beitraege_, p. + 36).] + + [Footnote 18: Compare _ib_. I. 9. 1. 21, "let the priest not + say 'guard me (or us),' but 'guard this worshipper + (sacrificer),' for if he says 'me' he induces no blessing at + all; the blessing is not for the priest, but for the + sacrificer." In both passages, most emphatically, + _yajam[=a]nasy[=a]iva_, 'for the sacrificer alone.'] + + [Footnote 19: _Ya[.m] k[=a]ma[.m] k[=a]mayate so 'sm[=a]i + k[=a]ma[h.] sam[r.]dhyate_.] + + [Footnote 20: [=A]suri's name as a theologian is important, + since the S[=a]nkhya philosophy is intimately connected with + him; if this [=A]suri be not another man with the same name + (compare Weber, _Lit_. p. 152).] + + [Footnote 21: The regular sacrifices to the Manes are daily + and monthly; funerals and 'faith-feasts,' _cr[=a]ddha_, are + occasional additions.] + + [Footnote 22: Each generation of Manes rises to a better + (higher) state if the offerings continue. As a matter of + ceremonial this means that the remoter generations of + fathers are put indefinitely far off, while the immediate + predecessors of a man are the real beneficiaries; they climb + up to the sky on the offering.] + + [Footnote 23: Compare _Cat. Br_. i. 8. 1. 40; ii. 6. 1. 3, + 7, 10, 42; ii. 4. 2. 24; v. 5. 4. 28.] + + [Footnote 24: This passage (_ib_. ii. 1. 2. 7) is preceded + by a typical argument for setting up the fires under the + Pleiades, the wives of the Great Bear stars. He may do or he + may not do so--the reasons contradict each other, and all of + them are incredibly silly.] + + [Footnote 25: This last fee is not so common. For an + oblation to S[=u]rya the fee is a white horse or a white + bull; either of them representing the proper form of the sun + (_Cat. Br_. ii. 6. 3. 9); but another authority specifies + twelve oxen and a plough (T[=a]itt. S. i. 8. 7).] + + [Footnote 26: _Cat. Br_. ii. 1. 1. 3; 2. 3. 28; iv. 3. 4. + 14; 5. 1. 15; four kinds of fees, _ib_. iv. 3. 4. 6, 7, 24 + ff. (Milk is also 'Agni's seed,' _ib_. ii. 2. 4. 15).] + + [Footnote 27: Yet in _[=A]it. Br_. iii. 19, the priest is + coolly informed how he may be able to slay his patron by + making a little change in the invocations. Elsewhere such + conduct is reprobated.] + + [Footnote 28: For other covenants, see the epic (chapter on + Hinduism).] + + [Footnote 29: _Cat. Br_. iii. 4. 2. 1 ff.; iii. 6. 2. 25; + iv. 3. 3. 3; iv. 4.1.17; 6. 6. 3; 7. 6, etc.; iii. 8. 2. 27; + 3. 26; _[=A]it. Br._. i. 24.] + + [Footnote 30: _ib_. ii. 6. 2. 5. Here Rudra (compare Civa + and Hekate of the cross-roads) is said to go upon + 'cross-roads'; so that his sacrifice is on cross-roads--one + of the new teachings since the time of the Rig Veda. Rudra's + sister, Ambik[=a], _ib_. 9, is another new creation, the + genius of autumnal sickness.] + + [Footnote 31: _Cat. Br_. ii. 2. 1. 21. How much non-serious + fancy there may be here it is difficult to determine. It + seems impossible that such as follows can have been meant in + earnest: "The sacrifice, _pray[=a]ja,_ is victory, _jaya_, + because _yaja_ = _jaya_. With this knowledge one gets the + victory over his rivals" (_ib_. i. 5. 3. 3, 10).] + + [Footnote 32: Although Bhaga is here (_Cat. Br_. i. 7. 4. 6-7, + _endho bhagas_) interpreted as the Sun, he is evidently the same + with Good Luck [Greek: typhlhos ghar ho Elohhytos] or wealth.] + + [Footnote 33: _Cat. Br_. iii. 1. 2. 13 ff.; l. 1. 2. 18; + iii. 6. 1. 8 ff.; ii. 5. 2. 1; iv. 2. 1. 11; iii. 4.4. 3 + ff.; 2. 3. 6-12, 13-14; iv. 5. 5. 12; 1.3. 13 ff.; iii. 2. + 4. 5-6; 3. 2. 8; 7. 1. 17; iv. 2. 5. 17; 4. 1. 15; i. 7. 4. + 6-7; ii. 4. 3. 4 ff.; li. 5.2.34; 5. 1. 12; 5. 1. 1 ff.; RV. + viii. 104. 14. The reader must distinguish, in the name of + Brahm[=a], the god from the priest, and this from + _brahm[=a]_, prayer. The first step is _brahma_--force, + power, prayer; then this is, as a masculine Brahm[=a], the + one who prays, that is, prayer, the Brahman priest, as, in + the Rig Veda, x. 141. 3. Brihaspati is the 'Brahm[=a] of + gods.' The next (Brahmanic) step is deified _brahma_, the + personal Brahm[=a] as god, called also Father-god + (Praj[=a]pati) or simply The Father (_pit[=a]_).] + + [Footnote 33: _Cat. Br_. iii. 1. 2. 13 ff.; l. 1. 2. 18; + iii. 6. 1. 8 ff.; ii. 5. 2. 1; iv. 2. 1. 11; iii. 4.4. 3 + ff.; 2. 3. 6-12, 13-14; iv. 5. 5. 12; 1.3. 13 ff.; iii. 2. + 4. 5-6; 3. 2. 8; 7. 1. 17; iv. 2. 5. 17; 4. 1. 15; i. 7. 4. + 6-7; ii. 4. 3. 4 ff.; li. 5.2.34; 5. 1. 12; 5. 1. 1 ff.; RV. + viii. 104. 14. The reader must distinguish, in the name of + Brahm[=a], the god from the priest, and this from + _brahm[=a]_, prayer. The first step is _brahma_--force, + power, prayer; then this is, as a masculine Brahm[=a], the + one who prays, that is, prayer, the Brahman priest, as, in + the Rig Veda, x. 141. 3. Brihaspati is the 'Brahm[=a] of + gods.' The next (Brahmanic) step is deified _brahma_, the + personal Brahm[=a] as god, called also Father-god + (Praj[=a]pati) or simply The Father (_pit[=a]_).] + + [Footnote 34: Compare _M[=a]it. S_ iii. 10. 2; _[=A]it. + Br_. ii. 8; _Cat. Br_. i. 2. 3. 5; vi. 2. 1. 39; 3. 1. 24; + ii. 5. 2. 16, a ram and ewe 'made of barley.' On human + sacrifices, compare Mueller, ASL. p. 419; Weber. ZDMG. xviii. + 262 (see the Bibliography); _Streifen_, i.54.] + + [Footnote 35: Weber has translated some of these legends. + _Ind. Streifen_, i. 9 ff.] + + [Footnote 36: _T[=a]itt. Br_. iii. 2. 9. 7; _Cat. Br_. i. 2. + 5. 5; ii. 1. 2. 13 ff.; vii. 5. 1. 6.] + + [Footnote 37: Compare _M[=a]it. S_. i. 9. 8; _Cat. Br_. i. + 6. 1. 1 ff. The seasons desert the gods, and the demons + thrive. In _Cat. Br._ i. 5. 4. 6-11, the Asuras and Indra + contend with numbers.] + + [Footnote 38: Mueller, ASL. p. 529.] + + [Footnote 39: _M[=a]it. S_. iv. 2. 12; _Cat. Br_. i. 7. 4. + 1; ii. 1. 2. 9; vi. 1. 3. 8; _[=A]it. Br_. iii. 33. Compare + Muir, OST. iv. p. 45. At a later period there are frequently + found indecent tales of the gods, and the Br[=a]hmanas + themselves are vulgar enough, but they exhibit no special + lubricity on the part of the priests.] + + [Footnote 40: _Idam aham ya ev[=a] smi so asmi, Cat. Br_. i. + 1. 1. 6; 9. 3. 23.] + + [Footnote 41: RV. viii. 51. 2; Zimmer, _loc. cit_. p. 328.] + + [Footnote 42: Compare Weber, _Episch. in Vedisch. Ritual_, + p. 777 (and above). The man who is slaughtered must be + neither a priest nor a slave, but a warrior or a man of the + third caste (Weber, _loc. cit_. above).] + + [Footnote 43: _Le Mercier_, 1637, ap. Parkman, _loc. cit_. + p. 80. The current notion that the American Indian burns his + victims at the stake merely for pleasure is not incorrect. + He frequently did so, as he does so to-day, but in the + seventeenth century this act often is part of a religious + ceremony. He probably would have burned his captive, anyway, + but he gladly utilized his pleasure as a means of + propitiating his gods. In India it was just the other way.] + + [Footnote 44: Substitutes of metal or of earthen victims are + also mentioned.] + + [Footnote 45: That the Vedic rite of killing the sacrificial + beast (by beating and smothering) was very cruel may be seen + in the description, _[=A]it. Br_. ii. 6.] + + [Footnote 46: _Cat. Br._ i. 5. 2. 4.] + + [Footnote 47: _Sams[=a]ra_ is transmigration; _karma_, + 'act,' implies that the change of abode is conditioned by + the acts of a former life. Each may exclude the other; but + in common parlance each implies the other.] + + [Footnote 48: Weber, _Indischt Streifen_, i. p. 72.] + + [Footnote 49: _Cat. Br_. i. 7. 3. 19: iii. 4. 1. 17.] + + [Footnote 50: _Caf. Br_. iii. 5. 4. 10; 6. 2. 24; 5. 3. 17 + (compare 6. 4. 23-24; 3. 4. 11; 2. 1. 12); iii. 1. 2. 4; 3. + 14; i. 7. 2. 9; vi. 1. 2. 14. The change of name is + interesting. There is a remark in another part of the same + work to the effect that when a man prospers in life they + give his name also to his son, grandson, _and to his father + and grandfather_ (vi. 1. 2. 13). On the other hand, it was + the custom of the Indian kings in later ages to assume the + names of their prosperous grandfathers (JRAS. iv. 85).] + + [Footnote 51: Were it not for the first clause it would be + more natural to render the original 'The gods are truth + alone, and men are untruth.'] + + [Footnote 52: In _Cat. Br_. ii. 4. 2. 5-6 it is said that + the Father-god gives certain rules of eating to gods, Manes, + men, and beasts: "Neither gods, Manes, nor beasts transgress + the Father's law, only some men do."] + + [Footnote 53: _Cat. Br_. ii. 5. 2. 20. Varuna seizes on her + paramour, when she confesses. _T[.a]itt. Br_. i. 6. 5. 2. + The guilt confessed becomes less "because it thereby becomes + truth" (right).] + + [Footnote 54: See _Cat. Br._. ii. 4. 2. 6; 4. 1. 14; 1. 3. + 9; 3. 1. 28: "Who knows man's morrow? Then let one not + procrastinate." "Today is self, this alone is certain, + uncertain is the morrow."] + + [Footnote 55: Some little rules are interesting. The + Pythagorean abstinence from _m[=a][s.][=a]s_, beans, for + instance, is enjoined; though this rule is opposed by Barku + V[=a]rshna, _Cat. Br_. i. 1. 1. 10, on the ground that no + offering to the gods is made of beans; "hence he said 'cook + beans for me.'"] + + [Footnote 56: Animals may represent gods. "The bull is a + form of Indra," and so if the bull can be made to roar + (_Cat. Br._ ii. 5. 3. 18), then one may know that Indra is + come to the sacrifice. "Man is born into (whatever) world is + made (by his acts in a previous existence)," is a short + formula (_Cat. Br._. vi. 2. 2. 27), which represents the + _karma_ doctrine in its essential principle, though the + 'world' is here not this world, but the next. Compare Weber, + ZDMG. ix. 237 ff.; Muir, OST. v. 314 ff.] + + [Footnote 57: Though youth may be restored to him by the + Acvins, _Cat. Br._. iv. i. 5. 1 ff. Here the Horsemen are + identified with Heaven and Earth (16).] + + [Footnote 58: _Cal. Br_. ii. 3. 3. 7. Apropos of the + Brahmanic sun it may be mentioned that, according to _Ait. + Br._ iii. 44, the sun never really sets. "People think that + he sets, but in truth he only turns round after reaching the + end of the day, and makes night below, day above; and when + they think he rises in the morning, he having come to the + end of the night, turns round, and makes day below, night + above. He never really sets. Whoever knows this of him, that + he never sets, obtains union and likeness of form with the + sun, and the same abode as the sun's." Compare Muir, OST. v. + 521. This may be the real reason why the Rig Veda speaks of + a dark and light sun.] + + [Footnote 59: _Cat. Br._. i. 4. 3. 11-22 ('The sinner shall + suffer and go quickly to yonder world'); xi. 6. 1 (compare + Weber, _loc. cit._ p. 20 ff.; ZDMG. ix. 237), the Bhrigu + story, of which a more modern form is found in the Upanishad + period. For the course of the sun, the fires on either side + of the way, the departure to heaven 'with the whole body,' + compare _Cat. Br._ i. 9. 3. 2-15; iv. 5. 1. 1; vi. 6. 2. 4; + xi. 2. 7. 33; Weber, _loc. cit._: Muir, _loc. cit._ v. p. + 314. Not to have all one's bones in the next world is a + disgrace, as Muir says, and for that reason they are + collected at burial. Compare the custom as described by the + French missionaries here. The American Indian has to have + all his bones for future use, and the burying of the + skeleton is an annual religious ceremony.] + + [Footnote 60: Compare RV. iv. 28. 4: 'Thou Indra madest + lowest the heathen.' Weber has shown, _loc. cit._, that the + general notion of the Br[=a]hmanas is that all are born + again in the next world, where they are rewarded or punished + according as they are good or bad; whereas in the Rig Veda + the good rejoice in heaven, and the bad are annihilated. + This general view is to be modified, however, by such + side-theories as those just mentioned, that the good (or + wise) may be reborn on earth, or be united with gods, or + become sunlight or stars (the latter are 'watery' to the + Hindu, and this may explain the statement that the soul is + 'in the midst of waters').] + + [Footnote 61: There is in this age no notion of the repeated + creations found in later literature. On the contrary, it is + expressly said in the Rig Veda, vi. 48. 22, that heaven and + earth are created but once: "Only once was heaven created, + only once was earth created," Zimmer, AIL. 408.] + + [Footnote 62: When the principle of life is explained it is + in terms of sun or fire. Thus Praj[=a]pati, Lord of beings, + or Father-god, is first an epithet of Savitar, RV. iv. 53. + 2; and the golden germ must be fire.] + + [Footnote 63: Schoolcraft, _Historical and Statistical + Information_, i. 32. As examples of the many passages where + 'water is the beginning' may be cited _Cat. Br._ vi. 7. 1. + 17; xi. 1. 6. 1. The sun, born as Aditi's eighth son, is the + bird, 'egg-born,' RV. x. 72. 8.] + + [Footnote 64: Among the new curators of Atharvan origin are, + for instance, the sun under the name of Rohita, Desire + (Love), etc., etc.] + + [Footnote 65: Illustrations of these contradictions may be + found in plenty _apud_ Muir iv. p. 20 ff.] + + [Footnote 66: Nirukta, vii. 4; Muir, _loc. cit._ p. 131 and + v. 17.] + + [Footnote 67: _Neu-und Vollmonds Opfer_, 1880. The + _D[=i]ksh[=a]_, or initiation, has been described by + Lindner; the _R[=a]jas[=u]ya_ and _Vajapeya_, by Weber.] + + [Footnote 68: The water-sickness already imputed to this god + in the Rig Veda. This tale and that of Bhrigu (referred to + above) show an ancient trait in the position of Varuna, as + chief god.] + + [Footnote 69: This is the germ of the pilgrimage doctrine + (see below).] + + [Footnote 70: Perhaps (M. ix. 301) interpolated; or the + first allusion to the Four Ages.] + + [Footnote 71: These (compare _afri_, 'blessing,' in the + Avesta) are verses in the Rig Veda introducing the + sacrifice. They are meant as propitiations, and appear to be + an ancient part of the ritual.] + + [Footnote 72: A group of hymns in the first book of the Rig + Veda are attributed to Dogstail. At any rate, they do allude + to him, and so prove a moderate antiquity (probably the + middle period of the Rik) for the tale. The name, in + Sanskrit Cunascepa, has been ingeniously starred by Weber as + Cynosoura; the last part of each compound having the same + meaning, and the first part being even phonetically the same + _cunas, [Greek: kunhos]_.] + + [Footnote 73: _Ait. Br._ viii. 10, 15, 20.] + + [Footnote 74: The epic has a later version. This earlier + form is found in _Cat. Br._ i. 8. 1. For the story of the + flood among the American Indians compare Schoolcraft + (_Historical and Statistical Information_), i. 17.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +BRAHMANIC PANTHEISM.--THE UPANISHADS. + + +In the Vedic hymns man fears the gods, and imagines God. In the +Br[=a]hmanas man subdues the gods, and fears God. In the Upanishads +man ignores the gods, and becomes God.[1] + +Such in a word is the theosophic relations between the three periods +represented by the first Vedic Collection, the ritualistic +Br[=a]hmanas, and the philosophical treatises called Upanishads. Yet +if one took these three strata of thought to be quite independent of +each other he would go amiss. Rather is it true that the Br[=a]hmanas +logically continue what the hymns begin; that the Upanishads logically +carry on the thought of the Br[=a]hmanas. And more, for in the oldest +Upanishads are traits that connect this class of writings (if they +were written) directly, and even closely with the Vedic hymns +themselves; so that one may safely assume that the time of the first +Upanishads is not much posterior to that of the latest additions made +to the Vedic collections, though this indicates only that these +additions were composed at a much later period than is generally +supposed.[2] In India no literary period subsides with the rise of its +eventually 'succeeding' period. All the works overlap. Parts of the +Br[=a]hmanas succeed, sometimes with the addition of whole books, +their proper literary successors, the Upanishads. Vedic hymns are +composed in the Brahmanic period.[3] The prose S[=u]tras, which, in +general, are earlier, sometimes post-date metrical C[=a]stra-rules. +Thus it is highly probable that, whereas the Upanishads began before +the time of Buddha, the Catapatha Br[=a]hmana (if not others of this +class) continued to within two or three centuries of our era; that the +legal S[=u]tras were, therefore, contemporary with part of the +Br[=a]hmanic period;[4] and that, in short, the end of the Vedic +period is so knit with the beginning of the Br[=a]hmanic, while the +Br[=a]hmanic period is so knit with the rise of the Upanishads, +S[=u]tras, epics, and Buddhism, that one cannot say of any one: 'this +is later,' 'this is earlier'; but each must be taken only for a phase +of indefinitely dated thought, exhibited on certain lines. It must +also be remembered that by the same class of works a wide geographical +area may be represented; by the Br[=a]hmanas, west and east; by the +S[=u]tras, north and south; by the Vedic poems, northwest and east to +Benares (AV.); by the epics, all India, centred about the holy middle +land near Delhi. + +The meaning of Upanishad as used in the compositions themselves, is +either, as it is used to-day, the title of a philosophical work; that +of knowledge derived from esoteric teaching; or the esoteric teaching +itself. Thus _brahma upanishad_ is the secret doctrine of _brahma_, +and 'whoever follows this _upanishad_' means whoever follows this +doctrine. This seems, however, to be a meaning derived from the nature +of the Upanishads themselves, and we are almost inclined to think that +the true significance of the word was originally that in which alone +occurs, in the early period, the combination _upa-ni-[s.]ad_, and this +is purely external: "he makes the common people _upa-ni-s[=a]din," +i.e_., 'sitting below' or 'subject,' it is said in _Cat. Br_. ix. 4. +3. 3 (from the literal meaning of 'sitting below').[5] Instead, +therefore, of seeing in _upan[=i]sad_, Upanishad, the idea of a +session, of pupils sitting down to hear instruction (the prepositions +and verb are never used in this sense), it may be that the Upanishads +were at first _subsidiary_ works of the ritualistic Br[=a]hmanas +contained in the [=A]ranyakas or Forest Books, that is, appendices to +the Br[=a]hmana, ostensibly intended for the use of pious +forest-hermits (who had passed beyond the need of sacrifice); and +this, in point of fact, is just what they were; till their growth +resulted in their becoming an independent branch of literature. The +usual explanation of 'Upanishad,' however, is that it represents the +instruction given to the pupil 'sitting under' the teacher. + +Although at present between two and three hundred Upanishads are +known, at least by name, to exist, yet scarcely a dozen appear to be +of great antiquity. Some of these are integral parts of Br[=a]hmanas, +and apparently were added to the ritualistic works at an early +period.[6] + +While man's chief effort in the Brahmanic period seems to be by +sacrifice and penance to attain happiness hereafter, and to get the +upper hand of divine powers; while he recognizes a God, who, though +supreme, has yet, like the priest himself, attained his supremacy by +sacrifice and penance; while he dreams of a life hereafter in heavenly +worlds, in the realm of light, though hardly seeking to avoid a +continuation of earthly re-births; nevertheless he frees himself at +times from ritualistic observances sufficiently to continue the +questioning asked by his Vedic ancestors, and to wonder whither his +immortal part is definitively going, and whether that spirit of his +will live independently, or be united with some higher power, such as +the sun or Brahm[=a]. + +The philosophical writings called Upanishads[7] take up this question +in earnest, but the answer is already assured, and the philosophers, +or poets, of this period seek less to prove the truth than to expound +it. The soul of man will not only join a heavenly Power. It is part of +that Power. Man's spirit (self) is the world-spirit. And what is this? +While all the Upanishads are at one in answering the first question, +they are not at one in the method by which they arrive at the same +result. There is no systematic philosophy; but a tentative, and more +or less dogmatic, logic. In regard to the second question they are +still less at one; but in general their answer is that the +world-spirit is All, and everything is a part of It or Him. Yet, +whether that All is personal or impersonal, and what is the relation +between spirit and matter, this is still an unsettled point. + +The methods and results of this half-philosophical literature will +most easily be understood by a few examples. But, before these are +given, it will be necessary to emphasize the colloquial and scrappy +nature of the teaching. Legend, parable, ritualistic absurdities, +belief in gods, denial of gods, belief in heaven, denial of heaven, +are all mingled, and for a purpose. For some men are able, and some +are unable, to receive the true light of knowledge. But man's fate +depends on his knowledge. The wise man becomes hereafter what his +knowledge has prepared him to be. Not every spirit is fitted for +immortality, but only the spirit of them that have wisely desired it, +or, rather, not desired it; for every desire must have been +extinguished before one is fitted for this end. Hence, with advancing +belief in absorption and pantheism, there still lingers, and not as a +mere superfluity, the use of sacrifice and penance. Rites and the +paraphernalia of religion are essential till one learns that they are +unessential. Desire will be gratified till one learns that the most +desirable thing is lack of desire. But so long as one desires even the +lack of desire he is still in the fetters of desire. The way is long +to the extinction of emotion, but its attainment results in happiness +that is greater than delight; in peace that surpasses joy. + +In the exposition of this doctrine the old gods are retained as +figures. They are not real gods. But they are existent forms of God. +They are portions of the absolute, a form of the Eternal, even as man +is a form of the same. Absolute being, again, is described as +anthropomorphic. 'This is that' under a certain form. Incessantly made +is the attempt to explain the identity of the absolute with phenomena. +The power _brahma_, which is originally applied to prayer, is now +taken as absolute being, and this, again, must be equated with the +personal spirit (ego, self, _[=a]tm[=a]_). One finds himself back in +the age of Vedic speculation when he reads of prayer (or penance) and +power as one. For, as was shown above, the Rig Veda already recognizes +that prayer is power. There the word for power, _brahma_, is used only +as equivalent of prayer, and Brihaspati or Brahmanaspati is literally +the 'god of power,' as he is interpreted by the priests. The +significance of the other great word of this period, namely +_[=a]tm[=a]_, is not at all uncertain, but to translate it is +difficult. It is breath, spirit, self, soul. Yet, since in its +original sense it corresponds to spiritus (comparable to athmen), the +word spirit, which also signifies the real person, perhaps represents +it best. We shall then render _brahma_ and _[=a]tm[=a]_ by the +absolute and the ego or spirit, respectively; or leave them, which is +perhaps the best way, in their native form. The physical breath, +_pr[=a]na,_ is occasionally used just like _[=a]tm[=a]._ Thus it is +said that all the gods are one god, and this is _pr[=a]na,_ identical +with _brahma_ (Brihad [=A]ranyaka Upanishad, 3.9.9); or _pr[=a]na_ is +so used as to be the same with spirit, though, on the other hand, +'breath is born of spirit' (Pracna Up. 3.3), just as in the Rig Veda +(above) it is said that all comes from the breath of God. + +One of the most instructive of the older Upanishads is the +Ch[=a]ndogya. A sketch of its doctrines will give a clearer idea of +Upanishad philosophy than a chapter of disconnected excerpts: + +All this (universe) is _brahma_. Man has intelligent force (or will). +He, after death, will exist in accordance with his will in life. This +spirit in (my) heart is that mind-making, breath-bodied, light-formed, +truth-thoughted, ether-spirited One, of whom are all works, all +desires, all smells, and all tastes; who comprehends the universe, who +speaks not and is not moved; smaller than a rice-corn, smaller than a +mustard-seed, ... greater than earth, greater than heaven. This +(universal being) is my ego, spirit, and is _brahma,_ force (absolute +being). After death I shall enter into him (3.14).[8] This all is +breath (==spirit in 3.15.4). + +After this epitome of pantheism follows a ritualistic bit: + +Man is sacrifice. Four and twenty years are the morning libation; the +next four and forty, the mid-day libation; the next eight and forty, +the evening libation. The son of Itar[=a], knowing this, lived one +hundred and sixteen years. He who knows this lives one hundred and +sixteen years (3.16). + +Then, for the abolition of all sacrifice, follows a chapter which +explains that man may sacrifice symbolically, so that, for example, +gifts to the priests (a necessary adjunct of a real sacrifice) here +become penance, liberality, rectitude, non-injury, truth-speaking +(_ib._ 17. 4). There follows then the identification of _brahma_ with +mind, sun, breath, cardinal points, ether, etc, even puns being +brought into requisition, _Ka_ is _Kha_ and _Kha_ is _Ka_ (4. 10. +5);[9] earth, fire, food, sun, water, stars, man, are _brahma_, and +_brahma_ is the man seen in the moon (4. 12. I). And now comes the +identity of the impersonal _brahma_ with the personal spirit. The man +seen in the eye is the spirit; this is the immortal, unfearing +_brahma_ (4. 15. I = 8. 7. 4). He that knows this goes after death to +light, thence to day, thence to the light moon, thence to the season, +thence to the year, thence to the sun, thence to the moon, thence to +lightning; thus he becomes divine, and enters _brahma_. They that go +on this path of the gods that conducts to _brahma_ do not return to +human conditions _(ib._ 15. 6). + +But the Father-god of the Br[=a]hmanas is still a temporary creator, +and thus he appears now (_ib._ 17): The Father-god brooded over[10] +the worlds, and from them extracted essences, fire from earth, wind +from air, sun from sky. These three divinities (the triad, fire, wind, +and sun) he brooded over, and from them extracted essences, the Rig +Veda from fire, the Yajur Veda from wind, the S[=a]ma Veda from sun. +In the preceding the northern path of them that know the absolute +(_brahma_) has been described, and it was said that they return no +more to earth. Now follows the southern path of them that only partly +know _brahma_: + +"He that knows the oldest, _jye[s.]tham_ and the best, _cre[s]tham,_ +becomes the oldest and the best. Now breath is oldest and best" (then +follows the famous parable of the senses and breath, 5. 1. I). This +(found elsewhere) is evidently regarded as a new doctrine, for, after +the deduction has been made that, because a creature can live without +senses, and even without mind, but cannot live without breath, +therefore the breath is the 'oldest and best,' the text continues, 'if +one told this to a dry stick, branches would be produced and leaves +put forth' (5. 2. 3).[11]] The path of him that partly knows the +_brahma_ which is expressed in breath, etc, is as follows: He goes to +the moon, and, when his good works are used up, he (ultimately mist) +rains down, becoming seed, and begins life over again on earth, to +become like the people who eat him (5. 10. 6); they that are good +become priests, warriors, or members of the third estate; while the +bad become dogs, hogs, or members of the low castes.[12] A story is +now told, instructive as illustrating the time. Five great doctors of +the law came together to discuss what is Spirit, what is _brahma_. In +the end they are taught by a king that the universal Spirit is one's +own spirit (5. 18. 1). + +It is interesting to see that, although the Rig Veda distinctly says +that 'being was born of not-being' (_asatas sad aj[=a]yata_, X. 72. +3),[13] yet not-being is here derived quite as emphatically from +being. For in the philosophical explanation of the universe given in +6. 2. 1 ff. one reads: "Being alone existed in the beginning, one, and +without a second. Others say 'not-being alone' ... but how could being +be born of not-being? Being alone existed in the beginning."[14] This +being is then represented as sentient. "It saw (and desired), 'may I +be many,' and sent forth fire (or heat); fire (or heat) desired and +produced water; water, food (earth); with the living spirit the +divinity entered fire, water, and earth" (6. 3). As mind comes +from food, breath from water, and speech from fire, all that makes a +man is thus derived from the (true) being (6. 7. 6); and when one dies +his speech is absorbed into mind, his mind into breath, his breath +into fire (heat), and heat into the highest godhead (6. 8. 7). This is +the subtle spirit, that is the Spirit, that is the True, and this is +the spirit of man. Now comes the grand conclusion of the Ch[=a]ndogya. +He who knows the ego escapes grief. What is the ego? The Vedas are +names, and he that sees _brahma_ in the Vedas is indeed (partly) wise; +but speech is better than a name; mind is better than speech; will is +better than mind; meditation, better than will; reflection, than +meditation; understanding, than reflection; power, than understanding; +food, than power; water, than food; heat (fire), than water; ether, +than heat; memory, than ether; hope, than memory; breath (=spirit), +than hope. In each let one see _brahma_; ego in All. Who knows this is +supreme in knowledge; but more supreme in knowledge is he that knows +that in true (being) is the highest being. True being is happiness; +true being is ego; ego is all; ego is the absolute.[15] + +The relativity oL divinity is the discovery of the Upanishads. And the +relativity of happiness hereafter is the key-note of their religious +philosophy. Pious men are of three classes, according to the completed +system. Some are good men, but they do not know enough to appreciate, +intellectually or spiritually, the highest. Let this class meditate on +the Vedas. They desire wealth, not freedom. The second class wish, +indeed, to emancipate themselves; but to do so step by step; not to +reach absolute _brahma_, but to live in bliss hereafter. Let these +worship the Spirit as physical life. They will attain to the +bliss of the realm of light, the realm of the personal creator. But +the highest class, they that wish to emancipate themselves at once, +know that physical life is but a form of spiritual life; that the +personal creator is but a form of the Spirit; that the Spirit is +absolute _brahma_; and that in reaching this they attain to +immortality. These, then, are to meditate on spirit as the highest +Spirit, that is, the absolute. To fear heaven as much as hell, to know +that knowledge is, after all, the key to _brahma_; that _brahma_ is +knowledge; this is the way to emancipation. The gods are; but they are +forms of the ego, and their heaven is mortal. It is false to deny the +gods. Indra and the Father-god exist, just as men exist, as transient +forms of _brahma_. Therefore, according to the weakness or strength of +a man's mind and heart (desire) is he fitted to ignore gods and +sacrifice. To obtain _brahma_ his desires must be weak, his knowledge +strong; but sacrifice is not to be put away as useless. The +disciplinary teaching of the sacrifice is a necessary preparation for +highest wisdom. It is here that the Upanishads, which otherwise are to +a great extent on the highway to Buddhism, practically contrast with +it. Buddhism ignores the sacrifice and the stadia in a priest's life. +The Upanishads retain them, but only to throw them over at the end +when one has learned not to need them. Philosophically there is no +place for the ritual in the Upanishad doctrine; but their teachers +stood too much under the dominion of the Br[=a]hmanas to ignore the +ritual. They kept it as a means of perfecting the knowledge of what +was essential. + +So 'by wisdom' it is said 'one gets immortality.' The Spirit develops +gradually in man; by means of the mortal he desires the immortal; +whereas other animals have only hunger and thirst as a kind of +understanding, and they are reborn according to their knowledge as +beasts again. Such is the teaching of another of the Upanishads, the +[=A]itareya [=A]ranyaka. + +This Upanishad contains some rather striking passages: "Whatever man +attains, he desires to go beyond it; if he should reach heaven itself +he would desire to go beyond it" (2. 3. 3. 1). "_Brahma_ is the A, +thither goes the ego" (2. 3. 8. 7). "A is the whole of Speech, and +Speech is Truth, and Truth is Spirit" (2. 3. 6. 5-14).[16] "The Spirit +brooded over the water, and form (matter) was born" (2. 4. 3. 1 ff.); +so physically water is the origin of all things" (2. 1. 8. 1).[17] +"Whatever belongs to the father belongs to the son, whatever belongs +to the son belongs to the father" (_ib_.). "Man has three births: he +is born of his mother, reborn in the person of his son, and finds his +highest birth in death" (2. 5). + +In the exposition of these two Upanishads one gets at once the sum of +them all. The methods, the illustrations, even the doctrines, differ +in detail; but in the chief end and object of the Upanishads, and in +the principle of knowledge as a means of attaining _brahma_, they are +united. This it is that causes the refutation of the Vedic 'being from +not-being.' It is even said in the [=A]itareya that the gods +worshipped breath (the spirit) as being and so became gods (great); +while devils worshipped spirit as not-being, and hence became +(inferior) devils (2. 1. 8. 6). + +It was noticed above that a king instructed priests. This interchange +of the roles of the two castes is not unique. In the K[=a]ush[=i]taki +Upanishad (4. 19), occurs another instance of a warrior teaching a +Brahman. This, with the familiar illustration of a Gandh[=a]ra +(Kandahar) man, the song of the Kurus, and the absence of Brahmanic +literature as such in the list of works, cited vii. 1, would indicate +that the Ch[=a]ndogya was at least as old as the Br[=a]hmana +literature.[18] + +In their present form several differences remain to be pointed out +between the Vedic period and that of the Upanishads. The goal of the +soul, the two paths of gods and of _brahma_, have been indicated. As +already explained, the road to the absolute _brahma_ lies beyond the +path to the conditioned _brahma_. Opposed to this is the path that +leads to the world of heaven, whence, when good works have been +exhausted, the spirit descends to a new birth on earth. The course of +this second path is conceived to be the dark half of the moon, and so +back to man. Both roads lead first to the moon, then one goes on to +_brahma_, the other returns to earth. It will be seen that good works +are regarded as buoying a man up for a time, till, like gas in a +balloon, they lose their force, and he sinks down again. What then +becomes of the virtue of a man who enters the absolute _brahma,_ and +descends no more? He himself goes to the world where there is "no +sorrow and no snow," where he lives forever (_Brihad [=A]ran_. 5. 10); +but "his beloved relations get his virtue, and the relations he does +not love get his evil" (_K[=a]ush[=i]t. Up_. 1. 4). In this Upanishad +fire, sun, moon, and lightning die out, and reappear as _brahma_. This +is the doctrine of the _Goetterdaemmerung_, and succession of aeons with +their divinities (2. 12). Here again is it distinctly stated that +_pr[=a]na_, breath, is _brahma_; that is, spirit is the absolute (2. +13). + +What becomes of them that die ignorant of the ego? They go either to +the worlds of evil spirits, which are covered with darkness--the same +antithesis of light and darkness, as good and evil, that was seen in +the Br[=a]hmanas--or are reborn on earth again like the wicked +(_[=I]c[=a]_, 3). + +It is to be noted that at times all the parts of a man are +said to become immortal. For just as different rivers enter the ocean +and their names and forms are lost in it, so the sixteen parts of a +man sink into the godhead and he becomes without parts and immortal +(_Pracna Up_. 6. 5); a purely pantheistic view of absorption, in +distinction from the Vedic view of heaven, which latter, in the form +of immortal joy hereafter, still lingers in the earlier Upanishads. + +It is further to be observed as the crowning point of these +speculations that, just as the bliss of emancipation must not be +desired, although it is desirable, so too, though knowledge is the +fundamental condition of emancipation, yet is delight in the true a +fatal error: "They that revere what is not knowledge enter into blind +darkness; they that delight in knowledge come as it were into still +greater darkness" (_Ic[=a]_, 9). Here, what is not real knowledge +means good works, sacrifice, etc. But the sacrifice is not discarded. +To those people capable only of attaining to rectitude, sacrifices, +and belief in gods there is given some bliss hereafter; but to him +that is risen above this, who knows the ego (Spirit) and real being, +such bliss is no bliss. His bliss is union with the Spirit. + +This is the completion of Upanishad philosophy. Before it is a stage +where bliss alone, not absorption, is taught.[19] But what is the ego, +spirit or self (_[=a]tm[=a]_)? First of all it is conscious; next it +is not the Person, for the Person is produced by the _[=a]tm[=a]_. +Since this Person is the type of the personal god, it is evident that +the ego is regarded as lying back of personality. Nevertheless, the +teachers sometimes stop with the latter. The developed view is that +the immortality of the personal creator is commensurate only with that +of the world which he creates. It is for this reason that in the +Mundaka (1. 2. 10) it is said that fools regard fulfillment of desire +in heavenly happiness as the best thing; for although they have their +'reward in the top of heaven, yet, when the elevation caused by their +good works ends, as it will end, when the buoyant power of good works +is exhausted, then they drop down to earth again. Hence, to worship +the creator as the _[=a]tm[=a]_ is indeed productive of temporary +pleasure, but no more. "If a man worship another divinity, +_devat[=a]_, with the idea that he and the god are different, he does +not know" (_Brihad [=A]ran. Up_. 1. 4. 10). "Without passion and +without parts" is the _brahma (Mund_. 2. 2. 9). The further doctrine, +therefore, that all except _brahma_ is delusion is implied here, and +the "extinction of gods in _brahma_" is once or twice formulated.[20] +The fatal error of judgment is to imagine that there is in absolute +being anything separate from man's being. When personified, this being +appears as the supreme Person, identical with the ego, who is lord of +what has been and what will be. By perceiving this controlling spirit +in one's own spirit (or self) one obtains eternal bliss; "when +desires cease, the mortal becomes immortal; he attains _brahma_ here" +in life (_Katha Up_. 2. 5. 12; 6. 14; _Br. [=A]ran. Up_. 4. 4. 7). + +How inconsistent are the teachings of the Upanishads in regard to +cosmogonic and eschatological matters will be evident if one contrast +the statements of the different tracts not only with those of other +writings of the same sort, but even with other statements in the same +Upanishads. Thus the Mundaka teaches first that Brahm[=a], the +personal creator, made the world and explained _brahma_ (1. 1. 1). It +then defines _brahma_ as the Imperishable, which, like a spider, sends +out a web of being and draws it in again (_ib_. 6, 7). It states with +all distinctness that the (neuter) _brahma_ comes from The (masculine) + +One who is all-wise, all-knowing (_ib_. 9). This heavenly Person is +the imperishable ego; it is without form; higher than the imperishable +(1. 2. 10 ff.; 2. 1. 2); greater than the great (3. 2. 8). Against +this is then set (2. 2. 9) the great being _brahma_, without passions +or parts, _i. +e_., without intelligence such as was predicated of the +_[=a]tm[=a]_; and (3. 1. 3) then follows the doctrine of the personal +'Lord, who is the maker, the Person, who has his birth in _brahma' +(purusho brahmayonis_). That this Upanishad is pantheistic is plain +from 3. 2. 6, where Ved[=a]nta and Yoga are named. According to this +tract the wise go to _brahma_ or to ego (3. 2. 9 and 1. 2. 11), while +fools go to heaven and return again. + +On the same plane stands the [=I]c[=a], where _[=a]tm[=a]_, ego, +Spirit, is the True, the Lord, and is in the sun. Opposed to each +other here are 'darkness' and 'immortality,' as fruit, respectively, +of ignorance and wisdom. + +In the K[=a]ush[=i]taki Upanishad, taken with the meaning put into it +by the commentators, the wise man goes to a very different sort of +_brahma_--one where he is met by nymphs, and rejoices in a kind of +heaven. This _brahma_ is of two sorts, absolute and conditioned; but +it is ultimately defined as 'breath.' Whenever it is convenient, +'breath' is regarded by the commentators as ego, 'spirit'; but one can +scarcely escape the conviction that in many passages 'breath' was +meant by the speaker to be taken at its face value. It is the vital +power. With this vital power (breath or spirit) one in dreamless sleep +unites. Indra has nothing higher to say than that he is breath +(spirit), conscious and immortal. Eventually the soul after death +comes to Indra, or gains the bright heaven. But here too the doctrine +of the dying out of the gods is known (as in _T[=a]tt_. 3. 10. 4). +Cosmogonically all here springs from water (1. 4, 6, 7; 2. 1, 12; 3. +1, 2; 4. 20). + +Most striking are the contradictions in the Brihad [=A]ranyaka: "In +the beginning there was only nothing; this (world) was covered with +death, that is hunger;[21] he desired," etc. (1. 2. 1). "In the +beginning there was only ego (_[=a]tm[=a])." [=A]tm[=a]_ articulated +"I am," and (finding himself lonely and unhappy) divided himself into +male and female,[22] whence arose men, etc. (1. 4. 1). Again: "In the +beginning there was only _brahma_; this (neuter) knew _[=a]tm[=a] ... +brahma_ was the one and only ... it created" (1. 4. 10-11); followed +immediately by "he created" (12). And after this, in 17, one is +brought back to "in the beginning there was only _[=a]tm[=a]_; he +desired 'let me have a wife.'" + +In 2. 3. 1 ff. the explicitness of the differences in _brahma_ makes +the account of unusual value. It appears that there are two forms of +_brahma_, one is mortal, with form; the other is immortal, without +form. Whatever is other than air and the space between (heaven and +earth) is mortal and with form. This is being, its essence is in the +sun. On the other hand, the essence of the immortal is the person in +the circle (of the sun). In man's body breath and ether are the +immortal, the essence of which is the person in the eye. There is a +visible and invisible _brahma ([=a]tm[=a])_; the real _brahma_ is +incomprehensible and is described only by negations (3. 4. 1; 9. 26). +The highest is the Imperishable (_neuter_), but this sees, hears, and +knows. It is in this that ether (as above) is woven (3. 8. 11). After +death the wise man goes to the world of the gods (1. 5. 16); he +becomes the _[=a]tm[=a]_ of all beings, just like that deity (1. 5. +20); he becomes identical ('how can one know the knower?' +_vijn[=a]tar_) in 2. 4. 12-13; and according to 3. 2. 13, the doctrine +of _sams[=a]ra_ is extolled ("they talked of _karma_, extolled _karma_ +secretly"), as something too secret to be divulged easily, even to +priests. + +That different views are recognized is evident from _Taitt_. 2. 6: "If +one knows _brahma_ as _asat_ he becomes only _asat_ (non-existence); +if he knows that '_brahma_ is' (_i.e._, a _sad brahma_), people know +him as thence existing." Personal _[=a]tm[=a]_ is here insisted on +("He wished 'may I be many'"); and from _[=a]tm[=a]_, the conscious +_brahma_, in highest heaven, came the ether (2. 1, 6). Yet, +immediately afterwards: "In the beginning was the non-existent; thence +arose the existent; and That made for himself an ego (spirit, +conscious life, _[=a]tm[=a]; tad [=a]tm[=a]nain svayam akuruta_, 2. +7). In man _brahma_ is the sun-_brahma_. Here too one finds the +_brahma[n.]a[h.] parimaras_ (3. 10. 4 = K[=a]ush[=i]t. 2. 12, +_d[=a]iva_), or extinction of gods in _brahma_. But what that _brahma_ +is, except that it is bliss, and that man after death reaches 'the +bliss-making _[=a]tm[=a],_' it is impossible to say (3. 6; 2. 8). +Especially as the departed soul 'eats and sits down singing' in heaven +(3. 10. 5). + +The greatest discrepancies in eschatology occur perhaps in the +[=A]itareya [=A]ranyaka. After death one either "gets _brahma_" (i. 3. +1. 2), "comes near to the immortal spirit" (1. 3. 8. 14), or goes to +the "heavenly world." Knowledge here expressly conditions the +hereafter; so much so that it is represented not (as above) that fools +go to heaven and return, but that all, save the very highest, are to +recognize a personal creator (Praj[=a]pati) in breath (=ego=_brahma_), +and then they will "go to the heavenly world" (2. 3. 8. 5), "become +the sun" (2. 1. 8. 14), or "go to gods" (2. 2. 4. 6). Moreover after +the highest wisdom has been revealed, and the second class of men has +been disposed of, the author still returns to the 'shining sky,' +_svarga_, as the best promise (3). Sinners are born again (2. 1. 1. 5) +on earth, although hell is mentioned (2. 3. 2. 5). The origin of world +is water, as usual (2. 1. 8. 1). The highest teaching is that all was +_[=a]tm[=a],_ who sent forth worlds (_lok[=a]n as[r.]jata_), and +formed the Person (as guardian of worlds), taking him from waters. +Hence _[=a]tm[=a],_ Praj[=a]pati (of the second-class thinkers), and +_brahma_ are the same. Knowledge is _brahma_ (2. 4. 1. 1; 6. 1. 5-7). + +In the Kena, where the best that can be said in regard to _brahma_ is +that he is _tadvana_, the one that 'likes this' (or, perhaps, is 'like +this'), there is no absorption into a world-spirit. The wise 'become +immortal'; 'by knowledge one gets immortality'; 'who knows this stands +in heaven' (1. 2; 2. 4; 4. 9). The general results are about those +formulated by Whitney in regard to the Katha: knowledge gives +continuation of happiness in heaven; the punishment of the unworthy is +to continue _sams[=a]ra_, the round of rebirths. Hell is not mentioned +in the [=A]itareya Upanishad itself but in the [=A]ranyaka[23] (2. 3. +2. 5). That, however, a union with the universal _[=a]tm[=a]_ (as well +as heaven) is desired, would seem to be the case from several of the +passages cited above, notably Brihad [=A]ran., i. 5. 20 (_sa +eva[.m]vit sarve[s.][=a]m bh[=u]t[=a]n[=a]m [=a]tm[=a] bhavati, +Yath[=a] i[s.][=a] devat[=a]ivam sa_); 'he that knows this becomes the +_[=a]tm[=a]_ of all creatures, as is that divinity so is he'; though +this is doubtless the _[=a]nandamaya [=a]tm[=a]_, or joy-making Spirit +(T[=a]itt. 2. 8). + +Again two forms of _brahma_ are explained (M[=a]it. Up. 6. 15 ff.): +There are two forms of _brahma_, time and not-time. That which was +before the sun is not-time and has no parts. Time and parts begin with +the sun. Time is the Father-god, the Spirit. Time makes and dissolves +all in the Spirit. He knows the Veda who knows into what Time itself +is dissolved. This manifest time is the ocean of creatures. But +_brahma_ exists before and after time.[24] + +As an example of the best style of the Upanishads we will cite a +favorite passage (given no less than four times in various versions) +where the doctrine of absorption is most distinctly taught under the +form of a tale. It is the famous + + +DIALOGUE OF Y[=A]JNAVALKYA AND M[=A]ITREY[=I].[25] + +Y[=a]jnavalkya had two wives, M[=a]itrey[=i] and K[=a]ty[=a]yani. Now +M[=a]itrey[=i] was versed in holy knowledge (_brahma_), but +K[=a]ty[=a]yani had only such knowledge as women have. But when +Y[=a]jnavalkya was about to go away into the forest (to become a +hermit), he said: 'M[=a]itrey[=i], I am going away from this +place. Behold, I will make a settlement between thee and that +K[=a]ty[=a]yani.' Then said M[=a]itrey[=i]: 'Lord, if this whole earth +filled with wealth were mine, how then? should I be immortal by reason +of this wealth?' 'Nay,' said Y[=a]jnavalkya. 'Even as is the life of +the rich would be thy life; by reason of wealth one has no hope of +immortality.' Then said M[=a]itrey[=i]: 'With what I cannot be +immortal, what can I do with that? whatever my Lord knows even that +tell me.' And Y[=a]jnavalkya said: 'Dear to me thou art, indeed, and +fondly speakest. Therefore I will explain to thee and do thou regard +me as I explain.' And he said: 'Not for the husband's sake is a +husband dear, but for the ego's sake is the husband dear. Not for the +wife's sake is a wife dear; but for the ego's sake is a wife dear; not +for the son's sake are sons dear, but for the ego's sake are sons +dear; not for wealth's sake is wealth dear, but for the ego's sake is +wealth dear; not for the sake of the Brahman caste is the Brahman +caste dear, but for the sake of the ego is the Brahman caste dear; not +for the sake of the Warrior caste is the Warrior caste dear, but for +love of the ego is the Warrior caste dear; not for the sake of the +worlds are worlds dear, but for the sake of the ego are worlds dear; +not for the sake of gods are gods dear, but for the ego's sake are +gods dear; not for the sake of _bh[=u]ts_ (spirits) are _bh[=u]ts_ +dear, but for the ego's sake are _bhuts_ dear; not for the sake of +anything is anything dear, but for love of one's self (ego) is +anything (everything) dear; the ego (self) must be seen, heard, +apprehended, regarded, M[=a]itrey[=i], for with the seeing, hearing, +apprehending, and regarding of the ego the All is known.... Even as +smoke pours out of a fire lighted with damp kindling wood, even so out +of the Great Being is blown out all that which is, Rig Veda, Yajur +Veda, S[=a]ma Veda, Atharva (Angiras) Veda, Stories, Tales, Sciences, +Upanishads, food, drink, sacrifices; all creatures that exist are +blown (breathed) out of this one (Great Spirit) alone. As in the +ocean all the waters have their meeting-place; as the skin is the +meeting-place of all touches; the tongue, of all tastes; the +nose, of all smells; the mind, of all precepts; the heart, of all +knowledges; ... as salt cast into water is dissolved so that one +cannot seize it, but wherever one tastes it is salty, so this +Great Being, endless, limitless, is a mass of knowledge. It arises out +of the elements and then disappears in them. After death there is no +more consciousness.[26] I have spoken.' Thus said Y[=a]jnavalkya. Then +said M[=a]itrey[=i]: 'Truly my Lord has bewildered me in saying that +after death there is no more consciousness.' And Y[=a]jnavalkya said: +'I say nothing bewildering, but what suffices for understanding. For +where there is as it were duality (_dv[=a]itam_), there one sees, +smells, hears, addresses, notices, knows another; but when all the +universe has become mere ego, with what should one smell, see, hear, +address, notice, know any one (else)? How can one know him through +whom he knows this all, how can he know the knower (as something +different)? The ego is to be described by negations alone, the +incomprehensible, imperishable, unattached, unfettered; the ego +neither suffers nor fails. Thus, M[=a]itrey[=i], hast thou been +instructed. So much for immortality.' And having spoken thus +Y[=a]jnavalkya went away (into the forest). + +Returning to the Upanishad, of which an outline was given in the +beginning of this chapter, one finds a state of things which, in +general, may be said to be characteristic of the whole Upanishad +period. The same vague views in regard to cosmogony and eschatology +obtain in all save the outspoken sectarian tracts, and the same +uncertainty in regard to man's future fate prevails in this whole +cycle.[27] A few extracts will show this. According to the +Ch[=a]ndogya (4. 17. 1), a personal creator, the old Father-god of the +Br[=a]hmanas, Praj[=a]pati, made the elements proceed from the worlds +he had 'brooded' over (or had done penance over, _abhyatapat_). In 3. +19. 1, not-being was first; this became being (with the mundane egg, +etc.). In sharp contradiction (6. 2. 1): 'being was the first thing, +it willed,' etc., a conscious divinity, as is seen in _ib_. 3. 2, +where it is a 'deity,' producing elements as 'deities' (_ib._ 8. 6) +which it enters 'with the living _[=a]tm[=a]_,' and so develops names +and forms (so _T[=a]itt_. 2. 7). The latter is the prevailing view of +the Upanishad. In 1. 7. 5 ff. the _[=a]tm[=a]_ is the same with the +universal _[=a]tm[=a]_; in 3. 12. 7, the _brahma_ is the same with +ether without and within, unchanging; in 3. 13. 7, the 'light above +heaven' is identical with the light in man; in 3. 14. 1, all is +_brahma_ (neuter), and this is an intelligent universal spirit. Like +the ether is the _[=a]tm[=a]_ in the heart, this is _brahma_ (_ib_. 2 +ff.); in 4. 3. air and breath are the two ends (so in the argument +above, these are immortal as distinguished from all else); in 4. 10. 5 +_yad v[=a]v[=a] ka[.m] tad eva kham_ (_brahma_ is ether); in 4. 15. 1, +the ego is _brahma_; in 5. 18. 1 the universal ego is identified with +the particular ego (_[=a]tm[=a]_); in 6. 8 the ego is the True, with +which one unites in dreamless sleep; in 6. 15. 1, into _par[=a] +devat[=a]_ or 'highest divinity' enters man's spirit, like salt in +water (_ib_. 13). In 7. 15-26, a view but half correct is stated to be +that 'breath' is all, but it is better to know that _yo bh[=u]m[=a]_ +_tad am[r.]tam_, the immortal (all) is infinity, which rests in its +own greatness, with a corrective 'but perhaps it doesn't' (_yadi v[=a] +na_). This infinity is ego and _[=a]tm[=a]_.[28] + +What is the reward for knowing this? One obtains worlds, unchanging +happiness, _brahma_; or, with some circumnavigation, one goes to the +moon, and eventually reaches _brahma_ or obtains the worlds of the +blessed (5. 10. 10). The round of existence, _sams[=a]ra_, is +indicated at 6. 16, and expressly stated in 5. 10. 7 (insects have +here a third path). Immortality is forcibly claimed: 'The living one +dies not' (6. 11. 3). He who knows the sections 7. 15 to 26 becomes +_[=a]tm[=a]nanda_ and "lord of all worlds"; whereas an incorrect view +gives perishable worlds. In one Upanishad there is a verse (_Cvet_. 4. +5) which would indicate a formal duality like that of the +S[=a]nkhyas;[29] but in general one may say that the Upanishads are +simply pantheistic, only the absorption into a world-soul is as yet +scarcely formulated. On the other hand, some of the older Upanishads +show traces of an atheistic and materialistic (_asad_) philosophy, +which is swallowed up in the growing inclination to personify the +creative principle, and ultimately is lost in the erection of a +personal Lord, as in the latest Upanishads. This tendency to +personify, with the increase of special sectarian gods, will lead +again, after centuries, to the rehabilitation of a triad of gods, the +_trim[=u]rti_, where unite Vishnu, Civa, and, with these, who are more +powerful, Brahm[=a], the Praj[=a]pati of the Veda, as the All-god of +purely pantheistic systems. In the purer, older form recorded above, +the _purusha_ (Person) is sprung from the _[=a]tm[=a]_. There is no +distinction between matter and spirit. Conscious being (_sat_) wills, +and so produces all. Or _[=a]tm[=a]_ comes first; and this is +conscious _sat_ and the cause of the worlds; which _[=a]tm[=a]_ +eventually becomes the Lord. The _[=a]tm[=a]_ in man, owing to his +environment, cannot see whole, and needs the Yoga discipline of +asceticism to enable him to do so. But he is the same ego which is the +All. + +The relation between the absolute and the ego is through will. "This +(neuter) _brahma_ willed, 'May I be many,' and created" _(Ch[=a]nd_., +above). Sometimes the impersonal, and sometimes the personal "spirit +willed" _(T[=a]iit._ 2. 6). And when it is said, in _Brihad [=A]ran_. +1. 4. 1, that "In the beginning ego, spirit, _[=a]tm[=a],_ alone +existed," one finds this spirit (self) to be a form of _brahma (ib._ +10-11). Personified in a sectarian sense, this spirit becomes the +divinity Rudra Civa, the Blessed One (_Cvet[=a]cvatara,_ 3. 5. +11).[30] + +In short, the teachers of the Upanishads not only do not declare +clearly what they believed in regard to cosmogonic and eschatological +matters, but many of them probably did not know clearly what they +believed. Their great discovery was that man's spirit was not +particular and mortal, but part of the immortal universal. Whether +this universal was a being alive and a personal _[=a]tm[=a]_, or +whether this personal being was but a transient form of impersonal, +imperishable being;[31] and whether the union with being, _brahma_, +would result in a survival of individual consciousness,--these are +evidently points they were not agreed upon, and, in all probability, +no one of the sages was certain in regard to them. Crass +identifications of the vital principle with breath, as one with ether, +which is twice emphasized as one of the two immortal things, were +provisionally accepted. Then breath and immortal spirit were made one. +Matter had energy from the beginning, _brahma_; or was chaos, _asat_, +without being. But when _asat_ becomes _sat_, that _sat_ becomes +_brahma_, energized being, and to _asat_ there is no return. In +eschatology the real (spirit, or self) part of man (ego) either +rejoices forever as a conscious part of the conscious world-self, or +exists immortal in _brahma_--imperishable being, conceived as more or +less conscious.[32] + +The teachers recognize the limitations of understanding: "The gods are +in Indra, Indra is in the Father-god, the Father-god (the Spirit) is +in _brahma_"--"But in what is _brahma?_" And the answer is, "Ask not +too much" (_Brihad. [=A]ran. Up_. 3. 6). + +These problems will be those of the future formal philosophy. Even the +Upanishads do not furnish a philosophy altogether new. Their doctrine +of _karma_ their identification of particular ego and universal ego, +is not original. The 'breaths,' the 'nine doors,' the 'three +qualities,' the _purusha_ as identical with ego, are older even than +the Br[=a]hmanas (Scherman, _loc. cit_. p. 62). + +It is not a new philosophy, it is a new religion that the Upanishads +offer.[33] This is no religion of rites and ceremonies, although the +cult is retained as helpful in disciplining and teaching; it is a +religion for sorrowing humanity. It is a religion that comforts the +afflicted, and gives to the soul 'that peace which the world cannot +give.' In the sectarian Upanishads this bliss of religion is ever +present. "Through knowing Him who is more subtile than subtile, who is +creator of everything, who has many forms, who embraces everything, +the Blessed Lord--one attains to peace without end" (_Cvet_. 4. +14-15). These teachers, who enjoin the highest morality +('self-restraint, generosity, and mercy' are God's commandments in +_Brihad [=A]ran_. 5. 2) refuse to be satisfied with virtue's reward, +and, being able to obtain heaven, 'seek for something beyond.' And +this they do not from mere pessimism, but from a conviction that they +will find a joy greater than that of heaven, and more enduring, in +that world where is "the light beyond the darkness" (_Cvet_. 3. 8); +"where shines neither sun, moon, stars, lightning, nor fire, but all +shines after Him that shines alone, and through His light the universe +is lighted" (_Mund_. 2. 2. 10). This, moreover, is not a future joy. +It is one that frees from perturbation in this life, and gives relief +from sorrow. In the Ch[=a]ndogya (7. 1. 3) a man in grief comes +seeking this new knowledge of the universal Spirit; "For," says he, "I +have heard it said that he who knows the Spirit passes beyond grief." +So in the [=I]c[=a], though this is a late sectarian work, it is +asked, "What sorrow can there be for him to whom Spirit alone has +become all things?' (7). Again, "He that knows the joy of _brahma_, +whence speech with mind turns away without apprehending it, fears not" +(_T[=a]itt_. 2. 4); for "fear comes only from a second" (_Brihad +[=A]ran. Up_. 1. 4. 2), and when one recognizes that all is one he no +longer fears death (_ib_. 4. 4. 15). + +Such is the religion of these teachers. In the quiet assumption that +life is not worth living, they are as pessimistic as was Buddha. But +if, as seems to be the case, the Buddhist believed in the eventual +extinction of his individuality, their pessimism is of a different +sort. For the teacher of the Upanishads believes that he will attain +to unending joy; not the rude happiness of 'heaven-seekers,' but the +unchanging bliss of immortal peace. For him that wished it, there was +heaven and the gods. These were not denied; they were as real as the +"fool" that desired them. But for him that conquered passion, and knew +the truth, there was existence without the pain of desire, life +without end, freedom from rebirth. The spirit of the sage becomes one +with the Eternal; man becomes God. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Compare _Cal. Br._ ii. 4. 2. 1-6, where the + Father-god gives laws of conduct; and Kaush[=i]taki Brahmana + Upanishad, 3. 8: "This spirit (breath) is guardian of the + world, the lord of the world; he is my spirit" (or, myself), + _sa ma [=a]tm[=a]_. The Brahmanic priest teaches that he is a + god like other gods, and goes so far as to say that he may + be united with a god after death. The Upanishad philosopher + says 'I am God.'] + + [Footnote 2: Compare Scherman, _Philosophische Hymnen_, p. + 93; above, p. 156.] + + [Footnote 3: Or, in other words, the thought of the + Brahmanic period (not necessarily of extant Br[=a]hmanas) is + synchronous with part of the Vedic collection.] + + [Footnote 4: The last additions to this class of literature + would, of course, conform in language to their models, just + as the late Vedic Mantras conform as well as their composers + can make them to the older song or _chandas_ style.] + + [Footnote 5: Cited by Mueller in SBE. i. _Introd_. p. + lxxxii.] + + [Footnote 6: Compare Weber, _Ind. Lit_. p. 171; Mueller, + _loc. cit._ p. lxviii.] + + [Footnote 7: The relation between the Br[=a]hmanas (ritual + works discussed in the last chapter) and the early + Upanishads will be seen better with the help of a concrete + example. As has been explained before, Rig Veda means to the + Hindu not only the 'Collection' of hymns, but all the + library connected with this collection; for instance, the + two Br[=a]hmanas (of the Rig Veda), namely, the Aitareya and + the K[=a]ush[=i]taki (or C[=a]nkh[=a]yana). Now, each of + these Br[=a]hmanas concludes with an [=A]ranyaka, that is, a + Forest-Book (_ara[n.]ya_, forest, solitude); and in each + Forest Book is an Upanishad. For example, the third book of + the K[=a]ush[=i]taki [=A]ranyaka is the K[=a]ush[=i]taki + Upanishad. So the Ch[=a]ndogya and Brihad [=A]ranyaka belong + respectively to the S[=a]man and Yajus.] + + [Footnote 8: This teaching is ascribed to C[=a]ndilya, to + whose heresy, as opposed to the pure Vedantic doctrinc of + Cankara, we shall have to revert in a later chapter. The + heresy consists, in a word, in regarding the individual + spirit as at any time distinct from the Supreme Spirit, + though C[=a]ndilya teaches that it is ultimately absorbed + into the latter.] + + [Footnote 9: "God' Who' is air, air (space) is God 'Who'," + as if one said 'either is aether.'] + + [Footnote 10: 'Did penance over,' as one doing penance + remains in meditation. 'Brooded' is Mueller's apt word for + this _abhi-tap._] + + [Footnote 11: Compare _Brihad [=A]ran. Up_. 6. 3. 7.] + + [Footnote 12: This is the _karma_ or _sams[=a]ra_ doctrine.] + + [Footnote 13: In J.U.B. alone have we noticed the formula + asserting that 'both being and not-being existed in the + beginning' (1. 53. 1; JAOS. XVI. 130).] + + [Footnote 14: Opposed is 3. 19. 1 and _T[=a]itt. Up_. 2. 7. + 1 (_Br_. II. 2. 9. 1, 10): "Not-being was here in the + beginning. From it arose being." And so _Cat. Br_. VI. 1. 1. + 1 (though in word only, for here not-being is the seven + spirits of God!)] + + [Footnote 15: As the Vedic notion of not-being existing + before being is refuted, so the Atharvan homage to Time as + Lord is also derided (_Cvet._ 6) in the Upanishads. The + supreme being is above time, as he is without parts (_ib_.). + In this later Upanishad wisdom, penance, and the grace of + God are requisite to know _brahma_.] + + [Footnote 16: This Vedic [Greek: Adgos] doctrine is + conspicuous in the Br[=a]hmana. Compare _Cat. Br_. VII. 5. + 2. 21: "V[=a]c ([Greek: Adgos]) is the Unborn one; from + V[=a]c the all-maker made creatures." See Weber, _Ind. + Stud_. IX. 477 ff.] + + [Footnote 17: Compare J.U.B. i. 56. 1, 'Water (alone) + existed in the beginning.' This is the oldest and latest + Hindu explanation of the matter of the physical universe. + From the time of the Vedas to mediaeval times, as is + recorded by the Greek travellers, water is regarded as the + original element.] + + [Footnote 18: The Gandh[=a]ra might indicate a late + geographical expansion as well as an early heritage, so that + this is not conclusive.] + + [Footnote 19: Gough, _Philosophy of the Upanishads_, has + sought to show that the pure Vedantism of Cankara is the + only belief taught in the Upanishads, ignoring the weight of + those passages that oppose his (in our view) too sweeping + assertion.] + + [Footnote 20: See the Parimara described, _[=A]it. Br_. + VIII. 28. Here _brahma_ is wind, around which die five + divinities--lightning in rain, rain in moon, moon in sun, + sun in fire, fire in wind--and they are reborn in reverse + order. The 'dying' is used as a curse. The king shall say, + 'When fire dies in wind then may my foe die,' and he will + die; so when any of the other gods dies around _brahma_.] + + [Footnote 21: Compare sterben, starve.] + + [Footnote 22: The androgynous creator of the Br[=a]hmanas.] + + [Footnote 23: We cannot, however, quite agree with Whitney + who, _loc. cit._ p. 92, and Journal, xiii, p. ciii ff., + implies that belief in hell comes later than this period. + This is not so late a teaching. Hell is Vedic and + Brahmanic.] + + [Footnote 24: This, in pantheistic style, is expressed thus + (Cvet. 4): "When the light has arisen there is no day no + night, neither being nor not-being; the Blessed One alone + exists there. There is no likeness of him whose name is + Great Glory."] + + [Footnote 25: Brihad [=A]ranyaka Upanishad, 2.4; 4. 5.] + + [Footnote 26: _Na pretya sa[.m]jn[=a] 'sti._] + + [Footnote 27: Some of the Upanishads have been tampered + with, so that all of the contradictions may not be due to + the composers. Nevertheless, as the uncertainty of opinion + in regard to cosmogony is quite as great as that in respect + of absorption, all the vagueness cannot properly be + attributed to the efforts of later systematizers to bring + the Upanishads into their more or less orthodox Vedantism.] + + [Footnote 28: In 4. 10. 5 _kam_ is pleasure, one with ether + as _brahma_, not as wrongly above, p. 222, the god Ka.] + + [Footnote 29: This Upanishad appears to be sectarian, + perhaps an early Civaite tract (dualistic), if the allusion + to Rudra Civa, below, be accepted as original.] + + [Footnote 30: As is foreshadowed in the doctrine of grace by + V[=a]c in the Rig Veda, in the _Cvet_, the _Katha_, and the + _Mund_. Upanishads (_K. 2. 23; M_. 3. 2. 3), but nowhere + else, there enters, with the sectarian phase, that radical + subversion of the Upanishad doctrine which becomes so + powerful at a later date, the teaching that salvation is a + gift of God. "This Spirit is not got by wisdom; the Spirit + chooses as his own the body of that man whom He chooses."] + + [Footnote 31: See above. As descriptive of the immortal + conscious Spirit, there is the famous verse: "If the slayer + thinks to slay, if the slain thinks he is slain; they both + understand not; this one (the Spirit) slays not, and is not + slain" (_Katha_, 2. 19); loosely rendered by Emerson, 'If + the red slayer think he slays,' etc.] + + [Footnote 32: The fact remarked by Thibaut that radically + different systems of philosophy are built upon the + Upanishads is enough to show how ambiguous are the + declarations of the latter.] + + [Footnote 33: Compare Barth, _Religions_, p. 76.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE POPULAR BRAHMANIC FAITH + + +For a long time after the Vedic age there is little that gives one an +insight into the views of the people. It may be presumed, since the +orthodox systems never dispensed with the established cult, that the +form of the old Vedic creed was kept intact. Yet, since the real +belief changed, and the cult became more and more the practice of a +formality, it becomes necessary to seek, apart from the inherited +ritual, the faith which formed the actual religion of the people. +Inasmuch as this phase of Hindu belief has scarcely been touched upon +elsewhere, it may be well to state more fully the object of the +present chapter. + +We have shown above that the theology of the Vedic period had +resulted, before its close, in a form of pantheism, which was +accompanied, as is attested by the Atharva Veda, with a demonology and +witch-craft religion, the latter presumably of high antiquity. +Immediately after this come the esoteric Br[=a]hmanas, in which the +gods are, more or less, figures in the eyes of the priests, and the +form of a Father-god rises into chief prominence, being sometimes +regarded as the creative force, but at all times as the moral +authority in the world. At the end of this period, however, and +probably even before this period ended, there is for the first time, +in the Upanishads, a new religion, that, in some regards, is esoteric. +Hitherto the secrets of religious mysteries had been treated as hidden +priestly wisdom, not to be revealed. But, for the most part, this +wisdom is really nonsense; and when it is said in the Br[=a]hmanas, at +the end of a bit of theological mystery, that it is a secret, or +that 'the gods love that which is secret,' one is not persuaded by the +examples given that this esoteric knowledge is intellectually +valuable. But with the Upanishads there comes the antithesis of +inherited belief and right belief. The latter is public property, +though it is not taught carelessly. The student is not initiated into +the higher wisdom till he is drilled in the lower. The most unexpected +characters appear in the role of instructors of priests, namely, +women, kings, and members of the third caste, whose deeper wisdom is +promulgated oftentimes as something quite new, and sometimes is +whispered in secret. Pantheism, _sams[=a]ra_,[1] and the eternal bliss +of the individual spirit when eventually it is freed from further +transmigration,--these three fundamental traits of the new religion +are discussed in such a way as to show that they had no hold upon the +general public, but they were the intellectual wealth of a few. Some +of the Upanishads hide behind a veil of mystery; yet many of them, as +Windisch has said, are, in a way, popular; that is, they are intended +for a general public, not for priests alone. This is especially the +case with the pantheistic Upanishads in their more pronounced form. +But still it is only the very wise that can accept the teaching. It is +not the faith of the people. + +Epic literature, which is the next living literature of the Brahmans, +after the Upanishads, takes one, in a trice, from the beginnings of a +formal pantheism, to a pantheism already disintegrated by the newer +worship of sectaries. Here the impersonal _[=a]tm[=a]_, or nameless +Lord, is not only an anthropomorphic Civa, as in the late Upanishads, +where the philosophic _brahma_ is equated with a long recognized type +of divinity, but _[=a]tm[=a]_ is identified with the figure of a +theomorphic man. + +Is there, then, nothing with which to bridge this gulf? + +In our opinion the religion of the law-books, as a legitimate phase of +Hindu religion, has been too much ignored. The religion of Upanishad +and Ved[=a]nta, with its attractive analogies with modern speculation, +has been taken as illustrative of the religion of a vast period, to +the discrediting of the belief represented in the manuals of law. To +these certainly the name of literature can scarcely be applied, but in +their rapport with ordinary life they will be found more apt than are +the profounder speculations of the philosophers to reflect the +religious belief taught to the masses and accepted by them. + +The study of these books casts a broad light upon that interval +between the Vedic and epic periods wherein it is customary to imagine +religion as being, in the main, cult or philosophy. Nor does the +interest cease with the yield of necessarily scanty yet very +significant facts in regard to eschatological and cosmogonic views. +The gods themselves are not what they are in the rites of the cunning +priests or in the dogmas of the sages. In the Hindu law there is a +reversion to Vedic belief; or rather not a reversion, but here one +sees again, through the froth of rites and the murk of philosophy, the +under-stream of faith that still flows from the old fount, if somewhat +discolored, and waters the heart of the people. + +At just what time was elaborated the stupendous system of rites, which +are already traditional in the Br[=a]hmanas, can never be known. Some +of these rites have to do with special ceremonies, such as the royal +inauguration, some are stated _soma_-sacrifices.[2] Opposed to these +_soma_-feasts is the simpler and older fire-cult, which persists in +the house-rituals. All of these together make up a sightly array of +sacrifices.[3] The _soma_-ritual is developed in the Br[=a]hmanas. But +with this class of works there must have been from ancient times +another which treated of the fire-ritual, and of which the more modern +representatives are the extant S[=u]tras. It is with S[=u]tras that +legal literature begins, but these differ from the ritualistic +S[=u]tras. Yet both are full of religious meat. In these collections, +even in the more special, there is no arrangement that corresponds to +western ideas of order. In a completed code, for example, there is a +rough distribution of subjects under different heads, but the attempt +is only tentative, and each work presents the appearance of a +heterogeneous mass of regulations and laws, from which one must pick +out the law for which he is seeking. The earlier legal works were in +prose; the later evolved codes, of which there is a large number, in +metre. It is in these two classes of house-ritual and law-ritual, +which together constitute what is called Smriti, tradition-ritual (in +distinction from the so-called Cruti, revelation-ritual), that one may +expect to find the religion of the time; not as inculcated by the +promoters of mystery, nor yet as disclosed by the philosopher, but as +taught (through the priest) to the people, and as accepted by them for +their daily guidance in matters of every-day observance. We glance +first at the religious observances, for here, as in the case of the +great sacrifices, a detailed examination would be of no more value +than a collective impression; unless, indeed, one were hunting for +folk-lore superstitions, of which we can treat now only in the mass. +It is sufficient to understand that, according to the house-ritual +(_g[r.]hya-s[=u]tra_) and the law-ritual (_dharma-s[=u]tra_, and +_dharma-c[=a]stra_),[4] for every change in life there was an +appropriate ceremony and a religious observance; for every day, +oblations (three at least); for every fortnight and season, a +sacrifice. Religious formulae were said over the child yet unborn. +From the moment of birth he was surrounded with observances.[5] At +such and such a time the child's head was shaved; he was taken out to +look at the sun; made to eat from a golden spoon; invested with the +sacred cord, etc, etc. When grown up, a certain number of years were +passed with a Guru, or tutor, who taught the boy his Veda; and to whom +he acted as body-servant (a study and office often cut short in the +case of Aryans who were not priests). Of the sacraments alone, such as +the observances to which we have just alluded, there are no less than +forty according to Gautama's laws (the name-rite, eating-rite, etc.). +The pious householder who had once set up his own fire, that is, got +married, must have spent most of his time, if he followed directions, +in attending to some religious ceremony. He had several little rites +to attend to even before he might say his prayers in the morning; and +since even to-day most of these personal regulations are dutifully +observed, one may assume that in the full power of Brahmanhood they +were very straitly enforced.[6] + +It is, therefore, important to know what these works, so closely in +touch with the general public, have to say in regard to religion. What +they inculcate will be the popular theology of completed Brahmanism. +For these books are intended to give instruction to all the Aryan +castes, and, though this instruction filtrates through the hands of +the priest, one may be sure that the understanding between king and +priest was such as to make the code the real norm of justice and +arbiter of religious opinions. For instance, when one reads that the +king is a prime divinity, and that, _quid pro quo_, the priest may be +banished, but never may be punished corporally by the king, because +the former is a still greater divinity, it may be taken for granted +that such was received opinion. When we come to take up the Hinduism +of the epic we shall point out that that work contains a religion more +popular even than that of the legal literature, for one knows that +this latter phase of religion was at first not taught at all, but grew +up in the face of opposition. But for the present, before the rise of +epic 'Hinduism,' and before taking up the heretical writings, it is a +great gain to be able to scan a side of religion that may be called +popular in so far as it evidently is the faith which not only was +taught to the masses, but which, as is universally assumed in the law, +the masses accept; whereas philosophers alone accept the _[=a]tm[=a]_ +religion of the Upanishads, and the Br[=a]hmanas are not intended for +the public at all, but only for initiated priests. + +What, then, is the religious belief and the moral position of the +Hindu law-books? In how far has philosophy affected public religion, +and in what way has a reconciliation been affected between the +contradictory beliefs in regard to the gods; in regard to the value of +works on the one hand, and of knowledge on the other; in regard to +hell as a means of punishment for sin on the one hand, and +reincarnation (_sams[=a]ra_) on the other; in regard to heaven as a +reward of good deeds on the one hand, and absorption into God on the +other; in regard to a personal creator on the one hand, and a First +Cause without personal attributes on the other? + +For the philosophical treatises are known and referred to in the early +codes; so that, although the completed systems post-dated the +S[=u]tras, the cosmical and theological speculations of the earlier +Upanishads were familiar to the authors of the legal systems. + +The first general impression produced by a perusal of the law-books is +that the popular religion has remained unaffected by philosophy. And +this is correct in so far as that it must be put first in describing +the codes, which, in the main, in keeping the ancient observances, +reflect the inherited faith. When, therefore, one says that +pantheism[7] succeeded polytheism in India, he must qualify the +assertion. The philosophers are pantheists, but what of the vulgar? Do +they give up polytheism; are they inclined to do so, or are they +taught to do so? No. For there is no formal abatement in the rigor of +the older creed. Whatever the wise man thought, and whatever in his +philosophy was the instruction which he imparted to his peers, when he +dealt with the world about him he taught his intellectual inferiors a +scarcely modified form of the creed of their fathers. How in his own +mind this wise man reconciled the two sets of opinion has been shown +above. The works of sacrifice, with all the inherited belief implied +by them, were for him preparatory studies. The elasticity of his +philosophy admitted the whole world of gods, as a temporary reality, +into his pantheistic scheme. It was, therefore, neither the hypocrisy +of the Roman augur, nor the fear of results that in his teaching held +him to the inheritance he had received. Gods, ghosts, demons, and +consequently sacrifices, rites, ordeals, and formulae were not +incongruous with his philosophical opinions. He himself believed in +these spiritual powers and in the usefulness of serving them. It is +true that he believed in their eventual doom, but so far as man was +concerned they were practically real. There was, therefore, not only +no reason why the sage should not inculcate the old rites, but there +was every reason why he should. Especially in the case of pious but +ignorant people, whose wisdom was not yet developed to a full +appreciation of divine relativity, was it incumbent on him to keep +them, the lower castes, to the one religion that they could +comprehend. + +It is thus that the apparent inconsistency in exoteric and esoteric +beliefs explains itself. For the two are not contradictory. They do +not exclude each other. Hindu pantheism includes polytheism with its +attendant patrolatry, demonology, and consequent ritualism.[8] + +With rare exceptions it was only the grosser religion that the vulgar +could understand; it was only this that they were taught and believed. + +Thus the old Vedic gods are revered and worshipped by name. The Sun, +Indra, and all the divinities embalmed in ritual, are placated and +'satiated' with offerings, just as they had been satiated from time +immemorial. But no hint is given that this is a form; or that the +Vedic gods are of less account than they had been. Moreover, it is not +in the inherited formulae of the ritual alone that this view is +upheld. To be sure, when philosophical speculation is introduced, the +Father-god comes to the fore; Brahm[=a][9] sits aloft, indulgently +advising his children, as he does in the intermediate stage of the +Br[=a]hmanas; and _[=a]tm[=a] (brahma)_ too is recognized to be the +real being of Brahm[=a], as in the Upanishads.[10] But none of this +touches the practice of the common law, where the ordinary man is +admonished to fear Yama's hell and Varuna's bonds, as he would have +been admonished before the philosopher grew wiser than the Vedic +seers. Only personified Right, Dharma, takes his seat with shadowy +Brahm[=a] among the other gods.[11] + +What is the speech which the judge on the bench is ordered to repeat +to the witnesses? Thus says the law-giver Manu: "When the witnesses +are collected together in the court, in the presence of the plaintiff +and defendant, the (Brahman) judge should call upon them to speak, +kindly addressing them in the following manner: 'Whatever you know has +been done in this affair ... declare it all. A witness who in +testifying speaks the truth reaches the worlds where all is plenty ... +such testimony is honored by Brahm[=a]. One who in testifying speaks +an untruth is, all unwilling, bound fast by the cords of Varuna,[12] +till an hundred births are passed.' ... (Then, speaking to one +witness): 'Spirit (soul) is the witness for the Spirit, and the Spirit +is likewise the refuge of the Spirit. Despise not, therefore, thine +own spirit (or soul), the highest witness of man. Verily, the wicked +think 'no one sees us,' but the gods are looking at them, and also the +person within (conscience). _Dyaus, Earth, the Waters_, (the person in +the) heart, _Moon, Sun, Fire, Yama, Wind, Night, the twin Twilights_, +and Dharma know the conduct of all corporeal beings.... Although, O +good man, thou regardest thyself, thinking, 'I am alone,' yet the holy +one (saint) who sees the evil and the good, stands ever in thy heart. +It is in truth god Yama, the son of Vivasvant, who resideth in thy +heart; if thou beest not at variance with him (thou needest) not (to) +go to the Ganges and to the (holy land of) the Kurus (to be +purified).'" + +Here there is no abatement in Vedic polytheism, although it is circled +round with a thin mist from later teachings. In the same way the +ordinary man is taught that at death his spirit (soul) will pass as a +manikin out of his body and go to Yama to be judged; while the feasts +to the Manes, of course, imply always the belief in the individual +activity of dead ancestors. Such expressions as 'The seven daughters +of +Varuna' (_sapta v[=a]ru[n.][=i]r im[=a]s,_ [=A]cv. _Grih. S_. 2. 3. 3) +show that even in detail the old views are still retained. There is no +advance, except in superstitions,[13] on the main features of the old +religion. So the same old fear of words is found, resulting in new +euphemisms. One must not say 'scull,' _kap[=a]la_, but call it +_bhag[=a]la_, 'lucky' (Gaut. 9. 21); a factor in the making of African +languages also, according to modern travellers. Images of the gods are +now over-recognized by the priest, for they must be revered like the +gods themselves (_ib_. 12; P[=a]r. _Grih. S_. 3. 14. 8. etc.). Among +the developed objects of the cult serpents now occupy a prominent +place. They are mentioned as worshipful in the Br[=a]hmanas. In the +S[=u]tra period offerings are made to snakes of earth, air, and +heaven; the serpents are 'satiated' along with gods, plants, demons, +etc. (C[=a][.n]kh. 4. 9. 3; 15. 4; [=A]cv. 2. 1. 9; 3. 4. 1; +P[=a]rask. 2. 14. 9) and blood is poured out to them ([=A]cv. 4. 8. +27.).[14] But other later divinities than those of the earliest Veda, +such as Wealth (Kubera), and Dharma, have crept into the ritual. With +the Vedic gods appears as a divinity in Kh[=a]d. 1. 5. 31 the love-god +K[=a]ma, of the Atharvan; while on the other hand Rudra the beast-lord +(Pacupati, Lord of Cattle), the 'kindly' Civa, appears as 'great god,' +whose names are Cankara, Prish[=a]taka, Bhava, Carva, Ugra, Ic[=a]na +(Lord); who has all names and greatness, while he yet is described in +the words of the older text as 'the god that desires to kill' ([=A]cv. +2. 2. 2; 4. 8. 9, 19,[15] 29, 32; _[=A]it. Br_. 3. 34). On the other +hand Vishnu is also adored, and that in connection with the [Greek: +logos], or V[=a]c (_ib_. 3. 3. 4). Quite in Upanishad manner--for it +is necessary to show that these were then really known--is the formula +'thou art a student of _pr[=a][n.]a_ (Breath,) and art given over to +Ka' (_ib_. 1. 20. 8.), or _'whom?'_ In [=A]cval[=a]yana no Upanishads +are given in the list of literature, which includes the 'Eulogies of +men,' Itih[=a]sas, Pur[=a]nas, and even the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata (3. 3. +1; 4. 4). But in 1. 13. 1, _Upanishad-rites_ (and that of a very +domestic nature) are recognized, which would corroborate the +explanation of Upanishad given above, as being at first a subsidiary +work, dealing with minor points.[16] Something of the sciolism of the +Upanishads seems to lie in the prayer that of the four paths on which +walk the gods the mortal may be led in that which bestows 'freedom +from death' (P[=a]r. 3. 1. 2); and many of the teachers famous in the +Upanishads are now revered by name like gods ([=A]cv. 3. 4. 4, etc.). + +On turning from these domestic S[=u]tras to the legal S[=u]tras it +becomes evident that the pantheistic doctrine of the Upanishads, and +in part the Upanishads themselves, were already familiar to the +law-makers, and that they influenced, in some degree, the doctrines of +the law, despite the retention of the older forms. Not only is +_sams[=a]ra_ the accepted doctrine, but the _[=a]tm[=a]_, as if in a +veritable Upanishad, is the object of religious devotion. Here, +however, this quest is permitted only to the ascetic, who presumably +has performed all ritualistic duties and passed through the stadia +that legally precede his own. + +Of all the legal S[=u]tra-writers Gautama is oldest, and perhaps is +pre-buddhistic. Turning to his work one notices first that the +M[=i]m[=a]msist is omitted in the list of learned men (28. 49);[17] +but since the Upanishads and Ved[=a]nta are expressly mentioned, it is +evident that the author of even the oldest S[=u]tra was acquainted +with whatever then corresponded to these works.[18] The opposed +teaching of hell versus _sams[=a]ra_ is found in Gautama. But there is +rather an interesting attempt to unite them. Ordinarily it is to hell +and heaven that reference is made, _e.g_., 'the one that knows the law +obtains the heavenly world' (28. 52); 'if one speak untruth to a +teacher, even in thought, even in respect to little things, he slays +seven men after and before him' (seven descendants and seven +ancestors, 23. 31). So in the case of witnesses: 'heaven (is the +fruit) for speaking the truth; otherwise hell' (13. 7); 'for stealing +(land) hell' (is the punishment, _ib_. 17). Now and then comes the +philosophical doctrine: 'one does not fall from the world of +Brahm[=a]' (9. 74); 'one enters into union and into the same world +with Brahm[=a]' (8. 25). + +But in 21. 4-6 there occurs the following statement: 'To be an outcast +is to be deprived of the works of the twice-born, and hereafter to be +deprived of happiness; this some (call) hell.' It is evident here that +the expression _asiddhis_ (deprivation of success or happiness) is +placed optionally beside _naraka_ (hell) as the view of one set of +theologians compared with that of another; 'lack of obtaining success, +_i.e_., reward' stands parallel to 'hell.' In the same chapter, where +Manu says that he who assaults a Brahman "obtains hell for one hundred +years" (M. xi. 207), Gautama (21. 20) says "for one hundred years, +lack of heaven" (_asvargyam_), which may mean hell or the deprivation +of the result of merit, _i.e_., one hundred years will be deducted +from his heavenly life. In this case not a new and better birth but +heaven is assumed to be the reward of good acts. Now if one turns to +11. 29-30 he finds both views combined. In the parallel passage in +[=A]pastamba only better or worse re-births are promised as a reward +for good or evil (2. 5. 11. 10-11); but here it is said: "The castes +and orders that remain by their duty, having died, having enjoyed the +fruits of their acts, with the remnant of their (merit) obtain +re-birth, having an excellent country, caste, and family; having long +life, learning, good conduct, wealth, happiness, and wisdom. They of +different sort are destroyed in various ways." Here, heavenly joys +(such as are implied by _ni[h.]creyasam_ in 26) are to be enjoyed +first, and a good birth afterwards, and by implication one probably +has to interpret the next sentence to mean 'they are sent to hell and +then re-born in various low births.' This, too, is Manu's rule +(below). At this time the sacred places which purify are in great +vogue, and in Gautama a list of them is given (19. 14), viz.: "all +mountains, all rivers, holy pools, places of pilgrimage (_i.e_., +river-fords, _tirth[=a]ni_), homes of saints, cow-pens, and altars." +Of these the _tirthas_ are particularly interesting, as they later +become of great importance, thousands of verses in the epic being +devoted to their enumeration and praise. + +Gautama says also that ascetics, according to some teachers, need not +be householders first (3. 1), and that the Brahman ascetic stays at +home during the rainy season, like the heretic monks (_ib_. 13). If +one examine the relative importance of the forms and spirit of +religion as taught in this, the oldest _dharma-s[=u]tra_,[19] he will +be impressed at first with the tremendous weight laid on the former as +compared with the latter. But, as was said apropos of the Brahmanic +literature, one errs who fails to appreciate the fact that these works +are intended not to give a summary of religious conduct, but to +inculcate ceremonial rules. Of the more importance, therefore, is the +occasional pause which is made to insist, beyond peradventure, on the +superiority of moral rules. A very good instance of this is found in +Gautama. He has a list of venial sins. Since lying is one of the most +heinous offences to a Hindu lawgiver, and the penances are severe, all +the treatises state formally that an untruth uttered in fun, or when +one is in danger, or an oath of the sort implied by Plato: [Greek: +_aphrodision orkon ou phasin einai_],--all these are venial, and so +are lies told to benefit a (holy) cow, or to aid a priest; or told +from religious motives of any sort without self-interest. This is +almost the only example of looseness in morals as taught in the law. +But the following case shows most plainly the importance of morality +as opposed to formal righteousness. After all the forty sacraments (to +which allusion was made above), have been recounted, there are given +'eight good qualities of the soul,' viz., mercy, forbearance, freedom +from envy, purity, calmness, correct behavior, freedom from greed and +from covetousness. Then follows: "He that has (performed) the forty +sacraments but has not the eight good qualities enters not into union +with Brahm[=a], nor into the heaven of Brahm[=a].[20] But he that has +(performed) only a part of the forty sacraments and has the eight good +qualities enters into union with Brahm[=a], and into the heaven of +Brahm[=a]." This is as near to heresy as pre-buddhistic Brahmanism +permitted itself to come. + +In the later legal S[=u]tra of the northern Vasistha[21] occurs a rule +which, while it distinctly explains what is meant by liberality, viz., +gifts to a priest, also recognizes the 'heavenly reward': "If gifts +are given to a man that does not know the Veda the divinities are not +satisfied" (3. 8). In the same work (6. 1) 'destruction' is the fate +of the sinner that lives without observance of good custom; yet is it +said in the same chapter (27): "If a twice-born man dies with the food +of a C[=u]dra (lowest caste) in his belly, he would become a village +pig, or he is born again in that (C[=u]dra's) family"; and, in respect +to sons begotten when he has in him such food: "Of whom the food, of +him are these sons; and he himself would not mount to heaven ... he +does not find the upward path" (29, 28). In _ib_. 8. 17 the Brahman +that observes all the rules 'does not fall from _brahmaloka,' i.e_., +the locality of Brahm[=a]. Further, in 10. 4: "Let (an ascetic) do +away with all (sacrificial) works; but let him not do away with one +thing, the Veda; for from doing away with the Veda (one becomes) a +C[=u]dra." But, in the same chapter: "Let (the ascetic) live at the +end of a village, in a temple ('god's house'), in a deserted house, or +at the root of a tree; there in his mind studying the knowledge (of +the _[=a]tm[=a]_) ... so they cite (verses): 'Sure is the freedom from +re-birth in the case of one that lives in the wood with passions +subdued ... and meditates on the supreme spirit' ... Let him not be +confined to any custom ... and in regard to this (freedom from worldly +pursuits) they cite these verses: 'There is no salvation (literally +'release') for a philologist (_na cabdac[=a]str[=a]bhiratasya +mokshas_), nor for one that delights in catching (men) in the world, +nor for one addicted to food and dress, nor for one pleased with a +fine house. By means of prodigies, omens, astrology, palmistry, +teaching, and talking let him not seek alms ... he best knows +salvation who (cares for naught)' ... (such are the verses). Let him +neither harm nor do good to anything.... Avoidance of disagreeable +conduct, jealousy, presumption, selfishness, lack of belief, lack of +uprightness, self-praise, blame of others, harm, greed, distraction, +wrath, and envy, is a rule that applies to all the stadia of life. The +Brahman that is pure, and wears the girdle, and carries the gourd in +his hand, and avoids the food of low castes fails not of obtaining the +world of Brahm[=a]" (_ib_. 10. 18 ff.). Yama, the Manes, and evil +spirits (_asuras_) are referred to in the following chapter (20, 25); +and hell in the same chapter is declared to be the portion of such +ascetics as will not eat meat when requested to do so at a feast to +the Manes or gods (11. 34),--rather an interesting verse, for in +Manu's code the corresponding threat is that, instead of going to hell +'for as long, _i.e_., as many years, as the beast has hairs,' as here, +one shall experience 'twenty-one rebirths,' _i.e_., the hell-doctrine +in terms of _sams[=a]ra_; while the same image occurs in Manu in the +form 'he that slaughters beasts unlawfully obtains as many rebirths as +there are hairs on the beast' (v. 35. 38). The passive attitude +sometimes ascribed to the Manes is denied; they rejoice over a +virtuous descendant (11. 41); a bad one deprives them of the heaven +they stand in (16. 36). The authorities on morals are here, as +elsewhere, Manu and other seers, the Vedas, and the Father-god, who +with Yama gives directions to man in regard to lawful food, etc. (14. +30). The moral side of the code, apart from ritual impurities, +is given, as usual, by a list of good and bad qualities (above), +while formal laws in regard to theft, murder (especially of a +priest), adultery and drunkenness (20. 44; i. 20), with violation +of caste-regulations by intercourse with outcasts, are 'great +crimes.' Though older than [=A]pastamba, who mentions the +P[=u]rva-m[=i]m[=a]ms[=a], Vasistha, too, knows the Ved[=a]nta (3. +17), and the M[=i]m[=a]ms[=a] (_vikalpin--tarkin_, 3. 20, M. XII. +111). + +From the S[=u]tras of B[=a]udh[=a]yana's probably southern school +something of additional interest is to be gained. Here 'darkness' +takes the place of hell (2. 3. 5. 9), which, however, by a citation is +explained (in 2. 2. 3. 34) as 'Yama's hall.' A verse is cited to show +that the greatest sin is lack of faith (1. 5. 10. 6) and not going to +heaven is the reward of folly (_ib_. 7); while the reward of virtue is +to live in heaven for long (4. 8. 7). The same freedom in regard to +ascetics as occurs in other S[=u]tra works is to be found in this +author, not in the more suspicious final chapters, but in that part of +the work which is accepted as oldest,[22] and agrees with the data +found in the Br[=a]hmanas, where the pre-buddhistic monk is called +Bhikshu, 'beggar/or Sanny[=a]sin 'he that renounces,' just as these +terms are employed in the heretical writings. As among the Jains (and +Buddhists), the Brahmanic ascetic carries a few simple utensils, and +wanders about from house to house and village to village, begging +food. Some authorities (among the Brahmans) say that one may become an +ascetic as soon as he has completed his study, though ordinarily this +may be done only after passing through the householder stadium. On +becoming an ascetic the beggar takes the vow not to injure any living +thing (B[=a]udh. II.10.17.2. 11, 29), exactly as the Jain ascetic +takes the vow of non-injury. More than this, as will be seen below, +the details of the Brahman ascetic's vows are almost identical with +those of the Jain ascetic. He vows not to injure living beings, not to +lie, not to steal, to be continent, to be liberal; with the five minor +vows, not to get angry, to obey the Teacher, not to be rash, to be +cleanly and pure in eating.[23] To this ascetic order in the Brahman +priesthood may be traced the origin of the heretical monks. Even in +the Br[=a]hmanas occur the termini technici of the Buddhist +priesthood, notably the Cramana or ascetic monk, and the word +_buddha_, 'awakened' (_pratibudh_). The 'four orders' are those +enumerated as the householder, student, ascetic, and forest-hermit. If +one live in all four orders according to rule, and be serene, he will +come to peace, that is, salvation ([=A]pastamba, 2. 9. 21. I, 2). + +According to this later legal writer, who belongs to Southern +India,[24] it is only after one has passed through all the preceding +stadia that he may give up works (sacrifice, etc.) and devote himself +to seeking the [=a]tm[=a],'wandering about, without caring for earth +or heaven, renouncing truth and falsehood, pleasure and pain' (_ib_. +10, 13). There follows this passage one significant of the opposition +between purely Upanishad-ideas and those of the law-givers: +'Acquirement of peace (salvation) depends, it is said, on knowledge; +this is opposed by the codes. If on knowledge (depended) acquirement +of peace, even here (in this world) one would escape grief' (_ib._ +14-16). Further, in describing the forest-hermit's austerities (_ib._ +23. 4 ff.), verses from a Pur[=a]na are cited which are virtually +Upanishadic: 'The eight and eighty thousand seers who desired +offspring (went) south on Aryaman's path, and obtained (as their +reward) graves; (but) the eight and eighty thousand who did not desire +offspring (went) north on Aryaman's path and make for themselves +immortality,' that is to say 'abandon desire for offspring; and of the +two paths (which, as the commentator observes, are mentioned in the +Ch[=a]ndogya Upanishad), that which gives immortality instead of death +(graves) will be yours.' It is admitted that such ascetics have +miraculous powers; but the law-maker emphatically protests in the +following S[=u]tra against the supposition that a rule which stands +opposed to the received rites (marriage, sacrifice, etc.) is of any +power, and asserts that for the future life an endless reward +('fruit'), called in revelation 'heavenly,' is appointed (_ib._ 8-11). +The next chapter, however, limits, as it were, this dogma, for it is +stated that immortality is the re-birth of one's self in the body of +one's son, and a verse is cited: 'Thou procreatest progeny, and that's +thy immortality, O mortal,' with other verses, which teach that sons +that attend to the Vedic rites magnify the fame and heaven of their +ancestors, who 'live in heaven until the destruction of creation' +_([=a] bh[=u]tasamptav[=a]t_, 2. 9. 24. 5), But 'according to the +Bhavishyat-Pur[=a]na' after this destruction of creation 'they exist +again in heaven as the cause of seed' (_ib._) 6. And then follows a +quotation from the Father-god: 'We live with those people who do these +(following) things: (attend to) the three Vedas, live as students, +create children, sacrifice to the Manes, do penance, make sacrifice to +the gods, practice liberality; he that extols anything else becomes +air (or dust) and perishes' (_ib._) 8; and further: 'only they that +commit sin perish' (not their ancestors). + +The animus of this whole passage is apparent. The law-maker has to +contend with them that would reject the necessity of following in +order the traditional stadia of a priest's life; that imagine that by +becoming ascetics without first having passed through the preliminary +stadia they can by knowledge alone attain the bliss that is obtained +by union with _brahma_ (or Brahm[=a]). In other words the jurist has +to contend with a trait eminently anti-Brahmanistic, even Buddhistic. +He denies this value of knowledge, and therewith shows that what he +wishes to have inculcated is a belief in the temporary personal +existence of the Manes; in heaven till the end of the world-order; and +the annihilation of the wicked; while he has a confused or mixed +opinion in regard to one's own personal immortality, believing on the +one hand that there is a future existence in heaven with the gods, and +on the other (rather a materialistic view) that immortality is nothing +but continued existence in the person of one's descendants, who are +virtually one's self in another body: _dehatvam ev[=a]'nyat,_ "only +the body is different" (_ib_) 2. As to cosmogony it is stated to be +(not the emanation of an _[=a]tm[=a]_) but the "emission (creation) of +the Father-god and of the seers" (the latter being visible as stars, +_ib_. 13, 14). In this there is plainly a received popular opinion, +which reflects the Vedic and Brahmanic stage, and is opposed to the +philosophical views of the Upanishads, in other words of the first +Vedantic philosophy; while it is mixed up with the late doctrine of +the cataclysms, which ruin each succeeding^ creation. The equal +annihilation of the wicked (_dhvamsanti_) and unorthodox (_dhvamsate_) +is to be noticed. They are here subject neither to hell nor to +rebirth, but they "become dust and perish" (_ib_. 8. 9). + +Throughout the whole legal literature one will find this same +antithesis of views in regard to the fate of good and bad, although it +is seldom that annihilation is predicated of the latter. Usually hell +or rebirth are their fate--two views, which no one can really +reconcile. They are put side by side; exactly as in priestly +discussion in India and Europe it still remains an unsettled question +as to when the soul becomes immortal.[25] Occidental experience +teaches how easy it is for such views to stand together unattacked, +although they are the object of speculation. This passage is perhaps, +historically, the most satisfactory (as it is philosophically +unsatisfactory) that can be cited in answer to the questions that were +posed above. But from other parts of legal literature a few more +statements may be culled, to illustrate still further the lack of +uniformity not only in popular belief, but in the teaching provided +for the public. First from the same work of [=A]pastamba, in 2. 11. +29. 9-10 it is said that if a witness in court perjure himself he +shall be punished by the king, "and further, in passing to the next +world, hell" (is his portion); whereas "(the reward) for truth is +heaven, and praise on the part of all creatures." Now, let one compare +first _ib_. 2. 5. 11. 10-11: "Men of low castes are reborn in higher +castes in successive births, and men of high castes in low castes, if +they respectively perform and neglect their duties." And then this +Vedantic passage of the same author (1. 8. 22 ff.): "Let one (as +penance for sin) devote himself to the Yoga (mental discipline) which +has to do with the highest _[=a]tm[=a]_ ... Nothing is known higher +than the acquisition of _[=a]tm[=a]_. We shall (now) cite some +_[=a]tm[=a]_-acquisition-verses, viz.: All living creatures (are) the +citadel of him that rests in secret, the indestructible one, the +immaculate one. Immortal they that devote themselves to the moveless +one who has a movable dwelling ... the great one whose body is light, +universal, free ... the eternal (part) in all creatures, the wise, +immortal, unchanging one, limbless, voiceless, formless, touchless, +purest, the highest goal. He that everywhere devotes himself to Him +(_[=a]tm[=a]_ as Lord), and always lives accordingly; that by virtue +of Yoga recognizes Him, the subtile one, shall rejoice in the top of +heaven ... He, _[=a]tm[=a],_ comprehends all, embraces all, more +subtile than a lotus-thread and huger than the earth ... From him are +created all bodies; he is the root, he the Everlasting, the Eternal +One." + +This discipline it will be observed is enjoined as penance and to get +rid of faults, that is, to subdue the passions. As the same chapter +contains a list of the faults which are to be overcome before one +"arrives at peace" (salvation) they may be cited here: "Anger, joy, +wrath, greed, distraction, injury, threats, lying, over-eating, +calumny, envy, sexual desire, and hate, lack of studying _[=a]tm[=a],_ +lack of Yoga--the destruction of these (faults) is based on Yoga" +(mental concentration). On the other hand: "He that devotes himself, +in accordance with the law, to avoiding anger, joy, wrath, greed, +distraction, injury, threats, lies, over-eating, calumny and envy; and +practices liberality, renunciation, uprightness, kindness, subduing +(of the passions), self-control; and is at peace with all creatures; +and practices Yoga; and acts in an [=A]ryan (noble) way; and does not +hurt anything; and has contentment--qualities which, it is agreed, +appertain to all the (four) stadia--he becomes _s[=a]rvag[=a]min" +(ib._ 23.6), that is 'one belonging to the all-pervading' (All-soul). +There appears to be a contradiction between the former passage, where +Yoga is enjoined on ascetics alone; and this, where Yoga is part of +the discipline of all four stadia. But what was in the author's mind +was probably that all these vices and moral virtues are enumerated as +such for all; and he slips in mental concentration as a virtue for the +ascetic, meaning to include all the virtues he knows. + +A few further illustrations from that special code which has won for +itself a preeminent name, 'the law-book of Manu,'[26] will give in +epitome the popular religion as taught to the masses; withal even +better than this is taught in the S[=u]tras. For Father Manu's +law-book, as the Hindus call it, is a popular C[=a]stra or metrical[27] +composite of law and religion, which reflects the opinion of +Brahmanism in its geographical stronghold, whereas the S[=u]tras +emanate from various localities, north and south. To Manu there is but +one Holy Land, the Kurus' plain and the region round-about it (near +Delhi). + +The work takes us forward in time beyond even the latest S[=u]tras, +but the content is such as to show that formal Brahmanism in this +latest stage still keeps to its old norm and to Brahmanic models. + +It deserves therefore to be examined with care from several points of +view if one would escape from the belief of the philosopher to the +more general teaching. In this popular religion all morality is +conditioned by the castes,[28] which is true also to a certain degree +of the earlier Sutras, but the evil fruit of this plant is not there +quite so ripe as it is in the later code. The enormity of all crimes +depends on who commits them, and against whom they are committed. The +three upper castes alone have religious privileges. The lowest caste, +outcasts, women, and diseased persons are not allowed to hear the holy +texts or take part in ceremonies.[29] As to the rites, they are the +inherited ones, sacrifices to gods, offerings to Manes and spirits, +and all the ceremonies of house and individual, as explained above; +with especial and very minute rules of observance for each of the four +stadia of a priest's life.[30] There is no hint in any of this of the +importance of the knowledge of the _[=a]tm[=a]._ But in their proper +place the rules of morality and the higher philosophical views are +taught. The doctrine of re-birth is formally stated, and the +attainment of the world of Brahm[=a] _(brahma)_ by union of ceremonies +and knowledge is inculcated. The ascetic should seek, by meditation, +to go to Brahm[=a] (or _brahma_) for when he is utterly indifferent, +then, both here and after death, he gains everlasting happiness. +Therefore he should study the Vedas, but especially the teachings in +regard to the Supreme Spirit, and the Upanishads; studying the +Ved[=a]nta is a regular part of his final discipline (VI, 74-94). In +another part of the work the distinction made in the Upanishads is +upheld, that religious acts are of two sorts, one designed to procure +bliss, and cause a good man to reach equality with the gods; the other +performed without selfish motive; by which latter "even the five +elements are overcome," that is, the absorption into _brahma_ is +effected. For "among all virtuous acts the knowledge of the spirit, +_[=a]tm[=a],_ is highest; through this is obtained even immortality. +One that sees spirit in all things and all things in spirit sacrifices +to spirit and enters Brahm[=a] (or _brahma_)" "The spirit (or self) is +all divinities; the All is based on spirit." And in Upanishadic vein +the Person is then proclaimed as lord of gods, whom "some call fire, +some call Manu, some call Indra, some call air, and some call eternal +_brahma._" But though this be the view of the closing verses, yet in +the beginning of the work is this Person represented as being produced +from a First Cause. It would be out of place here to analyse the +conflicting philosophical views of the Manu code. Even his +commentators are uncertain whether he belonged to the pantheistic +Ved[=a]nta or dualistic S[=a]nkhya school. For them that believe in no +Manu the solution is simpler. Although Manu is usually called a +Puranic Sankhyan, yet are both schools represented, and that without +regard to incongruous teaching. Manu is no more Sankhyan than +Vedantic. Indeed in the main part of the work the teaching is clearly +more Vedantic. But it suffices here to point out that the +_[=a]tm[=a]_-philosophy and religion is not ignored; it is taught as +essential. Nevertheless, it is not taught in such a way as to indicate +that it is requisite for the vulgar. On the contrary, it is only when +one becomes an ascetic that he is told to devote himself to the +pursuit of the knowledge of _[=a]tm[=a]_. In one passage there is +evidence that two replies were given to this fundamental question in +regard to works and knowledge. For after enumerating a list of good +acts, among which are knowledge and Vedic ceremonies, it is asked +which among them most tends to deliverance. The answer is vital. Or it +should be, but it is given in an ambiguous form (xii. 85-6): "Amid all +these acts the knowledge of self, _[=a]tm[=a],_ is the highest, for it +produces immortality. Amid all these acts the one most productive of +happiness, both after death and in this life, is the Vedic ceremony." + +Knowledge gives real immortality; rites give temporary bliss. The +Upanishads teach that the latter is lower than the former, but each +answers the question. There were two answers, and Manu gives both. +That is the secret of many discrepancies in Hindu rules. The law-giver +cannot admit absolutely and once for all that the Vedic ceremony is of +no abiding use, as it can be of no use to one that accepts the higher +teaching. He keeps it as a training and allows only the ascetic to be +a philosopher indeed. But at the same time he gives as a sort of +peroration to his treatise some 'elegant extracts' from philosophical +works, which he believes theoretically, although practically he will +not allow them to influence his ritualism. He is a true Brahman +priest. + +It is this that is always so annoying in Brahmanic philosophy. For the +slavery of tradition is everywhere. Not only does the ritualist, while +admitting the force of the philosopher's reasons, remain by Vedic +tradition, and in consequence refuse to supplant 'revelation' with the +higher wisdom and better religion, which he sees while he will not +follow it; but even the philosopher must needs be 'orthodox,' and, +since the scriptures themselves are self-contradictory, he is obliged +to use his energies not in discovering truth, but in reconciling his +ancestors' dogmas, in order to the creation of a philosophical system +which shall agree with everything that has been said in the Vedas and +Upanishads. When one sees what subtlety and logical acumen these +philosophers possessed, he is moved to wonder what might have been the +outcome had their minds been as free as those of more liberal Hellas. +But unfortunately they were bound to argue within limits, and were as +much handicapped in the race of thought as were they that had to +conform to the teachings of Rome. For though India had no church, it +had an inquisitorial priestly caste, and the unbeliever was an +outcast. What is said of custom is true of faith: "Let one walk in the +path of good men, the path in which his father walked, in which his +grandfathers walked; walking in that path one does no wrong" (Manu iv. +178). Real philosophy, unhampered by tradition, is found only among +the heretics and in the sects of a later time. + +The gods of old are accepted by the orthodox as a matter of course, +although theoretically they are born of the All-god, who is without +the need of ceremonial rites. To the other castes the active and most +terrible deity is represented as being the priest himself. He not only +symbolizes the fire-god, to whom is offered the sacrifice, but he +actually is the divinity in person. Hence there is no greater merit +than in giving gifts to priests. As to eschatology, opinions are not +contrasted any more. They are put side by side. In morality truth, +purity, and harmlessness are chiefly inculcated. But the last +(ascribed by some scholars to Buddhistic influence) is not permitted +to interfere with animal sacrifices. + +Some of the rules for the life of a householder will show in brief the +moral excellence and theoretical uncertainty of Manu's law-code. The +following extracts are from the fourth, the Ten Commandments from the +sixth, and the description of the hells (twenty-two in all)[31] from +the fourth and twelfth books of Manu's code. These rules may be +accepted as a true reflexion of what was taught to the people by +stringent Brahmanism as yet holding aloof from Hinduism. + +A householder must live without giving any pain (to living creatures). +He must perform daily the ceremonies ordained in the Veda. In this way +he obtains heaven. Let him never neglect the offerings to seers, gods, +spirits (sprites), men, and Manes. Some offer sacrifice only in their +organs of sense (not in external offerings); some by knowledge alone. +Let him not explain law and rites to the C[=u]dra (slave) caste; if he +does so, he sinks into the hell Boundless. Let him not take presents +from an avaricious king who disobeys the law-codes; if he does so, he +goes to twenty-one hells (called Darkness, Dense-darkness, Frightful, +Hell, Thread of Death, Great Hell, Burning, Place of Spikes, +Frying-pan, River of Hell, etc., etc., etc.). Let him never despise a +warrior, a snake, or a priest. Let him never despise himself. Let him +say what is true and what is agreeable, but not disagreeable truth or +agreeable false-hood. Let him not dispute with anybody, but let him +say 'very well.' Let him not insult anybody. Remembering his former +births, and studying the Veda again and again, he gets endless +happiness. Let him avoid unbelief and censure of the Vedas, reviling +of gods, hatred, pride, anger, and cruelty. He that even threatens a +priest will go to the hell Darkness for one hundred years; if he +strikes him he will be born in twenty-one sinful rebirths (according +to another passage in the eleventh book he goes to hell for a thousand +years for the latter offence). Priests rule the world of gods. But +deceitful, hypocritical priests go to hell. Let the householder give +gifts, and he will be rewarded. One that gives a garment gets a place +in the moon; a giver of grain gets eternal happiness; a giver of the +Veda gets union with Brahm[=a] (_brahma_; these gifts, of course, are +all to priests). He that gives respectfully and he that receives +respectfully go to heaven; otherwise both go to hell. Let him, without +giving pain to any creature, slowly pile up virtue, as does an ant its +house, that he may have a companion in the next world. For after death +neither father, nor mother, nor son, nor wife, nor relations are his +companions; his virtue alone remains with him. The relations leave the +dead body, but its virtue follows the spirit: with his virtue as his +companion he will traverse the darkness that is hard to cross; and +virtue will lead him to the other world with a luminous form and +ethereal body. A priest that makes low connections is reborn as a +slave. The Father-god permits a priest to accept alms even from a bad +man. For fifteen years the Manes refuse to accept food from one that +despises a free gift. A priest that sins should be punished (that is, +mulcted, a priest may not be punished corporally), more than an +ordinary man, for the greater the wisdom the greater the offence. They +that commit the Five Great Sins live many years in hells, and +afterwards obtain vile births; the slayer of a priest becomes in turn +a dog, a pig, an ass, a camel, a cow, a goat, a sheep, etc, etc. A +priest that drinks intoxicating liquor becomes various insects, one +after another. A priest that steals becomes a spider, snake, etc, etc. +By repeating sinful acts men are reborn in painful and base births, +and are hurled about in hells; where are sword-leaved trees, etc, and +where they are eaten, burned, spitted, and boiled; and they receive +births in despicable wombs; rebirth to age, sorrow, and unquenchable +death. But to secure supreme bliss a priest must study the Veda, +practice austerity, seek knowledge, subdue the senses, abstain from +injury, and serve his Teacher. Which of these gives highest bliss? The +knowledge of the spirit is the highest and foremost, for it gives +immortality. The performance of Vedic ceremonies is the most +productive of happiness here and hereafter. The Ten Commandments for +the twice-born are: Contentment, patience, self-control, not to steal, +purity, control of passions, devotion (or wisdom), knowledge, +truthfulness, and freedom from anger. These are concisely summarized +again in the following: 'Manu declared the condensed rule of duty for +(all) the four castes to be: not to injure a living thing; to speak +the truth; not to steal; to be pure; to control the passions' (VI. 92; +X. 63). The 'non-injury' rule does not apply, of course, to sacrifice +(_ib_. III. 268). In the epic the commandments are given sometimes as +ten, sometimes as eight. + +In order to give a completed exposition of Brahmanism we have passed +beyond the period of the great heresies, to which we must soon revert. +But, before leaving the present division of the subject, we select +from the mass of Brahmanic domestic rites, the details of which offer +in general little that is worth noting, two or three ceremonies which +possess a more human interest, the marriage rite, the funeral rite, +and those strange trials, known among so many other peoples, the +ordeals. We sketch these briefly, wishing merely to illustrate the +religious side of each ceremony, as it appears in one or more of its +features. + + +THE MARRIAGE RITE. + +Traces of exogamy may be suspected in the bridegroom's driving off +with his bride, but no such custom, of course, is recognized in the +law. On the contrary, the groom is supposed to belong to the same +village, and special rites are enjoined 'if he be from another +village.' But again, in the early rule there is no trace of that taint +of family which the totem-scholars of to-day cite so loosely from +Hindu law. The girl is not precluded because she belongs to the same +family within certain degrees. The only restriction in the +House-rituals is that she shall have had "on the mother's and father's +side" wise, pious, and honorable ancestors for ten generations +([=A]cvl. I. 5). Then comes the legal restriction, which some scholars +call 'primitive,' that the wife must not be too nearly related. The +girl has her own ordeal (not generally mentioned among ordeals!): The +wooer that thus selects his bride (this he does if one has not been +found already either by his parents or by his own inclination) makes +eight balls of earth and calls on the girl to choose one ('may she get +that to which she is born'). If she select a ball made from the earth +of a field that bears two crops, she (or her child) will be rich in +grain; if from the cow-stall, rich in cattle; if from the place of +sacrifice, godly; if from a pool that does not dry, gifted; if from +the gambler's court, devoted to gambling; if from cross-roads, +unfaithful; if from a barren field, poor in grain; if from the +burying-ground, destructful of her husband. There are several forms of +making a choice, but we confine ourselves to the marriage.[32] In +village-life the bridegroom is escorted to the girl's house by young +women who tease him. The bridegroom presents presents to the bride, +and receives a cow. The bridegroom takes the bride's hand, saying 'I +take thy hand for weal' (Rig Veda, X. 85. 36), and leads her to a +certain stone, on which she steps first with the right foot (toe). +Then three times they circumambulate the fire, keeping it to the +right, an old Aryan custom for many rites, as in the _deisel_ of the +Kelts; the bride herself offering grain in the fire, and the groom +repeating more Vedic verses. They then take together the seven solemn +steps (with verses),[33] and so they are married. The groom, if of +another village, now drives away with the bride, and has ready Vedic +verses for every stage of the journey. After sun-down the groom points +out the north star, and admonishes the bride to be no less constant +and faithful. Three or twelve days they remain chaste, some say one +night; others say, only if he be from another village. The new husband +must now see to the house-fire, which he keeps ever burning, the sign +of his being a householder. + + +THE FUNERAL CEREMONY. + +Roth has an article in the Journal of the German Oriental Society +(VIII. 467) which is at once a description of one of the funeral hymns +oL the Rig Veda (X. 18) with the later ritual, and a criticism of the +bearing of the latter on the former.[34] He shows here that the +ritual, so far from having induced the hymn, totally changes it. The +hymn was written for a burial ceremony. The later ritual knows only +cremation. The ritual, therefore, forces the hymn into its service, +and makes it a cremation-hymn. This is a very good (though very +extreme) example of the difference in age between the early hymns of +the Rig Veda and the more modern ritual. Mueller, _ib_. IX. p. I +(_sic_), has given a thorough account of the later ritual and +ritualistic paraphernalia. We confine ourselves here to the older +ceremony. + +The scene of the Vedic hymn is as follows: The friends and relatives +stand about the corpse of a married man. By the side of the corpse +sits the widow. The hymn begins: "Depart, O Death, upon some other +pathway, upon thy path, which differs from the path of gods ... harm +not our children, nor our heroes.... These living ones are separated +from the dead; successful today was our call to the gods. (This man is +dead, but) _we_ go back to dancing and to laughter, extending further +our still lengthened lives." Then the priest puts a stone between the +dead and living: "I set up a wall for the living, may no one of these +come to this goal; may they live an hundred full harvests, and hide +death with this stone...." + +The matrons assembled are now bid to advance without tears, and make +their offerings to the fire, while the widow is separated from the +corpse of her husband and told to enter again into the world of the +living. The priest removes the dead warrior's bow from his hand: "Let +the women, not widows, advance with the ointment and holy butter; and +without tears, happy, adorned, let them, to begin with, mount to the +altar (verse 7, p. 274, below). Raise thyself, woman, to the world of +the living; his breath is gone by whom thou liest; come hither; of the +taker of thy hand (in marriage), of thy wooer thou art become the +wife[35] (verse 8). I take the bow from the hand of the dead for our +(own) lordship, glory, and strength." Then he addresses the dead: +"Thou art there, and we are here; we will slay every foe and every +attacker (with the power got from thee). Go thou now to Mother Earth, +who is wide opened, favorable, a wool-soft maiden to the good man; may +she guard thee from the lap of destruction. Open, O earth, be not +oppressive to him; let him enter easily; may he fasten close to thee. +Cover him like a mother, who wraps her child in her garment. Roomy and +firm be the earth, supported by a thousand pillars; from this time on +thou (man) hast thy home and happiness yonder; may a sure place remain +to him forever. I make firm the earth about thee; may I not be harmed +in laying the clod here; may the fathers hold this pillar for thee, +and Yama make thee a home yonder." + +In the Atharva Veda mention is made of a coffin, but none is noticed +here. + +Hillebrandt (_loc. cit_. xl. 711) has made it probable that the eighth +verse belongs to a still older ritual, according to which this verse +is one for human sacrifice, which is here ignored, though the text is +kept.[36] 'Just so the later ritual keeps all this text, but twists it +into a crematory rite. For in the later period only young children are +buried. Of burial there was nothing for adults but the collection of +bones and ashes. At this time too the ritual consists of three parts, +cremation, collection of ashes, expiation. How are these to be +reconciled with this hymn? Very simply. The rite is described and +verses from the hymn are injected into it without the slightest +logical connection. That is the essence of all the Brahmanic +ritualism. The later rite is as follows: Three altars are erected, +northwest, southwest, and southeast of a mound of earth. In the fourth +corner is the corpse; at whose feet, the widow. The brother of the +dead man, or an old servant, takes the widow's hand and causes her to +rise while the priest says "Raise thyself, woman, to the world of the +living." Then follows the removal of the bow; or the breaking of it, +in the case of a slave. The body is now burned, while the priest says +"These living ones are separated from the dead"; and the mourners +depart without looking around, and must at once perform their +ablutions of lustration. After a time the collection of bones is made +with the verse "Go thou now to Mother Earth" and "Open, O earth." Dust +is flung on the bones with the words "Roomy and firm be the earth"; +and the skull is laid on top with the verse "I make firm the earth +about thee." In other words the original hymn is fitted to the ritual +only by displacement of verses from their proper order and by a forced +application of the words. After all this comes the ceremony of +expiation with the use of the verse "I set up a wall" without +application of any sort. Further ceremonies, with further senseless +use of other verses, follow in course of time. These are all explained +minutely in the essay of Roth, whose clear demonstration of the +modernness of the ritual, as compared with the antiquity of the hymn +should be read complete. + +The seventh verse (above) has a special literature of its own, since +the words "let them, to begin with, mount the altar," have been +changed by the advocates of _suttee_, widow-burning, to mean 'to the +place of fire'; which change, however, is quite recent. The burning of +widows begins rather late in India, and probably was confined at first +to the pet wife of royal persons. It was then claimed as an honor by +the first wife, and eventually without real authority, and in fact +against early law, became the rule and sign of a devoted wife. The +practice was abolished by the English in 1829; but, considering the +widow's present horrible existence, it is questionable whether it +would not be a mercy to her and to her family to restore the right of +dying and the hope of heaven, in the place of the living death and +actual hell on earth in which she is entombed to-day. + + +ORDEALS.[37] + +Fire and water are the means employed in India to test guilt in the +earlier period. Then comes the oath with judgment indicated by +subsequent misfortune. All other forms of ordeals are first recognized +in late law-books. We speak first of the ordeals that have been +thought to be primitive Aryan. The Fire-ordeal: (1) Seven fig-leaves +are tied seven times upon the hands after rice has been rubbed upon +the palms; and the judge then lays a red-hot ball upon them; the +accused, or the judge himself, invoking the god (Fire) to indicate the +innocence or the guilt of the accused. The latter then walks a certain +distance, 'slowly through seven circles, each circle sixteen fingers +broad, and the space between the circles being of the same extent,' +according to some jurists; but other dimensions, and eight or nine +circles are given by other authorities. If the accused drop the ball +he must repeat the test. The burning of the hands indicates guilt. The +Teutonic laws give a different measurement, and state that the hand is +to be sealed for three days (manus sub sigillo triduum tegatur) before +inspection. This sealing for three days is paralleled by modern Indic +practice, but not by ancient law. In Greece there is the simple +[Greek: _mudrous airein cheroin_] (Ant. 264) to be compared. The +German sealing of the hand is not reported till the ninth century.[38] + +(2) Walking on Fire: There is no ordeal in India to correspond to the +Teutonic walking over six, nine, or twelve hot ploughshares. To lick a +hot ploughshare, to sit on or handle hot iron, and to take a short +walk over coals is _late_ Indic. The German practice also according to +Schlagintweit "war erst in spaeterer Zeit aufgekommen."[39] + +(3) Walking through Fire: This is a Teutonic ordeal, and (like the +conflict-ordeal) an Indic custom not formally legalized. The accused +walks directly into the fire. So [Greek: _pur dierpein] (loc. cit_.). + +Water-ordeals: (1) May better be reckoned to fire-ordeals. The +innocent plunges his hand into boiling water and fetches out a stone +(Anglo-Saxon law) or a coin (Indic law) without injury to his hand. +Sometimes (in both practices) the plunge alone is demanded. The depth +to which the hand must be inserted is defined by Hindu jurists. + +(2) The Floating-ordeal. The victim is cast into water. If he floats +he is guilty; if he drowns he is innocent. According to some Indic +authorities an arrow is shot off at the moment the accused is dropped +into the water, and a 'swift runner' goes after and fetches it back. +"If at his return he find the body of the accused still under water, +the latter shall be declared to be innocent."[40] According to Kaegi +this ordeal would appear to be unknown in Europe before the ninth +century. In both countries Water (in India, Varuna) is invoked not to +keep the body of a guilty man but to reject it (make it float). + +Food-ordeal: Some Hindu law-books prescribe that in the case of +suspected theft the accused shall eat consecrated rice. If the gums be +not hurt, no blood appear on spitting, and the man do not tremble, he +will be innocent. This is also a Teutonic test, but it is to be +observed that the older laws in India do not mention it. + +On the basis of these examples (not chosen in historical sequence) +Kaegi has concluded, while admitting that ordeals with a general +similarity to these have arisen quite apart from Aryan influence, that +there is here a bit of primitive Aryan law; and that even the minutiae +of the various trials described above are _un_-Aryan. This we do +not believe. But before stating our objections we must mention another +ordeal. + +The Oath: While fire and water are the usual means of testing crime in +India, a simple oath is also permitted, which may involve either the +accused alone or his whole family. If misfortune, within a certain +time (at once, in seven days, in a fortnight, or even half a year) +happen to the one that has sworn, he will be guilty. This oath-test is +also employed in the case of witnesses at court, perjury being +indicated by the subsequent misfortune (Manu, viii. 108).[41] + +Our objections to seeing primitive Aryan law in the minutiae of +ordeals is based on the gradual evolution of these ordeals and of +their minutiae in India itself. The earlier law of the S[=u]tras +barely mentions ordeals; the first 'tradition law' of Manu has only +fire, water, and the oath. All others, and all special descriptions +and restrictions, are mentioned in later books alone. Moreover, the +earliest (pre-legal) notice of ordeals in India describes the carrying +of hot iron (in the test of theft) as simply "bearing a hot axe," +while still earlier there is only walking through fire.[42] + +To the tests by oath, fire, and water of the code of Manu are soon +added in later law those of consecrated water, poison, and the +balance. Restrictions increase and new trials are described as one +descends the series of law-books (the consecrated food, the hot-water +test, the licking of the ploughshare, and the lot), Some of these +later forms have already been described. The further later tests we +will now sketch briefly. + +Poison: The earliest poison-test, in the code of Y[=a]jnavalkya (the +next after Manu), is an application of aconite-root, and as the poison +is very deadly, the accused is pretty sure to die. Other laws give +other poisons and very minute restrictions, tending to ease the +severity of the trial. + +The Balance-test: This is the opposite of the floating-test. The +man[43] stands in one scale and is placed in equilibrium with a weight +of stone in the other scale. He then gets out and prays, and gets in +again. If the balance sinks, he is guilty; if it rises, he is +innocent. + +The Lot-ordeal: This consists in drawing out of a vessel one of two +lots, equivalent respectively to _dharma_ and _adharma_, right and +wrong. Although Tacitus mentions the same ordeal among the Germans, it +is not early Indic law, not being known to any of the ancient legal +codes. + +One may claim without proof or disproof that these are all 'primitive +Aryan'; but to us it appears most probable that only the idea of the +ordeal, or at most its application in the simplest forms of water and +fire (and perhaps oath) is primitive Aryan, and that all else +(including ordeal by conflict) is of secondary growth among the +different nations. + +As an offset to the later Indic tendency to lighten the severity of +the ordeal may be mentioned the description of the floating-test as +seen by a Chinese traveller in India in the seventh century A.D.:[44] +"The accused is put into a sack and a stone is put into another sack. +The two sacks are connected by a cord and flung into deep water. If +the sack with the man sinks and the sack with the stone floats the +accused is declared to be innocent." + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Literally, transmigration, the doctrine of + metempsychosis, successive births; first, as in Plato: + [Greek: _metabole tis tugchanei ousa kai metoikeois te + psuche ton topon tou enthende eis allon tochon_], then + _metabole_, from 'the other place,' back to earth; then, + with advancing speculation, fresh _metabole_ again, and so + on; a theory more or less clumsily united with the + bell-doctrine.] + + [Footnote 2: Weber has lately published two monographs on + the sacrifices, the R[=a]jas[=u]ya and the V[=a]japeya + rites, both full of interesting details and popular + features.] + + [Footnote 3: The traditional sacrifices are twenty-one in + number, divided into three classes of seven each. The formal + divisions are (1) oblations of butter, milk, corn, etc.; (2) + _soma_ sacrifices; (3) animal sacrifices, regarded as part + of the first two. The sacrifice of the new and full moon is + to be repeated on each occasion for thirty years. A + _sattra_, session, is a long sacrifice which may last a year + or more.] + + [Footnote 4: The latter are the metrical codes, a part of + Smriti (sm[r.]ti).] + + [Footnote 5: The Five Paramount Sacrifices (Observances) + are, according to Manu III. 70, study of the Veda (or + teaching it); sacrifice to the Manes and to the gods; + offerings of foods to ghosts (or spirits); and hospitality.] + + [Footnote 6: In the report of the Or. Congress for 1880, p. + 158 ff., Williams has a very interesting account of the + daily rites of the modern orthodox Hindu ('_Rig Veda in + Religious Service_').] + + [Footnote 7: We ignore here the later distinction between + the Ved[=a]nta and S[=a]nkhya systems. Properly speaking, + the latter is dualistic.] + + [Footnote 8: At a later date Buddha himself is admitted into + the Brahmanic pantheon as an _avatar_ of the All-god!] + + [Footnote 9: Sometimes regarded as one with Praj[=a]pati, + and sometimes treated as distinct from him.] + + [Footnote 10: Thus (for the priestly ascetic alone) in M. + vi. 79: 'Leaving his good deeds to his loved ones and his + evil deeds to his enemies, by force of meditation he goes to + the eternal _brahma_.' Here _brahma_; but in Gautama perhaps + Brahm[=a].] + + [Footnote 11: That is, when the latter are grouped as in the + following list. Our point is that, despite new faith and new + gods, Vedic polytheism is taught not as a form but as a + reality, and that in this period the people still believe as + of old in the old gods, though they also acknowledge new + ones (below).] + + [Footnote 12: Compare Manu, ix. 245: "Varuna is the lord of + punishment and holdeth a sceptre (punishment) even over + kings."] + + [Footnote 13: In new rites, for instance. Thus in P[=a]rask. + _Grih. S_. 3. 7 a silly and dirty rite 'prevents a slave + from running away'; and there is an ordeal for girls before + becoming engaged (below).] + + [Footnote 14: Blood is poured out to the demons in order + that they may take this and no other part of the sacrifice, + _[=A]it. Br_. ii. 7. 1.] + + [Footnote 15: Here. 4. 8. 19, Civa's names are Hara, Mrida, + Carva, Civa, Bhava, Mah[=a]deva, Ugra, Bhima, Pacupati, + Rudra, Cankara, Icana.] + + [Footnote 16: These rites are described in 6. 4. 24 of the + _Brihad [=A]ranyaka Upanishad_ which consists both of + metaphysics and of ceremonial rules.] + + [Footnote 17: Especially mentioned in the later Vasistha + (see below); on _m[=i]m[=a]ms[=a]_ a branch of the + Ved[=a]nta system see below.] + + [Footnote 18: The commentator here (19. 12, cited by Buehler) + defines Ved[=a]nta as the part of the [=A]ranyakas which are + not Upanishads, that is, apparently as a local 'Veda-end' + (_veda-anta_), though this meaning is not admitted by some + scholars, who will see in _anta_ only the meaning 'goal, + aim.'] + + [Footnote 19: The Rudra (Civa) invocation at 26. 12 ff. is + interpolated, according to Buehler.] + + [Footnote 20: Here there is plainly an allusion to the two + states of felicity of the Upanishads. Whether the law-giver + believes that the spirit will be united with Brahm[=a] or + simply live in his heaven he does not say.] + + [Footnote 21: Gautama, too, is probably a Northerner. The + S[=u]tra, it should be observed, are not so individual as + would be implied by the name of the teachers to whom they + are credited. They were each texts of a school, _carana_, + but they are attributed uniformly to a special teacher, who + represents the _cara[n.]a_, as has been shown by Mueller. For + what is known in regard to the early 'S[=u]tra-makers' see + Buehler's introductions to volumes ii. and xiv. of the Sacred + Books.] + + [Footnote 22: Compare Buehler's Introduction, p. XXXV, SBE. + vol. XIV.] + + [Footnote 23: B[=a]udh. II. 18. 2-3. Compare Jacobi's + Introduction, p. XXIII ff. of SBE. vol. XXII.] + + [Footnote 24: Buehler (Introduction, p. XXXI) gives as the + district of the [=A]pastamb[=i]ya school parts of the Bombay + Presidency, the greater parts of the Niz[=a]m's possessions, + and parts of the Madras Presidency. Apastamba himself refers + to Northerners as if they were foreigners (_loc. cit.)_.] + + [Footnote 25: In India the latter question is: does the soul + immediately at death unite with the _[=a]tm[=a]_ or does it + travel to it. In Europe: does the soul wait for the Last + Day, or get to heaven immediately? Compare Maine, _Early Law + and Custom_, p. 71.] + + [Footnote 26: Thought by some scholars to have been + developed out of the code of The M[=a]navas; but ascribed by + the Hindus to Father Manu, as are many other verses of legal + character contained in the epic and elsewhere.] + + [Footnote 27: Although S[=u]tras may be metrical too in + part, yet is the complete metrical form, as in the case of + still later C[=a]stra, evidence that the work is intended + for the general public.] + + [Footnote 28: The priest alone, in the post-Vedic age, has + the right to teach the sacred texts; he has immunity from + bodily punishment; the right to receive gifts, and other + special privileges. The three upper castes have each the + right and duty of studying the sacred texts for a number of + years.] + + [Footnote 29: Weber has shown, _loc. cit_., that the + C[=u]dras did attend some of the more popular ceremonies, + and at first apparently even took a part in them.] + + [Footnote 30: The 'four orders' or stadia of a priest's + life, student, householder, hermit, ascetic, must not be + confused with the 'four (political) orders' (castes), + priest, warrior, farmer, slave--to which, from time to time, + were added many 'mixed castes,' as well as 'outcasts,' and + natural pariahs. At the time of Manu's code there were + already many of these half-assimilated groups.] + + [Footnote 31: Theoretically, twenty-one; but an extra one + has slipped in by mistake.] + + [Footnote 32: The girl is given or bought, or may make her + own choice among different suitors. Buying a wife is + reprehended by the early law-givers (therefore, customary). + The rite of marriage presupposes a grown girl, but + child-marriages also were known to the early law.] + + [Footnote 33: The groom 'releases her from Varuna's fetter,' + by symbolically loosening the hair. They step northeast, and + he says: 'One step for sap; two for strength; three for + riches; four for luck; five for children; six for the + seasons; seven for friendship. Be true to me--may we have + many long-lived sons.'] + + [Footnote 34: There is another funeral hymn, X. 16, in which + the Fire is invoked to burn the dead, and bear him to the + fathers; his corporeal parts being distributed 'eye to the + sun, breath to the wind,' etc.] + + [Footnote 35: See below.] + + [Footnote 36: Compare Weber, _Streifen_, I. 66; The king's + first wife lies with a dead victim, and is bid to come back + again to life. Levirate marriage is known to all the codes, + but it is reprehended by the same code that enjoins it. (M. + ix. 65.)] + + [Footnote 37: The ordeal is called _divyam_ + (_pram[=a][n.]am_) 'Gottesurtheil.' This means of + information is employed especially in a disputed debt and + deposit, and according to the formal code is to be applied + only in the absence of witnesses. The code also restricts + the use of fire, water, and poison to the slaves (Y[=a]j. + ii. 98).] + + [Footnote 38: Kaegi. _Alter und Herkunft des Germanischen + Gottesurtheils_, p. 50. We call especial attention to the + fact that the most striking coincidences in details of + practice are not early either in India or Germany.] + + [Footnote 39: Schlagintweit, _Die Gattesurtheile der + Indier_, p. 24.] + + [Footnote 40: This is the earliest formula. Later law-books + describe the length and strength of the bow, and some even + give the measure of distance to which the arrow must be + shot. Two runners, one to go and one to return, are + sometimes allowed. There is another water-ordeal "for + religious men." The accused is to drink consecrated water. + If in fourteen (or more or less) days no calamity happen to + him he will be innocent. The same test is made in the case + of the oath and of poison (below).] + + [Footnote 41: In the case of witnesses Manu gives seven days + as the limit. When one adopts the oath as an ordeal the + misfortune of the guilty is supposed to come 'quickly.' As + an ordeal this is not found in the later law. It is one of + the Greek tests (_loc. cit_.). When swearing the Hindu holds + water or holy-grass.] + + [Footnote 42: AV. ii. 12 is not a certain case of this, but + it is at least Brahmanic. The carrying of the axe is alluded + to in the Ch[=a]ndogya Upanishad (Schlagintweit, _Die + Gattesurtheile der Indier_, p. 6).] + + [Footnote 43: Y[=a]jnavalkya (_loc. cit_.) restricts this + test to women, children, priests, the old, blind, lame, and + sick. On _ph[=a]la_ for _agni, ib._ ii. 99, see ZDMG. ix. + 677.] + + [Footnote 44: Schlagintweit, _loc. cit_. p. 26 (Hiouen + Thsang).] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +JAINISM.[1] + + +One cannot read the Upanishads without feeling that he is already +facing an intellectual revolt. Not only in the later tracts, which are +inspired with devotion to a supreme and universal Lord, but even in +the oldest of these works the atmosphere, as compared with that of the +earlier Brahmanic period, is essentially different. The close and +stifling air of ritualism has been charged with an electrical current +of thought that must soon produce a storm. + +That storm reached a head in Buddhism, but its premonitory signs +appear in the Upanishads, and its first outbreak preceded the advent +of Gautama. Were it possible to draw a line of demarcation between the +Upanishads that come before and after Buddhism, it would be +historically more correct to review the two great schisms, Jainism and +Buddhism, before referring to the sectarian Upanishads. For these +latter in their present form are posterior to the rise of the two +great heresies. But, since such a division is practically uncertain in +its application, we have thought it better in our sketch of the +Upanishads and legal literature to follow to the end the course of +that agitated thought, which, starting with the great identification +of _jiva_, the individual spirit, and _[=a]tm[=a]_, the world-spirit, +the All, continues till it loses itself in a multiplication of +sectarian dogmas, where the All becomes the god that has been elected +by one communion of devotees.[2] + +The external characteristics of Upanishad thought are those of a +religion that has replaced formal acts by formal introspection. The +Yogin devotee, who by mystic communion desires absorption into the +world-spirit, replaces the Sanny[=a]sin and Yati ascetics, who would +accomplish the same end by renunciation and severe self-mortification. +This is a fresh figure on the stage of thought, where before were mad +Munis, beggars, and miracle-mongers. On this stage stands beside the +ascetic the theoretical theosophist who has succeeded in identifying +himself, soberly, not in frenzy, with God.[3] What were the practical +results of this teaching has been indicated in part already. The +futility of the stereotyped religious offices was recognized. But +these offices could not be discarded by the orthodox. With the lame +and illogical excuse that they were useful as discipline, though +unessential in reality, they were retained by the Brahman priest. Not +so by the Jain; still less so by the Buddhist. + +In the era in which arose the public revolt against the dogmatic +teaching of the Brahman there were more sects than one that have now +passed away forgotten. The eastern part of India, to which appertain +the later part of the Catapatha Br[=a]hmana and the schismatic +heresies, was full of religious and philosophical controversy. The +great heretics were not innovators in heresy. The Brahmans permitted, +encouraged, and shared in theoretical controversy. There was nothing +in the tenets of Jainism or of Buddhism that from a philosophical +point of view need have caused a rupture with the Brahmans. + +But the heresies, nevertheless, do not represent the priestly caste, +so much as the caste most apt to rival and to disregard the claim of +the Brahman, viz., the warrior-caste. They were supported by kings, +who gladly stood against priests. To a great extent both Jainism and +Buddhism owed their success (amid other rival heresies with no less +claim to good protestantism) to the politics of the day. The kings of +the East were impatient of the Western church; they were pleased to +throw it over. The leaders in the 'reformation' were the younger sons +of noble blood. The church received many of these younger sons as +priests. Both Buddha and Mah[=a]v[=i]ra were, in fact, revolting +adherents of the Brahmanic faith, but they were princes and had +royalty to back them. + +Nor in the Brahmanhood of Benares was Brahmanhood at its strongest. +The seat of the Vedic cult lay to the westward, where it arose, in the +'holy land,' which received the Vedic Aryans after they had crossed +out of the Punj[=a]b. With the eastward course of conquest the +character of the people and the very orthodoxy of the priests were +relaxed. The country that gave rise to the first heresies was one not +consecrated to the ancient rites. Very slowly had these rites marched +thither, and they were, so to speak, far from their religious base of +supplies. The West was more conservative than the East. It was the +home of the rites it favored. The East was but a foster-father. New +tribes, new land, new growth, socially and intellectually,--all these +contributed in the new seat of Brahmanhood to weaken the hold of the +priests upon their speculative and now recalcitrant laity. So before +Buddha there were heretics and even Buddhas, for the title was +Buddha's only by adoption. But of most of these earlier sects one +knows little. Three or four names of reformers have been handed down; +half a dozen opponents or rivals of Buddha existed and vied +with him. Most important of these, both on account of his probable +priority and because of the lasting character of his school, was the +founder or reformer of Jainism, Mah[=a]v[=i]ra Jn[=a]triputra,[4] who +with his eleven chief disciples may be regarded as the first open +seceders from Brahmanism, unless one assign the same date to the +revolt of Buddha. The two schisms have so much in common, especially +in outward features, that for long it was thought that Jainism was a +sub-sect of Buddhism. In their legends, in the localities in which +they flourished, and in many minutiae of observances they are alike. +Nevertheless, their differences are as great as the resemblance +between them, and what Jainism at first appeared to have got of +Buddhism seems now to be rather the common loan made by each sect from +Brahmanism. It is safest, perhaps, to rest in the assurance that the +two heresies were contemporaries of the sixth century B.C, and leave +unanswered the question which Master preceded the other, though we +incline to the opinion that the founder of Jainism, be he +Mah[=a]v[=i]ra or his own reputed master, P[=a]rcvan[=a]tha, had +founded his sect before Gautama became Buddha. But there is one good +reason for treating of Jainism before Buddhism,[5] and that is, that +the former represents a theological mean between Brahmanism and +Buddhism. + +Mah[=a]v[=i]ra, the reputed founder of his sect, was, like Buddha +and perhaps his other rivals, of aristocratic birth. His father is +called king, but he was probably hereditary chief of a district +incorporated as a suburb of the capital city of Videha, while by +marriage he was related to the king of Videha, and to the ruling house +of M[=a]gadha. His family name was Jn[=a]triputra, or, in his own +Prakrit (Ardham[=a]gadh[=i]) dialect, N[=a]taputta; but by his sect he +was entitled the Great Hero, Mah[=a]v[=i]ra; the Conqueror, Jina; the +Great One, Vardham[=a]na (Vardahmana in the original), etc. His sect +was that of the Nirgranthas (Nigganthas), _i.e_., 'without bonds,' +perhaps the oldest name of the whole body. Later there are found no +less than seven sub-sects, to which come as eighth the Digambaras, in +contradistinction to all the seven Cvet[=a]mbara sects. These two +names represent the two present bodies of the church, one body being +the Cvet[=a]mbaras, or 'white-attire' faction, who are in the north +and west; the other, the Digambaras, or 'sky-attire,' _i.e_., naked +devotees of the south. The latter split off from the main body about +two hundred years after Mah[=a]v[=i]ra's death; as has been thought by +some, because the Cvet[=a]mbaras refused to follow the Digambaras in +insisting upon nakedness as the rule for ascetics.[6] The earlier +writings show that nakedness was recommended, but was not +compulsory.[7] Other designations of the main sects, as of the +sub-sects, are found. Thus, from the practice of pulling out the hairs +of their body, the Jains were derisively termed Luncitakecas, or +'hair-pluckers.' The naked devotees of this school are probably the +gymnosophists of the Greek historians, although this general term may +have been used in describing other sects, as the practice of +dispensing with attire is common even to-day with many Hindu +devotees.[8] + +An account of the Jain absurdities in the way of speculation would +indeed give some idea of their intellectual frailty, but, as in the +case of the Buddhists, such an account has but little to do with their +religion. It will suffice to state that the 'ages' of the Brahmans +from whom Jain and Buddhist derived their general conceptions of the +ages, are here reckoned quite differently; and that the first Jina of +the long series of pre-historic prophets lived more than eight million +years and was five hundred bow-lengths in height. Monks and laymen now +appear at large in India, a division which originated neither with +Jain nor Buddhist,[9] though these orders are more clearly divided +among the heretics, from whom, again, was borrowed by the Hindu sects, +the monastic institution, in the ninth century (A.D.), in all the +older heretical completeness. Although atheistic the Jain worshipped +the Teacher, and paid some regard to the Brahmanical divinities, just +as he worships the Hindu gods to-day, for the atheistical systems +admitted gods as demi-gods or dummy gods, and in point of fact became +very superstitious. Yet are both founder-worship and superstition +rather the growth of later generations than the original practice. The +atheism of the Jain means denial of a divine creative Spirit.[10] + +Though at times in conflict with the Brahmans the Jains never departed +from India as did the Buddhists, and even Brahmanic priests in some +parts of India serve today in Jain temples. + +In metaphysics as in religion the Jain differs radically from the +Buddhist. He believes in a dualism not unlike that of the S[=a]nkhyas, +whereas Buddhistic philosophy has no close connection with this +Brahmanic system. To the Jain eternal matter stands opposed to eternal +spirits, for (opposed to pantheism) every material entity (even water) +has its own individual spirit. The Jain's Nirv[=a]na, as Barth has +said, is escape from the body, not escape from existence.[11] Like the +Buddhist the Jain believes in reincarnation, eight births, after one +has started on the right road, being necessary to the completion of +perfection. Both sects, with the Brahmans, insist on the non-injury +doctrine, but in this regard the Jain exceeds his Brahmanical +teacher's practice. Both heretical sects claim that their reputed +founders were the last of twenty-four or twenty-five prophets who +preceded the real founder, each successively having become less +monstrous (more human) in form. + +The Jain literature left to us is quite large[12] and enough has been +published already to make it necessary to revise the old belief in +regard to the relation between Jainism and Buddhism. + +We have said that Jainism stands nearer to Brahmanism (with which, +however, it frequently had quarrels) than does Buddhism.[13] The most +striking outward sign of this is the weight laid on asceticism, which +is common to Brahmanism and Jainism but is repudiated by Buddhism. +Twelve years of asceticism are necessary to salvation, as thinks the +Jain, and this self-mortification is of the most stringent sort. But +it is not in their different conception of a Nirv[=a]na release rather +than of annihilation, nor in the S[=a]nkhya-like[14] duality they +affect, nor yet in the prominence given to self-mortification that the +Jains differ most from the Buddhists. The contrast will appear more +clearly when we come to deal with the latter sect. At present we take +up the Jain doctrine for itself. + +The 'three gems' which, according to the Jains,[15] result in the +spirit's attainment of deliverance are knowledge, faith, and virtue, +or literally 'right knowledge, right intuition, and right practices.' +Right knowledge is a true knowledge of the relation of spirit and +not-spirit (the world consists of two classes, spirit and non-spirit), +the latter being immortal like the former. Right intuition is absolute +faith in the word of the Master and the declarations of the [=A]gamas, +or sacred texts. Right practices or virtue consists, according to the +Yogac[=a]stra, in the correct fivefold conduct of one that has +knowledge and faith: (1) Non-injury, (2) kindness and speaking which +is true (in so far as the truth is pleasant to the hearer),[16] (3) +honorable conduct, typified by 'not stealing,' (4) chastity in word, +thought, and deed, (5) renunciation of earthly interests. + +The doctrine of non-injury found but modified approval among the +Brahmans. They limited its application in the case of +sacrifice, and for this reason were bitterly taunted by the Jains as +'murderers.' "Viler than unbelievers," says the Yogac[=a]stra, quoting +a law of Manu to the effect that animals may be slain for sacrifice, +"all those cruel ones who make the law that teaches killing."[17] For +this reason the Jain is far more particular in his respect for life +than is the Buddhist. Lest animate things, even plants and +animalculae, be destroyed, he sweeps the ground before him as he goes, +walks veiled lest he inhale a living organism, strains water, and +rejects not only meat but even honey, together with various fruits +that are supposed to contain worms; not because of his distaste for +worms but because of his regard for life. Other arguments which, +logically, should not be allowed to influence him are admitted, +however, in order to terrify the hearer. Thus the first argument +against the use of honey is that it destroys life; then follows the +argument that honey is 'spit out by bees' and therefore it is +nasty.[18] + +The Jain differs from the Buddhist still more in ascetic practices. He +is a forerunner, in fact, of the horrible modern devotee whose +practices we shall describe below. The older view of seven hells in +opposition to the legal Brahmanic number of thrice seven is found (as +it is in the M[=a]rkandeya Pur[=a]na), but whether this be the rule we +cannot say.[19] It is interesting to see that hell is prescribed with +metempsychosis exactly as it is among the Brahmans.[20] Reincarnation +onearth and punishment in hells between reincarnation seems to be the +usual belief. The salvation which is attained by the practice of +knowledge, faith, and five-fold virtue, is not immediate, but it will +come after successive reincarnations; and this salvation is the +freeing of the eternal spirit from the bonds of eternal matter; in +other words, it is much more like the 'release' of the Brahman than it +is like the Buddhistic Nirv[=a]na, though, of course, there is no +'absorption,' each spirit remaining single. In the order of the +Ratnatraya or 'three gems' Cankara appears to lay the greatest weight +on faith, but in Hemacandra's schedule knowledge[21] holds the first +place. This is part of that Yoga, asceticism, which is the most +important element in attaining salvation.[22] + +Another division of right practices is cited by the Yogac[=a]stra (I. +33 ff.): Some saints say that virtue is divided into five kinds of +care and three kinds of control, to wit, proper care in walking, +talking, begging for food, sitting, and performing natural functions +of the body--these constitute the five kinds of care, and the kinds of +control are those of thought, speech, and act. This teaching it is +stated, is for the monks. The practice of the laity is to accord with +the custom of their country. + +The chief general rules for the laity consist in vows of obedience to +the true god, to the law, and to the (present) Teacher; which are +somewhat like the vows of the Buddhist. God here is the Arhat, the +'venerable' founder of the sect. The laic has also five lesser vows: +not to kill, not to lie, not to steal, not to commit adultery or +fornication, to be content with little. + +According to the C[=a]stra already cited the laic must rise early in +the morning, worship the god's idol at home, go to the temple and +circumambulate the Jina idol three times, strewing flowers, and +singing hymnsand then read the Praty[=a]khy[=a]na (an old P[=u]rva, +gospel).[23] Further rules of prayer and practice guide him through +his day. And by following this rule he expects to obtain spiritual +'freedom' hereafter; but for his life on earth he is "without praise +or blame for this world or the next, for life or for death, having +meditation as his one pure wife" (iii. 150). He will become a god in +heaven, be reborn again on earth, and so, after eight successive +existences (the Buddhistic number), at last obtain salvation, release +(from bodies) for his eternal soul (153). + +As in the Upanishads, the gods, like men, are a part of the system of +the universe. The wise man goes to them (becomes a god) only to return +to earth again. All systems thus unite hell and heaven with the +_karma_ doctrine. But in this Jain work, as in so many of the orthodox +writings, the weight is laid more on hell as a punishment than on +rebirth. Probably the first Jains did not acknowledge gods at all, for +it is an early rule with them not to say 'God rains,' or use any such +expression, but to say 'the cloud rains'; and in other ways they avoid +to employ a terminology which admits even implicitly the existence of +divinities. Yet do they use a god not infrequently as an agent of +glorification of Mah[=a]v[=i]ra, saying in later writings that Indra +transformed himself, to do the Teacher honor; and often they speak of +the gods and goddesses as if these were regarded as spirits. Demons +and inferior beings are also utilized in the same way, as when it is +said that at the Teacher's birth the demons (spirits) showered gold +upon the town. + +The religious orders of the Cvet[=a]mbara sect contained nuns as well +as monks, although, as we have said, women are not esteemed very +favorably: "The world is greatly troubled by women. People say that +women are vessels of pleasure. But this leads them to pain, to +delusion, to death, to hell, to birth as hell-beings or brute-beasts." +Such is the decision in the [=A]e[=a]r[=a]nga S[=u]tra, or book of +usages for the Jain monk and nun. From the same work we extract a few +rules to illustrate the practices of the Jains. This literature is the +most tedious in the world, and to give the gist of the heretic +law-maker's manual will suffice. + +Asceticism should be practiced by monk and nun, if possible. But if +one finds that he cannot resist his passions, or is disabled and +cannot endure austerities, he may commit suicide; although this +release is sometimes reprehended, and is not allowable till one has +striven against yielding to such a means. But when the twelve years of +asceticism are passed one has assurance of reaching Nirv[=a]na, and so +may kill himself. Of Nirv[=a]na there is no description. It is +release, salvation, but it is of such sort that in regard to it +'speculation has no place,' and 'the mind cannot conceive of it' +(copied from the Upanishads). In other regards, in contrast to the +nihilistic Buddhist, the Jain assumes a doubtful attitude, so that he +is termed the 'may-be philosopher,' _sy[=a]dv[=a]din_,[24] in +opposition to the Buddhist, the philosopher of 'the void.' + +But if the Jain may kill himself, he may not kill or injure anything +else. Not even food prepared over a fire is acceptable, lest he hurt +the 'fire-beings,' for as he believes in water-beings, so he believes +in fire-beings, wind-beings, etc. Every plant and seed is holy with +the sacredness of life. He may not hurt or drive away the insects that +torment his naked flesh. 'Patience is the highest good,' he declares, +and the rules for sitting and lying conclude with the statement that +not to move at all, not to stir, is the best rule. To lie naked, +bitten by vermin, and not to disturb them, is religion. Like a true +Puritan, the Jain regards pleasure in itself as sinful. "What is +discontent, and what is pleasure? One should live subject to neither. +Giving up all gaiety, circumspect, restrained, one should lead a +religious life. Man! Thou art thine own friend; why longest thou for a +friend beyond thyself?... First troubles, then pleasures; first +pleasures, then troubles. These are the cause of quarrels." And again, +"Let one think, 'I am I.'" _i.e_., let one be dependent on himself +alone. When a Jain monk or nun hears that there is to be a festival +(perhaps to the gods, to Indra, Skahda, Rudra, Vishnu,[25] or the +demons, as in [=A]c[=a]r[=a]nga S[=u]tra, ii. 1. 2) he must not go +thither; he must keep himself from all frivolities and entertainments. +During the four months of the rainy season he is to remain in one +place,[26] but at other times, either naked or attired in a few +garments, he is to wander about begging. In going on his begging tour +he is not to answer questions, nor to retort if reviled. He is to +speak politely (the formulae for polite address and rude address are +given), beg modestly, and not render himself liable to suspicion on +account of his behavior when in the house of one of the faithful. +Whatever be the quality of the food he must eat it, if it be not a +wrong sort. Rice and beans are especially recommended to him. The +great Teacher Jn[=a]triputra (Mah[=a]v[=i]ra), it is said, never went +to shows, pantomines, boxing-matches, and the like; but, remaining in +his parents' house till their death, that he might not grieve his +mother, at the age of twenty-eight renounced the world with the +consent of the government, and betook himself to asceticism; +travelling naked (after a year of clothes) into barbarous lands, but +always converting and enduring the reproach of the wicked. He was +beaten and set upon by sinful men, yet was he never moved to anger. +Thus it was that he became the Arhat, the Jina, the Kevalin (perfect +sage).[27] It is sad to have to add, however, that Mah[=a]v[=i]ra is +traditionally said to have died in a fit of apoplectic rage. + +The equipment of a monk are his clothes (or, better, none), his +alms-bowl, broom, and veil. He is 'unfettered,' in being without +desires and without injury to others. 'Some say that all sorts of +living beings may be slain, or abused, or tormented, or driven +away--the doctrine of the unworthy. The righteous man does not kill +nor cause others to kill. He should not cause the same punishment for +himself.' + +The last clause is significant. What he does to another living being +will be done to him. He will suffer as he has caused others to suffer. +The chain from emotion to hell--the avoidance of the former is on +account of the fear of the latter--is thus connected: He who knows +wrath knows pride; he who knows pride knows deceit; he who knows +deceit knows greed (and so on; thus one advances) from greed to love, +from love to hate, from hate to delusion, from delusion to conception, +from conception to birth, from birth to death, from death to hell, +from hell to animal existence, 'and he who knows animal existence +knows pain.' + +The five great vows, which have been thought by some scholars to be +copies of the Buddhistic rules, whereas they are really modifications +of the old Brahmanic rules for ascetics as explained in pre-Buddhistic +literature, are in detail as follows:[28] + +The First vow: I renounce all killing of living beings, whether +subtile or gross, whether movable or immovable. Nor shall I myself +kill living beings nor cause others to do it, nor consent to it. As +long as I live I confess and blame, repent and exempt myself of these +sins in the thrice threefold way,[29] in mind, speech, and body. + +The five 'clauses' that explain this vow are: (1) the Niggantha (Jain) +is careful in walking; (2) he does not allow his mind to act in a way +to suggest injury of living beings; (3) he does not allow his speech +to incite to injury; (4) he is careful in laying down his utensils; +(5) he inspects his food and drink lest he hurt living beings. + +The Second Vow: I renounce all vices of lying speech arising from +anger, or greed, or fear, or mirth. I confess (etc, as in the first +vow). + +The five clauses here explain that the Niggantha speaks only after +deliberation; does not get angry; renounces greed; renounces fear; +renounces mirth--lest through any of these he be moved to lie. + +The Third Vow: I renounce all taking of anything not given, either in +a village, or a town, or a wood, either of little or much, or small or +great, of living or lifeless things. I shall neither take myself what +is not given nor cause others to take it, nor consent to their taking +it. As long as I live I confess (etc., as in the first vow). + +The clauses here explain that the Niggantha must avoid different +possibilities of stealing, such as taking food without permission of +his superior. One clause states that he may take only a limited ground +for a limited time, _i.e_., he may not settle down indefinitely on a +wide area, for he may not hold land absolutely. Another clause insists +on his having his grant to the land renewed frequently. + +The Fourth Vow: I renounce all sexual pleasures, either with gods, or +men, or animals. I shall not give way to sensuality (etc). + +The clauses here forbid the Niggantha to discuss topics relating to +women, to contemplate the forms of women, to recall the pleasures and +amusements he used to have with women, to eat and drink too highly +seasoned viands, to lie near women. + +The Fifth Vow: I renounce all attachments, whether little or much, +small or great, living or lifeless; neither shall I myself form such +attachments, nor cause others to do so, nor consent to their doing so +(etc.). + +The five clauses particularize the dangerous attachments formed by +ears, eyes, smell, taste, touch. + +It has been shown above (following Jacobi's telling comparison of the +heretical vows with those of the early Brahman ascetic) that these +vows are taken not from Buddhism but from Brahmanism. Jacobi opines +that the Jains took the four first and that the reformer +Mah[=a]v[=i]ra added the fifth as an offset to the Brahmanical vow of +liberality.[30] The same writer shows that certain minor rules of the +Jain sect are derived from the same Brahmanical source. + +The main differences between the two Jain sects have been catalogued +in an interesting sketch by Williams,[31] who mentions as the chief +Jain stations of the north Delhi (where there is an annual gathering), +Jeypur, and [=A]jm[=i]r. To these Mathur[=a] on the Jumna should be +added.[32] The Cvet[=a]mbaras had forty-five or forty-six [=A]gamas, +eleven or twelve Angas, twelve Up[=a]ngas, and other scriptures of the +third or fourth century B.C., as they claim. They do not go naked +(even their idols are clothed), and they admit women into the order. +The Digambaras do not admit women, go naked, and have for sacred texts +later works of the fifth century A.D. The latter of course assert that +the scriptures of the former sect are spurious.[33] + +In distinction from the Buddhists the Jains of to-day keep up caste. +Some of them are Brahmans. They have, of course, a different +prayer-formula, and have no St[=u]pas or D[=a]gobas (to hold relics); +and, besides the metaphysical difference spoken of above, they differ +from the Buddhists in assuming that metempsychosis does not stop at +animal existence, but includes inanimate things (as these are regarded +by others). According to one of their own sect of to-day, +_ahi[.m]s[=a] paramo dharmas_, 'the highest law of duty is not to hurt +a living creature.'[34] + +The most striking absurdity of the Jain reverence for life has +frequently been commented upon. Almost every city of western India, +where they are found, has its beast-hospital, where animals are kept +and fed. An amusing account of such an hospital, called Pi[=n]jra Pol, +at Saurar[=a]shtra, Surat, is given in the first number of the +_Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_.[35] Five thousand rats were +supported in such a temple-hospital in Kutch.[36] + +Of all the great religious sects of India that of N[=a]taputta is +perhaps the least interesting, and has apparently the least excuse for +being.[37] The Jains offered to the world but one great moral truth, +withal a negative truth, 'not to harm,' nor was this verity invented +by them. Indeed, what to the Jain is the great truth is only a +grotesque exaggeration of what other sects recognized in a reasonable +form. Of all the sects the Jains are the most colorless, the most +insipid. They have no literature worthy of the name. They were not +original enough to give up many orthodox features, so that they seem +like a weakened rill of Brahmanism, cut off from the source, yet +devoid of all independent character. A religion in which the chief +points insisted upon are that one should deny God, worship man, and +nourish vermin, has indeed no right to exist; nor has it had as a +system much influence on the history of thought. As in the case of +Buddhism, the refined Jain metaphysics are probably a late growth. +Historically these sectaries served a purpose as early protestants +against ritualistic and polytheistic Brahmanism; but their real +affinity with the latter faith is so great that at heart they soon +became Brahmanic again. Their position geographically would make it +seem probable that they, and not the Buddhists, had a hand in the +making of the ethics of the later epic. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: We retain here and in Buddhism the usual + terminology. Strictly speaking, Jainism is to Jina (the + reformer's title) as is Bauddhism to Buddha, so that one + should say Jinism, Buddhism, or Jainism, Bauddhism. Both + titles, Jina and Buddha ('victor' and 'awakened'), were + given to each leader; as in general many other mutual titles + of honor were applied by each sect to its own head, Jina, + Arhat ('venerable'), Mah[=a]v[=i]ra ('great hero'), Buddha, + etc. One of these titles was used, however, as a title of + honor by the Jains, but to designate heretics by the Buddhists, + viz., T[=i]rthankara (T[=i]rthakara in the original), 'prophet' + (see Jacobi, SBE. xxii. Introd. p. xx).] + + [Footnote 2: It is possible, however, on the other hand, + that both Vishnuite and Civaite sects (or, less anglicized, + Vaishnavas, Caivas, if one will also say Vaidic for Vedic), + were formed before the end of the sixth century B.C. Not + long after this the divinities Civa and Vishnu receive + especial honor.] + + [Footnote 3: The Beggar (Cramana, Bhikshu), the Renunciator + (Sanny[=a]s[=i]n), the Ascetic (Yati), are Brahmanic terms + as well as sectarian.] + + [Footnote 4: The three great reformers of this period are + Mah[=a]v[=i]ra, Buddha, and Gos[=a]la. The last was first a + pupil and then a rival of Mah[=a]v[=i]ra. The latter's + nephew, Jam[=a]li, also founded a distinct sect and became + his uncle's opponent, the speculative sectarian tendency + being as pronounced as it was about the same time in Hellas. + Gos[=a]la appears to have had quite a following, and his + sect existed for a long time, but now it is utterly + perished. An account of this reformer and of Jam[=a]li will + be found in Leumann's essay, _Indische Studien_, xvii. p. 98 + ff. and in the appendix to Rockhill's _Life of Buddha_.] + + [Footnote 5: The Nirgranthas (Jains) are never referred to + by the Buddhists as being a new sect, nor is their reputed + founder, N[=a]taputta, spoken of as their founder; whence + Jacobi plausibly argues that their real founder was older + than Mah[=a]v[=i]ra, and that the sect preceded that of + Buddha. Lassen and Weber have claimed, on the contrary, that + Jainism is a revolt against Buddhism. The identification of + N[=a]taputta (Jn[=a]triputra) with Mah[=a]v[=i]ra is due to + Buehler and Jacobi (Kalpas[=u]tra, Introd. p.6).] + + [Footnote 6: According to Jacobi, ZDMG. xxxviii. 17, the + split in the party arose in this way. About 350 B.C. some + Jain monks under the leadership of Bhadrab[=a]hu went south, + and they followed stricter rules of asceticism than did + their fellows in the north. Both sects are modifications of + the original type, and their differences did not result in + sectarian separation till about the time of our era, at + which epoch arose the differentiating titles of sects that + had not previously separated into formal divisions, but had + drifted apart geographically.] + + [Footnote 7: Compare Jacobi, _loc. cit_. and Leumann's + account of the seven sects of the Cvet[=a]mbaras in the + essay in the _Indische Studien_ referred to above. At the + present day the Jains are found to the number of about a + million in the northwest (Cvet[=a]mbaras), and south + (Digambaras) of India. The original seat of the whole body + in its first form was, as we have said, near Benares, where + also arose and flourished Buddhism.] + + [Footnote 8: Hemacandra's Yogac[=a]stra, edited by Windisch, + ZDMG. xxviii. 185 ff. (iii. 133). The Jain's hate of women + did not prevent his worshipping goddesses as the female + energy like the later Hindu sects. The Jains are divided in + regard to the possibility of woman's salvation. The + Yogac[=a]stra alludes to women as 'the lamps that burn on + the road that leads to the gate of hell,' ii. 87. The + Digambaras do not admit women into the order, as do the + Cvet[=a]mbaras.] + + [Footnote 9: _Die Bharata-sage_, Leumann, ZDMG. xlviii. + p.65. See also above in the S[=u]tras. With the Jains there + is less of the monastic side of religion than with the + Buddhists.] + + [Footnote 10: Jains are sometimes called Arhats on account + of their veneration for the Arhat or chief Jina (whence + Jain). Their only real gods are their chiefs or Teachers, + whose idols are worshipped in the temples. Thus, like the + Buddhist and some Hindu sects of modern times, they have + given up God to worship man. Rather have they adopted an + idolatry of man and worship of womanhood, for they also + revere the female energy. Positivism has ancient models!] + + [Footnote 11: The Jain sub-sects did not differ much among + themselves in philosophical speculation. Their differences + were rather of a practical sort.] + + [Footnote 12: See the list of the Bertin MSS.; Weber, + _Berlin MSS_. vol. ii. 1892; and the thirty-third volume of + the German Oriental Journal, pp. 178, 693. For an account of + the literature see also Jacobi's introduction to the SBE. + vol. xxii; and Weber, _Ueber die heiligen Schriften der + Jaina_ in vols. xvi, xvii of the _Indische Studien_ + (translated by Smyth in the Indian Antiquary); and the + Bibliography (below).] + + [Footnote 13: A case of connection in legends between + Buddhist and Jain is mentioned below. Another is the history + of king Paesi, elaborated in Buddhistic literature + (Tripitaka) and in the second Jain Up[=a]nga alike, as has + been shown by Leumann.] + + [Footnote 14: The Jain's spirit, however, is not a + world-spirit. He does not believe in an All-Spirit, but in a + plurality of eternal spirits, fire-spirits, wind-spirits, + plant-spirits, etc.] + + [Footnote 15: Compare Colebrooke's _Essays_, vol. II. pp. + 404, 444, and the Yogac[=a]stra cited above.] + + [Footnote 16: This is not in the earlier form of the vow + (see below).] + + [Footnote 17: II. 37 and 41. Although the Brahman ascetic + took the vow not to kill, yet is he permitted to do so for + sacrifice, and he may eat flesh of animals killed by other + animals (Gautama, 3. 31).] + + [Footnote 18: _Loc. cit_. III. 37-38. The evening and night + are not times to eat, and for the same reason "The Gods eat + in the morning, the Seers at noon, the Fathers in the + afternoon, the devils at twilight and night" (_ib_. 58). For + at night one might eat a a living thing by mistake.] + + [Footnote 19: _Loc. cit_. II. 27.] + + [Footnote 20: The pun _m[=a][.m]sa, "Me eat_ will be + hereafter whose _meat_ I eat in this life" (Lanman), shows + that Jain and Brahman believed in a hell where the injured + avenged themselves (Manu, V. 55; HYC. III. 26), just as is + related in the Bhrigu story (above).] + + [Footnote 21: By intuition or instruction.] + + [Footnote 22: _Loc. cit_. I. 15 ff.] + + [Footnote 23: _Loc. cit_. 121 ff. Wilson, _Essays_, I. 319, + gives a description of the simple Jain ritual.] + + [Footnote 24: Who says "may be."] + + [Footnote 25: Mukunda.] + + [Footnote 26: This 'keeping _vasso_' is also a Brahmanic + custom, as Buehler has pointed out. But it is said somewhere + that at that season the roads are impossible, so that there + is not so much a conscious copying as a physical necessity + in keeping _vasso_; perhaps also a moral touch, owing to the + increase of life and danger of killing.] + + [Footnote 27: In the lives of the Jinas it is said that + Jn[=a]triputra's (N[=a]taputta's) parents worshipped the + 'people's favorite,' P[=a]rcva, and were followers of the + Cramanas (ascetics). In the same work (which contains + nothing further for our purpose) it is said that Arhats, + Cakravarts, Baladevas, and Vasudevas, present, past, and + future, are aristocrats, born in noble families. The + heresies and sectaries certainly claim as much.] + + [Footnote 28: [=A]c[=a]r[=a]nga S. ii. 15. We give Jacobi's + translation, as in the verses already cited from this work.] + + [Footnote 29: Acting, commanding, consenting, past, present, + or future (Jacobi).] + + [Footnote 30: SBE. xxii. Introd. p. xxiv.] + + [Footnote 31: JRAS. xx. 279.] + + [Footnote 32: See Buehler, the last volume of the + _Epigraphica Indica_, and his other articles in the WZKM. v. + 59, 175. Jeypur, according to Williams, is the stronghold of + the Digambara Jains. Compare Thomas, JRAS. ix. 155, _Early + Faith of Acoka_.] + + [Footnote 33: The redaction of the Jain canon took place, + according to tradition, in 454 or 467 A.D. (possibly 527). + "The origin of the extant Jaina literature cannot be placed + earlier than about 300 B.C." (Jacobi, Introduction to _Jain + S[=u]tras_, pp. xxxvii, xliii). The present Angas + ('divisions') were preceded by P[=u]rvas, of which there are + said to have been at first fourteen. On the number of the + scriptures see Weber, _loc. cit_.] + + [Footnote 34: Williams, _loc. cit._ The prayer-formula is: + 'Reverence to Arhats, saints, teachers, subteachers, and all + good men.'] + + [Footnote 35: 'A place which is appropriated for the + reception of old, worn-out, lame, or disabled animals. At + that time (1823) they chiefly consisted of buffaloes and + cows, but there were also goats and sheep, and even cocks + and hens,' and also 'hosts of vermin.'] + + [Footnote 36: JRAS. 1834, p. 96. The town was taxed to + provide the food for the rats.] + + [Footnote 37: Because the Jains have reverted to idolatry, + demonology, and man-worship. But at the outset they appear + to have had two great principles, one, that there is no + divine power higher than man; the other, that all life is + sacred. One of these is now practically given up, and the + other was always taken too seriously.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +BUDDHISM. + + +While the pantheistic believer proceeded to anthropomorphize in a +still greater degree the _[=a]tm[=a]_ of his fathers, and eventually +landed in heretical sectarianism; while the orthodox Brahman simply +added to his pantheon (in Manu and other law-codes) the Brahmanic +figure of the Creator, Brahm[=a]; the truth-seeker that followed the +lines of the earlier philosophical thought arrived at atheism, and in +consequence became either stoic or hedonist. The latter school, the +C[=a]rv[=a]kas, the so-called disciples of Brihaspati, have, indeed, a +philosophy without religion. They simply say that the gods do not +exist, the priests are hypocrites; the Vedas, humbug; and the only +thing worth living for, in view of the fact that there are no gods, no +heaven, and no soul, is pleasure: 'While life remains let a man live +happily; let him not go without butter (literally _ghee_) even though +he run into debt,' etc.[1] Of sterner stuff was the man who invented a +new religion as a solace for sorrow and a refuge from the nihilism in +which he believed. + +Whether Jainism or Buddhism be the older heresy, and it is not +probable that any definitive answer to this question will ever be +given, one thing has become clear in the light of recent studies, +namely, the fact already shown, that to Brahmanism are due some of the +most marked traits of both the heretical sects. The founder of +Buddhism did not strike out a new system of morals; he was not a +democrat; he did not originate a plot to overthrow the Brahmanic +priesthood; he did not invent the order of monks.[2] There is, +perhaps, no person in history in regard to whom have arisen so many +opinions that are either wholly false or half false.[3] + +We shall not canvass in detail views that would be mentioned only to +be rejected. Even the brilliant study of Senart,[4] in which the +figure of Buddha is resolved into a solar type and the history of the +reformer becomes a sun-myth, deserves only to be mentioned and laid +aside. Since the publication of the canonical books of the southern +Buddhists there is no longer any question in regard to the human +reality of the great knight who illumined, albeit with anything but +heavenly light, the darkness of Brahmanical belief. Oldenberg[5] has +taken Senart seriously, and seriously answered him. But Napoleon and +Max Mueller have each been treated as sun-myths, and Senart's essay is +as convincing as either _jeu d'esprit._ + +In Nep[=a]l, far from the site of Vedic culture, and generations after +the period of the Vedic hymns, was born a son to the noble family of +the C[=a]kyas. A warrior prince, he made at last exclusively his own +the lofty title that was craved by many of his peers, Buddha, the +truly wise, the 'Awakened.' + +The C[=a]kyas' land extended along the southern border of Nep[=a]l and +the northeast part of Oude (Oudh), between the Ir[=a]vat[=i] (Rapti) +river on the west and south, and the Rohini on the east; the district +which lies around the present Gorakhpur, about one hundred miles +north-northeast of Benares. The personal history of the later Buddha +is interwoven with legend from which it is not always easy to +disentangle the threads of truth. In the accounts preserved in regard +to the Master, one has first to distinguish the P[=a]li records of the +Southern Buddhists from the Sanskrit tales of the Northerners; and +again, it is necessary to discriminate between the earlier and +later traditions of the Southerners, who have kept in general the +older history as compared with the extravagant tradition preserved in +the Lalita Vistara, the Lotus of the Law, and the other works of the +North. What little seems to be authentic history is easily told; nor +are, for our present purpose, of much value the legends, which +mangonize the life of Buddha. They will be found in every book that +treats of the subject, and some of the more famous are translated in +the article on Buddha in the Encyclopaedia Brittanica. We content +ourselves with the simplest and oldest account, giving such facts as +help to explain the religious significance of Buddha's life and work +among his countrymen. Several of these facts, Buddha's place in +society, and the geographical centre of Buddhistic activity, are +essential to a true understanding of the relations between Buddhism +and Brahmanism. + +Whether Buddha's father was king or no has rightly been questioned. +The oldest texts do not refer to him as a king's son, and this +indicates that his father, who governed the C[=a]kya-land, of which +the limits have just been specified,[6] was rather a feudal baron or +head of a small clan, than an actual king. The C[=a]kya power was +overthrown and absorbed into that of the king of Oude (Kosala) either +in Buddha's own life-time or immediately afterwards. It is only the +newer tradition that extols the power and wealth which the Master gave +up on renouncing worldly ties, a trait characteristic of all the later +accounts, on the principle that the greater was the sacrifice the +greater was the glory. Whether kings or mere chieftains, the C[=a]kyas +were noted as a family that cared little to honor the Brahmanic +priests. They themselves claimed descent from Ikshv[=a]ku, the ancient +seer-king, son of Manu, and traditionally first king of Ayodh[=a] +(Oude). They assumed the name of Gautama, one of the Vedic seers, and +it was by the name of 'the Ascetic Gautama' that Buddha was known to +his contemporaries; but his personal name was Siddh[=a]rtha 'he that +succeeds in his aim,' prophetic of his life! His mother's name +M[=a]y[=a] (illusion) has furnished Senart with material for his +sun-theory of Buddha; but the same name is handed down as that of a +city, and perhaps means in this sense 'the wonderful.' She is said to +have died when her son was still a boy. The boy Siddh[=a]rtha, then, +was a warrior _r[=a]jput_ by birth, and possibly had a very +indifferent training in Vedic literature, since he is never spoken of +as Veda-wise.[7] The future Buddha was twenty-nine when he resolved to +renounce the world. He was already married and had a son (R[=a]hula, +according to later tradition). The legends of later growth here begin +to thicken, telling how, when the future Buddha heard of the birth of +his son, he simply said 'a new bond has been forged to hold me to the +world'; and how his mind was first awakened to appreciation of sorrow +by seeing loathy examples of age, sickness, and death presented to him +as he drove abroad. Despite his father's tears and protests +Siddh[=a]rtha, or as one may call him now by his patronymic, the man +Gautama, left his home and family, gave up all possessions, and +devoted himself to self-mortification and Yoga discipline of +concentration of thought, following in this the model set by all +previous ascetics. He says himself, according to tradition, that it +was a practical pessimism which drove him to take this step. He was +not pleased with life, and the pleasures of society had no charm for +him. When he saw the old man, the sick man, the dead man, he became +disgusted to think that he too would be subject to age, sickness, and +death: "I felt disgust at old age; all pleasure then forsook me." In +becoming an ascetic Gautama simply endeavored to discover some means +by which he might avoid a recurrence of life, of which the +disagreeable side in his estimation outweighed the joy. He too had +already answered negatively the question Is life worth living? + +We must pause here to point out that this oldest and simplest account +of Gautama's resolve shows two things. It makes clear that Gautama at +first had no plan for the universal salvation of his race. He was +alert to 'save his own soul,' nothing more. We shall show presently +that this is confirmed by subsequent events in his career. The next +point is that this narration in itself is a complete refutation of the +opinion of those scholars who believe that the doctrine of _karma_ and +reincarnation arose first in Buddhism, and that the Upanishads that +preach this doctrine are not of the pre-Buddhistic period. The last +part of this statement of opinion is, of course, not touched by the +story of Gautama's renunciation, but the first assumption wrecks on +it. Why should Gautama have so given himself to Yoga discipline? Did +he expect to escape age, sickness, death, in this life by that means? +No. The assumption from the beginning is the belief in the doctrine of +reincarnation. It was in order to free himself from future returns of +these ills that Gautama renounced his home. But nothing whatever is +said of his discovering or inventing the doctrine of reincarnation. +Both hell and _karma_ are taken for granted throughout the whole early +Buddhistic literature. Buddha discovered neither of them, any more +than he discovered a new system of morality, or a new system of +religious life; although more credit accrues to him in regard to the +last because his order was opposed to that then prevalent; yet even +here he had antique authority for his discipline. + +To return to Gautama's[8] life. Legend tells how he fled away on his +horse Kanthaka, in search of solitude and the means of salvation, far +from his home to the abode of ascetics, for he thought: "Whence comes +peace? When the fire of desire is extinguished, when the fire of hate +is extinguished, when the fire of illusion is extinguished, when all +sins and all sorrows are extinguished, then comes peace." And the only +means to this end was the renunciation of desire, the discipline of +Yoga concentration, where the mind fixed on one point loses all else +from its horizon, and feels no drawing aside to worldly things. + +What then has Gautama done from the point of view of the Brahman? He +has given up his home to become an ascetic. But this was permitted by +usage, for, although the strict western code allowed it only to the +priest, yet it was customary among the other twice-born castes at an +earlier day, and in this part of India it awakened no surprise that +one of the military caste should take up the life of a philosopher. +For the historian of Indic religions this fact is of great +significance, since such practice is the entering wedge which was to +split the castes. One step more and not only the military caste but +the lower, nay the lowest castes, might become ascetics. But, again, +all ascetics were looked upon, in that religious society, as equal to +the priests. In fact, where Gautama lived there was rather more +respect paid to the ascetic than to the priest as a member of the +caste. Gautama was most fortunate in his birth and birth-place. An +aristocrat, he became an ascetic in a land where the priests were +particularly disregarded. He had no public opinion to contend against +when later he declared that Brahman birth and Brahman wisdom had no +value. On the contrary, he spoke to glad hearers, who heard repeated +loudly now as a religious truth what often they had said to themselves +despitefully in private. + +Gautama journeyed as a _muni_, or silent ascetic sage, till after +seven years he abandoned his teachers (for he had become a disciple of +professed masters), and discontentedly wandered about in M[=a]gadha +(Beh[=a]r), 'the cradle of Buddhism,' till he came to Uruvel[=a], +Bodhi Gay[=a].[9] Here, having found that concentration of mind, +Yoga-discipline, availed nothing, he undertook another method of +asceticism, self-torture. This he practiced for some time. But it +succeeded as poorly as his first plan, and he had nearly starved +himself to death when it occurred to him that he was no wiser than +before. Thereupon he gave up starvation as a means of wisdom and began +to eat. Five other ascetics, who had been much impressed by his +endurance and were quite ready to declare themselves his disciples, +now deserted him, thinking that as he had relaxed his discipline he +must be weaker than themselves. But Gautama sat beneath the sacred +fig-tree[10] and lo! he became illumined. In a moment he saw the Great +Truths. He was now the Awakened. He became Buddha. + +The later tradition here records how he was tempted of Satan. For +M[=a]ra (Death), 'the Evil One' as he is called by the Buddhists, +knowing that Buddha had found the way of salvation, tempted him to +enter into Nirv[=a]na at once, lest by converting others Buddha should +rob M[=a]ra of his power and dominion. This and the legend of storms +attacking him and his being protected by the king of snakes, +Mucalinda, is lacking in the earlier tradition. + +Buddha remains under the _bo_-tree fasting, for four times seven days, +or seven times seven, as says the later report. At first he resolves +to be a 'Buddha for himself.'[11] that is to save only himself, not to +be 'the universal Buddha,' who converts and saves the world. But the +God Brahm[=a] comes down from heaven and persuades him out of pity for +the world to preach salvation. In this legend stands out clearly the +same fact we have animadverted upon already. Buddha had at first no +intention of helping his fellows. He found his own road to salvation. +That sufficed. But eventually he was moved through pity for his kind +to give others the same knowledge with which he had been +enlightened.[12] + +Here is to be noticed with what suddenness Gautama becomes Buddha. It +is an early case of the same absence of study or intellectual +preparation for belief that is rampant in the idea of ictic +conversion. In a moment Gautama's eyes are opened. In ecstacy he +becomes illuminated with the light of knowledge. This idea is totally +foreign to Brahmanism. It is not so strange at an earlier stage, for +the Vedic poet often 'sees' his hymn,[13] that is, he is inspired or +illumined. But no Brahman priest was ever 'enlightened' with sudden +wisdom, for his knowledge was his wisdom, and this consisted in +learning interminable trifles. But the wisdom of Buddha was this: + + I. Birth is sorrow, age is sorrow, sickness is sorrow, death + is sorrow, clinging to earthly things is sorrow. + + II. Birth and re-birth, the chain of reincarnations, result + from the thirst for life together with passion and desire. + + III. The only escape from this thirst is the annihilation of + desire. + + IV. The only way of escape from this thirst is by following + the Eightfold Path: Right belief, right resolve, right word, + right act, right life, right effort, right thinking, right + meditation.[14] + +But Buddha is said to have seen more than these, the Four Great +Truths, and the Eightfold Path, for he was enlightened at the same +time (after several days of fasting) in regard to the whole chain of +causality which is elaborated in the later tradition. + +The general result of this teaching may be formulated thus, that most +people are foolishly optimistic and that the great awakening is to +become a pessimist. One must believe not only that pain is inseparable +from existence, but that the pleasures of life are only a part of its +pain. When one has got so far along the path of knowledge he traverses +the next stage and gets rid of desire, which is the root of +life,--this is a Vedic utterance,--till by casting off desire, +ignorance, doubt, and heresy, as add some of the texts,[15] one has +removed far away all unkindness and vexation of soul, feeling +good-will to all. + +Not only in this scheme but also in other less formal declarations of +Buddha does one find the key-note of that which makes his method of +salvation different alike to that of Jain or Brahman. Knowledge is +wisdom to the Brahman; asceticism is wisdom to the Jain; purity and +love is the first wisdom to the Buddhist. We do not mean that the +Brahman does not reach theoretically a plane that puts him on the same +level with Buddhism. We have pointed out above a passage in the work +of the old law-giver Gautama which might almost have been +uttered by Gautama Buddha: "He that has performed all the forty +sacraments and has not the eight good qualities enters not into union +with Brahm[=a] nor into the heaven of Brahm[=a]; but he that has +performed only a part of the forty sacraments and has the eight good +qualities, enters into union with Brahm[=a] and into the heaven of +Brahm[=a]"; and these eight good qualities are mercy, forbearance, +freedom from envy, purity, calmness, correct behavior, freedom from +greed and from covetousness. Nevertheless with the Brahman this is +adventitious, with the Buddhist it is essential. + +These Four Great Truths are given to the world first at Benares, +whither Buddha went in order to preach to the five ascetics that had +deserted him. His conversation with them shows us another side of +Buddhistic ethics. The five monks, when they saw Buddha approaching, +jeered, and said: "Here is the one that failed in his austerities." +Buddha tells them to acknowledge him as their master, and that he is +the Enlightened One. "How," they ask, "if you could not succeed in +becoming a Buddha by asceticism, can we suppose that you become one by +indulgence?" Buddha tells them that neither voluptuousness nor +asceticism is the road that leads to Nirv[=a]na; that he, Buddha, has +found the middle path between the two extremes, the note is struck +that is neither too high nor too low. The five monks are converted +when they hear the Four Great Truths and the Eightfold Path, and there +are now six holy ones on earth, Buddha and his five disciples. + +Significant also is the social status of Buddha's first conversion. It +is 'the rich youth' of Benares that flock about him,[16] of whom sixty +soon are counted, and these are sent out into all the lands to preach +the gospel, each to speak in his own tongue, for religion was from +this time on no longer to be hid behind the veil of an unintelligible +language. And it is not only the aristocracy of wealth that attaches +itself to the new teacher and embraces his doctrines with enthusiasm. +The next converts are a thousand Brahman priests, who constituted a +religious body under the leadership of three ascetic Brahmans. It is +described in the old writings how these priests were still performing +their Vedic rites when Buddha came again to Bodhi Gay[=a] and found +them there. They were overcome with astonishment as they saw his power +over the King of Snakes that lived among them. The gods--for Buddhism, +if not Buddha, has much to do with the gods--descend from heaven to +hear him, and other marvels take place. The Brahmans are all +converted. The miracles and the numbers may be stripped off, but thus +denuded the truth still remains as important as it is plain. Priests +of Brahman caste were among the first to adopt Buddhism. The popular +effect of the teaching must have been great, for one reads how, when +Buddha, after this great conversion, begins his victorious wanderings +in Beh[=a]r (M[=a]gadha), he converted so many of the young nobles +that--since conversion led to the immediate result of +renunciation--the people murmured, saying that Gautama (Gotama) was +robbing them of their youth.[17] + +From this time on Buddha's life was spent in wandering about and +preaching the new creed mainly to the people of Beh[=a]r and Oude +(K[=a]ci-Kosala, the realm of Benares-Oude), his course extending from +the (Ir[=a]vati) Rapti river in the north to R[=a]jagriha (_gaha,_ now +Rajgir) south of Beh[=a]r, while he spent the _vasso_ or rainy season +in one of the parks, many of which were donated to him by wealthy +members of the fraternity.[18] + +Wherever he went he was accompanied with a considerable number of +followers, and one reads of pilgrims from distant places coming to see +and converse with him. The number of his followers appears to have +been somewhat exaggerated by the later writers, since Buddha himself, +when prophesying of the next Buddha, the "Buddha of love" (Maitreya) +says that, whereas he himself has hundreds of followers, the next +Buddha will lead hundreds of thousands. + +Although, theoretically, all the castes give up their name, and, when +united in the Buddhistic brotherhood, become "like rivers that give up +their identity and unite in the one ocean," yet were most of the early +recruits, as has been said, from influential and powerful families; +and it is a tenet of Buddhism in regard to the numerous Buddhas, which +have been born[19] and are still to be born on earth, that no Buddha +can be born in a low caste. + +The reason for this lies as much as anything in the nature of the +Buddhistic system which is expressly declared to be "for the wise, not +for the foolish." It was not a system based as such on love or on any +democratic sentiment. It was a philosophical exposition of the causal +nexus of birth and freedom from re-birth. The common man, untrained in +logic, might adopt the teaching, but he could not understand it. The +"Congregation of the son of the C[=a]kyas"--such was the earliest name +for the Buddhistic brotherhood--were required only to renounce their +family, put on the yellow robe, assume the tonsure and other outward +signs, and be chaste and high-minded. But the teachers were instructed +in the subtleties of the 'Path,' and it needed no little training to +follow the leader's thought to its logical conclusion. + +Of Buddha's life, besides the circumstances already narrated little is +known. Of his disciples the best beloved was [=A]nanda, his own +cousin, whose brother was the Judas of Buddhism. The latter, Devadatta +by name, conspired to kill Buddha in order that he himself might get +the post of honor. But hell opened and swallowed him up. He appears to +have had convictions of Jain tendency, for before his intrigue he +preached against Buddha, and formulated reactionary propositions which +inculcated a stricter asceticism than that taught by the Master.[20] + +It has been denied that the early church contained lay members as well +as monks, but Oldenberg appears to have set the matter right (p. 165) +in showing that the laity, from the beginning, were a recognized part +of the general church. The monk (_bhikshu, bhikku_) was formally +enrolled as a disciple, wore the gown and tonsure, etc. The lay +brother, 'reverer' (_up[=a]saka_) was one that assented to the +doctrine and treated the monks kindly. There were, at first, only men +in the congregation, for Buddhism took a view as unfavorable to woman +as did Jainism. But at his foster-mother's request Buddha finally +admitted nuns as well as monks into his fold. When [=A]nanda asks how +a monk should act in presence of a woman Buddha says 'avoid to look at +her'; but if it be necessary to look, 'do not speak to her'; but if it +be necessary to speak, 'then keep wide awake, [=A]nanda.'[21] + +Buddha died in the fifth century. Rhys Davids, who puts the date later +than most scholars, gives, as the time of the great Nirv[=a]na, the +second decade from the end of the fourth century. On the other hand, +Buehler and Mueller reckon the year as 477, while Oldenberg says 'about +480.'[22] From Buddha's own words, as reported by tradition, he was +eighty years old at the time of his death, and if one allots him +thirty-six years as his age when he became independent of masters, his +active life would be one of forty-four years. It was probably less +than this, however, for some years must be added to the first seven of +ascetic practices before he took the field as a preacher. + +The story of Buddha's death is told simply and clearly. He crossed the +Ganges, where at that time was building the town of Patna +(P[=a]taliputta, 'Palibothra'), and prophesied its future greatness +(it was the chief city of India for centuries after); then, going +north from R[=a]jagriha, in Beh[=a]r, and V[=a]ic[=a]l[=i], he +proceeded to a point east of Gorukhpur (Kasia). Tradition thus makes +him wander over the most familiar places till he comes back almost to +his own country. There, in the region known to him as a youth, weighed +down with years and ill-health, but surrounded by his most faithful +disciples, he died. Not unaffecting is the final scene.[23] + +'Now the venerable [=A]nanda (Buddha's beloved disciple) went into the +cloister-building, and stood leaning against the lintel of the door +and weeping at the thought: "Alas! I remain still but a learner, one +who has yet to work out his own perfection. And the Master is about to +pass away from me--he who is so kind." Then the Blessed One called the +brethren and said: "Where then, brethren, is [=A]nanda?" "The +venerable [=A]nanda (they replied) has gone into the cloister-building +and stands leaning against the lintel of the door, weeping." ... And +the Blessed One called a certain brother, and said "Go now, brother, +and call [=A]nanda in my name and say, 'Brother [=A]nanda, thy Master +calls for thee.'" "Even so, Lord," said that brother, and he went up +to where [=A]nanda was, and said to the venerable [=A]nanda: "Brother +[=A]nanda, thy Master calls for thee." "It is well, brother," said the +venerable [=A]nanda, and he went to the place where Buddha was. And +when he was come thither he bowed down before the Blessed One, and +took his seat on one side. Then the Blessed One said to the venerable +[=A]nanda, as he sat there by his side: "Enough, [=A]nanda, let not +thyself be troubled; weep not. Have I not told thee already that we +must divide ourselves from all that is nearest and dearest? How can it +be possible that a being born to die should not die? For a long time, +[=A]nanda, hast thou been very near to me by acts of love that is kind +and good and never varies, and is beyond all measure. (This Buddha +repeats three times.) Thou hast done well. Be earnest in effort. Thou, +too, shalt soon be free." ... When he had thus spoken, the venerable +[=A]nanda said to the Blessed One: "Let not the Blessed One die in +this little wattle and daub town, a town in the midst of the jungle, +in this branch township. For, Lord, there are other great cities such +as Benares (and others). Let the Blessed One die in one of them."' + +This request is refused by Buddha. [=A]nanda then goes to the town and +tells the citizens that Buddha is dying. 'Now, when they had heard +this saying, they, With their young men and maidens and wives were +grieved, and sad, and afflicted at heart. And some of them wept, +dishevelling their hair, and stretched forth their arms, and wept, +fell prostrate on the ground and rolled to and fro, in anguish at +the thought "Too soon will the Blessed One die! Too soon will the +Happy One pass away! Full soon will the Light of the world vanish +away!"' ... When Buddha is alone again with his disciples, 'then the +Blessed One addressed the brethren and said "It may be, brethren, that +there may be doubt or misgiving in the mind of some brother as to the +Buddha, the truth, the path or the way. Inquire, brethren, freely. Do +not have to reproach yourselves afterwards with this thought: 'Our +Teacher was face to face with us, and we could not bring ourselves to +inquire of the Blessed One when we were face to face with him.'" And +when he had thus spoken they sat silent. Then (after repeating these +words and receiving no reply) the Blessed One addressed the brethren +and said, "It may be that you put no questions out of reverence for +the Teacher. Let one friend communicate with another." And when he had +thus spoken the brethren sat silent. And the venerable [=A]nanda said: +"How wonderful a thing, Lord, and how marvellous. Verily, in this +whole assembly, there is not one brother who has doubt or misgiving as +to Buddha, the truth, the path or the way." Then Buddha said: "It is +out of the fullness of thy faith that thou hast spoken, [=A]nanda. But +I know it for certain." ... Then the Blessed One addressed the +brethren saying: "Behold, brethren, I exhort you saying, transitory +are all component things; toil without ceasing." And these were the +last words of Buddha.' + +It is necessary here to make pause for a moment and survey the +temporal and geographical circumstances of Buddha's life. His lifetime +covered the period of greatest intellectual growth in Athens. If, as +some think, the great book of doubt[24] was written by the Hebrew in +450, there would be in three lands, at least, about the same time the +same earnestly scornful skepticism in regard to the worn-out teachings +of the fathers. But at a time when, in Greece, the greatest minds were +still veiling infidelity as best they could, in India atheism was +already formulated. + +It has been questioned, and the question has been answered both +affirmatively and negatively, whether the climatic conditions of +Buddha's home were in part responsible for the pessimistic tone of his +philosophy. If one compare the geographical relation of Buddhism to +Brahmanism and to Vedism respectively with a more familiar geography +nearer home, he will be better able to judge in how far these +conditions may have influenced the mental and religious tone. Taking +Kabul and Kashmeer as the northern limit of the period of the Rig +Veda, there are three geographical centres. The latitude of the Vedic +poets corresponds to about the southern boundary of Tennessee and +North Carolina. The entire tract covered by the southern migration to +the time of Buddhism, extending from Kabul to a point that corresponds +to Benares (35 deg. is a little north of Kabul and 25 deg. is a little south +of Beh[=a]r), would be represented loosely in the United States by the +difference between the northern line of Mississippi and Key West. The +extent of Georgia about represents in latitude the Vedic province (35 deg. +to 30 deg.), while Florida (30 deg. to 25 deg.) roughly shows the southern +progress from the seat of old Brahmanism to the cradle of young +Buddhism. These are the extreme limits of Vedism, Brahmanism and +proto-Buddhism. South of this the country was known to Brahmanism only +to be called savage, and not before the late S[=u]tras (c. 300 B.C.) +is one brought as far south as Bombay in the West. The [=A]itareya +Br[=a]hmana, which represents the old centre of Brahmanism around +Delhi, knows of the [=A]ndhras, south of the God[=a]var[=i] river in +the southeast (about the latitude of Bombay and Hayti), only as outer +'Barbarians.' It is quite conceivable that a race of hardy +mountaineers, in shifting their home through generations from the +hills of Georgia and Tennessee to the sub-tropical region of Key West +(to Cuba), in the course of many centuries might become morally +affected. But it seems to us, although the miasmatic plains of Bengal +may perhaps present even a sharper contrast to the Vedic region than +do Key West and Cuba to Georgia, that the climate in effecting a moral +degradation (if pessimism be immoral) must have produced also the +effect of mental debility. Now to our mind there is not the slightest +proof for the asseveration, which has been repeated so often that it +is accepted by many nowadays as a truism, that Buddhism or even +post-Buddhistic literature shows any trace of mental decay.[25] There +certainly is mental weakness in the Br[=a]hmanas, but these cannot all +be accredited to the miasms of Bengal. They are the bones of a +religion already dead, kept for instruction in a cabinet; dry, dusty, +lifeless, but awful to the beholder and useful to the owner. Again, +does Buddhism lose in the comparison from an intellectual point of +view when set beside the mazy gropings of the Upanishads? We have +shown that dogma was the base of primal pantheism; of real logic there +is not a whit. We admire the spirit of the teachers in the Upanishads, +but we have very little respect for the logical ability of any early +Hindu teachers; that is to say, there is very little of it to admire. +The doctors of the Upanishad philosophy were poets, not dialecticians. +Poetry indeed waned in the extreme south, and no spirited or powerful +literature ever was produced there, unless it was due to foreign +influence, such as the religious poetry of Ramaism and the Tamil +_Sittars_. But in secondary subtlety and in the marking of +distinctions, in classifying and analyzing on dogmatic premises, as +well as in the acceptance of hearsay truths as ultimate verities--we +do not see any fundamental disparity in these regards between the mind +of the Northwest and that of the Southeast; and what superficial +difference exists goes to the credit of Buddhism. For if one must have +dogma it is something to have system, and while precedent theosophy +was based on the former it knew nothing of the latter. Moreover, in +Buddhism there is a greater intellectual vigor than in any phase of +Brahmanism (as distinct from Vedism). To cast off not only gods but +soul, and more, to deny the moral efficacy of asceticism this was a +leap into the void, to appreciate the daring of which one has but to +read himself into the priestly literature of Buddha's rivals, both +heterodox and orthodox. We see then in Buddhism neither a debauched +moral type, nor a weakened intellectuality. The pessimism of Buddhism, +so far as it concerns earth, is not only the same pessimism that +underlies the religious motive of Brahmanic pantheism, but it is the +same pessimism that pervades Christianity and even Hebraism. This +world is a sorry place, living is suffering; do thou escape from it. +The pleasures of life are vanity; do thou renounce them. "To die is +gain," says the apostle; and the Preacher: "I have seen all the works +that are done under the sun and behold all is vanity and vexation of +spirit. He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. For what hath +man of all his labor and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath +laboured under the sun? For all his days are sorrows and his travail +grief. That which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one +thing befalleth them: as the one dieth so dieth the other; yea, they +have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: +for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all +turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of man whether it goeth +upward? I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living +which are yet alive. The dead know not anything, their love and their +hatred and their envy is now perished; neither have they any more a +portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun. The +wandering of the desire, this also is vanity." + +The Preacher is a fairly good Buddhist. + +If pessimism be the conviction that life on earth is not worth living, +this view is shared alike by the greatest of earth's religions. If +pessimism be the view that all beauty ends with life and that beyond +it there is nothing for which it is worth while to live, then India +has no parallel to this Homeric belief. If, however, pessimism mean +that to have done with existence on earth is the best that can happen +to a man, but that there is bliss beyond, then this is the opinion of +Brahmanism, Jainism, and Christianity. Buddhism alone teaches that to +live on earth is weariness, that there is no bliss beyond, and that +one should yet be calm, pure, loving, and wise. + +How could such a religion inspire enthusiasm? How could it send forth +jubilant disciples to preach the gospel of joy? Yet did Buddhism do +even this. Not less happy and blissful than were they that received +the first comfort of pantheism were the apostles of Buddha. His +progress was a triumph of gladness. They that believed in him rejoiced +and hastened to their fellows with the good tidings. Was it then a new +morality, a new ethical code, that thus inspired them? Let one but +look at the vows and commandments respectively taken by and given to +the Buddhist monk, and he will see that in Buddhism there is no new +morality. + +The Ten Vows are as follows: + + I take the vow not to kill; not to steal; to abstain from + impurity; not to lie; to abstain from intoxicating drinks + which hinder progress and virtue; not to eat at forbidden + times; to abstain from dancing, singing, music and stage + plays; not to use garlands, scents, unguents, or ornaments; + not to use a high or broad bed; not to receive gold or + silver. + +The Eight Commandments are as follows: + + Do not kill; do not steal; do not lie; do not drink + intoxicating drinks; do not commit fornication or adultery; + do not eat unseasonable food at night; do not wear garlands + or use perfumes; sleep on a mat spread on the ground. + +The first five of these commands are given to every Buddhist, monk, or +layman; the last three are binding only on the monk.[26] + +These laws and rules were, however, as we have indicated in +the chapter on Jainism, the common property, with some unimportant +variations and exceptions, of the Brahman ascetic, the Jain, and the +Buddhist. There was surely nothing here to rouse especial interest. +No. But there was one side of Buddhism that was new, not absolutely +new, for it formed part of the moral possession of that early band +which we may call the congregation of the Spirit. The Brahman +theoretically had done away with penance and with prayer, with the +Vedic gods and with the Vedic rites. Yet was it impossible for him +practically to absolve the folk of these. The priest might admit that +he knew a better way to salvation, but he still led the people over +the hard old road, and he himself went that way also, because it was +the way of the fathers, because it was the only way for them that were +unwise, and perhaps, too, because it was the only way in which the +priest could keep his place as guide and leader of the people. + +Jainism smote down some of the obstacles that the Brahman had built +and kept. Mah[=a]v[=i]ra made the way to salvation shorter, but he did +not make it easier for the masses. Asceticism, self-mortification, +starvation, torture,--this was his means of gaining happiness +hereafter. + +But Buddha cut down all obstacles. He made the lowest equal with the +highest. It is true that he was no democrat. It is true that his +success depended, in great part, on political influence, on the +conversion of kings and nobles, men of his own class. It is true also +that Buddha at first, like every other Hindu theosophist, sought no +salvation for the world around him, but only for himself. But he was +moved with pity for the multitude. And why? The sages among them knew +no path to happiness save through life-long torture; the common people +knew only a religion of rites in which they took no interest, the very +words of which were unintelligible; and its priests in their eyes, if +not contemptible, at least were unsympathetic. And at the same time +the old caste-system oppressed and insulted them. It is evident that +the times were ripe for a more humane religion and a new distribution +of social privileges. Then Buddha arose and said: "He that is pure in +heart is the true priest, not he that knows the Veda. Like unto one +that standeth where a king hath stood and spoken, and standing and +speaking there deems himself for this a king, seems to me the man that +repeateth the hymns, which the wise men of old have spoken, and +standing in their place and speaking, deems himself for this a sage. +The Vedas are nothing, the priests are of no account, save as they be +morally of repute. Again, what use to mortify the flesh? Asceticism is +of no value. Be pure, be good; this is the foundation of wisdom--to +restrain desire, to be satisfied with little. He is a holy man who +doeth this. Knowledge follows this." + +Here is the essence of Buddhism, here is its power; and when one +reflects that Buddha added: "Go into all lands and preach this gospel; +tell them that the poor and lowly, the rich and high, are all one, and +that all castes unite in this religion, as unite the rivers in the +sea"--he will understand what key was used to open the hearts of +Buddha's kinsmen and people. + +But, it will be said, there is nothing in this of that extreme +pessimism, of which mention has just been made. True. And this, again, +is an important point to bear in mind, that whereas the logic of his +own system led Buddha into a formal and complete pessimism, which +denies an after-life to the man that finds no happiness in this, he +yet never insists upon this. He not only does not insist, but in his +talks with his questioners and disciples he uses all means to evade +direct inquiry in regard to the fate of man after death. He believed +that Nirv[=a]na (extinction of lust) led to cessation of being; he did +not believe in an immortal soul. But he urged no such negative +doctrine as this. What he urged repeatedly was that every one +accepting the undisputed doctrine of _karma_ or re-birth in its full +extent (i.e., that for every sin here, punishment followed in the +next existence), should endeavor to escape, if possible, from such an +endless course of painful re-births, and that to accomplish this it +was necessary first to be sober and good, then to be learned, but not +to be an ascetic. On the other hand the doctrine, in its logical +fullness, was a teaching only for the wise, not for fools. He imparted +it only to the wise. What is one to understand from this? Clearly, +that Buddha regarded the mass of his disciples as standing in need +merely of the Four Great Truths, the confession of which was the sign +of becoming a disciple; while to the strong and wise he reserved the +logical pessimism, which resulted from his first denials and the +premises of causality on which was created his complicated system. +Only thus can one comprehend the importance of Buddhism to his own +time and people, only in this light reconcile the discrepancy between +the accounts of a religion which roused multitudes to enthusiasm and +joy, while on the other hand it stood on the cold basis of complete +nihilism. Formally there was not an esoteric[27] and exoteric +Buddhism, but practically what the apostles taught, what Buddha +himself taught to the mass of his hearers was a release from the +bondage of the law and the freedom of a high moral code as the one +thing needful. But he never taught that sacrifice was a bad thing; he +never either took the priest's place himself or cast scorn upon the +Brahman caste: "Better even than a harmless[28] sacrifice is +liberality" he says, "better than liberality is faith and kindness +(non-injury) and truth, better than faith, kindness, and truth is +renunciation of the world and the search for peace; best of all, the +highest sacrifice and greatest good, is when one enters Nirv[=a]na, +saying "I shall not return again to earth." This is to be an Arhat +(Perfect Sage). + +These are Buddha's own words as he spoke with a Brahman priest,[29] +who was converted thereby and replied at once with the Buddhist's +confession of faith: "I take refuge in Buddha, in the doctrine, in the +church." + +A significant conversation! In many ways these words should be +corrective of much that is hazarded today in regard to Buddhism. There +is here no elaborate system of metaphysics. Wisdom consists in the +truth as it is in Buddha; and before truth stand, as antecedently +essential, faith and kindness; for so may one render the passive +non-injury of the Brahman as taught by the Buddhist. To have faith and +good works, to renounce the pomps and vanities of life, to show +kindness to every living thing, to seek for salvation, to understand, +and so finally to leave no second self behind to suffer again, this is +Buddha's doctrine. + +We have avoided thus far to define Nirv[=a]na. It has three distinct +meanings, eternal blissful repose (such was the Nirv[=a]na of the +Jains and in part of Buddhism), extinction and absolute annihilation +(such was the Nirv[=a]na of some Buddhists), and the Nirv[=a]na of +Buddha himself. Nirv[=a]na meant to Buddha the extinction of lust, +anger, and ignorance. He adopted the term, he did not invent it. He +was often questioned, but persistently refused to say whether he +believed that Nirv[=a]na implied extinction of being or not. We +believe that in this refusal to speak on so vital a point lies the +evidence that he himself regarded the 'extinction' or 'blowing out' +(this is what the word means literally) as resulting in annihilation. +Had he believed otherwise we think he would not have hesitated to say +so, for it would have strengthened his influence among them to whom +annihilation was not a pleasing thought. + +But one has no right to 'go behind the returns' as these are given by +Buddha. The later church says distinctly that Buddha himself did not +teach whether he himself, his ego, was to live after death or not; or +whether a permanent ego exists. It is useless, therefore, to inquire +whether Buddha's Nirv[=a]na be a completion, as Mueller defines it, or +annihilation. To one Buddhistic party it was the one; to the other, +the other; to Buddha himself it was what may be inferred from his +refusal to make any declaration in regard to it. + +The second point of interest is not more easily disposed of. What to +the Buddhist is the spirit, the soul of man? It certainly is not an +eternal spirit, such as was the spirit of Brahmanic philosophy, or +that of the Jain. But, on the other hand, it is clear that something +survived after death till one was reborn for the last time, and then +entered Nirv[=a]na. The part that animates the material complex is to +the Buddhist an individuality which depends on the nature of its +former complex, home, and is destined to project itself upon futurity +till the house which it has built ceases to exist, a home rebuilt no +more to be its tabernacle. When a man dies the component parts of his +material personality fall apart, and a new complex is formed, of which +the individuality is the effect of the _karma_ of the preceding +complex. The new person is one's karmic self, but it is not one's +identical ego. There appears, therefore, even in the doctrine of +Nirv[=a]na, to lie something of that altruism so conspicuous in the +insistence on kindness and conversion of others. It is to save from +sorrow this son of one's acts that one should seek to find the end. +But there is no soul to save. + +We cannot insist too often on the fact that the religion of Buddha was +not less practical than human. He practiced, as he taught, that the +more one worked for others, was devoted to others, the less he cared +for himself, the less was he the victim of desire. Hence he says that +a true Nirv[=a]na may come even in one's own lifetime--the utter +surrender of one's self is Nirv[=a]na,[30] while the act of dying only +draws the curtain after the tragedy has ended. "Except," Buddha says, +"for birth, age, and death, there would be no need of Buddha." + +A review of Buddha's system of metaphysics is, therefore, doubly +unnecessary for our present purpose.[31] In the first place we believe +that most of the categories and metaphysical niceties of Buddhism, as +handed down, are of secondary origin; and, were this not so, it is +still evident that they were but the unimportant, intellectual +appendage of a religion that was based on anything but metaphysical +subtleties. Buddha, like every other teacher of his time, had to have +a 'system,' though whether the system handed down as his reverts to +him it is impossible to say. But Buddha's recondite doctrine was only +for the wise. "It is hard to learn for an ordinary person," says +Buddha himself. But it was the ordinary person that Buddhism took to +its bosom. The reason can be only the one we have given. For the last +stage before Arhat-ship Buddha had ready a complicate system. But he +did not inflict it on the ordinary person.[32] It was not an essential +but the completing of his teaching; in his own eyes truth as +represented by the Four Great Truths was the real doctrine. + +The religion of Buddha, for the mass of people, lies in the Four Great +Truths and their practical application to others, which implies +kindness and love of humanity. For Buddha, whatever may have been the +reluctance with which he began to preach, shows in all his teachings +and dealings with men an enduring patience under their rebuffs, a +brotherly sympathy with their weakness, and a divine pity for their +sorrows. Something, too, of divine anger with the pettiness and +meanness of the unworthy ones among his followers, as when, after +preaching with parable and exhortation to the wrangling brothers of +the monastery of Kosamb[=i], he left them, saying, "'Truly these fools +are infatuate; it is no easy task to administer instruction to them,' +and," it is added simply, "he rose from his seat and went away."[33] + +The significance of the church organization in the development of +Buddhism should not be under-estimated. Contrasted with the lack of an +organized ecclesiastical corporation among the Brahmans the Buddhistic +synod, or congregation, Sangha, exerted a great influence. In +different places there would be a park set apart for the Buddhist +monks. Here they had their monastery buildings, here they lived during +the rainy season, from this place out as a centre the monks radiated +through the country, not as lone mendicants, but as members of a +powerful fraternity. To this monastery came gifts, receipts of all +kinds that never would have been bestowed upon individuals. +Undoubtedly organization did much for the spread of Buddhism. Yet we +think its influence has been emphasized almost too much by some +scholars, or rather the effect has been represented as too radical. +For the monasteries, as represented by tradition, with their immense +wealth and political importance as allies of the heretical kings of +the East, are plainly of secondary growth. If one limit their national +and political importance to a period one or two hundred years after +the Master's time, he will not err in attributing to this cause, as +does Barth, the reason for the rapid rise and supremacy of Buddhism +over India. But the first beginnings of the institution were small, +and what is to be sought in the beginning of Buddhism is rather +the reason why the monasteries became popular, and what was the hold +which Buddha had upon the masses, and which induced the formation of +this great engine of religious war. And when this first question is +raised the answer must still be that the banding together of the monks +was not the cause but the effect of the popularity of Buddhism. The +first monasteries, as Barth well says, were only assemblies of pious +men who formed a spiritual band of religious thinkers, of men who +united themselves into one body to the end that they might study +righteousness, learning together how to imitate the Master in holiness +of living. But the members converted soon became so many that formal +assemblies became a necessity to settle the practical disputes and +theoretical questions which were raised by the new multitude of +believers, some of whom were more factious than devout. Brahmanism had +no need of this. The Brahman priest had his law in tradition; his life +and conduct were regulated by immemorial law. The corporations of +these priests were but temporary organizations for specific purposes. +They made no attempt to proselytize. Their members never exceeded the +bounds of the caste. The cause, then, of the rapid spread of Buddhism +at the beginning of its career lies only in the conditions of its +teaching and the influential backing of its founder. It was the +individual Buddha that captivated men; it was the teaching that +emanated from him that fired enthusiasm; it was his position as an +aristocrat that made him acceptable to the aristocracy, his magnetism +that made him the idol of the people. From every page stands out the +strong, attractive personality of this teacher and winner of hearts. +No man ever lived so godless yet so godlike. Arrogating to himself no +divinity, despairing of future bliss, but without fear as without +hope, leader of thought but despising lovingly the folly of the world, +exalted but adored, the universal brother, he wandered among men, +simply, serenely; with gentle irony subduing them that opposed him, to +congregation after congregation speaking with majestic sweetness, the +master to each, the friend of all. His voice was singularly vibrant +and eloquent;[34] his very tones convinced the hearer, his looks +inspired awe. From the tradition it appears that he must have been one +of those whose personality alone suffices to make a man not only a +leader but a god to the hearts of his fellows. When such an one speaks +he obtains hearers. It matters little what he says, for he influences +the emotions, and bends whoever listens to his will. But if added to +this personality, if encompassing it, there be the feeling in the +minds of others that what this man teaches is not only a verity, but +the very hope of their salvation; if for the first time they recognize +in his words the truth that makes of slaves free men, of classes a +brotherhood, then it is not difficult to see wherein lies the +lightning-like speed with which the electric current passes from heart +to heart. Such a man was Buddha, such was the essential of his +teaching; and such was the inevitable rapidity of Buddhistic +expansion, and the profound influence of the shock that was produced +by the new faith upon the moral consciousness of Buddha's people. + +The literature of early Buddhism consists of a number of historical +works embodying the life and teaching of the master, some of more +didactic and epigrammatic intent, and, in the writings of the Northern +Buddhists, some that have given up the verbose simplicity of the first +tracts in favor of tasteless and extravagant recitals more stagey than +impressive. The final collection of the sacred books (earlier is the +Suttanta division into Nik[=a]yas) is called Tripitaka, 'the three +baskets,' one containing the tracts on discipline; one, the talks of +Buddha; and one, partly metaphysical; called respectively Vinaya, +Sutta, and Abhidhamma. The Southern[35] P[=a]li redaction--for the +writings of the Northern[36] Buddhists are in Sanskrit--was commented +upon in the fifth century of this era by Buddha-gosha ('Buddha's +glory'), and appears to be older than the Sanskrit version of +Nep[=a]l. Some of the writings go back as far as the Second Council, +and their content, so far as it concerns Buddha's own words, in many +cases is doubtless a tradition that one should accept as +authoritative. The works on discipline, instead of being as dull as +one might reasonably expect of books that deal with the petty details +of a monastery, are of exceeding interest (although whole chapters +conform to the reasonable expectation), for they contain fragments of +the work and words of Buddha which give a clearer idea of his +personality and teaching than do his more extended, and perhaps less +original discourses. They throw a strong light also on the early +church, its recalcitrant as well as its obedient members, the quarrels +and schisms that appear to have arisen even before Buddha's death. +Thus in the _Mah[=a]vagga_ (ch. X) there is found an account of the +schism caused by the expulsion of some unworthy members. The brethren +are not only schismatic, some taking the side of those expelled, but +they are even insolent to Buddha; and when he entreats them for the +sake of the effect on the outer world to heal their differences,[37] +they tell him to his face that they will take the responsibility, and +that he need not concern himself with the matter. It is on this +occasion that Buddha says, "Truly, these fools are infatuate," leaves +them, and goes into solitude, rejoicing to be free from souls so +quarrelsome and contentious. Again these tracts give a picture of how +they should live that are truly Buddha's disciples. Buddha finds three +disciples living in perfect harmony, and asks them how they live +together so peaceably and lovingly. In quaint and yet dignified +language they reply, and tell him that they serve each other. He that +rises first prepares the meal, he that returns last at night puts the +room in order, etc. (_ib_. 4). Occasionally in the account of unruly +brothers it is evident that tradition must be anticipating, or that +many joined the Buddhist fraternity as an excuse from restraint. The +_Cullavagga_ opens with the story of two notorious renegades, 'makers +of strife, quarrelsome, makers of dispute, given to idle talk, and +raisers of legal questions in the congregation.' Such were the +infamous followers of Panduka and Lohitaka. Of a different sort, +Epicurean or rather frivolous, were the adherents of Assaji and +Punabbasu, who, according to another chapter of the _Cullavagga_ (I. +13), 'cut flowers, planted cuttings of flowers, used ointment and +scents, danced, wore garlands, and revelled wickedly.' A list of the +amusements in which indulged these flighty monks includes 'games +played with six and ten pieces, tossing up, hopping over diagrams, +dice, jackstraws,[38] ball, sketching, racing, marbles, wrestling,' +etc; to which a like list (_Tevijja_, II) adds chess or checkers +('playing with a board of sixty-four squares or one hundred squares'), +ghost stories, and unseemly wrangling in regard to belief ("I am +orthodox, you are heterodox"), earning a living by prognostication, by +taking omens 'from a mirror' or otherwise, by quack medicines, and by +'pretending to understand the language of beasts.' It is gratifying to +learn that the scented offenders described in the first-mentioned work +were banished from the order. According to the regular procedure, they +were first warned, then reminded, then charged; then the matter was +laid before the congregation, and they were obliged to leave the +order. Even the detail of Subhadda's insolence is not wanting in these +records _(Cull_. XI. 1. and elsewhere). No sooner was Buddha dead than +the traitor Subhadda cries out: "We are well rid of him; he gave us +too many rules. Now we may do as we like." On which the assembly +proceeded to declare in force all the rules that Buddha had given, +although he had left it to them to discard them when they would. The +Confessional (P[=a]timokkha), out of which have been evolved in +narrative form the Vinaya texts that contain it, concerns graded +offences, matters of expiation, rules regarding decency, directions +concerning robes, rugs, bowls, and other rather uninteresting topics, +all discussed in the form of a confession.[39] The church-reader goes +over the rules in the presence of the congregation, and asks at the +end of each section whether any one is guilty of having broken this +rule. If at the third repetition no one responds, he says, 'They are +declared innocent by their silence.' This was the first public +confessional, although, as we have shown above, the idea of a partial +remission of sin by means of confession to the priest is found in +Brahmanic literature.[40] The confession extends to very small +matters, but one sees from other texts that the early congregation +laid a great deal of weight on details, such as dress, as the sign of +a sober life. Thus in _Mah[=a]vagga_, V. 2 ff., certain Buddhists +dress in a worldly way. At one time one is informed of the color of +their heretical slippers, at another of the make of their wicked +gowns. All this is monastic, even in the discipline which 'sets back' +a badly behaved monk, gives him probation, forces him to be +subordinate. In _Cullavagga_, I. 9, there is an account of stupid +Seyyasaka, who was dull and indiscreet, and was always getting 'set +back' by the brethren. Finally they grow weary of probating him and +carry out the _nissaya_ against him, obliging him to remain under the +superintendence of others. For, according to Buddha's rule, a wise +novice was kept under surveillance, or rather under the authority of +others, for five years; a stupid uninformed monk, forever. Buddha's +relations with society are plainly set forth. One reads how his +devoted friend, King Seniya Bimbis[=a]ra, four years younger than +Buddha, and his protector (for he was King of M[=a]gadha), gives him a +park, perhaps the first donation of this sort, the origin of all the +monastic foundations: "The King of M[=a]gadha, Bimbis[=a]ra, thought +'here is this bamboo forest Venuvana, my pleasure-garden, which is +neither too near to the town nor too far from it.... What if I were to +give it to the fraternity?' ... And he took a golden vessel (of water) +and dedicated the garden to Buddha, saying, 'I give up the park to the +fraternity with Buddha at its head.' And the Blessed One accepted the +park" (_Mah[=a]vagga_, i. 22).[41] Another such park Buddha accepts +from the courtezan, Ambap[=a]li, whose conversation with Buddha and +dinner-party to him forms a favorite story with the monks (_Mah[=a]v._ +v. 30; _Cull_. ii). The protection offered by Bimbis[=a]ra made the +order a fine retreat for rogues. In _Mah[=a]v._ 1. 41 ff. one reads +that King Seniya Bimbis[=a]ra made a decree: "No one is to do any harm +to those ordained among the C[=a]kya-son's monks.[42] Well taught is +their doctrine. Let them lead a holy life for the sake of complete +extinction of suffering." But robbers and runaway slaves immediately +took advantage of this decree, and by joining the order put the police +at defiance. Even debtors escaped, became monks, and mocked their +creditors. Buddha, therefore, made it a rule that no robber, runaway +slave, or other person liable to arrest should be admitted into the +order. He ordained further that no son might join the order without +his parents' consent (_ib_. 54). Still another motive of false +disciples had to be combated. The parents of Up[=a]li thought to +themselves: "What shalt we teach Up[=a]li that he may earn his living? +If we teach him writing his fingers will be sore; if we teach him +arithmetic his mind will be sore; if we teach him money-changing his +eyes will be sore. There are those Buddhist monks; they live an easy +life; they have enough to eat and shelter from the rain; we will make +him a monk." Buddha, hearing of this, ordained that no one should be +admitted into the order under twenty (with some exceptions). + +The monks' lives were simple. They went out by day to beg, were locked +in their cells at night (_Mah[=a]v_. i. 53), were probated for light +offences, and expelled for very severe ones.[43] The people are +represented as murmuring against the practices of the monks at first, +till the latter were brought to more modest behavior. It is perhaps +only Buddhist animosity that makes the narrator say: "They did not +behave modestly at table.... Then the people murmured and said, 'These +Buddhist monks make a riot at their meals, _they act just like the +Brahman priests.'" (Mah[=a]v_. i. 25; cf. i. 70.) + +We turn from the Discipline to the Sermons. Here one finds everything, +from moral exhortations to a book of Revelations.[44] Buddha sometimes +is represented as entering upon a dramatic dialogue with those whom he +wishes to reform, and the talk is narrated. With what soft irony he +questions, with what apparent simplicity he argues! In the +_Tevijja_[45] the scene opens with a young Brahman. He is a pious and +religious youth, and tells Buddha that although he yearns for 'union +with Brahm[=a],'[46] he does not know which of the different paths +proposed by Brahman priests lead to Brahm[=a]. Do they all lead to +union with Brahm[=a]? Buddha answers: 'Let us see; has any one of +these Brahmans ever seen Brahm[=a]?' 'No, indeed, Gautama.' 'Or did +any one of their ancestors ever see Brahm[=a]?' 'No, Gautama.' 'Well, +did the most ancient seers ever say that they knew where is +Brahm[=a]?' 'No, Gautama.' 'Then if neither the present Brahmans know, +nor the old Brahmans knew where is Brahm[=a], the present Brahmans say +in point of fact, "We can show the way to union with what we know not +and have never seen; this is the straight path, this is the direct way +which leads to Brahm[=a]"--and is this foolish talk?' 'It is foolish +talk.' 'Then, as to yearning for union with Brahm[=a], suppose a man +should say, "How I long for, how I love the most beautiful woman in +this land," and the people should ask, "Do you know whether that +beautiful woman is a noble lady, or a Brahman woman, or of the trader +class, or a slave?" and he should say, "No"; and the people should +say, "What is her name, is she tall or short, in what place does she +live?" and he should say, "I know not," and the people should say, +"Whom you know not, neither have seen, her you love and long for?" and +he should say, "Yes,"--would not that be foolish? Then, after this is +assented to, Buddha suggests another parallel. 'A man builds a +staircase, and the people ask, "Do you know where is the mansion to +which this staircase leads?" "I do not know." "Are you making a +staircase to lead to something, taking it for a mansion, which you +know not and have never seen?" "Yes." Would not this be foolish +talk?... Now what think you, is Brahm[=a] in possession of wives and +wealth?' 'He is not.' + +'Is his mind full of anger or free from anger? Is his mind full of +malice or free from malice?' 'Free from anger and malice.' 'Is his +mind depraved or pure?' 'Pure.' 'Has he self-mastery?' 'Yes.' 'Now +what think you, are the Brahmans in possession of wives and wealth, do +they have anger in their hearts, do they bear malice, are they impure +in heart, are they without self-mastery?' 'Yes.' 'Can there then be +likeness between the Brahmans and Brahm[=a]?' 'No.' 'Will they then +after death become united to Brahm[=a] who is not at all like them?' +Then Buddha points out the path of purity and love. Here is no +negative 'non-injury,' but something very different to anything that +had been preached before in India. When the novice puts away hate, +passion, wrong-doing, sinfulness of every kind, then: 'He lets his +mind pervade the whole wide world, above, below, around and +everywhere, with a heart of love, far-reaching, grown great, and +beyond measure. And he lets his mind pervade the whole world with a +heart of pity, sympathy, and equanimity, far-reaching, grown great, +and beyond measure.' Buddha concludes (adopting for effect the +Brahm[=a] of his convert): 'That the monk who is free from anger, free +from malice, pure in mind, and master of himself should after death, +when the body is dissolved, become united to Brahm[=a] who is the +same--such a condition of things is quite possible' Here is no +metaphysics, only a new religion based on morality and intense +humanity, yet is the young man moved to say, speaking for himself and +the friend with him: 'Lord, excellent are the words of thy mouth. As +if one were to bring a lamp into the darkness, just so, Lord, has the +truth been made known to us in many a figure by the Blessed One. And +we come to Buddha as our refuge, to the doctrine and to the church. +May the Blessed One accept us as disciples, as true believers, from +this day forth, as long as life endures.' + +The god Brahm[=a] of this dialoge is for the time being playfully +accepted by Buddha as the All-god. To the Buddhist himself Brahm[=a] +and all the Vedic gods are not exactly non-existent, but they are dim +figures that are more like demi-gods, fairies, or as some English +scholars call them, 'angels.' Whether Buddha himself really believed +in them, cannot be asserted or denied. This belief is attributed to +him, and his church is very superstitious. Probably Buddha did not +think it worth while to discuss the question. He neither knew nor +cared whether cloud-beings existed. It was enough to deny a Creator, +or to leave no place for him. Thaumaturgical powers are indeed +credited to the earliest belief, but there certainly is nothing in +harmony with Buddha's usual attitude in the extraordinary discourse +called _[=A]kankheyya_, wherein Buddha is represented as ascribing to +monks miraculous powers only hinted at in a vague 'shaking of the +earth' in more sober speech.[47] From the following let the 'Esoteric +Buddhists' of to-day take comfort, for it shows at least that they +share an ancient folly, although Buddha can scarcely be held +responsible for it: "If a monk should desire to become multiform, to +become visible or invisible, to go through a wall, a fence, or a +mountain as if through air; to penetrate up or down through solid +ground as if through water ... to traverse the sky, to touch the moon +... let him fulfil all righteousness, let him be devoted to that +quietude of heart which springs from within ... let him look through +things, let him be much alone." That is to say, let him aim for the +very tricks of the Yogis, which Buddha had discarded. Is there not +here perhaps a little irony? Buddha does not say that the monk will be +able to do this--he says if the monk wishes to do this, let him be +quiet and meditate and learn righteousness, then perhaps--but he will +at least have learned righteousness! + +The little tract called _Cetokhila_ contains a sermon which has not +lost entirely its usefulness or application, and it is characteristic +of the way in which Buddha treated eschatological conundrums: 'If a +brother has adopted the religious life in the hope of belonging to +some one of the angel (divine) hosts, thinking to himself, "by this +morality or by this observance or by this austerity or by this +religious life I shall become an angel," his mind does not incline to +zeal, exertion, perseverance and struggle, and he has not succeeded in +his religious life' (has not broken through the bonds). And, +continuing, Buddha says that just as a hen might sit carefully +brooding over her well-watched eggs, and might content herself with +the wish, 'O that this egg would let out the chick,' but all the time +there is no need of this torment, for the chicks will hatch if she +keeps watch and ward over them, so a man, if he does not think what is +to be, but keeps watch and ward of his words, thoughts, and acts, will +'come forth into the light.'[48] + +The questions in regard to Buddha's view of soul, immortality, and +religion are answered to our mind as clearly in the following passages +as Buddha desired they should be. 'Unwisely does one consider: "Have I +existed in ages past ... shall I exist in ages yet to be, do I exist +at all, am I, how am I? This is a being, whence is it come, whither +will it go?" Consideration such as this is walking in the jungle of +delusion. These are the things one should consider: "This is +suffering, this is the origin of suffering, this is the cessation of +suffering, this is the way that leads to the cessation of suffering." +From him that considers thus his fetters fall away' (_Sabb[=a]sava_). +In the _Vang[=i]sa-sutta_ Buddha is asked directly: "Has this good +man's life been vain to him, has he been extinguished, or is he still +left with some elements of existence; and how was he liberated?" and +he replies: "He has cut off desire for name and form in this world. He +has crossed completely the stream of birth and death." In the +_Salla-sutta_ it is said: "Without cause and unknown is the life of +mortals in this world, troubled, brief, combined with pain.... As +earthen vessels made by the potter end in being broken, so is the life +of mortals." One should compare the still stronger image, which gives +the very name of _nir-v[=a]na_ ('blowing out') in the +_Upas[=i]vam[=a]navapucch[=a]_: "As a flame blown about by wind goes +out and cannot be reckoned as existing, so a sage delivered from name +and body disappears, and cannot be reckoned as existing." To this +Upas[=i]va replies: "But has he only disappeared, or does he not +exist, or is he only free from sickness?" To which Buddha: "For him +there is no form, and that by which they say he is exists for him no +longer." One would think that this were plain enough. + +Yet must one always remember that this is the Arhat's death, the death +of him that has perfected himself.[49] Buddha, like the Brahmans, +taught hell for the bad, and re-birth for them that were not +perfected. So in the _Kok[=a]liya-sutta_ a list of hells is given, and +an estimate is made of the duration of the sinner's suffering in them. +Here, as if in a Brahman code, is it taught that 'he who lies goes to +hell,' etc. Even the names of the Brahmanic hells are taken over into +the Buddhist system, and several of those in Manu's list of hells are +found here. + +On the other hand, Buddha teaches, if one may trust tradition, that a +good man may go to heaven. 'On the dissolution of the body after death +the well-doer is re-born in some happy state in heaven' +(_Mah[=a]parinibb[=a]na,_ i. 24).[50] This, like hell, is a temporary +state, of course, before re-birth begins again on earth. In fact, +Buddhist and Brahmanic pantheists agree in their attitude toward the +respective questions of hell, heaven, and _karma_. It is only the +emancipated Arhat that goes to Nirv[=a]na.[51] + +When it is said that Buddha preaches to a new convert 'in due course,' +it means always that he gave him first a lecture on morality and +religion, and then possibly, but not necessarily, on the 'system.' And +Buddha has no narrow-minded aversion to Brahmans; he accepts 'Brahman' +as he accepts 'Brahm[=a],' only he wants it to be understood what is a +real Brahman: 'A certain Brahman once asked Buddha how one becomes a +Brahman,--what are the characteristics that make a man a Brahman. And +the Blessed One said: "The Brahman who has removed all sinfulness, who +is free from haughtiness, free from impurity, self-restrained, who is +an accomplished master of knowledge, who has fulfilled the duties of +holiness,--such a Brahman justly calls himself a Brahman."'[52] "The +_Mah[=a]vagga_, from which this is taken, is full of such sentiments. +As here, in i. 2, so in i. 7: "The Blessed One preached to Yasa, the +noble youth, 'in due course,'" that is to say, "he talked about the +merit obtained by alms-giving, the duties of morality, about heaven, +about the evils of vanity and sinfulness of desire," and when the +Blessed One saw that the mind of Yasa, the noble youth, was prepared, +"then he preached the principal doctrine of the Buddhists, namely, +suffering, and cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, the +Path;" and "just as a clean cloth takes the dye, thus Yasa, the noble +youth, even while sitting there, obtained the knowledge that +whatsoever is subject to birth is also subject to death."[53] + +The "spirit and not the letter of the law" is expressed in the formula +_(Mah[=a]vagga_, i. 23): "Of all conditions that proceed +from a cause, Buddha has explained the cause, and he has explained +their cessation." This is the Buddhist's _credo_. + +In several of the sermons the whole gist is comprised in the +admonition not to meddle with philosophy, nor to have any 'views,' for +"philosophy purifies no one; peace alone purifies."[54] + +Buddha does not ignore the fact that fools will not desire salvation +as explained by him: "What fools call pleasure the noble say is pain; +this is a thing difficult to understand; the cessation of the existing +body is regarded as pleasure by the noble, but those wise in this +world hold the opposite opinion" (_Dvayat[=a]nup. sutta_, 38).[55] But +to him the truly wise is the truly pure: "Not by birth is one a +Brahman, not by birth is one an outcast; by deeds is one a Brahman, by +deeds is one an outcast" (_Vasala-sutta_); and not alone in virtue of +_karma_ of old, for: "The man who knows in this world the destruction +of pain, who lays aside the burden and is liberated, him I call a +Brahman; whosoever in this world has overcome good and evil, both +ties, who is free from grief and defilement, and is pure,--him I call +a Brahman; the ignorant say that one is a Brahman by birth, but one is +a Brahman by penance, by religious life, by self-restraint, and by +temperance" (_V[=a]settha-sutta_). + +The penance here alluded to is not the vague penance of austerities, +but submission to the discipline of the monastery when exercised for a +specific fault. + +Later Buddhism made of Buddha a god. Even less exaltation than this is +met by Buddha thus: S[=a]riputta says to him, "Such faith have I, +Lord, that methinks there never was and never will be either monk or +Brahman who is greater and wiser than thou," and Buddha responds: +"Grand and bold are the words of thy mouth; behold, thou hast burst +forth into ecstatic song. Come, hast thou, then, known all the Buddhas +that were?" "No, Lord." "Hast thou known all the Buddhas that will +be?" "No, Lord." "But, at least, thou knowest me, my conduct, my mind, +my wisdom, my life, my salvation (i.e., thou knowest me as well as I +know myself)?" "No, Lord." "Thou seest that thou knowest not the +venerable Buddhas of the past and of the future; why, then, are thy +words so grand and bold?" (_Mah[=a]parinibb[=a]na_.) + +Metaphysically the human ego to the Buddhist is only a collection of +five _skandhas_ (form, sensations, ideas, faculties of mind, and +reason) that vanishes when the collection is dispersed, but the +factors of the collection re-form again, and the new ego is the result +of their re-formation. The Northern Buddhists, who turn Buddha into a +god, make of this an immortal soul, but this is Buddhism in one phase, +not Buddha's own belief. The strength of Northern Buddhism lies not, +as some say, in its greater religious zeal, but in its grosser +animism, the delight of the vulgar. + +It will not be necessary, interesting as would be the comparison, to +study the Buddhism of the North after this review of the older and +simpler chronicles. In Hardy's _Manual of Buddhism_ (p. 138 ff.) and +Rockhill's _Life of Buddha_ will be found the weird and silly legends +of Northern Buddhism, together with a full sketch of Buddhistic ethics +and ontology (Hardy, pp. 460, 387). The most famous of the Northern +books, the Lotus of the Law and the Lalita Vistara, give a good idea +of the extravagance and supernaturalism that already have begun to +disfigure the purer faith. According to Kern, who has translated the +former work again (after Burnouf), the whole intent of the Lotus is to +represent Buddha as the supreme, eternal God. The works, treating of +piety, philosophy, and philanthropy, contain ancient elements, but in +general are of later form. To this age belongs also the whole +collection of J[=a]takas, or 'birth-stories,' of the Buddhas that were +before Gautama, some of the tales of which are historically important, +as they have given rise to Western fables.[56] These birth-stories +represent Buddha (often as Indra) as some god or mortal, and tell what +he did in such or such a form. It is in a future form that, like +Vishnu, who is to come in the _avatar_ of Kalki, the next Buddha will +appear as Maitreya, or the 'Buddha of love.'[57] Some of the stories +are very silly; some, again, are beautiful at heart, but ugly in their +bizarre appearance. They are all, perhaps, later than our era.[58] + +The history of Buddhism after the Master's death has a certain analogy +with that of Mohammedanism. That is to say it was largely a political +growth. Further than this, of course, the comparison fails. The +religion was affected by heretical kings, and by _nouveaux riches_, +for it admitted them all into its community on equal terms--no slight +privilege to the haughty nabob or proud king who, if a believer and +follower of Brahman orthodoxy, would have been obliged to bend the +head, yield the path, and fear the slightest frown of any beggar +priest that came in his way. + +The M[=a]ruya monarch Acoka adopted Buddhism as a state religion in +the third century B.C., and taught it unto all his people, so that, +according to his own account, he changed the creed of the country from +Brahmanism to Buddhism.[59] He was king over all northern India, from +Kabul to the eastern ocean, from the northern limit of Brahmanic +civilization to its southern boundary. Buddhist missionaries were now +spread over India and beyond it. And here again, even in this later +age, one sees how little had the people to do with Buddha's +metaphysical system. Like the simple confession 'I take refuge in +Buddha, in the doctrine, and in the church' was the only credo +demanded, that cited above: "Buddha has explained the cause of +whatever conditions proceed from a cause, and he has declared their +cessation." In this credo, which is en-graved all over India, +everything is left in confidence to Buddha. However he explained the +reason, that creed is to be accepted without inquiry. The convert took +the patent facts of life, believing that Buddha had explained all, and +based his own belief not on understanding but on faith. + +With the council of Patna, 242 B.C, begins at thousands of the +missionaries the geographical separation of the church, which results +in Southern and Northern Buddhism.[60] + +It is at this period that the monastic bodies become influential. The +original Sangha, congregation, is defined as consisting of three or +more brethren. The later monastery is a business corporation as well +as a religious body. The great emperors that now ruled India (not the +petty clan-kings of the centuries before) were no longer of pure +birth, and some heresy was the only religion that would receive them +with due honor. They affected Buddhism, endowed the monasteries, in +every was enriched the church, built for it great temples, and in turn +were upheld by their thankful co-religionists. Among the six[61] rival +heresies that of Buddha was predominant, and chiefly because of royal +influence. The Buddhist head of the Ceylon church was Acoka's own son. +Still more important for Buddhism was its adoption by the migratory +Turanians in the centuries following. Tibet and China were opened up +to it through the influence of these foreign kings, who at least +pretended to adopt the faith of Buddha.[62] But as it was adopted by +them, and as it extended beyond the limits of India, just so much +weaker it became at home, where its strongest antagonists were the +sectarian pantheistic parties not so heterodox as itself. + +Buddhism lingered in India till the twelfth or thirteenth century, +although in the seventh it was already decadent, as appears from the +account of Hiouen-Thsang, the Chinese pilgrim. It is found to-day in +Tibet, Ceylon, China, Japan, and other outlying regions, but it is +quite vanished from its old home. The cause of its extinction is +obvious. The Buddhist victorious was not the modest and devout +mendicant of the early church. The fire of hate, lighted if at all by +Buddhism,[63] smouldered till Brahmanism, in the form of Hinduism, had +begotten a religion as popular as Buddhism, or rather far more +popular, and for two reasons. Buddhism had no such picturesque tales +as those that enveloped with poetry the history of the man-god +Krishna, Again, Buddhism in its monastic development had separated +itself more and more from the people. Not mendicant monks, urging to a +pure life, but opulent churches with fat priests; not simple +discourses calculated to awaken the moral and religious consciousness, +but subtle arguments on discipline and metaphysics were now what +Buddhism represented. This religion was become, indeed, as much a +skeleton as was the Brahmanism of the sixth century. As the Brahmanic +belief had decomposed into spiritless rites, so Buddhism, +changed into dialectic and idolatry (for in lieu of a god the later +church worshipped Buddha), had lost now all hold upon the people. The +love of man, the spirit of Buddhism, was dead, and Buddhism crumbled +into the dust. Vital and energetic was the sectarian 'love of God' +alone (Hinduism), and this now became triumphant. Where Buddhism has +succeeded is not where the man-gods, objects of love and fear, have +entered; but where, without rivalry from more sympathetic beliefs, it +has itself evolved a system of idolatry and superstition; where all +that was scorned by the Master is regarded as holiest, and all that he +insisted upon as vital is disregarded.[64] One speaks of the millions +of Buddhists in the world as one speaks of the millions of Christians; +but while there are some Christians that have renounced the bigotry +and idolatry of the church, and hold to the truth as it is in the +words of Christ, there are still fewer Buddhists who know that their +Buddhism would have been rebuked scornfully by its founder. + +The geographical growth of formal Buddhism is easily sketched. After +the first entrance into Kashmeer and Ceylon, in the third century +B.C., the progress of the cult, as it now may be called, was steadily +away from India proper. In the fifth century A.D., it was adopted in +Burmah,[65] and in the seventh in Siam. The Northern school kept in +general to the 'void' doctrine of N[=a]g[=a]rjuna, whose chief texts +are the Lotus and the Lalita Vistara, standard works of the Great +Vehicle.[66] In Tibet Lamaism is the last result of this hierarchical +state-church.[67] We have thought it much more important to give a +fuller account of early Buddhism, that of Buddha, than a full account +of a later growth in regions that, for the most part, are not Indic, +in the belief that the P[=a]li books of Ceylon give a truer picture of +the early church than do those of Kashmeer and Nep[=a]l, with their +Civaite and Brahmanic admixture. For in truth the Buddhism of China +and Tibet has no place in the history of Indic religions. It may have +been introduced by Hindu missionaries, but it has been re-made to suit +a foreign people. This does not apply, of course, to the canonical +books, the Great Vehicle, of the North, which is essentially native, +if not Buddhistic. Yet of the simple narrative and the adulterated +mystery-play, if one has to choose, the former must take precedence. +From the point of view of history, Northern Buddhism, however old its +elements, can be regarded only as an admixture of Buddhistic and +Brahmanic ideas. For this reason we take a little more space, not to +cite from the Lotus or the grotesque Lalita Vistara,[68] but to +illustrate Buddhism at its best. Fausboell, who has translated the +dialogue that follows, thinks that in the Suttas of the +Sutta-nip[=a]ta there is a reminiscence of a stage of Buddhism before +the institution of monasteries, while as yet the disciples lived as +hermits. The collection is at least very primitive, although we doubt +whether the Buddhist disciples ever lived formally as individual +hermits. All the Samanas are in groups, little 'congregations,' which +afterwards grew into monasteries. + +This is a poetical (amoebic) contest between the herdsman Dhaniya and +Buddha, with which Fausboell[69] compares St. Luke, xii. 16, but which, +on the other hand reminds one of a spiritualized Theocritus, with whom +its author was, perhaps, contemporary. + + I have boiled the rice, I have milked the kine--so said the + herdsman Dhaniya--I am living with my comrades near the + banks of the (great) Mah[=i] river; the house is roofed, the + fire is lit--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + I am free from anger, free from stubbornness--so said the + Blessed One--I am abiding for one night near the banks of + the (great) Mah[=i] river; my house has no cover, the fire + (of passion) is extinguished--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + Here are no gad-files--so said the herdsman Dhaniya--The + cows are roaming in meadows full of grass, and they can + endure the rain--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + 1 have made a well-built raft--so said the Blessed One--I + have crossed over, I have reached the further bank, I have + overcome the torrent (of passions); I need the raft no + more--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + My wife is obedient, she is not wanton--so said the herdsman + Dhaniya--she has lived with me long and is winning; no + wickedless have I heard of her--then rain if thou wilt, O + sky! + + My mind is obedient, delivered (from evil)--so said the + Blessed One--it has been cultivated long and is + well-subdued; there is no longer anything wicked in me--then + rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + I support myself by my own earnings--so said the herdsman + Dhaniya--and my children are around me and healthy; I hear + no wickedness of them--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + I am the servant of none--so said the Blessed One--with what + I have gained I wander about in all the world; I have no + need to serve--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + I have cows, I have calves--so said the herdsman + Dhaniya--cows in calf and heifers also; and I have a bull as + lord over the cows--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + I have no cows, I have no calves--so said the Blessed + One--no cows in calf, and no heifers; and I have no bull as + a lord over the cows--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + The stakes are driven in and cannot be shaken--so said the + herdsman Dhaniya--the ropes are made of holy-grass, new and + well-made; the cows will not be able to break them--then + rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + Like a bull I have rent the bonds--so said the Blessed + One--like an elephant I have broken through the ropes, I + shall not be born again--then rain if thou wilt, O sky! + + Then the rain poured down and filled both sea and land. And + hearing the sky raining, Dhaniya said: Not small to us the + gain in that we have seen the Blessed Lord; in thee we take + refuge, thou endowed with (wisdom's) eye; be thou our + master, O great sage! My wife and myself are obedient + to thee. If we lead a pure life we shall overcome birth and + death, and put an end to pain. + + He that has sons has delight in sons--so said the Evil + One--he that has cows has delight in cows, for substance is + the delight of man, but he that has no substance has no + delight. + + He that has sons has care with his sons--so said the Blessed + One--he that has cows has likewise care with his cows, for + substance is (the cause of) care, but he that has no + substance has no care. + +From Buddha's sermons choice extracts were gathered at an early date, +which, as well as the few longer discourses, that have been preserved +in their entirety, do more to tell us what was the original Buddha, +before he was enwrapped in the scholastic mysticism of a later age, +than pages of general critique. + +Thus in the _Mah[=a]parinibb[=a]na_ casual allusion is made to +assemblies of men and of angels (divine beings), of the great +thirty-three gods, Death the Evil One and Brahm[=a] (iii. 21). Buddha, +as we have said, does not deny the existence of spiritual beings; he +denies only their power to affect the perfect man and their +controlling part in the universe. In the same sermon the refuge of the +disciple is declared to be truth and himself (ii. 33): "Be ye lamps +unto yourselves. Betake yourselves to no external refuge. Hold fast to +the truth as to a lamp." + +And from the famous 'Path of Duty' or 'Collection of truths':[70] + + All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is + founded on our thoughts; it is made up of our thoughts. If a + man speaks or acts with an evil thought pain follows him as + the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the + carriage, (but) if a man speaks or acts with a pure thought + happiness follows him like a shadow that never leaves him. + + Earnestness is the path that leads to escape from death, + thoughtlessness is the path that leads to death. Those who + are in earnest do not die;[71] + + those who are thoughtless are as if dead already. Long is + the night to him who is awake; long is a mile to him who is + tired; long is life to the foolish. + + There is no suffering for him who has finished his journey + and abandoned grief, who has freed himself on all sides and + thrown off the fetters. + + Some people are born again; evil-doers go to hell; righteous + people go to heaven; those who are free from all worldly + desires attain Nirv[=a]na. + + He who, seeking his own happiness, punishes or kills beings + that also long for happiness, will not find happiness after + death. + + Looking for the maker of this tabernacle I shall have to run + through a course of many births, so long as I do not find; + and painful is birth again and again. But now, maker of the + tabernacle, thou hast been seen; thou shalt not make up this + tabernacle again. All thy rafters are broken, thy ridge-pole + is sundered; thy mind, approaching Nirv[=a]na, has attained + to extinction of all desires.[72] + + Better than going to heaven, better than lordship over all + worlds, is the reward of entering the stream of holiness. + + Not to commit any sin, to do good, and to purify one's mind, + that is the teaching of the Buddhas. + + Let us live happily, not hating them that hate us. Let us + live happily, though we call nothing our own. We shall be + like bright gods, feeding on happiness. + + From lust comes grief, from lust comes fear; he that is free + from lust knows neither grief nor fear. + + The best of ways is the eightfold (path); this is the way, + there is no other that leads to the purifying of + intelligence. Go on this way! Everything else is the deceit + of Death. You yourself must make the effort. Buddhas are + only preachers. The thoughtful who enter the way are freed + from the bondage of Death.[73] + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Compare Colebrooke's _Essays_, vol. ii. 460; + and Muir, OST. iv. 296] + + [Footnote 2: Compare Oldenberg. _Buddha_, p. 155.] + + [Footnote 3: Especially Koeppen views Buddha as a democratic + reformer and liberator.] + + [Footnote 4: Emile Senart, _Essai sur la legende du Buddha_. + 1875.] + + [Footnote 5: _Buddha_ (1881), p.73 ff.] + + [Footnote 6: The exact position of Kapilavastu, the capital + of the C[=a]kyas, is not known, although it must have been + near to the position assigned to it on Kiepert's map of + India (just north of Gorakhpur). The town is unknown in + Brahmanic literature.] + + [Footnote 7: This is Oldenberg's opinion, for the reason + here stated. On the other hand it may be questioned whether + this negative evidence be conclusive, and whether it be not + more probable that a young nobleman would have been well + educated.] + + [Footnote 8: Siddhartha, the boy, Gautama by his family + cognomen, the C[=a]kya-son by his clan-name, was known also + as the C[=a]kya-sage, the hermit, Samana (Crama[n.]a); the + venerable, Arhat (a general title of perfected saints); + Tath[=a]gata 'who is arrived like' (the preceding Buddhas, + at perfection); and also by many other names common to other + sects, Buddha, Jina, The Blessed One (Bhagavat), The Great + Hero, etc. The Buddhist disciple may be a layman, _cravaka_; + a monk, _bhikshu_; a perfected saint, _arhat_; a saintly + doctor of the law, _bodhisattva_; etc.] + + [Footnote 9: South of the present Patna. Less correct is the + _Buddha_ Gay[=a] form.] + + [Footnote 10: The famous _bo_ or Bodhi-tree, ficus + religiosa, _pippala_, at Bodhi Gay[=a], said to be the most + venerable and certainly the most venerated tree in the + world.] + + [Footnote 11: A _pacceka_ Buddha (Oldenberg. _Buddha_, + p.122).] + + [Footnote 12: + + "Then be the door of salvation opened! + He that hath ears to hear let him hear. + I thought of my own sorrow only, and, therefore, + Have not revealed the Word to the world."] + + [Footnote 13: He sometimes, however, quite prosaically + 'makes' or 'manufactures' it.] + + [Footnote 14: _Dhammacakkappavattana_. Rhys Davids in his + introduction to this _sutta_ gives and explains the eight as + follows (SBE. XI. p.144): 1, Right views; freedom from + superstition or delusion. 2, Right aims, high and worthy of + the intelligent, earnest man. 3, Right speech, kindly, open, + truthful. 4, Right conduct, peaceful, honest, pure. 5, Right + livelihood, bringing hurt to no living thing. 6, Right + effort in self-training and in self-control. 7, Right + mindfulness, the active watchful mind. 8, Right + contemplation, earnest thought on the deep mysteries of + life.] + + [Footnote 15: Hardy, _Manual,_, p.496.] + + [Footnote 16: "A decided predilection for the aristocracy + appears to have lingered as an heirloom of the past in the + older Buddhism," Oldenberg, _Buddha_, p.157.] + + [Footnote 17: _Mah[=a]vagga,_ 1.24. On the name (Gautama) + Gotama, see Weber, _IS_. L 180.] + + [Footnote 18: The parks of Venuvana and Jetavana were + especially affected by Buddha. Compare Oldenberg, _Buddha_, + p.145.] + + [Footnote 19: Like the Jains the Buddhists postulate + twenty-four (five) precedent Buddhas.] + + [Footnote 20: Buddha's general discipline as compared with + that of the Jains was much more lax, for instance, in the + eating of meat. Buddha himself died of dysentery brought on + by eating pork. The later Buddhism interprets much more + strictly the rule of 'non-injury'; and as we have shown, + Buddha entirely renounced austerities, choosing the mean + between laxity and asceticism.] + + [Footnote 21: Or 'take care of yourself'; + _Mah[=a]parinibb[=a]na_, v. 23.] + + [Footnote 22: The chief Buddhistic dates are given by Mueller + (introduction to _Dhammapada_, SBE. vol. X.) as follows: + 557, Buddha's birth; 477, Buddha's death and the First + Council at R[=a]jagriha; 377, the Second Council at + V[=a]ic[=a]l[=i]; 259, Acoka's coronation; 242, Third + Council at P[=a]taliputta; 222, Acoka's death. These dates + are only tentative, but they give the time nearly enough to + serve as a guide. From the Buddhists (Ceylon account) it is + known that the Council at V[=a]ic[=a]li was held one hundred + years after Buddha's death (one hundred and eighteen years + before the coronation of Acoka, whose grandfather, + Candragupta, was Alexander's contemporary). The interval + between Nirvana and Acoka, two hundred and eighteen years, + is the only certain date according to Koeppen, p.208, and + despite much argument since he wrote, the remark still + holds.] + + [Footnote 23: Englished by Rhys Davids, + _Mah[=a]parinibb[=a]na-sutta_ (SBE. XI. 95 ff.).] + + [Footnote 24: _Ecclesiastes_.] + + [Footnote 25: The common view is thus expressed by + Oldenberg: "In dem schwuelen, feuchten, von der Natur mit + Reichthuemern ueppig gesegneten Tropenlande des Ganges hat das + Volk, das in frischer Jugendkraft steht, als es vom Norden + her eindringt, bald aufgehoert jung und stark zu sein. + Menschen und Voelker reifen in jenem Lande ... schnell heran, + um ebenso schnell an Leib und Seele zu erschlaffen" (_loc. + cit_. p. 11).] + + [Footnote 26: Rhys Davids, _Buddhism_, pp. 160,139.] + + [Footnote 27: Buddha taught, of course, nothing related to + the thaumaturgy of that folly which calls itself today + 'Esoteric Buddhism.'] + + [Footnote 28: That is a sacrifice where no cattle are slain, + and no injury is done to living beings.] + + [Footnote 29: _K[=u]tadanta-sutta_ Oldenberg, _Buddha_, p. + 175.] + + [Footnote 30: Sometimes distinguished from + _pari-nirv[=a][n.]a_ as absolute annihilation.] + + [Footnote 31: Some scholars think that the doctrine of + Buddha resembles closely that of the S[=a]nkhya philosophy + (so Barth, p. 116), but Mueller, Oldenberg, and others, + appear to be right in denying this. The Sankhyan 'spirit' + has, for instance, nothing corresponding to it in Buddha's + system.] + + [Footnote 32: The twelve Nid[=a]nas are dogmatic, and withal + not very logical. "From ignorance arise forms, from forms + arises consciousness, from consciousness arise name and + bodiness; from name and bodiness arise the six senses + (including understanding as the sixth) and their objects; + from these arises contact; from this, feeling; from this, + thirst; from this, clinging; from clinging arises becoming; + from becoming arises birth; from birth arise age and + sorrow." One must gradually free himself from the ten + fetters that bind to life, and so do away with the first of + these twelve Nid[=a]nas, ignorance.] + + [Footnote 33: _Mah[=a]vagga_, X. 3 (SBE. XVII. 306).] + + [Footnote 34 36 1: Compare Kern, the _Lotus_, III. 21, and + Fausboell, _P[=a]r[=a]yana-sutta_, 9 (1131), the "deep and + lovely voice of Buddha." (SBE. XXI. 64, and X. 210.)] + + [Footnote 35: As Southern Buddhists are reckoned those of + Ceylon, Burmah, Siam, etc.] + + [Footnote 36: As Northern Buddhists are reckoned those of + Nep[=a]l, Tibet, China, Corea, Japan, Java, Sumatra, Annam, + and Cambodia.] + + [Footnote 37: "Let your light so shine before the world, + that you, having embraced the religious life according to so + well-taught a doctrine and discipline, may be seen to be + forbearing and mild." (SBE. XVII. 305, David's and + Oldenberg's translation.)] + + [Footnote 38: 'Removing pieces from a pile without moving + the remainder' must, we presume, be jackstraws.] + + [Footnote 39: For instance, rules for eating, drinking + (liquor), and for bathing. The Buddhist monk, except in + summer, bathed once a fortnight only.] + + [Footnote 40: No one is so holy that sin does not hurt him, + according to Buddhistic belief. The Brahman, on the + contrary, was liable to become so holy that he could commit + any sin and it did not affect his virtue, which he stored up + in a heap by cumulative asceticism.] + + [Footnote 41: The offering and reception of gifts is always + accompanied with water, both in Buddhistic and Brahmanic + circles. Whether this was a religious act or a legal sign of + surrender we have not been able to discover. Perhaps it + arose simply from water always being offered as refreshment + to a guest (with fruit), as a sign of guest-friendship.] + + [Footnote 42: Sakyaputtiya Samanas, _i.e_., Buddhists.] + + [Footnote 43: In the case of a monk having carnal connection + with a nun the penalty was instant expulsion(_ib_. 60). The + nuns were subject to the monks and kept strictly in hand, + obliged always to greet the monks first, to go to lessons + once a fortnight, and so forth.] + + [Footnote 44: Mah[=a]sudassana, the great King of Glory + whose city is described with its four gates, one of gold, + one of silver, one of Jade and one of crystal, etc. The + earlier Buddha had as 'king of glory' 84,000 wives and other + comforts quite as remarkable.] + + [Footnote 45: Translated by Davids, _Buddhist Suttas_ and + _Hibbert Lectures_.] + + [Footnote 46: What we have several times had to call + attention to is shown again by the side light of Buddhism to + be the case in Brahmanic circles, namely, that even in + Buddha's day while Brahm[=a] is the god of the thinkers + Indra is the god of the people (together with Vishnu and + Civa, if the texts are as old as they pretend to be).] + + [Footnote 47: _Mah[=a]parinibb[=a]na_ iii, to which Rhys + Davids refers, is scarcely a fair parallel.] + + [Footnote 48: The imitation of the original play on words is + Rhys Davids', who has translated these Suttas in SBE. vol. + XI. For the following see Fausboell, _ib_. vol. X.] + + [Footnote 49: After one enters on the stream of holiness + there are only seven more possible births on earth, with one + in heaven; then he becomes _arhat_, venerable, perfected, + and enters Nirv[=a]na.] + + [Footnote 50: Compare the fairies and spirits in _ib_. v. + 10; and in i. 31, 'give gifts to the gods.'] + + [Footnote 51: We agree with Rhys Davids, _Buddhism_, pp. + 111, 207, that Buddha himself was an atheist; but to the + statement that Nirv[=a]na was the "extinction of that + sinful, grasping condition of mind and heart which would + otherwise be the cause of renewed individual existences" + should in our opinion be added "and therewith the extinction + of individuality." Compare Rhys Davids' _Hibbert Lectures_, + p. 253.] + + [Footnote 52: Compare the definition of an 'outcast' in the + _Vasala-sutta_: "He that gets angry and feels hatred, a + wicked man, a hypocrite, he that embraces wrong views and is + deceitful, such an one is an outcast, and he that has no + compassion for living things."] + + [Footnote 53: Compare _ib_. 5. 36: "In due course he spoke, + of charity, morality, heaven, pleasure, and the advantage of + renunciation."] + + [Footnote 54: See especially the _Nandaman., Paramatthaka, + M[=a]gandiya_, and _Suddhatthaka Suttas_, translated by + Fausboell, SBE. vol. X.] + + [Footnote 55: Fausboell, in SBE. vol. X, Suttanip[=a]ta.] + + [Footnote 56: The distinction between the Northern and + Southern doctrine is indicated by the terms 'Great Vehicle' + and 'Little Vehicle' respectively, the former the works of + N[=a]g[=a]rjuna's school (see below).] + + [Footnote 57: As M[=a]itrakanyaka Buddha came once to earth + "to redeem the sins of men."] + + [Footnote 58: Of historic interest is the rapport between + Brahmanic, Jain. and Buddhist tales. A case of this sort has + been carefully worked out by Leumann, _Die Legende von Citta + und Sambh[=u]ta_, WZKM. v. III; vi. 1.] + + [Footnote 59: "The gods who were worshipped as true + divinities in India have been rendered false ... by my + zeal"; inscription cited by Barth, p. 135. But Acoka was a + very tolerant prince. Barth's notion of Buddhistic + persecution can hardly be correct.] + + [Footnote 60: Koeppen, _Die Religion des Buddha_, p. 198.] + + [Footnote 61: Not to be confused with the seventeen heresies + and sixty-three different philosophical systems in the + church itself.] + + [Footnote 62: For more details see Barth, _loc. cit_., p. + 130 ff. According to tradition Buddhism was introduced into + Tibet in the fourth century, A.D., the first missionaries + coming from Nep[=a]l (Rockhill, p. 210).] + + [Footnote 63: Barth justly discredits the tale of Buddhism + having been persecuted out of India. In this sketch of later + Buddhism we can but follow this author's admirable summary + of the causes of Buddhistic decline, especially agreeing + with him in assigning the first place to the torpidity of + the later church in matters of religion. It was become a + great machine, its spiritual enthusiasm had been exhausted; + it had nothing poetical or beautiful save the legend of + Buddha, and this had lost its freshness; for Buddha was now, + in fact, only a grinning idol.] + + [Footnote 64: Here are developed fully the stories of hells, + angels, and all supernatural paraphernalia, together with + theism, idolatry, and the completed monastic system; magic, + fable, absurd calculations in regard to nothings, and + spiritual emptiness.] + + [Footnote 65: At the same time the Ceylon canon was fixed by + the commentary of Buddhaghosha.] + + [Footnote 66: Later it follows the mystical school. Both + schools have been affected by Brahmanism. The Great Vehicle, + founded by N[=a]g[=a]rjuna, was recognized at a fourth + council in Kashmeer about the time of the Christian era. + Compare Koeppen, p. 199.] + + [Footnote 67: On the Lamaistic hierarchy and system of + succession see Mayers, JRAS. IV. 284.] + + [Footnote 68: For the same reason we do not enter upon the + outer form of Buddhism as expressed in demonology, + snake-worship (JRAS. xii. 286) and symbolism (_ib_. OS. + xiii. 71, 114).] + + [Footnote 69: SBE. vol. x, part ii, p. 3.] + + [Footnote 70: Dhammapada (Franke, ZDMG. xlvi, 731). In + Sanskrit one has _dharmapatha_ with the same sense. The text + in the main is as translated by Mueller, separately, 1872, + and in SBE., voL x. It was translated by Weber, _Streifen_. + i. 112, in 1860.] + + [Footnote 71: That is, they die no more; they are free from + the chain; they enter Nirv[=a]na.] + + [Footnote 72: Buddha's words on becoming Buddha.] + + [Footnote 73: It is to be observed that transmigration into + animal forms is scarcely recognized by Buddha. He assumes + only men and superior beings as subjects of _Karma_. Compare + Rhys Davids' _Lectures_, pp. 105,107. To the same scholar is + due the statement that he was the first to recognize the + true meaning of Nirv[=a]na, 'extinction (not of soul but) of + lust, anger, and ignorance.' For divisions of Buddhist + literature other than the Tripitaka the same author's + _Hibbert Lectures_ may be consulted (see also Mueller, SBE. + X, Introduction, p. i).] + + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +EARLY HINDUISM. + + +While the great heresies that we have been describing were agitating +the eastern part of India,[1] the old home of Brahmanism in the West +remained true, in name if not in fact, to the ancient faith. But in +reality changes almost as great as those of the formal heresies were +taking place at the core of Brahmanism itself, which, no longer able +to be the religion of a few clans, was now engaged in the gigantic +task of remodelling and assimilating the indigenous beliefs and +religious practices of its new environment. This was not a conscious +act on the part of Brahmanism. At first it was undertaken almost +unwittingly, and it was accomplished later not without repugnance. But +to perform this task was the condition of continued existence. +Brahmanism had to expand, or shrink, wither, and die. + +For a thousand years almost the only source of information in regard +to this new growth is contained in the epic poetry of the time, with +the help of a few additional facts from the law, and some side light +from inscriptions. It is here that Vishnuism and Civaism are found as +fully developed sectarian beliefs, accepted by Brahmanism with more or +less distrust, and in more or less fulness of faith. It is to the epic +that one must turn to study the budding and gradual flowering of the +modern religions, which have cast strict orthodoxy into the shade. + +Of the two epics, one, the R[=a]m[=a]yana,[2] has become the Old +Testament of the Ramaite Vishnuites of the present day. The +Bh[=a]rata,[3] on the other hand, is scriptural for all sects, because +it is more universal. The former epic, in its present form, is what +the Hindus call an 'art-poem,' and in its finish, its exclusively +romantic style, and its total lack of nervous dramatic power, it is +probably, as the Hindus claim, the work of one man, V[=a]lm[=i]ki, who +took the ancient legends of Eastern India and moulded them into a +stupid sectarian poem. On the other hand, the Bh[=a]rata is of no one +hand, either in origin or in final redaction; nor is it of one sect; +nor has it apparently been thoroughly affected, as has the +R[=a]m[=a]yana, by Buddhistic influences. Moreover, in the huge +conglomeration of stirring adventure, legend, myth, history, and +superstition which goes to make up the great epic there is contained a +far truer picture of the vulgar custom, belief, and religion of the +time than the too polished composition of V[=a]lm[=i]ki is able to +afford, despite the fact that the latter also has many popular +elements welded into it. There are, in fact, only two national works +in India, only two works which, withal, not in their entirety, but in +their nucleus, after one has stripped each of its priestly toggery, +reflect dimly the heart of the people, not the cleverness of one man, +or the pedantry of schools. For a few Vedic hymns and a few Bh[=a]rata +scenes make all the literature, with perhaps the exception of some +fables, that is not markedly dogmatic, pedantic, or 'artificial.'[4] +So true is this that even in the case of the R[=a]m[=a]yana one never +feels that he is getting from it the genuine belief of the people, but +only that form of popular belief which V[=a]lm[=i]ki has chosen to let +stand in his version of the old tale. The great epic is heroic, +V[=a]lm[=i]ki's poem is romantic; the former is real, the latter is +artificial; and the religious gleaning from each corresponds to this +distinction.[5] + +Ths Bh[=a]rata, like other Hindu works, is of uncertain date, but it +was completed as a 'Great Bh[=a]rata' by the end of the sixth century +A.D., and the characters of the story are mentioned, as well known, by +P[=a]nini, whose work probably belongs to the fourth century B.C. +Furthermore, Dio Chrysostomos, probably citing from Megasthenes, +refers to it; and the latter authority describes the worship of the +chief gods of the epic; while the work is named in one of the domestic +S[=u]tras, and a verse is cited from it in the legal Sutra of +B[=a]udh[=a]yana.[6] On the other hand, in its latest growth it is on +a par with the earlier Pur[=a]nas, but it is not quite so advanced in +sectarianism as even the oldest of these writings. It may, then, be +reckoned as tolerably certain that the beginnings of the epic date +from the fourth or fifth century before the Christian era, and that it +was quite a respectable work by the time that era began; after which +it continued to grow for five centuries more.[7] Its religious +importance can scarcely be overestimated. In 600 A.D., far away from +its native home, in Cambodia, it was encircled with a temple, and an +endowment was made by the king providing for the daily recitation of +the poem. Its legal verses are authoritative; its religion is to-day +that of India as a whole. The latest large additions to it were, as we +think, the Book of Laws, the Book of Peace, and the genealogy of +Vishnu, which together form a sort of pseudo-epic. But portions of +other books, notably the first, fourth, and seventh, are probably +almost as recent as are the more palpable interpolations. + +The Bh[=a]rata (or the epic [Greek: _kat exochen_] gives us our first +view of Hinduism in its sectarian developments. But no less does it +show us a changing Brahmanism. The most typical change in the +Brahmanism of this period, which covers all that time called by Mueller +the era of the Renaissance, and ends with the pedantically piquant +literature of the drama,[8] is the abnormal growth of the ascetic +religious exercise. Older Brahmanism, like the sects, admitted Yogis +and ascetics of various kinds, but their aim was to attain oneness +with God; and 'union' (with God) is the _yoga_ (Latin _jugum_ has the +same origin) which they sought. But it was not long before the starved +ascetic, with his wild appearance and great reputation for sanctity, +inspired an awe which, in the unscrupulous, was easily turned to +advantage. The Yogi became more or less of a charlatan, more or less +of a juggler. Nor was this all. Yoga-practices began to take +precedence before other religious practices. In the Br[=a]hmanas it is +the sacrifice that is god-compelling; but in the epic, although +sacrifice has its place, yet when miraculous power is exerted, it is +due chiefly to Yoga concentration, or to the equally general use of +formulae; not formulae as part of a sacrifice, but as in themselves +potent; and mysterious _mantras_, used by priest and warrior alike, +serve every end of magic.[9] Apart from acquisition of power, this +Yoga-training is, moreover, all that is needful from the point of view +of righteousness. Physical prowess here is the one thing admirable. To +stand for years on one leg, to be eaten by ants, to be in every way an +ascetic of the most stoical sort, is the truest religion. Such an +ascetic has no ordinary rules of morality. In fact, his practices are +most peculiar, for to seduce young women is one of his commonest +occupations; and in his anger to cause an injury to his foes is one of +the ends for which he toils. The gods are nothing to him. They are +puppets whom he makes shake and tremble at will. As portrayed in the +epic, in terms of common sense, the Muni (silent saint) is a +morose[10] and very vulgar-minded old man, who seeks to intimidate +others by a show of miraculous power. In the matter of penances those +of the law are extended beyond all bounds. The caste-restrictions are +of the closest, and the most heinous crime is to commit an offence +against caste-order. On the other hand, the greatest merit is to give +gifts to priests. This had already proceeded far enough, as was +indicated by a passage cited above from Manu. But in the epic the +greed and capacity of the priest exceeds all imaginable limits. He +takes whatever he can get and asks for more. He has, by his own +showing, scarcely one estimable trait. Avarice, cupidity, sensuality, +gluttony, love of finery, effeminacy, meanness, and pride--everything +charged against him by the Buddhist--are his most marked +characteristics. He appears, however, to be worse than he always was. +For nothing is plainer, from this very epic, than that the priests, +although united as a caste, were sharply distinguished in their lives. +The ascetic described above represents the fourth period of the +priestly life. Below these stood (apart from students)[11] hermits and +householders. The householders, or such of them as the epic +unfortunately is busied with, the royal priests, seem to be those that +are in reality priests only in name. In the king's palace, his +constant advisors, his most unscrupulous upholders in wickedness, they +gave themselves up to quest of wealth and power. But one would err if +he thus dismissed them all. There were others that had no preferment, +who lived in quiet content in their own houses, and deserved none of +the opprobrium rightly bestowed upon their hypocritical brothers. The +hermits, too, appear to have been a mild and inoffensive race, not +presuming too much on their caste-privileges. + +To offset rapaciousness there are tomes of morality of the purest +sort. Even in the later additions to the epic one reads: "Away with +gifts; receiving gifts is sinful. The silkworm dies of its wealth" +(xii. 330. 29). One should compare, again, the exalted verse +(Buddhistic in tone) of _ib_. 321. 47: "The red garment, the vow of +silence, the three-fold staff, the water-pot--these only lead astray; +they do not make for salvation." There were doubtless good and bad +priests, but the peculiarity of the epic priest, rapacious and +lustful, is that he glories in his sins. + +The chief objects of worship (except for the influence of the +sectarian religions) were priests, Manes, and, for form's sake, the +Vedic gods. These gods, with the addition of the Hindu Plutus (Kubera, +the god of riches), are now called the eight 'world-guardians,' viz., +Indra, Yama, Varuna, Kubera, Agni, S[=u]rya, V[=a]yu, Soma, and are +usually simple and shadowy subordinates of the greater new gods. + +In the shifting of religious opinion and in the development of +theological conceptions what difference can be traced between the same +gods as worshipped in the Veda and as worshipped in the epic? Although +the Vedic divinities have been twice superseded, once by the +Father-god and again by the _[=a]tm[=a]_, Lord, they still remain +adorable and adored, active in many ways, though passive before the +great All-god. It is, indeed, extremely difficult, owing to the +superstruction of sectarian belief, to get down to the +foundation-religion of the epic. The best one can do is to see in what +way the old gods differ, as represented in the poem, from their older +selves of the Rig Veda. From this point of view alone, and entirely +irrespective of the sects, manifold changes will be seen to have taken +place. Great Soma is no more. Soma is there, the moon, but the glory +of the Vedic Soma has departed. His lunar representative is of little +importance. Agni, too, is changed. As Fire in the Rig Veda is not only +the altar-fire, but also common, every-day fire, so, too, in the epic +this god is the material flame, and as such even performs his greatest +deeds for his worshippers. He takes on every form, even becoming a +priest, and a dove. He remains the priest of the gods, but his day of +action in war is over. He no longer wins battles. But he burns down a +forest to aid his party. For the Vedic gods are now but weak partizans +of the combatants. In the sectarian parts of the epic Agni is only a +puppet. His new representative, Skanda, is the chief battle-god, a +name almost unknown before. He himself is either the son of Vishnu or +a form of Civa. He is the All-god, the _[=a]tm[=a]_. It is he who +burns the world when the time shall have come for the general +destruction. + +The high and mighty Varuna of the Rig Veda is no longer great. He is +no longer serene. He descends and fights on earth. Indra, too, battles +with Vritra as of old, but he is quite anthropomorphic, and of no +marked value in the contest of heroes. Not only this, but all the gods +together are represented as weaker than a good hero, not to speak of a +priestly ascetic. In a word, the gods are believed in, but with what a +belief! They no longer, as natural powers, inspire special respect. +Their nature-origin is for the most part lost. They are thoroughly +anthropomorphic. Even S[=u]rya, the sun, in action if not in +laudation, is often more man than god. This gives a strange effect to +the epic battle-scenes as compared with those of Homer. Unless Vishnu +is active on the field the action is essentially human. No great god +or goddess stands ready to save the fainting warrior. He fights and +falls alone. Save for the caresses and plaudits of the half-gods, the +most that the Vedic gods can do is to wipe away the sweat from the +hero's brow.[12] The All-god does not take the place of the band of +watchful and helpful gods pictured by Homer. Vishnu fights on the +field; he saves only his proteges, and much as a mortal warrior would +do it. But the Vedic gods hang like a mist upon the edge of battle, +and are all but idle spectators of the scene. Abstractions, as well as +the All-god, have routed them, and Dharma or Duty is a greater god +than Indra. But there is an older side to this, as we shall presently +show. On the moral side the heroes of the epic profess great belief in +the power and awfulness of this god Duty. And so far as go rules of +chivalry, they are theoretically moral. Practically they are savage, +and their religion does not interfere with their brutal barbarity. The +tendency to cite divine instances of sin as excuse for committing it +is, however, rebuked: "One should neither practice nor blame the +(wrong) acts of gods and seers," xii. 292. 17-18. + +From an eschatological point of view it is most difficult to get back +of the statements made by the priestly composers,[13] who, in their +various reeditings of the epic, uniformly have given the pantheistic +goal as that in which the characters believe. But it is evident that +the warriors were not much affected by this doctrine. To them there +was one law of righteousness exceeding all others--to die on the field +of battle. And for such as did so, over and over again is the +assurance given that 'happiness in Indra's heaven' is their reward. +And probably a true note is struck in this reiterated promise. To the +mass of the vulgar, union with _brahma_ would have been no attractive +end. + +It is interesting to see the remains of the older belief still +flourishing in midst of epic pantheism. Although Indra has no such +hymn as has S[=u]rya, yet is he still lauded, and he is a very real +person to the knight who seeks his heaven.[14] In fact, so long as +natural phenomena were regarded as divine, so long as thunder was +godly, it was but a secondary question which name the god bore; +whether he was the 'chief and king of gods,' or Vishnu manifesting +himself in a special form. This form, at any rate, was to endure as +such till the end of the cycle. There are other Indras. Each cycle has +its own (i. 197. 29). But sufficient unto the age is the god thereof. +If, relinquishing the higher bliss of absorption, the knight sought +only Indra's heaven, and believed he was to find it, then his belief +practically does not differ much from that of his ancestor, who +accepts Indra as an ultimate, natural power. The question arises +whether, after all, the Indra-worship of the epic is not rather +popular than merely old and preserved. Certainly the reality of the +belief seems quite as strong as that of the ever-newly converted +sectary. It may be doubted whether the distribution of theological +belief is very different in the epic and Vedic ages. Philosophical +pantheism is very old in India. The priest believes one thing; the +vulgar, another. The priest of the Vedic age, like the philosopher of +the next age, and like the later sectarian, has a belief which runs +ahead of the popular religion. But the popular religion in its salient +features still remains about the same. Arjuna, the epic hero, the pet +of Krishna, visits Indra's heaven and stays there five years. It is +the old Vedic gods to whom he turns for weapons, till the Civaite +makes Indra send the knight further, to Civa himself. The old name, +king of the Vasus, is still retained for Indra; and though the 'divine +weapons,' which are winged with sacred formulae, are said to be more +than a match for the gods; though in many a passage the knight and the +saint make Indra tremble, yet still appear, through the mists of +ascetic and sectarian novelties, Indra's heaven and his grandeur, +shining with something of their old glory. Vishnu still shows his +solar origin. Of him and of the sun is it said in identical words: +"The sun protects and devours all," and " Vishnu protects and devours +" (of Vishnu, passim; of the sun, iii. 33. 71). A good deal of old +stuff is left in the Forest Book amongst the absurd tales of holy +watering places. One finds repeated several times the Vedic account of +Indra's fight with Vritra, the former's thunderbolt, however, being +now made of a saint's bones (ii. ch. 100-105). Agni is lauded (_ib_. +ch. 123). To the Acvins[15] there is one old hymn which contains Vedic +forms (i. 3). Varuna is still lord of the West, and goes accompanied +with the rivers, 'male and female,' with snakes, and demons, and +half-gods _(d[=a]ityas, s[=a]dhyas, d[=a]ivatas_). Later, but earlier +than the pseudo-epic, there stands with these gods Kubera, the god of +wealth, the 'jewel-giver,' who is the guardian of travellers, the king +of those demons called Yakshas, which the later sect makes servants of +Civa. He is variously named;[16] he is a dwarf; he dwells in the +North, in Mt. K[=a]il[=a]sa, and has a demoniac gate-keeper, +Macakruka. Another newer god is the one already referred to, Dharma +V[=a]ivasvata, or Justice (Virtue, Right), the son of the sun, a title +of Yama older than the Vedas. He is also the father of the new +love-god, K[=a]ma. It is necessary to indicate the names of the gods +and their functions, lest one imagine that with pantheism the Vedic +religion expired. Even that old, impious Brahmanic fable crops out +again: "The devils were the older brothers of the gods, and were +conquered by the gods only with trickery" (in. 33. 60), an interesting +reminiscence of the fact that the later name for evil spirit was +originally the one applied to the great and good spirit (Asura the +same with Ahura).[17] According to a rather late chapter in the second +book each of the great Vedic gods has a special paradise of his own, +the most remarkable feature of the account being that Indra's heaven +is filled with saints, having only one king in it--a view quite +foreign to the teaching that is current elsewhere in the epic. Where +the sectarian doctrine would oppose the old belief it set above +Indra's heaven another, of Brahm[=a], and above that a third, of +Vishnu (i. 89. 16 ff.). According to one passage Mt. Mandara[18] is a +sort of Indian Olympus. Another account speaks of the Him[=a]layas, +Himavat, as 'the divine mountain, beloved of the gods,' though the +knight goes thence to Gandham[=a]dana, and thence to Indrak[=i]la, to +find the gods' habitat (III. 37. 41). Personified powers lie all +around the religious Hindu. And this is especially true of the epic +character. He prays to Mt. Mandara, and to rivers, above all to the +Ganges. Mt. Kol[=a]hala is divine, and begets divine offspring on a +river (I. 63). The Vindhya range of mountains rivals the fabled Meru +(around which course the sun and all the heavenly bodies), and this, +too, is the object of devotion and prayer.[19] In one passage it is +said that in Beh[=a]r (M[=a]gadha) there was a peak which was +continuously 'worshipped with offerings of flowers and perfumes,' +exactly as if it were a god. The reason why flowers are given and worn +is that they bring good luck, it is said in the same chapter (II. 21. +15, 20, 51). + +What is, perhaps, the most striking feature of Hindu religious +thought, as a whole, is the steadfastness with which survive, even in +the epic and in Buddhism, the forms and formulae of the older faith. +At a time when pantheism or nihilism is the avowed creed the ancient +gods still exist, weak, indeed, yet infused with a true immortality. +This is noticeable even more in unnoticeable ways, in the turns of +speech, in little comparisons, in the hymns, in short, in the by-play +of the epic. 'Withered are the garlands of the gods, and their glory +is departed,'[20] but they still receive homage in time of need. And +in that homage is to be seen, and from the same cause, the revived or +surviving worship of the Veda. Each god in turn is mighty, though Agni +is the mightiest of the old divinities. In an epic hymn to him it is +said: "Thou art the mouth of the worlds; the poets declare thee to be +one and three-fold; as carrier of the sacrifice they arrange thee +eight-fold. By thee was all created, say the highest seers. Priests +that have made reverence to thee attain the eternal course their acts +have won, together with their wives and sons. They call thee the +water-giver in the air, together with lightning. On thee first depends +water. Thou art the creator and Brihaspati, thou art the two Horsemen, +the two Yamas, Mitra, Soma, Wind" (i. 229. 23 ff.).[21] And yet this +is in a pantheistic environment! The Rig Veda is directly invoked, +though, of course, not directly cited, in the old hymn to the +Horsemen, who are, however, elsewhere put with low animals and +Guhyakas, demons (i. 66).[22] They are the "physicians of the gods," +the "first-born" the golden birds which weave the white and black of +time, create the wheel of time with all its seasons, and make the sun +and sky (i. 3. 55 ff., "_v[=a]gbhir [r.]gbhis_"). Indra himself is +extolled in Kadr[=u]'s hymn; he is the slayer of Namuci, the lord of +Cac[=i]; he is the great cloud, cloud and its thunder, creator and +destroyer; he is Vishnu, 'Soma, greatly praised,' as well as fire, +air, time in all its divisions, earth and ocean; when lauded he drinks +the _soma_, and he is sung in the Ved[=a]ngas (i. 25. 7 ff.). Praised +with this hymn in time of need of rain, Indra "commanded the clouds, +saying, 'rain down the ambrosia'" (26. 2); where there is still the +rain as synonymous with ambrosia, and Indra not very differently +conceived from his Vedic self. Thus in comparisons: "As Indra standing +in heaven brings bliss to the world of the living, so Vidura ever +brought bliss to the Pandus" (i. 61. 15). But at the same time what +changes! The gods assemble and sing a hymn to Garuda, the epic form of +Garutman, the heavenly bird, who here steals the _soma_ vainly guarded +by the gods. Garuda, too, is Praj[=a]pati, Indra, and so forth.[23] +The gods are no longer divinities distinct from the dead Fathers, for +they are "identical in being." So Agni says when the latter is cursed +by Bhrigu: "The divinities and the Manes are satisfied by the oblation +in fire. The hosts of gods are waters, so, too, are the Manes. The +feasts of the new and full moon belong to the gods with the Manes; +hence the Manes are divinities and the divinities are Manes. They are +of one being (_ek[i]bh[=u]t[=a]s_). I (Fire) am the mouth of both, for +both eat the oblation poured upon me. The Manes at the new moon, the +gods at the full, are fed by my mouth" (i. 7. 7 ff.).[24] Such gods +the epic hero fears not (i. 227. 38 ff.). Hymns to them are paralleled +by hymns to snakes, as in i. 3. 134 ff., against whom is made the +"_sarpasattram_ (snake sacrifice) of the Pur[=a]nas" (i. 51. 6). +Divinity is universal. Knights are as divine as the divinest god, the +All-god. Arjuna, the god-born man, to whom Krishna reveals the Divine +Song, is himself god.[25] In this case whether god becomes human, or +_vice versa_, no one knows. + +Under the all embracing cloak of pantheism the heart of the epic +conceals many an ancient rite and superstition. Here is the covenant +of blood, the covenant of death (represented by the modern +'sitting'[26]), and the covenant of water, which symbolizes both +friendship and the solemnity of the curse. The former are illustrated +by Bhima's drinking blood as a sign that he will fulfil his vow,[27] +and by R[=a]ma lying by Ocean to die unless Ocean grants his wish. Of +the water-rite that of offering water in hospitality and as a form in +reception of gifts is general; that of cursing by 'touching water' +(_v[=a]ry upasp[r.]cya_), occurs in iii. 10. 32. For this purpose +holy-grass and other symbols are known also,[28] and formulae yield +only in potency to love-philters and magic drugs. Another covenant +besides those just noticed seems to lie concealed in the avoidance of +the door when injury is intended. If one goes in by the door he is a +guest who has anticipated hospitality, and then he dares not refuse +the respect and offering of water, etc, which makes the formal pact of +friendship. If, on the contrary, he does not go in by the door he is +not obliged to receive the offering, and may remain as a foe in the +house (or in the city) of his enemy, with intent to kill, but without +moral wrong. This may be implied in the end of the epic, where +Acvatth[=a]man, intent on secret murder of his foe, is prevented by +god Civa from entering in at the gate, but going in by stealth, and +'not by the door' of the camp, gets to his foe, who lies asleep, and +kills him (x. 8. 10). This might be thought, indeed, to be merely +strategic, but it is in accordance with the strict law of all the +law-books that one, in ordinary circumstances, shall avoid to enter a +town or a house in any other way than through the door (Manu, iv. 73; +Gaut. 9. 32, etc.), and we think it has a moral significance, for this +_a-dv[=a]ra_ (non-door) rule occurs again in the epic in just the +circumstances we have described. The heroes in this case are not +afraid of their foe, who is in his town. They insult every one as they +approach, but they find some other way of getting in than by passing +through the gate, for the express purpose of being morally able to +make the king fight with them after they have entered his city. And +they cite the rule 'according to law,' which is that one may enter his +foe's house by _a-dv[=a]ra,_ 'not by door,' but his friend's house +only 'by door.' As they have not entered 'by door' they say they may +refuse the hospitality which the king urges them to accept, and so +they kill him (ii. 21. 14, 53). Stepping in through the door seems, +therefore, to be a tacit agreement that one will not injure the +resident.[29] + +In the epic, again, fetishism is found. The student of the 'science of +war,' in order to obtain his teacher's knowledge when the latter is +away, makes a clay image of the preceptor and worships this clay idol, +practicing arms before it (i. 132. 33). Here too is embalmed the +belief that man's life may be bound up with that of some inanimate +thing, and the man perishes with the destruction of his psychic +prototype (iii. 135). The old ordeals of fire and water are +recognized. "Fire does not burn the house of good men." "If (as this +man asserts) he is Varuna's son, then let him enter water and let us +see if he will drown" (iii. 134. 27 ff.). A human sacrifice is +performed (iii. 127); although the priest who performs it is cast into +hell (_ib_. 128).[30] The teaching in regard to hells is about the +same with that already explained in connection with the law-books, but +the more definite physical interpretation of hell as a hole in the +ground (_garta_, just as in the Rig Veda) is retained. Agastya sees +his ancestors 'in a hole,' which they call 'a hell' (_n[=i]ray[=a]_). +This is evidently the hell known to the law-punsters and epic (i. 74. +39) as _puttra_, 'the _put_ hell' from which the son (_putra_) +delivers (_tra_). For these ancestors are in the 'hole' because +Agastya, their descendant, has not done his duty and begotten sons (i. +45. 13; iii. 96. 15); one son being 'no son' according to law and epic +(i. 100. 68), and all the merit of sacrifice being equal to only +one-sixteenth of that obtained by having a son. The teaching, again, +in regard to the Fathers themselves (the Manes), while not differing +materially from the older view, offers novelties which show how little +the absorption-theory had taken hold of the religious consciousness. +The very fact that the son is still considered to be as necessary as +ever (that he may offer food to his ancestors) shows that the +believer, whatever his professed faith, expects to depend for bliss +hereafter upon his _post mortem_ meals, as much as did his fathers +upon theirs. In the matter of the burial of the dead, one finds, what +is antique, that although according to the formal law only infants are +buried, and adults are burned, yet was burial known, as in the Vedic +age. And the still older exposure of the body, after the Iranian +fashion, is not only hinted at as occurring here and there even before +the epic, but in the epic these forms are all recognized as equally +approved: "When a man dies he is burned or buried or exposed" +(_nik[r.][s.]yate_)[31] it is said in i. 90. 17; and the narrator goes +on to explain that the "hell on earth," of which the auditor "has +never heard" (vs. 6) is re-birth in low bodies, speaking of it as a +new doctrine. "As if in a dream remaining conscious the spirit enters +another form"; the bad becoming insects and worms; the good going to +heaven by means of the "seven gates," viz., penance, liberality, +quietism, self-control, modesty, rectitude, and mercy. This is a union +of two views, and it is evidently the popular view, that, namely, the +good go to heaven while the bad go to new existence in a low form, as +opposed to the more logical conception that both alike enter new +forms, one good, the other bad. Then the established stadia, the +pupil, the old teaching (_upanishad_) of the householders, and the +wood-dwellers are described, with the remark that there is no +uniformity of opinion in regard to them; but the ancient view crops +out again in the statement that one who dies as a forest-hermit +"establishes in bliss" ten ancestors and ten descendants. In this part +of the epic the Punj[=a]b is still near the theatre of events, the +'centre region' being between the Ganges and Jumna (I. 87. 5); +although the later additions to the poems show acquaintance with all +countries, known and unknown, and with peoples from all the world. +Significant in xii. 61. 1, 2 is the name of the third order +_bh[=a]ikshyacaryam_ 'beggarhood' (before the forest-hermit and after +the householder). + +It was said above that the departed Fathers could assume a mortal +form. In the formal classification of these demigods seven kinds of +Manes are enumerated, the title of one subdivision being 'those +embodied.' Brahm[=a] is identified with the Father-god in connection +with the Manes: "All the Manes worship Praj[=a]pati Brahm[=a]," in the +paradise of Praj[=a]pati, where, by the way, are Civa and Vishnu (II. +11. 45, 50, 52; 8. 30). According to this description 'kings and +sinners,' together with the Manes, are found in Yama's home, as well +as "those that die at the solstice" (II. 7 ff.; 8. 31). Constantly the +reader is impressed with the fact that the characters of the epic are +acting and thinking in a way not conformable to the idea one might +form of the Hindu from the law. We have animadverted upon this point +elsewhere in connection with another matter. It is this factor that +makes the study of the epic so invaluable as an offset to the +verisimilitude of belief, even as belief is taught (not practiced) in +the law. There is a very old rule, for instance, against slaughtering +animals and eating meat; while to eat beef is a monstrous crime. Yet +is it plain from the epic that meat-eating was customary, and Vedic +texts are cited (_ iti crutis_) to prove that this is permissible; +while a king is extolled for slaughtering cattle (III. 208. 6-11). It +is said out and out in iii. 313. 86 that 'beef is food,' _g[=a]ur +annam_. Deer are constantly eaten. There is an amusing protest against +this practice, which was felt to be irreconcilable with +the _ahims[=a]_ (non-injury) doctrine, in III. 258, where the remnant +of deer left in the forest come in a vision and beg to be spared. A +dispute between gods and seers over vegetable sacrifices is recorded, +XII. 338. Again, asceticism is not the duty of a warrior, but the epic +hero practices asceticism exactly as if he were a priest, or a Jain, +although the warning is given that a warrior 'obtains a better lot' +(_loka_) by dying in battle than by asceticism. The asceticism is, of +course, exaggerated, but an instance or two of what the Hindu expects +in this regard may not be without interest. The warrior who becomes an +ascetic eats leaves, and is clothed in grass. For one month he eats +fruits every third day (night); for another month every sixth day; for +another month every fortnight; and for the fourth month he lives on +air, standing on tiptoe with arms stretched up. Another account says +that the knight eats fruit for one month; water for one month; and for +the third month, nothing (III. 33. 73; 38. 22-26; 167). One may +compare with these ascetic practices, which are not so exaggerated, in +fact, as might be supposed,[32] the 'one-leg' practice of virtue, +consisting in standing on one leg, _ekap[=a]dena_, for six months or +longer, as one is able (I. 170. 46; III. 12. 13-16). Since learning +the Vedas is a tiresome task, and ascetic practice makes it possible +to acquire anything, one is not surprised to find that a devotee +undertakes penance with this in view, and is only surprised when +Indra, who, to be sure has a personal interest in the Vedas, breaks in +on the scene and rebukes the ascetic with the words: "Asceticism +cannot teach the Vedas; go and be tutored by a teacher" (III. 135. +22). + +One finds in the epic the old belief that the stars are the souls of +the departed,[33] and this occurs so often that it is another sign of +the comparative newness of the pantheistic doctrine. When the hero, +Arjuna, goes to heaven he approaches the stars, "which seen from earth +look small on account of their distance," and finds them to be +self-luminous refulgent saints, royal seers, and heroes slain in +battle, some of them also being nymphs and celestial singers. All of +this is in contradiction both to the older and to the newer systems of +eschatology; but it is an ancient belief, and therefore it is +preserved. Indra's heaven,[34] Amar[=a]vati, lies above these +stars[35]] No less than five distinct beliefs are thus enunciated in +regard to the fate of 'good men after death. If they believe in the +All-god they unite with him at once. Or they have a higher course, +becoming gradually more elevated, as gods, etc, and ultimately 'enter' +the All-god. Again they go to the world of Brahm[=a]. Again they go to +Indra's heaven. Again they become stars. The two last beliefs are the +oldest, the _brahmaloka_ belief is the next in order of time, and the +first-mentioned are the latest to be adopted. The hero of the epic +just walks up to heaven, but his case is exceptional. + +While angels and spirits swarm about the world in every shape from +mischievous or helpful fairies to R[=a]hu, whose head still swallows +the sun, causing eclipses (I. 19. 9), there are a few that are +especially conspicuous. Chief of the good spirits, attendants of +Indra, are the Siddhas[36] 'saints,' who occasionally appear to bless +a hero in conjunction with 'beings invisible' (III. 37. 21). Their +name means literally 'blessed' or 'successful,' and probably, like the +seers, Rishis, they are the departed fathers in spiritual form. These +latter form various classes. There are not only the 'great seers,' and +the still greater '_brahma_-seers,' and the 'god-seers,' but there are +even 'devil-seers,' and 'king-seers,' these being spirits of priests +of royal lineages.[37] The evil spirits, like the gods, are sometimes +grouped in threes. In a blessing one cries out: "Farewell (_svasti +gacchahy an[=a]mayam_); I entreat the Vasus, Rudras, [=A]dityas, +Marut-hosts and the All-gods to protect thee, together with the +S[=a]dhyas; safety be to thee from all the evil beings that live in +air, earth, and heaven, and from all others that dog thy path."[38] In +XII. 166. 61 ff. the devils fall to earth, mountains, water, and other +places. According to I. 19. 29. it is not long since the Asuras were +driven to take refuge in earth and salt water.[39] + +These creatures have every kind of miraculous power, whether they be +good or bad. Hanuman, famed in both epics, the divine monkey, with +whom is associated the divine 'king of bears' J[=a]mbavan (III. 280. +23), can grow greater than mortal eye can see (III. 150. 9). He is +still worshipped as a great god in South India. As an illustration of +epic spiritism the case of Ilvala may be taken. This devil, +_d[=a]iteya_, had a trick of cooking his embodied younger brother, and +giving him to saints to eat. One saint, supposing the flesh to be +mutton (here is saintly meat-eating!), devours the dainty viand; upon +which the devil 'calls' his brother, who is obliged to come, whether +eaten or not, and in coming bursts the saint that has eaten him (iii. +96). This is folk-lore; but what religion does not folk-lore contain! +So, personified Fate holds its own as an inscrutable power, mightier +than others.[40] There is another touch of primitive religious feeling +which reminds one of the usage in Iceland, where, if a stranger knocks +at the door and the one within asks 'who is there?' the guest answers, +'God.' So in the epic it is said that 'every guest is god Indra' +(_Parjanyo nn[=a]nusa[.m]caran_, iii. 200. 123. In the epic Parjanya, +the rain-god, and Indra are the same). Of popular old tales of +religious bearing may be mentioned the retention and elaboration of +the Brahmanic deluge-story, with Manu as Noah (iii. 187); the Acvins' +feats in rejuvenating (iii. 123); the combats of the gods with the +demons (Namuci, Cambara, Vala, Vritra, Prahl[=a]da, Naraka), etc. +(iii. 168). + +Turning now to some of the newer traits in the epic, one notices first +that, while the old sacrifices still obtain, especially the +horse-sacrifice, the _r[=a]jas[=u]ya_ and the less meritorious +_v[=a]japeya,_ together with the monthly and seasonal sacrifices, +there is in practice a leaning rather to new sacrifices, and a new +cult. The _soma_ is scarce, and the _p[=u]tika_ plant is accepted as +its substitute (iii. 35. 33) in a matter-of-course way, as if this +substitution, permitted of old by law, were now common. The sacrifice +of the widow is recognized, in the case of the wives of kings, as a +means of obtaining bliss for a woman,[41] for the religion of the epic +is not entirely careless of woman. Somewhat new, however, is the +self-immolation of a man upon the pyre of his son. Such a case is +recorded in iii. 137. 19. where a father burns his son's body, and +then himself enters the fire. New also, of course, are the sectarian +festivals and sacrifices; and pronounced is the gain in the godhead of +priests, king, parents, elder brother, and husband. The priest has +long been regarded as a god, but in the epic he is god of gods, +although one can trace even here a growth in adulation.[42] The king, +too, has been identified before this period with the gods. But in the +epic he is to his people an absolute divinity,[43] and so are the +parents to the son;[44] while, since the elder brother is the same +with a father, when the father is dead the younger brother worships +the elder. So also the wife's god is her husband; for higher even than +that of the priest is the husband's divinity (III. 206). The wife's +religious service is not concerned with feasts to the Manes, with +sacrifice to the gods, nor with studying the Veda. In all these she +has no part. Her religion is to serve her husband (III. 205. 23), and +to die, if worthy of the honor, on his funeral pyre. Otherwise the +epic woman has religious practices only in visiting the holy +watering-places, which now abound, and in reading the epic itself. For +it is said of both practices: "Whether man or woman read this book (or +'visit this holy pool') he or she is freed from sin" (so in III. 82. +33: "Every sin committed since birth by man or woman is absolved by +bathing in 'holy Pushkara"). It may be remarked that as a general +thing the deities invoked by women are, by predilection, female +divinities, some of them being mere abstractions, while 'the Creator' +is often the only god in the woman's list, except, of course, the +priests: "Reverence to priests, and to the Creator ... May Hr[=i], +Cr[=i] (Modesty and Beauty), Fame, Glory, Prosperity, Um[=a] (Civa's +wife), Lakshmi (Vishnu's wife), and also Sarasvat[=i], (may all these +female divinities) guard thy path, because thou reverest thy elder +brother," is a woman's prayer (III. 37. 26-33).[45] + +Of the sectarian cults just mentioned the _brahmamaha_, I. 164. 20, +elsewhere referred to, is the all-caste[46] feast in honor of +Brahm[=a] (or of the Brahmans); as _ib_. 143. 3 one finds a +_sam[=a]ja_ in honor of Civa; and distinctly in honor of the same god +of horror is the sacrifice, _i.e._, immolation, of one hundred kings, +who are collected "in the temple of Civa," to be slaughtered like +cattle in M[=a]gadha (II. 15. 23); an act which the heroes of the epic +prevent, and look upon with scorn.[47] As a substitute for the +_r[=a]jas[=u]ya_, which may be connected with the human sacrifice +(_Ind. Streifen_, I. 61), but is the best sacrifice because it has the +best largesse (III. 255. 12), the Vaishnava is suggested to +Duryodhana. It is a great _sattram_ or long sacrifice to Vishnu (_ib_. +15 and 19); longer than a Vishnuprabodha (26 Oct.). There is a Smriti +rite described in III. 198. 13 as a _svastiv[=a]canam_, a ceremony to +obtain a heavenly chariot which brings prosperity, the priests being +invoked for blessings (_svasti_). Quite modern, comparatively +speaking, is the cult of holy pools; but it is to be observed that the +blessings expected are rarely more than the acquirement of +_brahma_-worlds, so that the institution seems to be at least older +than the sectarian religions, although naturally among the holy pools +is intruded a Vishnu-pool. This religious rite cannot be passed over +in silence. The custom is late Brahmanic (as above), and still +survives. It has been an aspect of Hindu religion for centuries, not +only in the view taken of the pools, but even occasionally in the +place itself. Thus the Ganges, Gay[=a], Pray[=a]ga, and Kuru-Plain are +to-day most holy, and they are mentioned as among the holiest in the +epic catalogue.[48] Soma is now revamped by a bath in a holy pool (IX. +35. 75). As in every antithesis of act and thought there are not +lacking passages in the epic which decry the pools in comparison with +holy life as a means of salvation. Thus in III. 82. 9 ff., the poet +says: "The fruit of pilgrimage (to holy pools)--he whose hands, feet, +and mind are controlled;[49] he who has knowledge, asceticism, and +fame, he gets all the fruit that holy pools can give. If one is averse +from receiving gifts, content, freed from egoism, if one injures not, +and acts disinterestedly, if one is not gluttonous, or carnal-minded, +he is freed from sin. Let one (not bathe in pools but) be without +wrath, truthful, firm in his vows, seeing his self in all beings." +This is, however, a protest little heeded.[50] Pilgrimage is made to +pool and plain, to mountain, tree, and river. Even then, as now, of +all pilgrimages that to Ganges was most esteemed: "Originally all were +holy; in the second age Pushkara[51] was holy; in the third age the +Plain of the Kurus was holy; and in this age Ganges is holy" (III. 85. +90).[52] Besides Ganges, the Plain of the Kurus and Pray[=a]ga, the +junction of Ganges and Jumna, get the highest laudation. Other rivers, +such as the Gomal and Sarasvat[=i], are also extolled, and the list is +very long of places which to see or to bathe in releases from sin. "He +who bathes in Ganges purifies seven descendants.[53] As long as the +bones of a man touch Ganges-water so long that man is magnified in +heaven." Again: "No place of pilgrimage is better than Ganges; no god +is better than Vishnu; nothing is better than _brahma_--so said the +sire of the gods" (iii. 85. 94-96). The very dust of Kuru-Plain makes +one holy, the sight of it purifies; he that lives south of the +Sarasvat[=i], north of the Drishadvat[=i] (_i.e_., in Kuru-Plain), he +lives in the third heaven (iii. 83. 1-3=203-205[54]). This sort of +expiation for sin is implied in a more general way by the remark that +there are three kinds of purity, one of speech, one of act, and one of +water (iii. 200. 82). But in the epic there is still another means of +expiating sin, one that is indicated in the Brahmanic rule that if a +woman is an adulteress she destroys half her sin by confessing it (as +above), where, however, repentance is rather implied than commanded. +But in the epic Pur[=a]na it is distinctly stated as a Cruti, or trite +saying, that if one repents he is freed from his sin; _na tat +kury[=a]m punar_ is the formula he must use, 'I will not do so again,' +and then he is released from even the sin that he is going to commit a +second time, as if by a ceremony--so is the Cruti in the laws, +_dharmas_ (iii. 207. 51, 52).[55] Confession to the family priest is +enjoined, in xii. 268. 14, to escape punishment. + +Two other religious practices in the epic are noteworthy. The first is +the extension of idolatry in pictures. The amiable 'goddess of the +house' is represented, to be sure, as a R[=a]kshas[=i], or demoniac +power, whose name is Jar[=a]. But she was created by the +Self-existent, and is really very friendly, under certain conditions: +"Whoever delineates me with faith in his house, he increases in +children; otherwise he would be destroyed." She is worshipped, _i.e_., +her painted image is worshipped, with perfumes, flowers, incense, +food, and other enjoyable things (II. 18).[56] Another practice that +is very common is the worship of holy trees. One may compare the +banyan at Bodhi Gay[=a] with the 'worshipful' village-tree of II. 24. +23. Seldom and late is the use of a rosary mentioned (_e.g_., III. +112. 5, _aksham[=a]l[=a]_, elsewhere _aksha_), although the word is +employed to make an epithet of Civa, Aksham[=a]lin.[57] + +As has been said already, an extraordinary power is ascribed to the +mere repetition of a holy text, _mantra_. These are applied on all +occasions without the slightest reference to the subject. By means of +_mantra_ one exorcises; recovers weapons; calls gods and demons, +etc.[58] When misfortune or disease arrives it is invariably ascribed +to the malignant action of a devil, although the _karma_ teaching +should suggest that it was the result of a former misdeed on the +victim's part. But the very iteration, the insistence on new +explanations of this doctrine, show that the popular mind still clung +to the old idea of demoniac interference. Occasionally the naivete +with which the effect of a _mantra_ is narrated is somewhat amusing, +as, for instance, when the heroine Krishn[=a] faints, and the +by-standers "slowly" revive her "by the use of demon-dispelling +_mantras_, rubbing, water, and fanning" (iii. 144. 17). All the +weapons of the heroes are inspired with and impelled by _mantras_. + +Sufficient insight into the formal rules of morality has been given in +the extracts above, nor does the epic in this regard differ much from +the law-books. Every man's first duty is to act; inactivity is sinful. +The man that fails to win a good reputation by his acts, a warrior, +for example, that is devoid of fame, a 'man of no account,' is a +_bh[=u]mivardhana, [Greek: achthos aroures]_ a cumberer of earth (iii. +35. 7). A proverb says that man should seek virtue, gain, and +pleasure; "virtue in the morning; gain at noon; pleasure at night," +or, according to another version, "pleasure when young, gain in +middle-age, and virtue in the end of life" (iii. 33. 40, 41). "Virtue +is better than immortality and life. Kingdom, sons, glory, wealth, all +this does not equal one-sixteenth part of the value of truth" (_ib_. +34. 22).[59] One very strong summing up of a discourse on virtuous +behavior ends thus: "Truth, self-control, asceticism, generosity, +non-injury, constancy in virtue--these are the means of success, not +caste nor family" (_j[=a]ti, kula_, iii. 181. 42). + +A doctrine practiced, if not preached, is that of blood-revenge. "The +unavenged shed tears, which are wiped away by the avenger" (iii. 11. +66); and in accordance with this feeling is the statement: "I shall +satiate my brother with his murderer's blood, and thus, becoming free +of debt in respect of my brother, I shall win the highest place in +heaven" (_ib_. 34, 35). + +As of old, despite the new faith, as a matter of priestly, formal +belief, all depends on the sacrifice: "Law comes from usage; in law +are the Vedas established; by means of the Vedas arise sacrifices; by +sacrifice are the gods established; according to the rule of Vedas, +and usage, sacrifices being performed support the divinities, just as +the rules of Brihaspati and Ucanas support men" (iii. 150. 28, 29). +The pernicious doctrine of atonement for sin follows as a matter of +course: "Whatever sin a king commits in conquering the earth is atoned +for by sacrifices, if they are accompanied with large gifts to +priests, such as cows and villages." Even gifts to a sacred bull have +the same effect (iii. 33. 78, 79; _ib_. 35. 34; iii. 2. 57), the +occasion in hand being a king's violation of his oath.[60] Of these +sacrifices a great snake-sacrifice forms the occasion for narrating +the whole epic, the plot of which turns on the national vice of +gambling.[61] For divine snakes are now even grouped with other +celestial powers, disputing the victory of earthly combatants as do +Indra and S[=u]rya: "The great snakes were on Arjuna's side; the +little snakes were for Karna" (viii. 87. 44, 45).[62] They were +(perhaps) the local gods of the Nagas (Snakes), a tribe living between +the Ganges and Jumna. + +The religion of the epic is multiform. But it stands, in a certain +sense, as one religion, and from two points of view it is worthy of +special regard. One may look upon it either as the summing up of +Brahmanism in the new Hinduism, as the final expression of a religion +which forgets nothing and absorbs everything; or one may study it as a +belief composed of historical strata, endeavoring to divide it into +its different layers, as they have been super-imposed one upon another +in the course of ages. From the latter point of view the Vedic +divinities claim the attention first. There are still traces of the +original power of Agni and S[=u]rya, as we have shown, and Wind still +makes with these two a notable triad,[63] whereas Indra, impotent as +he is, hymnless as he is,--save in the oldest portions of the +work,--still leads the gods, now godkins, of the ancient pantheon, and +still, in theory, at least, off a paradise to the knight that dies +nobly on the field.[64] But one sees at once that the preservation of +the dignity of these deities is due to different causes. Indra cannot +even save a snake that grasps his hand for safety; he wages war +against the demons' 'triple town,' and signally fails of his purpose, +for the demons are as strong as the gods, and there are D[=a]navendras +as well as D[=a]navarshis.[65] But Indra is the figure-head of the +whole ancient pantheon, and for this reason he plays so constant, if +so weak, a role, in the epic. The only important thing in connection +with him is his heaven. As an individual deity Indra lives, on the +whole, only in the tales of old, for example, in that of his cheating +Namuci (ix. 43. 32 ff.). Nothing new and clever is told of him which +would indicate power, only a new trick or two, as when he steals from +Karna. It is quite otherwise with Agni and S[=u]rya. They are not so +vaguely identified with the one god as is 'Indra and the other Vasus.' +It is merely because these gods are prominently forms of Vishnu that +they are honored with hymns in the epic. This is seen from the nature +of the hymns, and also from the fact that it is either as fire or as +sun that Vishnu destroys at the end of the aeons. For it is, perhaps, +somewhat daring to say, and yet it seems to be the fact, that the +solar origin of Vishnu is not lost sight of. + +The pantheistic Vishnu is the _[=a]tm[=a]_, and Vishnu, after all, is +but a form of fire. Therefore is it that the epic Vishnu is +perpetually lapsing into fire; while fire and sun are doubly honored +as special forms of the highest. It is, then, not so much on account +of a survival of ancient dignity[66] that sun and fire stand so high, +but rather because they are the nearest approach to the effulgence of +the Supreme. Thus while in one place one is told that after seven suns +have appeared the supreme gods become the fire of destruction and +complete the ruin, in another he reads that it is the sun alone which, +becoming twelvefold, does all the work of the Supreme.[67] + +Indra has hymns and sacrifices, but although he has no so exalted hymn +as comes to his 'friend Agni,' yet (in an isolated passage) he has a +new feast and celebration, the account of which apparently belongs to +the first period of the epic, when the worship of Indra still had +significance. In i. 63, an _Indramaha_, or 'glorification of Indra,' +is described a festivity extending over two days, and marked by the +erection of a pole in honor of the god--a ceremony which 'even +to-day,' it is said, is practiced.[68] The old tales of the fire-cult +are retold, and new rites are known.[69] Thus in iii. 251. 20 ff., +Prince Duryodhana resolves to starve to death (oblivious of the rule +that 'a suicide goes to hell'), and since this is a religious +ceremony, he clothes himself in old clothes and holy-grass, 'touches +water,' and devotes himself with intense application to heaven. Then +the devils of Rudra called D[=a]iteyas and D[=a]navas, who live +underground ever since they were conquered by the gods, aided by +priests, make a fire-rite, and with _mantras_ "declared by Brihaspati +and Ucanas, and proclaimed in the Atharva-Veda," raise a ghost or +spirit, who is ordered to fetch Duryodhana to hell, which she +immediately does.[70] The frequent connection of Brihaspati with the +Atharva-Veda is of interest (above, p. 159). He is quite a venerable, +if not wholly orthodox, author in the epic, and his 'rules' are often +cited.[71] + +That Vedic deity who, alone of pre-Vedic powers, still holds his proud +place, Yama, the king of departed spirits, varies in the epic +according to the period represented. In old tales he is still quite +Vedic in character; he takes the dead man's soul off to his own realm. +But, of course, as pantheism prevails, and eschatology becomes +confused, Yama passes into a shadow, and at most is a bugbear for the +wicked. Even his companions are stolen from another realm, and one +hears now of "King Yama with his Rudras" (III. 237. 11),[72] while it +is only the bad[73] that go to Yama (III. 200. 24), in popular belief, +although this view, itself old, relapses occasionally into one still +older, in accordance with which (_ib_. 49) all the world is hounded on +by Yama's messengers, and comes to his abode. His home[74] in the +south is now located as being at a distance of 86,000 leagues over a +terrible road, on which passes a procession of wretched or happy +mortals, even as they have behaved during life; for example, if one +has generously given an umbrella during life he will have an umbrella +on this journey, etc. The river in Yama's abode is called Pushpodaka, +and what each drinks out of it is according to what he deserves to +drink, cool water or filth (_ib._ 46, 58).[75] In the various +descriptions it is not strange to find discordant views even in +portions belonging approximately to the same period. Thus in +contradistinction to the prevailing view one reads of Indra himself +that he is _Yamasya net[=a] Namucecca hant[=a]_ 'Yama's leader, +Namuci's slayer' (iii. 25. 10.), _i.e._, those that die in battle go +to Yama. + +On the other hand, in the later speculative portions, Yama is not +death. "Yama is not death, as some think; he is one that gives bliss +to the good, and woe to the bad."[76] Death and life are foolishness +and lack of folly, respectively (literally, 'non-folly is +non-mortality'), while folly and mortality are counter opposites. In +pantheistic teaching there is, of course, no real death, only change. +But death is a female power, personified, and sharply distinguished +from Yama. Death as a means of change thus remains, while Yama is +relegated to the guardianship of hell. The difference in regard to the +latter subject, between earlier and later views, has been noted above. +One comparatively early passage attempts to arrange the incongruous +beliefs in regard to _sams[=a]ra_ (re-birth) and hell on a sort of +sliding scale, thus: "One that does good gets in the next life a good +birth; one that does ill gets an ill birth"; more particularly: "By +good acts one attains to the state of gods; by 'mixed' acts, to the +state of man; by acts due to confusion of mind, to the state of +animals and plants (_viyon[=i][s.]u_); by sinful acts one goes to +hell" (_adhog[=a]mi_, iii. 209. 29-32).[77] Virtue must have been, as +the epic often declares it to be, a 'subtile matter,' for often a tale +is told to illustrate the fact that one goes to hell for doing what he +thinks (mistakenly) to be right. Thus K[=a]ucika is sent to hell for +speaking the truth, whereas he ought to have lied to save life (viii. +69. 53), for he was "ignorant of virtue's subtilty."[78] A passage (i. +74. 27 ff.) that is reflected in Manu (viii. 85-86) says that Yama +V[=a]ivasvata takes away the sin of him with whom is satisfied "the +one that witnesses the act, that stands in the heart, that knows the +ground"; but Yama tortures him with whom this one (personified +conscience) is dissatisfied. For "truth is equal to a thousand +horse-sacrifices; truth is highest _brahma_" (_ib._ 103, 106). + +Following downward the course of religious development, as reflected +in the epic, one next finds traces of Brahmanic theology not only in +the few passages where (Brahm[=a]) Praj[=a]pati remains untouched by +sectarianism, but also in the harking back to old formulae. Thus the +insistence on the Brahmanical sacredness of the number seventeen is +preserved (xii. 269. 26; iii. 210. 20, etc); and Upanishadic is the +"food is Praj[=a]pati" of iii. 200. 38 (Yama in 40). There is an +interesting rehabilitation of the primitive idea of the Acvins in the +new ascription of formal divinity to the (personified) Twilights +(Sandhy[=a]) in iii. 200. 83, although this whole passage is more +Puranic than epic. From the same source is the doctrine that the fruit +of action expires at the end of one hundred thousand _kalpas_ (_ib._ +vs. 121). One of the oddest religious freaks in the epic is the sudden +exaltation of the Ribhus, the Vedic (season-gods) artisans, to the +position of highest gods. In that heaven of Brahm[=a], which is above +the Vedic gods' heaven, there are the holy seers and the Ribhus, 'the +divinities of the gods'; who do not change with the change of _kalpas_ +(as do other Vedic gods), III. 261. 19-23. One might almost imagine +that their threefoldness was causative of a trinitarian identification +with a supreme triad; but no, for still higher is the 'heaven of +Vishnu' (vs. 37). The contrast is marked between this and _[=A]it. +Br._ III. 30, where the Ribhus with some difficulty obtain the right +to drink _soma_. + +There is an aspect of the epic religion upon which it is necessary to +touch before treating of the sectarian development. In the early +philosophical period wise priests meet together to discuss theological +and philosophical questions, often aided, and often brought to grief, +by the wit of women disputants, who are freely admitted to hear and +share in the discussion. When, however, pantheism, nay, even +Vishnuism, or still more, Krishnaism, was an accepted fact upon what, +then, was the wisdom of the priest expended? Apart from the epic, the +best intellects of the day were occupied in researches, codifying +laws, and solving, in rather dogmatic fashion, philosophical +(theological) problems. The epic presents pictures of scenes which +seem to be a reflection from an earlier day. But one sees often that +the wisdom is commonplace, or even silly. In dialectics a sophistical +subtlety is shown; in codifying moral rules, a tedious triteness; in +amoebic passes of wit there are astounding exhibitions, in which the +good scholiast sees treasures of wisdom, where a modern is obliged to +take them in their literal dulness. Thus in III. 132. 18, a boy of +twelve or ten (133. 16), who is divinely precocious, defeats the wise +men in disputation at a sacrifice, and in the following section (134. +7 ff.) silences a disputant who is regarded as one of the cleverest +priests. The conversation is recorded in full. In what does it +consist? The opponent mentions a number of things which are one; the +boy replies with a verse that gives pairs of things; the other +mentions triads; the child cites groups of fours, etc., until the +opponent, having cited only one half-verse of thirteens, can remember +no more and stops, on which the child completes the verse, and is +declared winner. The conundrums which precede must have been +considered very witty, for they are repeated elsewhere: What is that +wheel which has twelve parts and three hundred and sixty spokes, etc.? +Year. What does not close its eye when asleep, what does not move when +it is born, what has no heart, what increases by moving? These +questions form one-half verse. The next half-verse gives the answers +in order: fish, egg, stone, river. This wisdom in the form of puzzles +and answers, _brahmodya_, is very old, and goes back to the Vedic +period. Another good case in the epic is the demon Yaksha and the +captured king, who is not freed till he answers certain questions +correctly.[79] But although a certain amount of theologic lore may be +gleaned from these questions, yet is it of greater interest to see how +the priests discussed when left quietly to their own devices. And a +very natural description of such a scene is extant. The priests +"having some leisure"[80] or vacation from their labors in the king's +house, sit down to argue, and the poet calls their discussion +_vita[n.][d.][=a], i.e_., tricky sophistical argumentation, the +description bearing out the justness of the phrase: "One cried, 'that +is so,' and the other, 'it is not so'; one cried, 'and that is so,' +and the other, 'it must be so'; and some by arguments made weak +arguments strong, and strong weak; while some wise ones were always +swooping down on their opponent's arguments, like hawks on meat."[81] +In III. 2. 15, the type of clever priest is 'skilled in Yoga and +S[=a][.n]khya,' who inculcates renunciation. This sage teaches that +mental diseases are cured by Yoga; bodily, by medicine; and that +desire is the root of ill. + +But by far the most interesting theological discussion in the epic, if +one except the Divine Song, is the conversation of the hero and +heroine in regard to the cause of earthly happiness. This discussion +is an old passage of the epic. The very fact that a woman is the +disputant gives an archaic effect to the narration, and reminds one of +the scenes in the Upanishads, where learned women cope successfully +with men in displays of theological acumen. Furthermore, the +theological position taken, the absence of Vishnuism, the appeal to +the 'Creator' as the highest Power, take one back to a former age. The +doctrine of special grace, which crops out in the Upanishads,[82] here +receives its exposure by a sudden claim that the converse of the +theory must also be true, viz., that to those not saved by grace and +election God is as cruel as He is kind to the elect. The situation is +as follows: The king and queen have been basely robbed of their +kingdom, and are in exile. The queen urges the king to break the vow +of exile that has been forced from him, and to take vengeance on their +oppressors. The king, in reply, sings a song of forgiveness: +"Forgiveness is virtue, sacrifice, Veda; forgiveness is holiness and +truth; in the world of Brahm[=a] are the mansions of them that +forgive." This song (III. 29. 36 ff.) only irritates the queen, who at +once launches into the following interesting tirade (30. 1 ff.): +"Reverence to the Creator and Disposer[83] who have confused thy mind! +Hast thou not worshipped with salutation and honored the priests, +gods, and manes? Hast thou not made horse-sacrifices, the +_r[=a]jas[=u]ya_-sacrifice, sacrifices of every sort +(_pu[n.][d.]arika,[84] gosava_)? Yet art thou in this miserable +plight! Verily is it an old story (_itih[=a]sa_) that 'the worlds +stand under the Lord's will.' Following the seed God gives good or ill +in the case of all beings. Men are all moved by the divinity. Like a +wooden doll, moving its limbs in the hands of a man, so do all +creatures move in the Creator's hands. Man is like a bird on a string, +like a bead on a cord. As a bull is led by the nose, so man follows +the will of the Creator; he never is a creature of free will +(_[=a]tm[=a]dhina_). Every man goes to heaven or to hell, as he is +sent by the Lord's will. God himself, occupied with noble or with +wicked acts, moves about among all created things, an unknown power +(not known as 'this one'). The blessed God, who is self-created, the +great forefather (_prapit[=a]maha_), plays with his creatures just as +a boy plays with toys, putting them together and destroying them as he +chooses. Not like a father is God to His creatures; He acts in anger. +When I see the good distressed, the ignoble happy, I blame the Creator +who permits this inequality. What reward does God get that he sends +happiness to this sinful man (thy oppressor)? If it be true that only +the individual that does the act is pursued by the fruit of that act +(_karma_ doctrine) then the Lord who has done this act is defiled by +this base act of His. If, on the other hand, the act that one has done +does not pursue and overtake the one that has done it, then the only +agency on earth is brute force (this is the only power to be +respected)--and I grieve for them that are without it!" + +To this plea, which in its acknowledgment of the Creator as the +highest god, no less than in its doubtful admission of the _karma_ +doctrine, is of peculiar interest, the king replies with a refutation +no less worthy of regard: "Thy argument is good, clear and smooth, but +it is heterodox (_n[=a]stikyam_). I have sacrificed and practiced +virtue not for the sake of reward, but because it was right. I give +what I ought to give, and sacrifice as I should. That is my only idea +in connection with religious observances. There is no virtue in trying +to milk virtue. Do not doubt. Do not be suspicious of virtue. He that +doubts God or duty goes to hell (confusion), but he that does his duty +and is free from doubt goes to heaven (becomes immortal). Doubt not +scriptural authority. Duty is the saving ship. No other gets to +heaven. Blame not the Lord Creator, who is the highest god. Through +His grace the faithful gets immortality. If religious observances were +without fruit the universe would go to destruction. People would not +have been good for so many ages if there had been no reward for it. +This is a mystery of the gods. The gods are full of mystery and +illusion." + +The queen, for all the world like that wise woman in the Upanishads, +whose argument, as we showed in a preceding chapter, is cut short not +by counter-argument, but by the threat that if she ask too much her +head will fall off, recants her errors at this rebuke, and in the +following section, which evidently is a later addition, takes back +what she has said. Her new expression of belief she cites as the +opinion of Brihaspati (32. 61, 62); but this is applicable rather to +her first creed of doubt. Perhaps in the original version this +authority was cited at the end of the first speech, and with the +interpolation the reference is made to apply to this seer. Something +like the queen's remarks is the doubtful saying of the king himself, +as quoted elsewhere (III. 273. 6): "Time and fate, and what will be, +this is the only Lord. How else could this distress have come upon my +wife? For she has been virtuous always." + +We turn now to the great sectarian gods, who eventually unite with +Brahm[=a] to form a pantheistic trinity, a conception which, as we +shall show, is not older than the fifth or sixth century after Christ. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: The rival heresies seem also to belong to the + East. There were thus more than half a dozen heretical + bodies of importance agitating the region about Benares at + the same time. Subsequently the Jains, who, as we have + shown, were less estranged from Brahmanism, drifted + westward, while the Buddhist stronghold remained in the East + (both, of course, being represented in the South as well), + and so, whereas Buddhism eventually retreated to Nep[=a]l + and Tibet, the Jains are found in the very centres of old + and new (sectarian) Brahmanism, Delhi, Mathur[=a], Jeypur, + [=A]jm[=i]r.] + + [Footnote 2: 'The wandering of R[=a]ma,' who is the + sectarian representative of Vishnu.] + + [Footnote 3: The 'Bh[=a]rata (tale)', sometimes called + Mah[=a]-Bh[=a]rata, or Great Bh[=a]rata. The Vishnuite + sectarianism here advocated is that of Krishna. But there is + as much Civaism in the poem as there is Vishnuism.] + + [Footnote 4: Dramatic and lyric poetry is artificial even in + language.] + + [Footnote 5: Schroeder, p. 453, compares the mutual relation + of the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata and R[=a]m[=a]yana to that of the + Nibelungenlied and the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach. + Jacobi, in his 'R[=a]m[=a]yana,' has lately claimed a + considerable antiquity for the foundation legends of the + R[=a]m[=a]yana, but he does not disprove the late completed + form.] + + [Footnote 6: i. 78. 10; see Buehler's Introduction.] + + [Footnote 7: Jacobi seeks to put the completed nucleus at + the time of the Christian era, but it must have been quite a + large nucleus in view of the allusions to it in precedent + literature. Holtztmann puts the completion at about 1000 + A.D.; but in 700 A.D., it was complete, and most scholars + will agree with Buehler that the present Mah[=a]-Bh[=a]rata + was completed by the sixth or seventh century. In 533 A.D. + it contained 100,000 distichs, that is, it was about the + size it is now.] + + [Footnote 8: By the time the drama began the epic was become + a religious storehouse, and the actual epic story + represented not a fifth of the whole work, so that, with its + simple language, it must have seemed, as a literary + production, very wearisome to the minds that delighted in + the artificial compounds and romantic episodes of the drama + and lyric. But even to-day it is recited at great fetes, and + listened to with rapt attention, as the rhapsodes with more + or less dramatic power recite its holy verses.] + + [Footnote 9: The later law-books say expressly that women + and slaves have a right to use _mantra, + mantr[=a]dhik[=a]ri[n.]as._ But the later legal Smritis are + no more than disguised sectarian Pur[=a]nas.] + + [Footnote 10: Compare the visit of the old Muni on the + prince in iii. 262. 8. He is _paramakopana_, 'extremely + irritable'; calls for food only to reject it; growls at the + service, etc. Everything must be done 'quickly' for him. "I + am hungry, give me food, _quick_," is his way of speaking, + etc. (12). The adjective is one applied to the All-gods, + _paramakrodhinas._] + + [Footnote 11: Each spiritual teacher instructed high-caste + boys, in classes of four or five at most. In xii. 328. 41 + the four students of a priest go on a strike because the + latter wants to take another pupil besides themselves and + his own son.] + + [Footnote 12: The saints in the sky praise the combatants + (vii. 188. 41; viii. 15. 27); and the gods roar approval of + prowess "with roars like a lion's" (viii. 15. 33). Indra and + S[=u]rya and the Apsarasas cool off the heroes with heavenly + fans (_ib_. 90. 18). For the last divinities, see + Holtzmann's essays, ZDMG. xxxii. 290; xxxiii. 631.] + + [Footnote 13: The original author of the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata + is reputed to be of low caste, but the writers of the text + as it is to-day were sectarian priests. It was written down, + it is said, by Ganeca, 'lord of the troops' of Civa, i. 1. + 79, and some historic truth lies in the tale. The priests of + Civa were the last to retouch the poem, as we think.] + + [Footnote 14: Agni-worship is partly affected by the + doctrine that the Samvartaka fire (which destroys the world + at the cycle's end) is a form of Vishnu. In Stambamitra's + hymn it is said: "Thou, O Agni, art the all, in thee rests + the universe ... Sages know thee as single yet manifold. At + the expiration of time thou burnest up the three worlds, + after having created them. Thou art the originator and + support of all beings" (i. 232. 12). Elsewhere more Vedic + epithets are given, such as 'mouth of the gods' (ii. 31. + 42), though here 'the Vedas are produced for Agni's sake.' + In this same prayer one reads, 'may Agni give me energy; + wind, give me breath; earth, give me strength; and water, + give me health' (45). Agni, as well as Civa, is the father + of Kum[=a]ra K[=a]rtikeya, _i.e_., Skanda (_ib_. 44).] + + [Footnote 15: But the Acvins are C[=u]dras In the 'cast-hood + of gods' (the caste-order being Angirasas, [=A]dityas, + Maruts and ACvins), xii. 208. 23-25; and Indra in one + passage refuses to associate with them, xiii. 157. 17 (cited + by Holtzmann, ZDMG. xxxii. 321).] + + [Footnote 16: Manibhadra, in iii. 64, is king of Yaksash; he + is the same with Kubera, _ib_. ch. 41 (V[=a]icinavana).] + + [Footnote 17: In the Cosmogony the gods are the sons of the + Manes, xii. 312. 9.] + + [Footnote 18: When the gods churn the ocean to get ambrosia, + an ancient tale of the epic, Mandara is the twirling-stick. + It is situated in modern Beh[=a]r, near Bhagalpur.] + + [Footnote 19: III. 42; 139. 14, where the Ganges and Jumna + are invoked together with the Vedic gods. So in III. 104 + (Vindhya); and Damayanti prays to mountains. Mt. Meru is + described in III. 163. 14 (compare I. 17. 5 ff.). In I. 18. + 1 ff., is related the churning of the ocean, where Indra + (vs. 12) places Mt. Mandara on Vishnu, the tortoise.] + + [Footnote 20: Mbh. I. 30. 37, _mamlur m[=a]ly[=a]ni + dev[=a]n[=a]m_, etc. The older belief was that the gods' + garlands never withered; for the gods show no mortal signs, + cast no shadows, etc.] + + [Footnote 21: Compare the four hymnlets to Agni in i. 232. 7 + ff.] + + [Footnote 22: After the mention of the thirty-three gods, + and Vishnu 'born after them,' it is said that the Acvins, + plants, and animals, are Guhyakas (vs. 40), though in vs. + 35: "Tvashtar's daughter, the wife of Savitar, as a mare + (_va[d.]av[=a]_) bore in air the two Acvins" (see above), in + Vedic style. For Cruti compare iii. 207. 47; 208. 6, 11.] + + [Footnote 23: i. 23. 15 ff. His name is explained fancifully + in 30. 7.] + + [Footnote 24: It is at the funeral feasts to the Manes that + the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata is to be recited (i. 62. 37).] + + [Footnote 25: Arjuna is an old name of Indra, and in the + epic Arjuna is Indra's son.] + + [Footnote 26: The legal _dharma_ or sitting at a debtor's + door, which still obtains in India, is, so far as we know, + not a very ancient practice. But its application in the case + of heralds (who become responsible) is epic.] + + [Footnote 27: This is the covenant (with friends) of + revenge; the covenant of mutual protection in the sacrifice + is indicated by the 'protection covenant' of the gods (see + the chapter on Brahmanism above, p. 192).] + + [Footnote 28: See an essay on the Ruling Caste in the epic, + in JAOS. xiii. 232 ff.] + + [Footnote 29: Reverend Doctor H.C. Trumbull has kindly + called our attention to Robert's _Oriental Illustrations_, + p. 148 ff., where it is said that in India today the + threshold is sacred. In reference to threshold offerings, + common in the law, Dr. Trumbull's own forthcoming book on + Covenants may be compared.] + + [Footnote 30: But these are by no means the last examples of + human sacrifices. Several of the modern Hindu sects have + caused to be performed such sacrifices, even in this + century.] + + [Footnote 31: This can hardly mean 'put out on the river' as + has been suggested as an explanation of the corpse 'thrown + aside' in accordance with the earlier text, AV. xviii. 2. 34 + (_paropta_), where the dead are 'buried, thrown aside, + burned, or set out.'] + + [Footnote 32: It is assumed in XII. 364. 2 that "leaves and + air" are food enough for a great saint. Compare below the + actual asceticism of modern devotees.] + + [Footnote 33: III. 25. 14: _saptar[s.]ayas ... divi + viprabh[=a]nti_. Compare _ib._ 261. 13, and the apocalypse + in VII. 192. 52 ff., where Drona's soul ascends to heaven, a + burning fire like a sun; In sharp contrast to the older + 'thumbkin' soul which Yama receives and carries off in the + tale of Satyavant. Compare also Arundhati in I. 233. 29.] + + [Footnote 34: Described, as above, as a place of singers and + dancers, where are the Vedic gods and sages, but no sinners + or cowards (III. 42. 34 ff.).] + + [Footnote 35: From another point of view the stars are of + interest. They are favorable or unfavorable, sentient, kind, + or cruel; influential in man's fate. Compare III. 200. 84, + 85, where the sun is included with the _grahas_ (planets) + which influence men, and ib. 209. 21, + _tulyanak[.s]atrama[.n]gala_.] + + [Footnote 36: Other of Indra's spirits are the singers, + Gandharvas and Apsarasas; also the horse-headed Kinnaras and + C[=a]ranas, who, too, are singers; while later the + Vidy[=a]dharas belong both to Indra and to Civa. In modern + times the South Indian Sittars, 'saints,' take their name + from the Siddhas.] + + [Footnote 37: In _d[=a]nnavar[s.]i_ there is apparently the + same sort of compound as in _devar[s.]i_ and _brahmar[s.]i_, + all associated with the _siddhas_ in III. 169. 23. But + possibly 'demons and seers' may be meant.] + + [Footnote 38: III. 37. 32-35 (_prapadye vicvedev[=a]n!_).] + + [Footnote 39: Weber finds in the Asuras' artisan, Asura + Maya, a reminiscence of Ptolemaios. He is celebrated in I. + 228. 39, and II. 1, and is the generai leader of the + _d[=a]navas_, demons, perhaps originally a folk-name of + enemies.] + + [Footnote 40: See below. The formal division is, _d[=a]iva, + hatha, karma, i.e._, man's fate depends on gods, Fate, and + his own acts; although _hatha_, Fate, is often implied in + _d[=a]iva_, 'the divine power.' But they are separated, for + example, in iii. 183. 86.] + + [Footnote 41: Compare the tales and xii. 148. 9, _sat[=i]_ + (suttee). In regard to the horse-sacrifice, compare Yama's + law as expounded to Gautama: "The acts by which one gains + bliss hereafter are austerities, purity, truth, worship of + parents, and the horse-sacrifice." xii 129. 9, 10.] + + [Footnote 42: Compare III. 200. 88, even _pr[=a]k[r.]ta_ + priests are divine and terrible (much more in later books). + Here _pr[=a]k[r.]ta_, vulgar, is opposed to _samsk[r.]ta_, + refined, priests.] + + [Footnote 43: III. 185. 26-31.] + + [Footnote 44: "My father and mother are my highest idol; I + do for them what I do for Idols. As the three and thirty + gods, with Indra foremost, are revered of all the world, so + are my parents revered by me" (III. 214. 19, 20). The + speaker further calls them _paramam brahma_, absolute + godhead, and explains his first remark by saying that he + offers fruits and flowers to his parents as if they were + idols. In IV. 68. 57 a man salutes (_abhivadya_) his + father's feet on entering into his presence. For the worship + of parents compare XII. 108. 3; 128. 9, 10; 267. 31, XIII. + 75. 26: "heroes in obedience to the mother."] + + [Footnote 45: The marked Brahm[=a] Creator-worship is a bit + of feminine religious conservatism (see below).] + + [Footnote 46: Weber has shown that men of low caste took a + subordinate part even in the _r[=a]jas[=u]ya_ sacrifice.] + + [Footnote 47: In II. 18. there is a brand-new festival + appointed in honor of a female fiend, etc.] + + [Footnote 48: III. 84. 83 (87. 11). We see the first idea in + the injunction of Indra to 'wander,' as told in the tale of + Dogstail in the Brahmana (see above).] + + [Footnote 49: The usual formula (also Avestan) is 'pure in + thought, speech, and act.' The comparison of the six senses + to unrestrained wild horses is familiar (III. 211. 24).] + + [Footnote 50: There is, further, no unanimity in regard to + the comparative value of holy places. In XII. 152. 11, + Sarasvat[=i] is holier than Kurukshetra, etc.] + + [Footnote 51: At Pushkara is Brahm[=a]'s only (?) + shrine--the account is legendary, but half historical. The + modern shrine at Ajm[=i]r seems to be meant.] + + [Footnote 52: Ganges, according to epic legend, was a + goddess who sacrificed herself for men when the earth was + parched and men perished. Then Ganges alone of immortals + took pity on men, and flinging herself from heaven became + the stream divine. Her name among the gods is Alakanand[=a], + the 'Blessed Damosel.'] + + [Footnote 53: In iii. 87.10, "ten descendants and ten + ancestors." The epic, i. 170. 19, regards the Sarasvat[=i] + and Jumna as parts of the sevenfold Ganges, which descends + from the heavens as these three, and also as the Vitasth[=a] + (Rathasth[=a]), Saray[=u], Gomat[=i], and Gan[d.]ak[=i]; + being itself 'V[=a]itara[n.][=i] among the Manes.' So xii. + 322. 32.] + + [Footnote 54: According to the commentator the "(northern + altar of the Father-god) Kurukshetra-Samantapancakam, + between Tarantuka, Arantuka, R[=a]mahrada, and Macakruka," + mentioned in iii. 83. 208, lies in Benares; but this must be + a late addition, as Kurukshetra's position is without doubt. + Compare i. 2. i ff.; ix. 53. i, 23-25.] + + [Footnote 55: + In _ib_. 47, _mah[=a] d[r.]tiriv[=a]dhm[=a]ta[h.] + p[=a]pas_, there is an interesting + reminiscence of Rig Veda, vii. 89. 2. The rules of virtue + are contained in Vedas and law-books, and the practice of + instructed men, _ib_. 83 (the 'threefold sign of + righteousness'). A Cruti cited from _dharmas_ is not + uncommon, but the latter word is not properly used in so + wide a sense. See note below, p. 378.] + + [Footnote 56: Some scholars see in the use of the verb, + _pic_, a Vedic picturing of gods; but in all instances where + this occurs it may be only the poet's mind-picture of the + god 'adorned' with various glories.] + + [Footnote 57: In VII. 201. 69, Civa wears an + _aksham[=a]l[=a]._ In XII. 38. 23, the C[=a]rv[=a]ka wears + an _aksha_, for he is disguised as a _bhikshu_, beggar.] + + [Footnote 58: It must be remembered that the person using + the _mantra_ probably did not understand what the words + meant. The epic says, in fact, that the Vedas are + unintelligible: _brahma pracuracchalam_, XII. 329. 6. But an + older generation thought the same. In Nirukta, I. 15, + K[=a]utsa is cited as saying that the _mantras_ are + meaningless.] + + [Footnote 59: Compare xii. 174. 46: "The joy of earth and + heaven obtained by the satisfaction of desire is not worth + one-sixteenth of the bliss of dead desire."] + + [Footnote 60: By generosity the Hindu poet means 'to + priests.' In III. 200, where this is elaborated, sixteen + persons are mentioned (vs. 4) to whom to give is not + meritorious.] + + [Footnote 61: Little is known in regard to the play. The + dice are thrown on a board, 'odd and even' determine the + contest here (III. 34. 5) _ayuja and yuja_. At times speed + in counting is the way to win (Nala). Dicing is a regular + part of the _r[=a]jas[=u]ya_ sacrifice (Weber, p. 67), but + not, apparently, an ancient trait.] + + [Footnote 62: The snakes belong to Varuna and his region, as + described in v. 98. It is on the head of the earth-upholding + snake Cesha that Vishnu muses, III. 203.12. The reverence + paid to serpents begins to be ritual in the Atharva Veda. + Even in the Rig Veda there is the deification of the + cloud-snake. In later times they answered to the Nymphs, + being tutelary guardians of streams and rivers (Buhler). In + i. 36, Cesha Ananta supports earth, and it is told why he + does so.] + + [Footnote 63: These three are the witnesses for the soul at + the judgment, xii. 322. 55. V[=a]yu, Wind, is said to be + even mightier than Indra, Yama, Indra and Varuna, _ib._ 155. + 9, 10.] + + [Footnote 64: But (in a later account) not if he dies + ignobly; for if one is slain by a man of low caste he goes + to hell, xii. 298. 7.] + + [Footnote 65: Demoniac Indras (_i.e._, demon-leaders) and + seers, xii. 166. 26.] + + [Footnote 66: 'The god of gods,' who rains blood in i. 30. + 36, is declared by the commentator to be--Parjanya! The gods + are here defending Soma from the heavenly bird, Garuda, and + nearly die of fright.] + + [Footnote 67: xii. 313. 1-7, with the same watery finale as + is usual.] + + [Footnote 68: The morning prayer, etc, to the sun is, of + course, still observed, _e.g._, vii. 186. 4. Indra is + thanked for victory and invoked for rain (iii. 117. 11; i. + 25. 7; Holtzmann, _loc. cit._ p. 326) in an hymn that is + less fulsome than those to Agni and S[=u]rya.] + + [Footnote 69: 111. 222, Atharvan's rediscovery of fire. As + to Crutis they are probably no more valuable than Smritis. + The one given in iii. 208. 11, _agnayo + in[=a]i[.n]sak[=a]m[=a]s_, seems to be adapted (_cf._ + [=A]cv. Gs. iv. 1; the adjective, by the way, is still + starred in Pw.). So [=A]cv. Gs. i. 15. 9, is repeated + Mbh[=a]; i. 74. 63, as a "Vedic _mantragr[=a]ma_ " + _(ang[=a]d ang[=a]t sambhavasi_, etc.).] + + [Footnote 70: The devils are on the Prince's side, and wish + to keep him from death. The proverb is found _ib_. 252. 2; + _[=a]tmaty[=a]g[=i] hy adho y[=a]ti_. The holy-grass is used + in much the same way when R[=a]ma lies down by Ocean, + resolved to die or persuade Ocean to aid him. The rites (vs. + 24) are "in the Upanishad."] + + [Footnote 71: According to XII. 59. 80-84, the 'treatise of + Brihaspati' comes from Civa through Brahm[=a] and Indra.] + + [Footnote 72: In Buddhism Yama's messengers are Yakkhas. + Scherman, _loc. cit_. p. 57.] + + [Footnote 73: Compare II. 22. 26: _gaccha yamak[s.]ayam_, + 'go to Yama's destruction'; whereas of a good man it is + said, 'I will send Indra a guest' (VII, 27.8).] + + [Footnote 74: _Yamasya sadana_. III. 11. 66. He now has + hells, and he it is who will destroy the world. He is called + 'the beautiful' (III. 41. 9), so that he must, if one take + this Rudrian epithet with the citation above, be loosely + (popularly) identified with Civa, as god of death. See the + second note below.] + + [Footnote 75: The old story of a mortal's visit to Yama to + learn about life hereafter (_Cat. Br._ xi. 6.1; Katha Up., + of N[=a]ciketas) is repeated in xiii. 71.] + + [Footnote 76: v. 42. 6: _Civa[h.] civ[=a]n[=a]m acivo + 'civ[=a]n[=a]m_ (compare xii 187. 27: 'only fools say that + the man is dead'). Dharma (Justice) seems at times to be the + same with Yama. M[=a]ndavya goes to Dharma's _sadana_, home + (compare Yama's _sadana_), just as one goes to Yama's, and + interviews him on the justice of his judgments. As result of + the angry interview the god is reborn on earth as a man of + low caste, and the law is established that a child is not + morally responsible for his acts till the twelfth year of + his age (i.108. 8 ff.). When Kuru agrees to give half his + life in order to the restoration of Pramadvar[=a], his wife, + they go not to Yama but to Dharma to see if the exchange may + be made, and he agrees (i. 9. 11 ff., a masculine + S[=a]vitr[=i]i).] + + [Footnote 77: The hells are described in xii. 322. 29 ff. + The sight of 'golden trees' presages death (_ib._ 44).] + + [Footnote 78: The ordinary rule is that "no sin is greater + than untruth," xii. 162. 24, modified by "save in love and + danger of life" (Laws, _passim_).] + + [Footnote 79: The same scenes occur in Buddhistic writings, + where Yakkhas ask conundrums. For example, in the + _Hemavatasutta_ and _[=A]tavakasutta_ the Yakkha asks what + is the best possession, what brings bliss, and what is + swettest, to which the answer is: faith, law, and truth, + respectively.] + + [Footnote 80: _Karm[=a]ntaram up[=a]santas, i.e., + vir[=a]mak[=a]lam upagacchantas_.] + + [Footnote 81: II. 36. 3 ff. The phraseology of vs. 5 is + exactly that of [Greek: _ton etto ldgon kreitto poithnsi_], + but the Pundit's arguments are 'based on the law.'] + + [Footnote 82: See above. In a later period (see below) the + question arises in regard to the part played by Creator and + individual in the workings of grace, some claiming that man + was passive; some, that he had to strive for grace.] + + [Footnote 83: Perhaps ironical. In V. 175. 32, a woman cries + out: "Fie on the Creator for this bad luck," conservative in + belief, and outspoken in word.] + + [Footnote 84: III. 30. 17. The _gosava_ is a + 'cow-sacrifice.' The _pu[n.][d.]ar[=i]ka_ is not explained + (perhaps 'elephant-sacrifice').] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +HINDUISM (CONTINUED).--VISHNU AND CIVA. + + +In the epic the later union of the sectarian gods is still a novelty. +The two characters remain distinct enough. Vishnu and Civa are +different gods. But each in turn represents the All-god, and +consequently each represents the other. The Vishnu-worship which grew +about Krish[n.]a, originally a friend of one of the epic characters, +was probably at first an attempt to foist upon Vedic believers a +sectarian god, by identifying the latter with a Vedic divinity. But, +whatever the origin, Krishna as Vishnu is revered as the All-god in +the epic. And, on the other hand, Civa of many names has kept the +marks of Rudra. Sometimes one, sometimes another, is taken as the +All-god. At times they are compared, and then each sect reduces the +god of the other to an inferior position. Again they are united and +regarded as one. The Vishnu side has left the best literary +representation of this religion, which has permeated the epic. It is +pantheism, but not an impersonal pantheism. The Blessed Lord is the +All. This is the simple base and crown of its speculation. It is like +the personal development of Vedantic philosophy, only it is here +degraded by the personality of the man-god, who is made the incarnate +All-god. The Krishna of the epic as a man is a sly, unscrupulous +fellow, continually suggesting and executing acts that are at variance +with the knightly code of honor. He is king of Dv[=a]rak[=a] and ally +of the epic heroes. But again, he is divine, the highest divinity, the +_avatar_ of the All-god Vishnu. The sectaries that see in Civa rather +than in Vishnu the one and only god, have no such representative to +which to refer. For Civa, as the historical descendant of the Vedic +Rudra,--although even in his case there is an intrusion of local +worship upon an older Vedic belief,--represents a terror-god, either +the lightning, the fairest of the gods, or, when he appears on earth, +a divine horror, or, again, "a very handsome young man."[1] These two +religions, of Vishnu as Krishna and of Civa alone, are not so much +united in the epic as they are super-imposed upon the older worship of +Brahm[=a], and indeed, in such a way that Civa-worship, in a +pantheistic sense, appears to be the latest of the three beliefs that +have influenced the story.[2] + +The personal pantheism of the older Vishnuism has in its form and +teachings so close a resemblance to the Christian religion that it has +always had a great attraction for occidental readers; while the real +power of its "Divine Song" gives the latter a charm possessed by few +of the scriptures of India. This Divine Song (or Song of the Blessed +One) is at present a Krishnaite version of an older Vishnuite poem, +and this in turn was at first an unsectarian work, perhaps a late +Upanishad. It is accepted by Vishnuites as a kind of New Testament; +and with the New Testament it has in truth much in common. It must be +pointed out at the outset that there is here the closest connection +with the later Upanishads. The verse, like that of the Katha Upanishad +(quoted above), which stands almost at the beginning of the Song, is +typical of the relation of the Song to the Upanishad. It will be +noticed how the impersonal 'That,' _i.e_., absolute being, _brahma_, +changes almost at once to the personal He (_[=a]tm[=a]_ as Lord). As +shows the whole Song, _brahma_ throughout is understood to be +personal.[3] The caste-position of the priest in the Git[=a] is owing +to the religious exaltation of the poem; and the precedence of +S[=a]man is not unusual in the latest portions of the epic (see +below).] + +To understand the religion which reaches its culmination in the epic +no better course could be pursued than to study the whole of the +Divine Song. It is, however, too long a production to be introduced +here in its entirety; but the following extracts give the chief +features of the work, than which nothing in Hindu literature is more +characteristic, in its sublimity as in its puerilities, in its logic +as in its want of it. It has shared the fate of most Hindu works in +being interpolated injudiciously, so that many of the puzzling +anomalies, which astound no less the reader than the hero to whom it +was revealed, are probably later additions. It is a medley of beliefs +as to the relation of spirit and matter, and other secondary matters; +it is uncertain in its tone in regard to the comparative efficacy of +action and inaction, and in regard to the practical man's means of +salvation; but it is at one with itself in its fundamental thesis, +that all things are each a part of One Lord, that men and gods are but +manifestations of the One Divine Spirit, which, or rather whom, the +Vishnuite re-writer identifies with Krishna, as Vishnu's present form. + +The Divine Song, as it is revealed in the epic by Vishnu (-Krishna) to +his favorite knight, Arjuna, begins thus: "Know that the 'That' in +which is comprised the 'This' is indestructible. These bodies of the +indestructible Eternal One have an end: but whoso knows Him as slayer, +and whoso thinks Him to be slain, these two have not true wisdom. He +slays not and is not slain. He is not born, he does not die at any +time; nor will He, having been born, cease to be. Unborn, everlasting, +eternal, He, the Ancient One, is not slain when the body is slain. As +one puts away an old garment and puts on another that is new, so He, +the embodied (Spirit), puts away the old body and assumes one that is +new. Everlasting, omnipresent, firm, unchanging is He, the Eternal; +indiscernible is He called, inconceivable, unchangeable."[4] + +The Song now turns into a plea that the warrior who is hearing it +should, as one born to be a soldier, be brave and fight, lest his +sorrow for the slain be taken for fear; since "nothing is better for a +warrior than a just fight," and "loss of fame is worse than death." +Then follows (with the usual inconsequential 'heaven') "If thou art +slain thou wilt obtain heaven, and if thou art victorious thou shalt +enjoy earth; therefore, careless of pleasure and pain, get ready for +the fight, and so thou wilt not incur sin. This is the knowledge +declared in the S[=a]nkhya; hear now that of the Yoga," and the Divine +Lord proceeds: + +"Some are pleased with Vedic words and think that there is nothing +else; their souls are full of desires; and they think that going to +heaven is the chief thing. Yet have the Vedas reference only to the +three qualities (of which all things partake). Be free from the three +qualities (do not care for rewards). In action, not in fruit, is the +chief thing. Do thy work, abiding by serene devotion (Yoga), rejecting +every tie; be indifferent to success and failure. Serene devotion is +called indifference (to such things). Action is lower than devotion of +mind. Devotion is happiness. Do thou, wise in devotion, abandon the +fruit that is sprung from action, and, freed from the bonds of birth, +attain a perfect state." + +S[=a]nkhya here means the philosophy of religion; Yoga is the +philosophical state of mind, serene indifference, religious +_sang-froid_ the practical result of a belief in the S[=a]nkhya +doctrine of the indestructibility of the spirit. In the following +there is Vedantic teaching, as well as Sankhyan in the stricter sense. + + +On the warrior's asking for an explanation of this state of equipoise, +the Deity gives illustrations of the balanced mind that is free from +all attachments, serene, emancipated from desires, self-controlled, +and perfectly tranquil. As the knight is astonished and confused at +the contradiction, action and inactivity both being urged upon him, +the Deity replies that there is a twofold law, that of S[=a]nkhyas +consisting in knowledge-devotion, and that of Yogis in +action-devotion. Idleness is not freedom from action. Freedom from +attachment must be united with the accomplishment of such acts as +should be performed. The deluded think that they themselves perform +acts, but acts are not done by the spirit (self); they are done only +by nature's qualities (this is S[=a]nkhya doctrine). "One should know +the relation between the individual and Supreme Spirit, and with +tranquil mind perform good acts. Let the deluded ones be, who are +erroneously attached to action. The wise man should not cause those of +imperfect knowledge to be unsettled in their faith, but he should +himself not be attached to action. Each man should perform his own +(caste) duties. One's own duty ill done is better than doing well +another man's work." + +The knight now asks what causes one to sin. The Deity answers: "Love +and hate; for from love is born hate; and from anger, ignorance in +regard to right and wrong; whence comes lack of reason, and +consequently destruction. The knowledge of a man is enwrapped with +desire as is fire with smoke. Great are the senses; greater, the mind; +greater still, the understanding; greatest of all is 'That'" +(_brahma_; as above in the _Ch[=a]ndogya)._ The Deity begins again:[5] +"This system of devotion I declared to Vivasvant (the sun); Vivasvant +declared it to Manu, and Manu to kingly seers." (The same origin is +claimed for itself in Manu's lawbook.) The knight objects, not yet +knowing that Krishna is the All-god: "How did'st thou declare it +first? thy birth is later than the sun's." To whom the Deity: "Many +are my births, and I know them all; many too are thine, but thou +knowest them not; unborn and Lord of all creatures I assume phenomena, +and am born by the illusion of the spirit. Whenever there is lack of +righteousness, and wrong arises, then I emit (create) myself.[6] I am +born age after age for the protection of the good, for the destruction +of the wicked, and for the sake of establishing righteousness. Whoso +really believes in this my divine birth and work, he, when he has +abandoned his body, enters no second birth, but enters Me. Many there +are who, from Me arising, on Me relying, purified by the penance of +knowledge, with all affections, fear, and anger gone, enter into my +being. As they approach Me so I serve them.[7] Men in all ways follow +after my path. Some desire the success that is of action, and worship +gods; for success that is born of action is speedy in the world of +men. Know Me as the maker of the four castes, know Me as the unending +one and not the maker. Action stains Me not, for in the fruit of +action I have no desire. He that thus knows Me is not bound by +acts.[8] So he that has no attachment is not bound by acts. His acts +become naught. _Brahma_ is the oblation, and with _brahma_ is it +offered; _brahma_ is in the fire, and by _brahma_ is the oblation +made. Sacrifices are of many kinds, but he that sacrifices with +knowledge offers the best sacrifice. He that has faith has knowledge; +he that has knowledge obtains peace. He that has no knowledge and no +faith, whose soul is one of doubt, is destroyed. Action does not +destroy him that has renounced action by means of indifference. Of the +two, renunciation of action and indifference, though both give bliss, +indifference in action is better than renunciation of action. +Children, not Pundits, proclaim S[=a]nkhya and Yoga to be distinct. He +that is devoted to either alone finds the reward of both. Renunciation +without Yoga is a thing hard to get; united with Yoga the seer enters +_brahma_. ... He is the renouncer and the devotee who does the acts +that ought to be done without relying on the reward of action, not he +that performs no acts and builds no sacrificial fires. Through his +self (spirit) let one raise one's self. Conquer self by self (spirit). +He is the best man who is indifferent to external things, who with +equal mind sees (his spirit) self in everything and everything in self +(God as the Spirit). Such an one obtains the highest bliss, _brahma_. +Whoso sees Me in all and all in Me I am not destroyed for him, and he +is not destroyed for Me." + +The knight now asks how it fares with a good man who is not equal to +the discipline of Yoga, and cannot free himself entirely from +attachment. Does he go to destruction like a cloud that is rent, +failing on the path that leads to _brahma_? The Deity replies: +"Neither in this world nor in the beyond is he destroyed. He that acts +virtuously does not enter an evil state. He obtains the heaven that +belongs to the doers of good, and after living there countless summers +is reborn on earth in the family of pure and renowned men, or of pious +devotees. There he receives the knowledge he had in a former body, and +then strives further for perfection. After many births he reaches +perfection and the highest course (union with _brahma_). There are but +few that strive for perfection, and of them only one here and there +truly knows Me. Earth, water, fire, air, space, mind, understanding, +and egoism (self-consciousness)--so is my nature divided into eight +parts.[9] But learn now my higher nature, for this is my lower one. My +higher nature is alive, and by it this world is supported. I am the +creator and destroyer of all the world. Higher than I is nothing. On +Me the universe is woven like pearls upon a thread. Taste am I, light +am I of moon and sun, the mystic syllable _[=O]m_ ([)a][)u]m), sound +in space, manliness in men; I am smell and radiance; I am life and +heat. Know Me as the eternal seed of all beings. I am the +understanding of them that have understanding, the radiance of the +radiant ones. Of the strong I am the force, devoid of love and +passion; and I am love, not opposed to virtue. Know all beings to be +from Me alone, whether they have the quality of goodness, of passion, +or of darkness (the three 'qualities' or conditions of all things). I +am not in them; but they are in Me. Me, the inexhaustible, beyond +them, the world knows not, for it is confused by these three qualities +(conditions); and hard to overcome is the divine illusion which +envelops Me, while it arises from the qualities. Only they pass +through this illusion who come to Me alone. Wicked men, whose +knowledge is taken away by illusion, relying on a devilish (demoniac) +condition, do not come to Me. They that have not the highest knowledge +worship various divinities; but whatever be the form that any one +worships with faith I make his faith steady. He obtains his desires in +worshipping that divinity, although they are really bestowed upon him +by Me.[10] But the fruit of these men, in that they have little +wisdom, has its end. He that sacrifices to (lesser) gods goes to those +gods; but they that worship Me come to Me. I know the things that +were, that are, and are to be; but Me no one knoweth, for I am +enveloped in illusion. I am the supreme being, the supreme godhead, +the supreme sacrifice, the Supreme Spirit, _brahma_." + +The knight asks "What is _brahma_, the Supreme Spirit, the supreme +being, the supreme sacrifice?" The Deity: "The supreme, the +indestructible, is called _brahma_. Its personal existence is Supreme +Spirit (self). Destructible existence is supreme being (all except +_[=a]tm[=a]_). The Person is the supreme godhead. I myself am the +supreme sacrifice in this body." + +Then follow statements like those in the Upanishads and in Manu, +describing a day of _brahma_ as a thousand ages; worlds are renewed; +they that go to the gods find an end of their happiness with the end +of their world; but they that go to the indestructible _brahma_, the +Deity, the entity that is not destroyed when all else is destroyed, +never again return. There are two roads (as in the Upanishads above), +one, the northern road leading to _brahma_; one, the southern road to +the moon, leading back to earth. At the end of a period of time all +beings reenter the divine nature (Prakriti[11]), and at the beginning +of the next period the Deity emits them again and again (they being +without volition) by the volition of his nature. "Through Me, who am +the superintendent, nature gives birth to all things, and for that +cause the world turns about. They of demoniac nature recognize me not; +they of god-like nature, knowing Me as the inexhaustible source, +worship Me. I am the universal Father, the Vedas, the goal, the +upholder, the Lord, the superintendent, the home, the asylum, the +friend. I am the inexhaustible seed. I am immortality and death. I am +being and not-being. I am the sacrifice and he that offers it. Even +they that, with faith, sacrifice to other gods, even they (really) +sacrifice to Me. To them that ever are devout and worship Me with love +(faith), I give the attainment of the knowledge by which they come to +Me" (again the doctrine of special grace). "I am the beginning, the +middle, and the end of all created things. I am Vishnu among sun-gods; +the moon among the stars; Indra among the (Vedic) gods; the S[=a]man +among the Vedas; among the senses, mind; among created beings, +consciousness; among the Rudras I am Civa (Cankara); among +army-leaders I am Skanda; among the great sages I am Bhrigu (who +reveals Manu's code); among the Siddhas[12] I am Kapila the Muni.... I +am the love that begets; I am the chief (V[=a]suki and Ananta) among +the serpents; and among them that live in water I am Varuna; among the +Manes I am Aryaman; and I am Yama among controllers;[13] among demons +I am Prahl[=a]da ...; I am R[=a]ma; I am the Ganges. I am among all +sciences the highest science (that in regard to the Supreme Spirit); I +am the word of the speakers; I am the letter A among the letters, and +the compound of union among the compounds.[14] I am indestructible +time and I am the Creator. I am the death that seizes all and I am the +origin of things to be. I am glory, fortune, speech, memory, wisdom, +constancy, and mercy.... I am the punishment of the punisher and the +polity of them that would win victory. I am silence. I am knowledge. +There is no end of my divine manifestations." + +The knight now asks to see the real form of the deity, which was +revealed to him. "If in heaven the glory of a thousand suns should +appear at once, such would be his glory." + +After this comes the real animus of the Divine Song in its present +shape. The believer that has faith in this Vishnu is even better than +the devotee who finds _brahma_ by knowledge. + +The philosophy of knowledge (which here is anything but Vedantic) is +now communicated to the knight, in the course of which the distinction +between nature and spirit is explained: "Nature, Prakriti, and spirit, +Purusha (person), are both without beginning. All changes and +qualities spring from nature. Nature is said to be the cause of the +body's and the senses' activity. Spirit is the cause of enjoyment +(appreciation) of pleasure and pain; for the Spirit, standing in +nature, appreciates the nature-born qualities. The cause of the +Spirit's re-birth is its connection with the qualities, (This is +S[=a]nkhya doctrine, and the same with that propounded above in regard +to activity.) The Supreme Spirit is the Support and great Lord of all, +the _[=a]tm[=a]_, while _brahma_ (=_prakriti_) is the womb in which I +place My seed, and from that is the origin of all things. The great +_brahma_ is the womb, and I am the seed-giving father of all the forms +which come into being. The three 'qualities' (conditions, attributes), +goodness, passion, and darkness, are born of nature and bind the +inexhaustible incorporate (Spirit) in the body. The quality (or +attribute) of goodness binds the soul with pleasure and knowledge; +that of passion (activity), with desire and action; that of darkness +(dulness), with ignorance. One that has the attribute of goodness +chiefly goes after death to the highest heaven; one that has chiefly +passion is born again among men of action; one that has chiefly +darkness is born among the ignorant. One that sees that these +attributes are the only agents, one that knows what is higher than the +attributes, enters into my being. The incorporate spirit that has +passed above the three attributes (the origin of bodies), being +released from birth, death, age, and pain, obtains immortality. To +pass above these attributes one must become indifferent to all change, +be undisturbed by anything, and worship Me with devotion.... I am to +be learned from all the Vedas; I made the Ved[=a]nta; I alone know the +Vedas. There are two persons in the world, one destructible and one +indestructible; the destructible one is all created things; the +indestructible one is called the Unchanging one. But there is still a +third highest person, called the Supreme Spirit, who, pervading the +three worlds, supports them, the inexhaustible Lord. Inasmuch as I +surpass the destructible and am higher than the indestructible, +therefore am I known in the world and in the Veda as the Highest +Person." + +The references to the S[=a]nkhyas, or S[=a]nkhya-Yogas, are not yet +exhausted. There is another in a following chapter (vi. 18. 13) which +some scholiasts say refers to the Ved[=a]nta-system, though this is in +direct contradiction to the text. But the extracts already given +suffice to show how vague and uncertain are, on the whole, the +philosophical views on which depends the Divine Song. Until the end of +these citations one hears only of nature and spirit, the two that have +no beginning, but here one finds the Supreme Spirit, which is as +distinct from the indestructible one as from the destructible. +Moreover, 'nature' is in one place represented as from the beginning +distinct from spirit and entirely apart from it, and in another it is +only a transient phase. The delusion (illusion) which in one passage +is all that exists apart from the Supreme Spirit is itself given up in +favor of the S[=a]nkhya Prakriti, with which one must imagine it to be +identified, although from the text itself it cannot be identical. In a +word, exactly as in Manu, there are different philosophical +conceptions, united without any logical basis for their union. The +'system' is in general that of the S[=a]nkhya-Yogas, but there is much +which is purely Ved[=a]nta. The S[=a]nkhya system is taught elsewhere +as a means of salvation, perhaps always as the deistic Yoga (i. 75. 7: +"He taught them the Sankhya-knowledge as salvation"). It is further +noticeable that although Krishna (Vishnu) is the ostensible speaker, +there is scarcely anything to indicate that the poem was originally +composed even for Vishnu. The Divine Song was probably, as we have +said, a late Upanishad, which afterwards was expanded and put into +Vishnu's mouth. The S[=a]nkhya portions have been redressed as far as +possible and to the illusion doctrine is given the chief place. But +the Song remains, like the Upanishads themselves, and like Manu, an +ill-assorted cabinet of primitive philosophical opinions. On the +religious side it is a matter of comparative indifference whether that +which is not the spirit is a delusive output of the spirit or +indestructible matter. In either case the Spirit is the goal of the +spirit. In this personal pantheism absorption is taught but not death. +Immortality is still the reward that is offered to the believer that +is wise, to the wise that believes. Knowledge and faith are the means +of obtaining this immortality; but, whereas in the older Upanishads +only wisdom is necessary (wisdom that implies morality), here as much +stress, if not more, is laid upon faith, the natural mark of all +sectarian pantheism. + +Despite its occasional power and mystic exaltation, the Divine Song in +its present state as a poetical production is unsatisfactory. The same +thing is said over and over again, and the contradictions in +phraseology and in meaning are as numerous as the repetitions, so that +one is not surprised to find it described as "the wonderful song, +which causes the hair to stand on end." The different meanings given +to the same words are indicative of its patchwork origin, which again +would help to explain its philosophical inconsistencies. It was +probably composed, as it stands, before there was any formal +Ved[=a]nta system; and in its original shape without doubt it precedes +the formal S[=a]nkhya; though both philosophies existed long before +they were systematized or reduced to Sutra form. One has not to +imagine them as systems originally distinct and opposed. They rather +grew out of a gradual intensification of the opposition involved in +the conception of Prakriti (nature) and M[=a]y[=a] (illusion), some +regarding these as identical, others insisting that the latter was not +sufficient to explain nature. The first philosophy (and philosophical +religion) concerned itself less with the relation of matter to mind +(in modern parlance) than with the relation of the individual self +(spirit) to the Supreme Spirit. Different explanations of the relation +of matter to this Supreme Spirit were long held tentatively by +philosophers, who would probably have said that either the S[=a]nkhya +or Ved[=a]nta might be true, but that this was not the chief question. +Later came the differentiation of the schools, based mainly on a +question that was at first one of secondary importance. In another +part of the epic Krishna himself is represented as the victim of +'illusion' (iii. 21. 30) on the field of battle. + +The doctrine of the Bhagavad G[=i]t[=a], the Divine Song, is by no +means isolated. It is found in many other passages of the epic, +besides being imitated in the Anug[=i]t[=a] of the pseudo-epic. To one +of these passages it is worth while to turn, because of the form in +which this wisdom is enunciated. The passage immediately following +this teaching is also of great interest. Of the few Vedic deities that +receive hymnal homage chief is the sun, or, in his other form, Agni. +The special form of Agni has been spoken of above. He is identified +with the All in some late passages, and gives aid to his followers, +although not in battle. It will have been noticed in the Divine Song +that Vishnu asserts that the Song was proclaimed to the sun, who in +turn delivers it through Manu to the king-seers, the sun being +especially the kingly god.[15] In the third book there is an hymn to +the sun, in which this god is addressed almost in the terms of the +Divine Song, and immediately preceding is the doctrine just alluded +to. After the explanation is given that re-birth affects creatures and +causes them to be born in earth, air, or water, the changes of +metempsychosis here including the vegetable world as well as the +animal and divine worlds,[16] the very essence of the Divine Song is +given as "Vedic word," viz., _kuru karma tyajeti ca_, "Perform and +quit acts," _i.e._, do what you ought to do, but without regard to the +reward of action (iii. 2. 72, 74). There is an eightfold path of duty, +as in Buddhism, but here it consists in sacrifice, study, liberality, +and penance; truth, mercy, self-control, and lack of greed. As the +result of practicing the first four, one goes on the course that leads +to the Manes; as the result of practicing the last four, one goes on +the course that leads to the gods. But in practicing any virtues one +should practice them without expectation of reward (_abhim[=a]na_, +arriere pensee). The Yogi, the devotee, who renounces the fruit of +everything, is the greatest man; his powers are miraculous. + +There follows (with the same light inconsistency to be found in the +Divine Song) the appeal for action and the exhortation to pray to the +sun for success in what is desired. For it is explained that the sun +is the father of all creation. The sun draws up clouds with his heat, +and his energy, being transmuted into water, with the help of the +moon, is distilled into plants as rain, and in this way the food that +man eats is full of solar energy, and man and all that live by food +must regard the sun as their father. Preliminary to the hymn to the +sun is given a list of his hundred and eight names,[17] among which +are to be noticed: Aryaman, Soma, Indra, Yama, Brahm[=a], Vishnu, +Civa, Death, Time, Creator, the Endless One, Kapila, the Unborn One, +the Person (Purusha; with which are to be compared the names of Vishnu +in the Divine Song), the All-maker, Varuna, the Grandfather, the Door +of Heaven, etc. And then the Hymn to the Sun (iii. 3. 36 ff.):[18] +"Thou, O Sun, of creatures art the eye; the spirit of all that have +embodied form; thou art the source of all created things; thou art the +custom of them that make sacrifice; thou art the goal of the +S[=a]nkhyas and the hope of the Yogis; the course of all that seek +deliverance ... Thou art worshipped by all; the three and thirty +gods(!) worship thee, etc.... I think that in all the seven worlds[19] +and all the _brahma_-worlds there is nothing which is superior to the +sun. Other beings there are, both powerful and great, but they have no +such glory as the sun's. Father of light, all beings rest in thee; O +Lord of light, all things, all elements are in thee. The disc of +Vishnu was fashioned by the All-maker (one of the sun's names!) with +thy glory. Over all the earth, with its thirteen islands, thou shinest +with thy kine (rays)....[20] Thou art the beginning and the end of a +day of Brahm[=a].... They call thee Indra; thou art Rudra, Vishnu, the +Father-god, Fire, the subtile mind; thou art the Lord, and thou, +eternal _brahma_." + +There is here also a very significant admixture of Vedic and +Upanishadic religion. + +In Krishna, who in the Upanishads is known already by his own and his +mother's name, pantheism is made personal according to the teaching of +one sect. But while the whole epic is in evidence for the spuriousness +of the claim of Krishna to be regarded as incarnate Vishnu (God), +there is scarcely a trace in the original epic of the older view in +regard to Vishnu himself. Thus in one passage he is called "the +younger brother of Indra" (iii. 12. 25). But, since Indra is at no +time the chief god of the epic, and the chapter in which occurs this +expression is devoted to extolling Krishna-Vishnu as the All-god, the +words appear to be intended rather to identify Krishna with Vishnu, +who in the Rig Veda is inferior to Indra, than to detract from +Vishnu's glory. The passage is cited below. + +What now is the relation of Vishnu-Krishna to the other divinities? +Vishnuite and Civaite, each cries out that his god includes the other, +but there is no current identity of Brahm[=a], Vishnu, Civa as three +co-equal representations of one God. For example, in iii. 189. 5, one +reads: "I am Vishnu, I am Brahm[=a], and I am Civa," but one cannot +read into this any trinitarian doctrine whatever, for in context the +passage reads as a whole: "I am N[=a]r[=a]yana, I am Creator and +Destroyer, + +I am Vishnu, I am Brahm[=a], I am Indra, the master-god, I am king +Kubera, Yama, Civa, Soma, Kacyapa, and also the Father-god." Again, +Vishnu says that the Father-god, or grandparent of the gods, is +'one-half of my body," and does not mention Civa (iii. 189. 39). Thus, +also, the hymn to Civa in iii. 39. 76 ff. is addressed "to Civa having +the form of Vishnu, to Vishnu having the form of Civa, to the +three-eyed god, to Carva, the trident-holder, the sun, Ganeca," but +with no mention of Brahm[=a]. The three gods, Brahm[=a], Vishnu, Civa, +however, are sometimes grouped together (but not as a trinity) in late +passages, in contrast to Indra, _e.g._, ix. 53. 26. There are many +hymns to Vishnu and Civa, where each is without beginning, the God, +the uncreated Creator. It is only when the later period, looking back +on the respective claims of the sects, identifies each god with the +other, and both with their predecessor, that one gets even the notion +of a trinity. Even for this later view of the pseudo-epic only one +passage will be found (cited below). + +The part of Brahm[=a] in the epic is most distinctly in process of +subordination to the sectarian gods. He is holy and eternal, but not +omniscient, though wise. As was shown above, he works at the will of +Vishnu. He is one with Vishnu only in the sense that all is one with +the All-god. When Vishnu 'raises the earth' as a boar, Brahm[=a] tells +the gods to go to him.[21] He councils the gods. His heaven is above +Indra's, but he is really only an intermediary divinity, a passive +activity, if the paradox may be allowed. Not like Indra (to whom he is +superior) does he fight with All-gods, or do any great act of his own +will. He is a shadowy, fatherly, beneficent advisor to the gods, his +children; but all his activity is due to Vishnu. This, of course, is +from the point of view of the Vishnuite. + +But there is no Brahm[=a]ite to modify the impression. There existed +no strong Brahm[=a] sect as there were Vishnu and Civa sects. +Brahm[=a] is in his place merely because to the preceding age he was +the highest god; for the epic regards Creator, Praj[=a]pati, +Pit[=a]maha, Brahm[=a] as synonymous.[22] The abstract _brahma_, which +in the Upanishads is the same with the Supreme Spirit, was called +personally Brahm[=a], and this Brahm[=a] is now the Brahmanic +Father-god. The sects could never get rid of a god whose being was +rooted alike in the preceding philosophy and in the popular conception +of a Father-god. Each age of thought takes the most advanced views of +the preceding age as its axioms. The Veda taught gods; the +Br[=a]hmanas taught a Father-god above the gods; the Upanishads taught +a Supreme Godhead of which this Father-god was the active +manifestation. The sects taught that their heroes were incarnations of +this Supreme, but they carried with them the older pantheon as well, +and, with the pantheon, its earlier and later heads, Indra and +Brahm[=a]. Consequently each sect admits that Brahm[=a] is greater +than the older Vedic gods, but, while naturally it identifies its +special incarnation first with its most powerful opponent, and thus, +so to speak, absorbs its rival, it identifies this incarnation with +Brahm[=a] only as being chief of lesser divinities, not as being a +rival. One may represent the attitude of a Krishna-worshipper in the +epic somewhat in this way: "Krishna is a modern incarnation of Vishnu, +the form which is taken in this age by the Supreme Lord. You who +worship Civa should know that your Civa is really my Krishna, and +the chief point is to recognize my Krishna as the Supreme Lord. The +man Krishna is the Supreme Lord in human form. Of course, as such, +being the One God in whom are all things and beings, he is also all +the gods known by names which designate his special functions. Thus he +is the head of the gods, the Father-god, as our ancestors called him, +Brahm[=a]; and he is all the gods known by still older names, who are +the children of the secondary creator, Brahm[=a], viz., Agni, Indra, +S[=u]rya, etc. All gods are active manifestations of the Supreme God +called Vishnu, who is born on earth to-day as Krishna." And the +Civaite says: "Civa is the manifestation of the All-god," and repeats +what the Vishnuite says, substituting Civa for Vishnu,[23] but with +the difference already explained, namely, that the Civa-sect has no +incarnation to which to point, as has the Vishnuite. Civa is modified +Rudra, and both are old god-names. Later, however, the Civaite has +also his incarnate god. As an example of later Civa-worship may be +taken Vishnu's own hymn to this god in vii. 80. 54 ff.: "Reverence to +Bhava, Carva, Rudra (Civa), the bestower of gifts, the lord of cattle, +the terrible, great, fearful, god of three wives;[24] to him who is +peace, the Lord, the slayer of sacrifices (_makhaghna_)[25] ... to the +blue-necked god; to the inventor (or author) ... to truth; to the red +god, to the snake, to the unconquerable one, to the blue-haired one, +to the trident-holder; ... to the inconceivable one ... to him whose +sign is the bull; ... to the creator of all, who pervades all, who is +worshipped by all, Lord of all, Carva, Cankara, Civa, ... who has a +thousand heads a thousand arms, and death, a thousand eyes and legs, +whose acts are innumerable." In vii. 201. 71, Civa is the unborn Lord, +inconceivable, the soul of action, the unmoved one; and he that knows +Civa as the self of self, as the unknowable one, goes to +_brahma_-bliss. This also is late Civaism in pantheistic form. In +other words, everything said of Vishnu must be repeated for Civa.[26] + +As an example of the position of the lowest member of the later +trinity and his very subordinate place, may be cited a passage from +the preceding book of the epic. According to the story in vi. 65. 42 +ff., the seers were all engaged in worshipping Brahm[=a], as the +highest divinity they knew, when he suddenly began to worship "the +Person (Spirit), the highest Lord"; and Brahm[=a] then lauds Vishnu as +such: "Thou art the god of the universe, the All-god, V[=a]sudeva +(Krishna). Therefore I worship thee as the divinity; thou, whose soul +is devotion. Victory to thee, great god of all; thou takest +satisfaction in that which benefits the world.... Lord of lords of +all, thou out of whose navel springs the lotus, and whose eyes are +large; Lord of the things that were, that are, that are to be; O dear +one, self-born of the self-born ... O great snake, O boar,[27] O thou +the first one, thou who dwellest in all, endless one, known as +_brahma_, everlasting origin of all beings ... destroyer of the +worlds! Thy feet are the earth ... heaven is thy head ... I, +Brahm[=a], am thy form ... Sun and moon are thy eyes ... Gods and all +beings were by me created on earth, but they owe their origin to thy +goodness." Then the creation of Vishnu through Pradyumna as a form of +the deity is described, "and Vishnu (Aniruddha) created me, Brahm[=a], +the upholder of the worlds; so am I made of Vishnu; I am caused only +by thee." + +While Brahm[=a] is represented here as identical with Vishnu he is at +the same time a distinctly inferior personality, created by Vishnu for +the purpose of creating worlds, a factor of inferior godliness to that +of the World-Spirit, Krishna-Vishnu. + +It had been stated by Holtzmann[28] that Brahm[=a] sometimes appears +in the epic as a god superior to Vishnu, and on the strength of this +L. von Schroeder has put the date of the early epic between the +seventh and fourth centuries B.C, because at that time Brahm[=a] was +the chief god.[29] von Schroeder rather exaggerates Holtzmann's +results, and asserts that "in the original form of the poem Brahm[=a] +appears _throughout_ as the highest and most revered god, while the +worship of Vishnu and Civa as great gods is apparently a later +intrusion" (_loc. cit._). This asseveration will have to be taken _cum +grano_. Had von Schroeder said 'pantheistic gods' he would have been +correct in this regard, but we think that both Vishnu and Civa were +great gods, equal, if not superior to Brahm[=a], when the epic proper +began. And, moreover, when one speaks of the original form of the poem +he cannot mean the pseudo-epic or the ancient legends which have been +woven into the epic, themselves of earlier date. No one means by the +'early epic' the tales of Agastya, of the creation of Death, of the +making of ambrosia, but the story of the war in its earliest shape; +for the epic poem must have begun with its own subject-matter. Now it +is not true that Brahm[=a] is regarded 'throughout' the early poem as +a chief god at all. If one investigate the cases where Vishnu or Civa +appears 'below' Brahm[=a] he will see, in almost every case that +Holtzmann has registered, that this condition of affairs is recorded +not in the epic proper but in the Brahmanic portions of the +pseudo-epic, or in ancient legends alone. Thus in the story of the +winning of ambrosia, of Agastya drinking ocean, and of R[=a]ma, +Brahm[=a] appears to be above Vishnu, and also in some extracts from +the pseudo-epic. For the real epic we know of but two cases that can +be put into this category, and neither is sufficient to support the +hypothesis built upon it. + +For Krishna, when he ingeniously plots to have Bh[=i]ma slay +Jar[=a]sandha, is said to have renounced killing Jar[=a]sandha +himself, 'putting Brahm[=a]'s injunction before him' (ii. 22. 36), +_i.e._ recalling Brahm[=a]'s admonition that only Bh[=i]ima was fated +to slay the foe. And when Krishna and S[=a]tyaki salute Krishna's +elder brother they do so (for being an elder brother Baladeva is +Krishna's _Guru_) respectfully, 'just as Indra and Upendra salute +Brahm[=a] the lord of _devas_' (ix. 34. 18). Upendra is Indra's +younger brother, _i.e._, Vishnu (above). But these passages are scanty +proof for the statement that Brahm[=a] appears throughout the early +epic as the highest god;[30] nor is there even so much evidence as +this in the case of Civa. Here, too, it is in the tale of the churning +of ocean, of Sunda and Upasunda, of the creation of the death-power, +and in late didactic (Brahmanic) passages, where Brahm[=a] makes Civa +to destroy earth and Civa is born of Brahm[=a], and only in such +tales, or extracts from the Book of Peace, etc, that Brahm[=a] appears +as superior. In all other cases, in the real action of the epic, he is +subordinate to Vishnu and Civa whenever he is compared with them. When +he is not compared he appears, of course, as the great old Father-god +who creates and foresees, but even here he is not untouched by +passion, he is not all-knowing, and his role as Creator is one that, +with the allotment of duties among the gods, does not make him the +highest god. All the old gods are great till greater appear on the +scene. There is scarcely a supreme Brahm[=a] in the epic itself, but +there is a great Brahm[=a], and a greater (older) than the sectarian +gods in the old Brahmanic legends, while the old Brahmanhood reasserts +itself sporadically in the C[=a]nti, etc, and tells how the sectarian +gods became supreme, how they quarrelled and laid the strife. + +Since the adjustment of the relations between the persons of the later +trinity is one of the most important questions in the theology of the +completed epic, it will be necessary to go a little further afield and +see what the latest books, which hitherto we have refrained as much as +possible from citing, have to say on the subject. As it seems to be +true that it was felt necessary by the Civaite to offset the laud of +Vishnu by antithetic laud of Civa,[31] so after the completion of the +Book of Peace, itself a late addition to the epic, and one that is +markedly Vishnuitic, there was, before the Genealogy of Vishnu, an +antithetic Book of Law, which is as markedly Civaitic. In these books +one finds the climax of sectarianism, in so far as it is represented +by the epic; although in earlier books isolated passages of late +addition are sporadically to be found which have much the same nature. +Everywhere in these last additions Brahm[=a] is on a plane which is as +much lower than that of the Supreme God as it is higher than that of +Indra. Thus in viii. 33. 45, Indra takes refuge with Brahm[=a], but +Brahm[=a] turns for help to Civa (Bhava, Sth[=a]nu, Jishnu, etc.) with +a hymn sung by the gods and seers. Then comes a description of +Cankara's[32] (Civa's) war-car, with its metaphorical arms, where +Vishnu is the point of Civa's arrow (which consists of Vishnu, Soma, +Agni), and of this war-car Brahm[=a] himself is the charioteer (_ib._ +34. 76). With customary inconsistency, however, when Civa wishes his +son to be exalted he prostrates himself before Brahm[=a], who then +gives this youth (_kum[=a]ra_), called K[=a]rtikeya, the 'generalship' +over all beings _(s[=a]in[=a]patyam_, ix. 44. 43-49). There is even a +'celebration of Brahm[=a],' a sort of harvest festival, shared, as the +text tells, by all the castes; and it must have been something like +the religious games of the Greeks, for it was celebrated by athletic +contests.[33] Brahm[=a], as the old independent creator, sometimes +keeps his place, transmitting posterity through his 'seven mind-born +sons,' the great seers (iii. 133; xii. 166. 11 ff.). But Brahm[=a] +himself is born either in the golden egg, as a secondary growth (as in +xii. 312. 1-7), or, as is usually the case, he is born in the lotus +which springs from the navel of musing[34] Vishnu (iii. 203. 14). In +this passage Brahm[=a] has four faces (Vedas) and four forms, +_caturm[=u]rtis_ (15), and this epithet in other sections is transferred +to Vishnu. Thus in vii. 29. 26, Vishnu(Vishu in the original) says +_caturm[=u]rtir aham_, "I have four forms," but he never says +_trim[=u]rtir aham_ ('I have three forms'). There is one passage, +however, that makes for a belief in a trinity. It stands in contrast +to the various Vishnuite hymns, one of which may well be reviewed as +an example of the regular Vishnuite laudation affected by the Krishna +sect (iii. 12. 21 ff.): "Krishna is Vishnu, Brahm[=a], Soma, the Sun, +Right, the Creator ('founder'), Yama, Fire, Wind, Civa, Time, Space, +Earth, and the cardinal points. Thou, Krishna, art the Creator +('emitter'); thou, chief of gods, didst worship the highest; thou, +Vishnu called, becamest Indra's younger brother, entering into sonship +with Aditi; as a child with three steps thou didst fill the sky, +space, and earth, and pass in glory.... At the end of the age thou +returnest all things into thyself. At the beginning of the age +Brahm[=a] was born from thy lotus-navel as the venerable preceptor of +all things (the same epithet is in vs. 22 applied to Vishnu himself); +and Civa sprang from thy angry forehead when the demons would kill him +(Brahm[=a]); both are born of thee, in whom is the universe." The +following verses (45 ff.) are like those of the Divine Song: "Thou, +Knight Arjuna, art the soul of Krishna; thou art mine alone and thine +alone am I; they that are mine are thine; he that hates thee hates Me, +and he that is for thee, is for Me; thou art Nara ('man') and I am +N[=a]r[=a]yana ('whose home is on the waters,' god);[35] we are the +same, there is no difference between us." Again, like the Divine Song +in the following verses (51-54) is the expression 'the sacrifice and +he that sacrifices,' etc, together with the statement that Vishnu +plays 'like a boy with playthings,' with the crowds of gods, +Brahm[=a], Civa, Indra, etc. The passage opposed to this, and to other +identifications of Vishnu with many gods, is one of the most flagrant +interpolations in the epic. If there be anything that the Supreme God +in Civaite or Vishnuite form does not do it is to extol at length, +without obvious reason, his rivals' acts and incarnations, Yet in this +clumsy passage just such an extended laudation of Vishnu is put into +the mouth of Civa. In fact, iii. 272, from 30 to 76, is an +interpretation of the most naive sort, and it is here that we find the +approach to the later _trim[=u]rti_ (trinity): "Having the form of +Brahm[=a] he creates; having a human body (as Krishna) he protects, in +the nature of Civa he would destroy--these are the three appearances +or conditions (_avasth[=a]s_) of the Father-god". (Praj[=a]pati).[36] +This comes after an account of the four-faced lotus-born Brahm[=a], +who, seeing the world a void, emitted his sons, the seers, mind-born, +like to himself (now nine in number), who in turn begot all beings, +including men (vss. 44-47). If, on the other hand, one take the later +sectarian account of Vishnu (for the above is more in honor of Krishna +the man-god than of Vishnu, the form of the Supreme God), he will see +that even in the pseudo-epic the summit of the theological conceptions +is the emphasis not of trinity or of multifariousness but of unity. +According to the text the P[=a]ncak[=a]lajnas are the same with the +Vishnuite sect called P[=a]ncar[=a]tras, and these are most +emphatically _ek[=a]ntinas, i.e_., Unitarians (xii. 336; 337. 46; 339. +66-67).[37] In this same passage 341. 106, Vishnu is again +_caturm[=u]rtidh[r.]t_, 'the bearer of four forms,' an entirely +different conception of him (below). So that even in this most +advanced sectarian literature there is no real threefoldness of the +Supreme as one in three. In the following chapter (xii. 335. 1 ff.) +there is a passage like the great Ka hymn of the Rig Veda, 'whom as +god shall one worship?' The sages say to Vishnu: "All men worship +thee; to whom dost thou offer worship?" and he says, 'to the Eternal +Spirit.' The conception of the functions of Brahm[=a] and Civa in +relation to Vishnu is plainly shown in xii. 342. 19: "Brahm[=a] and +Civa create and destroy at the will of Vishnu; they are born of his +grace and his anger." In regard to Civa himself, his nature and place +in Vishnuism have been sufficiently explained. The worship of this god +is referred to 'Vedic texts' (the _cata-rudriyam_, vii. 202. 120);[38] +Vishnu is made to adore the terrible god (_ib_. 201. 69) who appears +as a mad ascetic, a wild rover, a monster, a satire on man and gods, +though he piously carries a rosary, and has other late traits in his +personal appearance.[39] The strength of Civaism lay in the eumenidean +(Civa is 'prospering,' 'kindly') euphemism and fear alike, which +shrank in speech and mind from the object of fear. But this religion +in the epic had a firmer hold than that of fear. It was essentially +phallic in its outward form (VII. 201. 93-96), and as such was deeply +rooted in the religious conscience of a people to whom one may venture +perhaps to ascribe such a form of worship even in the time of the Rig +Veda, although the signs thereof in great part have been suppressed. +This may be doubted,[40] indeed, for the earlier age; but there is no +question that epic Civaism, like Civaism to-day, is dependent wholly +on phallic worship (XIII. 14. 230 ff.). It is the parallel of Bacchic +rites and orgies, as well as of the worship of the demons in +distinction from that of good powers. Civa represents the ascetic, +dark, awful, bloody side of religion: Vishnu, the gracious, calm, +hopeful, loving side; the former is fearful, mysterious, demoniac; the +latter is joyful, erotic, divine. In their later developments it is +not surprising to see that Vishnuism, in the form of Krishnaism, +becomes more and more erotic, while Civaism becomes more and more +ghastly and ghoulish. Wild and varied as are the beliefs of the epic, +there is space but to show a few more characteristic sides of its +theology--a phase that may seem questionable, yet, since the devout +Hindu believes the teachings of the epic, they must all to him +constitute one theology, although it was gradually amalgamated out of +different creeds. + +In connection with Civa stands, closely united, his son, Ganeca, +"leader of troops," still worshipped as one of the popular gods, and +the battle-god, Skanda, the son first of Agni then of Civa, the +conqueror of the demons, _d[=a]navas_, and later representative of +Indra, with whom the epic identifies him. For it is Skanda that is the +real battle-god of the later epic; though in its original form Indra +was still the warrior's refuge, as attests the stereotyped +phraseology. In III. 225-232 honor and praise are ascribed to Skanda +in much the same language with that used to portray his father, Civa. +"The god of a thousand arms, the Lord of all, the creator of gods and +demons" are phrases used in his eulogy. He too has a list of names; +his nurse is the "maiden of the red (bloody) sea," called +Loh[=i]t[=a]yan[=i]. His terrible appearance and fearful acts make him +the equal of Civa.[41] His sign is a _kukku[t.]a_, cock; _ib_. 229. +33. + +Associated, again, with Skanda are the spirits or 'mothers,' which +afflict people. The belief in mother-gods is old, but its epic form is +new. The exactness and detail in regard to these beautiful monsters +show at least a real belief, which, as one on a lower plane besides +the higher religion, cannot be passed over without notice. As in other +lands, people are 'possessed' by evil spirits, called possessors or +seizers (_grahas_). These are Skanda's demons,[42] and are both male +and female. Until one reaches the age of sixteen he is liable to be +possessed by one group of 'seizers,' who must be worshipped in proper +form that their wrath may be averted. Others menace mortals from the +age of sixteen to seventy. After that only the fever-demon is to be +feared. Imps of this sort are of three kinds. One kind indulge only in +mischievous sport: another kind lead one to gluttony; the third kind +are devoted to lust. They are known as Pic[=a]cas, Yakshas, etc., and +when they seize a person he goes mad. They are to be kept at bay by +self-restraint and moderation (III. 230. 43-56). In IX. 46 and III. +226 the 'mothers' are described. They are witches, and live in +cross-roads, cemeteries, and mountains. They may be of Dravidian +origin, and in their epic form, at any rate, are a late intrusion.[43] + +Just before the Divine Song begins, the knight who is about to become, +illuminated or 'disillusioned' offers a prayer to the terrible goddess +Durg[=a], also one of the new, popular, and horrible forms of divine +manifestation. In this hymn, VI. 23, Durg[=a] (Um[=a], P[=a]rvat[=i], +K[=a]li, etc.) is addressed as "leader of the armies of the blessed, +the dweller in Mandara, the youthful woman, K[=a]li, wife of Civa, she +who is red, black, variegated; the savior, the giver of gifts, +K[=a]ty[=a]yan[=i], the great benefactress, the terrible one, the +victorious one, victory itself ... Um[=a], the slayer of demons,"[44] +and the usual identification and theft of epithets then follows: "O +thou who art the Vedas, who art Revelation, who art virtue, +J[=a]tavedasi, ... thou art _brahma_ among the sciences, thou art the +sleep of incorporate beings, the mother of Skanda, the blessed one, +Durg[=a] ... thou art the mother of the Vedas and Ved[=a]nta ... thou +art sleep, illusion, modesty, happiness ... thou art satisfaction, +growth, contentment, light, the increaser of moon and sun." + +Turning from these later parasites,[45] which live on their parent +gods and yet tend to reduce them, we now revert to that happiness +hereafter to which looks forward the epic knight that has not been +tempted to 'renounce' desire. In pantheistic passages he is what the +later remodeller makes him. But enough of old belief remains to show +that the warrior really cared a great deal more for heaven than he did +for absorption. As to the cause of events, as was said above, it is +Fate. Repeatedly is heard the lament, "Fate (impersonal) is the +highest thing, fie on vain human effort." The knight confesses with +his lips to a belief in the new doctrine of absorption, but at heart +he is a fatalist. And his aim is to die on the field of battle, that +he may go thence directly to the heaven that awaits the good and the +brave.[46] Out of a long description of this heaven a few extracts +here selected will show what the good knight anticipates: + + "Upward goes the path that leads to gods; it is inhabited by + them that have sacrificed and have done penance. Unbelieving + persons and untruthful persons do not enter there; only they + that have duteous souls, that have conquered self, and + heroes that bear the marks of battle. There sit the seers + and gods, there are shining, self-illumined worlds, made of + light, resplendent. And in this heaven there is neither + hunger, nor thirst, nor weariness, nor cold, nor heat, nor + fear; nothing that is terrible is there, nothing unclean; + but pleasing sights, and sounds, and smells. There is no + care there, nor age, nor work, nor sorrow. Such is the + heaven that is the reward of good acts. Above this is + Brahm[=a]'s world, where sit the seers and the three and + thirty gods," etc. + +Over against this array of advantages stands the one great "fault of +heaven," which is stated almost in the words of "nessun maggior +dolore," "the thought (when one lives again on the lower plane) of +former happiness in the higher life is terrible grief" (vs. 30), +_i.e_., this heaven will pass away at the end of the world-period, +when the Eternal draws all in to himself again (iii. 261); and the +thought that one has been in heaven, while now he is (re-born) on +earth, is a sorrow greater than the joy given by heaven.[47] +One is reminded by the epic description of heaven of that poet of the +Upanishads who describes his heavenly bliss as consisting in the fact +that in that world "there is neither snow nor sorrow." The later +version is only an amplification. Even with the assurance that the +"fault of heaven" is the disappointment of being dropped to earth +again in a new birth, the ordinary mortal is more averse from the +bliss of absorption than from the pleasure of heaven. And in truth, +except to one very weary of his lot in life, it must be confessed that +the religion here shown in all its bearings is one eminently pleasant +to believe. Its gist, in a word, is this: "If you feel able to endure +it, the best thing to do is to study the plan of the universe, and +then conform to it. By severe mental discipline you can attain to this +knowledge, and for reward you will be immortally united with God." To +this the sectarian adds: "Or believe in my god and the result will be +the same." But both philosopher and sectarian continue: "If, however, +you do not want to be united with the Supreme Spirit so soon as this, +then be virtuous and devout, or simply be brave if you are a warrior; +do whatever the rules of morality and caste-custom bid you do, and you +will go to heaven for thousands of ages; at the end of which time you +will be re-born in a fine family on earth, and may again decide +whether to repeat the process of gaining heaven or to join God and +become absorbed into the World-Spirit at once." There were probably +many that chose rather to repeat their agreeable earthly experience, +with an interlude of heaven after each death, than to make the +renunciation of earth and heaven, and be absorbed once for all into +the All-god. + +The doctrine of 'the ages'[48] is so necessary to a true understanding +of the rotative immortality offered as a substitute for the higher +bliss of absorption (that is, genuine immortality), that an account of +the teaching in this regard will not be out of place. The somewhat +puzzling distinction between the happy life of them that fail to +desire absorption, and yet are religious men, and the blissful life of +those people that do attain absorption, is at once explained by a +clear understanding of the duration of the time of the gods' own life +and of the divine heaven. Whereas the Greek notion of four ages +includes within the four all time, all the four ages of the Hindu are +only a fraction of time. Starting at any one point of eternity, there +is, according to the Hindu belief, a preliminary 'dawn' of a new cycle +of ages. This dawn lasts four hundred years, and is then followed by +the real age (the first of four), which lasts four thousand years, and +has again a twilight ending of four hundred years in addition. This +first is the Krita age, corresponding to the classical Golden Age. Its +characteristics are, that in it everything is perfect; right eternal +now exists in full power. In this age there are neither gods nor +demons (D[=a]navas, Gandharvas, Yakshas, R[=a]kshas, Serpents), +neither buying nor selling. By a _lucus a non_ the derivation of the +name Krita is _k[r.]tam eva na kartavyam, i.e_., with a pun, it is +called the '_sacred_ age' because there are no _sacrifices_ in that +age. No S[=a]ma Veda, Rig Yeda, or Yajur Veda exist as distinct +Vedas.[49] There is no mortal work. Fruit comes by meditation; the +only duty is renunciation. Disease, lack of mental power, moral +defects (such as pride and hate) do not exist; the highest course of +the ascetic Yogis is universally _brahma (paramakam_). In this age +come into existence the Brahman, Kshatriya, V[=a]icya, C[=u]dra, +_i.e_., the distinct castes of priest, warrior, husbandman, and slave; +all with their special marks, and all delighted with their proper +occupations. Yet have all the castes like occupations, like refuge, +practice, and knowledge. They are joined to the one god (_eka deva_), +and have but one _mantra_ in their religious rites. Their duties are +distinct, but they follow only one Veda and one rule. The four orders +(of the time of life) are duly observed; men do not desire the fruit +of their action, and so they obtain the highest course, _i.e_., +salvation by absorption into _brahma_. In this age the 'three +attributes' (or qualities) are unknown. After this age follows the +dawn of the second age, called Tret[=a], lasting three hundred years, +then the real age of Tret[=a], three thousand years, followed by the +twilight of three hundred years. The characteristics of this age are, +that men are devout; that great sacrifices begin (_sattram +pravartate_); that Virtue decreases by one quarter; that all the +various rites are produced, together with the attainment of salvation +through working for that end, by means of sacrifice and generosity; +that every one does his duty and performs asceticism. The next age, +Dv[=a]para, is introduced by a dawn of two hundred years, being itself +two thousand years in duration, and it closes with a twilight of two +hundred years. Half of Virtue fails to appear in this age, that is, +the general virtue of the world is diminished by a half ('the Bull of +Justice stands on two legs'). The Veda is now subdivided into four. +Instead of every one having one Veda, four Vedas exist, but some +people know only three, or two, or one, or are even Veda-less +(_an[r.]cas_). Ceremonies become manifold, because the treatises on +duty are subdivided(!). The attribute of passion influences people, +and it is with this that they perform asceticism and are generous (not +with disinterestedness). Few (_kaccit_) are settled in truth; +ignorance of the one Veda causes a multiplication of Vedas (_i.e_., as +Veda means 'knowledge,' the Vedas result from ignorance of the +essential knowledge). Disease and sin make penance necessary. People +sacrifice only to gain heaven. After this age and its twilight +are past begins the Kali, last of the four ages, with a dawn of one +hundred, a course of one thousand, and a subsequent twilight of one +hundred years. This is the present sinful age, when there is no real +religion, when the Vedas are ignored, and the castes are confused, +when _itis_ (distresses of every form) are rife; when Virtue has only +one leg left to stand upon. The believer in Krishna as Vishnu, besides +this universal description, says that the Supreme Lord in the Krita +age is 'white' (pure); in the Tret[=a] age, 'red'; in the Dv[=a]para +age, 'yellow'; in the Kali age, 'black, _i.e_., Vishnu is Krishna, +which means 'black.'[50] This cycle of ages always repeats itself +anew. Now, since the twelve thousand years of these ages, with their +dawns and twilights, are but one of countless cycles, when the Kali +age and its twilight have brought all things into a miserable state, +the universe is re-absorbed into the Supreme Spirit. There is then a +universal (apparent) destruction, _pralaya_, of everything, first by +fire and then by a general flood. Seven suns appear in heaven, and +what they fail to burn is consumed by the great fire called Samvartaka +(really a manifestation of Vishnu), which sweeps the world and leaves +only ashes; then follows a flood which completes the annihilation. +Thereafter follows a period equal to one thousand cycles (of twelve +thousand years each), which is called 'Brahm[=a]'s night,' for during +these twelve million years Brahm[=a] sleeps; and the new Krita age +begins again "when Brahm[=a] wakes up" (iii. 188. 29, 69; 189. +42).[51] All the gods are destroyed in the universal destruction, that +is, re-absorbed into the All-god, for there is no such thing as +annihilation, either of spirit or of matter (which is illusion). +Consequently the gods' heaven and the spirits of good men in that +heaven are also re-absorbed into that Supreme, to be re-born in the +new age. This is what is meant by the constant harping on +quasi-immortality. Righteousness, sacrifice, bravery, will bring man +to heaven, but, though he joins the gods, with them he is destroyed. +They and he, after millions of years, will be re-born in the new +heaven and the new earth. To escape this eventual re-birth one must +desire absorption into the Supreme, not annihilation, but unity with +God, so that one remains untouched by the new order at the end of +Brahm[=a]'s 'day.' There are, of course, not lacking views of them +that, taking the precept grossly, give a less dignified appearance to +the teaching, and, in fact, upset its real intent. Thus, in the very +same Puranic passage from which is taken the description above (III. +188), it is said that a seer, who miraculously outlived the universal +destruction of one cycle, was kindly swallowed by Vishnu, and that, on +entering his stomach (the absorption idea in Puranic coarseness), he +saw everything which had been destroyed, mountains, rivers, cities, +the four castes engaged in their duties, etc. In other words, only +transference of locality has taken place. But this account reads +almost like a satire. + +One of the most striking features of the Hindu religions, as they have +been traced thus far, is the identification of right with light, and +wrong with darkness. We have referred to it several times already. In +the Vedic age the deities are luminous, while the demons and the abode +of the wicked generally are of darkness. This view, usually considered +Iranian and Zoroastrian, is as radically, if not so emphatically, +Indic. It might be said, indeed, that it is more deeply implanted in +the worship of the Hindus than in that of the Iranians, inasmuch as +the latter religion enunciates and promulgates the doctrine, while the +former assumes it. All deeds of sin are deeds of darkness, _tamas_. +The devils live underground in darkness; the hells are below earth and +are gloom lighted only by torture-flames. + +The development of devil-worship (the side-scenes in the theatre of +Civaism) introduces devils of another sort, but the general effect +remains. The fire-priest Bhrigu says: "Untruth is a form of darkness, +and by darkness one is brought to hell (downwards); veiled in darkness +one sees not the light. Light is heaven, they say, and darkness is +hell," xii. 190. 2-3. This antithesis of evil as darkness, good as +light, is too native to India to admit of the suggestion that it might +have been borrowed. But an isolated and curious Puranic chapter of the +epic appears to have direct reference to the Persian religion. All +Hindu gods have sacrifices, even Civa the 'destroyer of sacrifice.' +Now in iii. 220, after a preliminary account of the _p[a]ncajanya_ +fire (vs. 5 ff.) there is given a list of 'gods that destroy +sacrifice,' _dev[=a]s yajnamu[s.]as,_ fifteen in number, who 'stand +here' on earth and 'steal' the sacrifice. They extend over the five +peoples in three divisions of five each. The first and third group +contain names compounded with Bh[=i]ma and S[=u]ra respectively; while +the third group is that of Sumitra, Mitravan, Mitrajna, Mitravardhana, +Mitradharman. There are others without the _mitra_ (vs. 10). The +appellation _dev[=a]s_ seems to take them out of connection with +Civa's demoniac troops, and the persistency of _mitra_ would look as +if these 'gods' were of Iranian origin. There may have been (as are +possibly the modern S[=a]uras) believers in the Persian religion +already long established among the Hindus. + +The question will naturally present itself whether in the religious +_olla podrida_ known as the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata there are distinct +allusions to Buddhism, and, if so, in how far the doctrines of this +sect may have influenced the orthodox religion. Buddhism does not +appear to have attacked or to have attracted the 'holy land,' whence, +indeed, according to law, heretics are 'banished.' But its influence +of course must have embraced this country, and it is only a question +of in how far epic Brahmanism has accepted it. At a later period +Hinduism, as has been observed, calmly accepts Buddha as an _avatar_ +of Vishnu. Holtzmann, who is inclined to attribute a good deal to +Buddhism, sees signs of it even in the personal characteristics of the +epic heroes, and believes the whole poem to have been more or less +affected by anti-Buddhistic feeling. If this were so one would have to +give over to Buddhism much also of the humanitarianism to be found in +the moral precepts that are so thickly strewn through the various +books. In our opinion these signs-manual of Buddhism are not +sufficiently evident to support Holtzmann's opinion for the whole +poem, and it is to be noted that the most taking evidence is drawn +from the latest parts of the work. It is just here that we think it +necessary to draw the line, for while much of late date has been added +in earlier books, yet in the books which one may call wholly late +additions appear the strongest indications of Buddhistic +influence.[52] A great deal of the Book of Peace is Puranic, the book +as a whole is a Vishnuite addition further enlarged by Civaite +interpolation. The following book is, again, an offset to the Book of +Peace, and is as distinctly Civaite in its conception as is the Book +of Peace Vishnuite.[53] It is here, in these latest additions, which +scarcely deserve to be ranked with the real epic, that are found the +most palpable touches of Buddhism. They stand to the epic proper as +stands to them the Genealogy of Vishnu, a further addition which has +almost as much claim to be called 'part of the epic' as have the books +just mentioned, only that it is more evidently the product of a later +age, and represents the Krishna-Vishnu sect in its glory after the +epic was completed. Nevertheless, even in these books much that is +suspected of being Buddhistic may be Brahmanic; and in any concrete +case a decision, one way or the other, is scarcely to be made on +objective grounds. Still more is this the case in earlier books. Thus, +for instance, Holtzmann is sure that a conversation of a slave and a +priest in the third book is Buddhistic because the man of low caste +would not venture to instruct a Brahman.[54] But it is a command +emphasized throughout the later Brahmanism that one must take refuge +in the ship that saves; and in passages not suspected of Buddhistic +tendency Bh[=i]shma takes up this point, and lays down the rule that, +no matter to which caste a man belongs, his teaching if salutary is to +be accepted. It is even said in one passage of the Book of Peace that +one ought to learn of a slave, and in another that all the four castes +ought to hear the Veda read:[55] "Let him get instruction even from a +C[=u]dra if he can thereby attain to salvation"; and again: "Putting +the Brahman first, let the four castes hear (the Veda); for this +(giving first place to the priest) is (the rule in) reading the +Veda."[56] And in many places are found instructions given by +low-caste men. It may be claimed that every case which resembles +Buddhistic teaching is drawn from Buddhism, but this would be to claim +more than could be established. Moreover, just as the non-injury +doctrine is prior to Buddhism and yet is a mark of Buddhistic +teaching, so between the two religions there are many points of +similarity which may be admitted without compromising the genuineness +of the Brahmanic teaching. For Buddhism in its morality is anything +but original.[57] + +Another bit of instruction from the Book of Peace illustrates the +attitude of the slave just referred to. In sharp contrast to what one +would expect from a Buddhist, this slave, who is a hunter, claims that +he is justified in keeping on with his murderous occupation because it +is his caste-occupation; whereas, as a Buddhist he ought to have +renounced it if he thought it sinful, without regard to the +caste-rule. The Book of Peace lays it down as a rule that the giving +up of caste-occupation is meritorious if the occupation in itself is +iniquitous, but it hedges on the question to the extent of saying +that, no matter whether the occupation be sinful or not, if it is an +inherited occupation a man does not do wrong to adhere to it. This is +liberal Brahmanism. The rule reads as follows: "Actors, +liquor-dealers, butchers, and other such sinners are not justified in +following such occupations, _if they are not born to the profession +(i.e_., if they are born to it they are justified in following their +inherited occupation). Yet if one has inherited such a profession it +is a noble thing to renounce it."[58] + +The marks of Buddhistic influence on which we would lay greater stress +are found not in the fact that Mudgala refuses heaven (iii. 261. 43), +or other incidents that may be due as well to Brahmanism as to +Buddhism, but in such passages of the pseudo-epical Book of Peace as +for example the _dharmyas panth[=a]s_ of xii. 322. 10-13; the +conversation of the female beggar, _bhikshuk[=i]_, with the king in +321. 7, 168; the _buddha_ of 289. 45; the Buddhistic phraseology of +167. 46; the remark of the harlot Pingal[=a] in 174. 60: +_pratibuddh[=a] 'smi j[=a]g[r.]mi_ (I am 'awakened' to a sense of sin +and knowledge of holiness), and the like phrase in 177. 22: +_pratibuddho 'smi_.[59] Of especial importance is the shibboleth +Nirv[=a]na which is often used in the epic. There seems, indeed, to be +a subtile connection between Civaism and Buddhism. Buddhism rejects +pantheism, Civaism is essentially monotheism. Both were really +religions of the lower classes. It is true that the latter was +affected and practiced by those of high rank, but its strength lay +with the masses. Thus while Vishnuism appealed to the contemplative +and philosophical (R[=a]maism), as well as to the easy-going middle +classes (Krishinaism), Civaism with its dirty asceticism, its orgies +and Bacchanalian revels, its devils and horrors generally, although +combined with a more ancient philosophy, appealed chiefly to the +magic-monger and the vulgar. So it is that one finds, as one of his +titles in the thirteenth book, that Civa is 'the giver of Nirv[=a]na,' +(xiii. 16. 15). But if one examines the use of this word in other +parts of the epic he will see that it has not the true Buddhistic +sense except in its literal physical application as when the +_nirv[=a][n.]a_ (extinguishing) of a lamp, iv. 22. 22, is spoken of; +or the _nirv[=a][n.]a_ of duties (in the Pancar[=a]tra 'Upanishad,' +xii. 340. 67). On the other hand, in sections where the context shows +that this must be the case, Nirv[=a]na is the equivalent of 'highest +bliss' or 'highest _brahma_,' the same with the felicity thus named in +older works. This, for instance, is the case in xii. 21. 17; 26. 16, +where Nirv[=a]na cannot mean extinction but absorption, _i.e_., the +'blowing out' of the individual flame (spirit) of life, only that it +may become one with the universal spirit. In another passage it is +directly equated with _sukham brahma_ in the same way (_ib_. 189. 17). +If now one turn to the employment of this word in the third book he +will find the case to be the same. When the king reproaches his queen +for her atheistic opinions in iii. 31. 26 he says that if there were +no reward for good deeds hereafter "people would not seek Nirv[=a]na," +just as he speaks of heaven ('immortality') and hell, _ib_. 20 and 19, +not meaning thereby extinction but absorption. So after a description +of that third heaven wherein is Vishnu, when one reads that Mudgala +"attained that highest eternal bliss the sign of which is Nirv[=a]na" +(iii. 261. 47), he can only suppose that the word means here +absorption into _brahma_ or union with Vishnu. In fact Nirv[=a]na is +already a word of which the sense has been subjected to attrition +enough to make it synonymous with 'bliss.' Thus "the gods attained +Nirv[=a]na by means of Vishnu's greatness" (iii. 201. 22); and a +thirsty man "after drinking water attained Nirv[=a]na," _i.e_., the +drink made him happy (_ib_. 126. 16). One may best compare the Jain +Nirv[=a]na of happiness. + +While, therefore, Buddhism seems to have left many manifest traces[60] +in the later epic the weight of its influence on the early epic may +well be questioned. The moral harangues of the earlier books show +nothing more than is consistent with that Brahmanism which has made +its way unaided through the greater humanitarianism of the earlier +Upanishads. At the same time it is right to say that since the poem is +composed after Buddha's time there is no historical certainty in +regard to the inner connection of belief and morality (as expounded in +the epic) with Buddhism. Buddhism, though at a distance, environed +epic Brahmanism, and may well have influenced it. The objective proofs +for or against this are not, however, decisive. + +Whether Christianity has affected the epic is another question that +can be answered (and then doubtfully) only by drawing a line between +epic and pseudo-epic. And in this regard the Harivanca legends of +Krishna are to be grouped with the pseudo-epic, of which they are the +legitimate if late continuation. Again one must separate teaching from +legend. To the Divine Song belong sentiments and phrases that have +been ascribed to Christian influence. Definitive assurance in this +regard is an impossibility. When Vishnu says (as is said also in the +Upanishads) "I am the letter A," one may, and probably will, decide +that this is or is not an imitation of "I am alpha," strictly in +accordance with his preconceived opinions. There are absolutely no +historical data to go upon. One may say with tolerable certainty that +the Divine Song as a whole is antique, prior to Christianity. But it +is as unmistakably interpolated and altered. The doctrine of _bhakti_, +faithful love as a means of salvation, cannot be much older than the +Song, for it is found only in the latest Upanishads (as shown by +comparing them with those undoubtedly old). But on the other hand the +_pras[=a]da_ doctrine (of special grace) belongs to a much earlier +literature, and there is no reason why the whole theory with its +startling resemblance to the doctrine of grace, and its insistence on +personal affection for the Lord should not have been self-evolved. The +old omnipotence of inherited knowledge stops with the Upanishads, To +their authors the Vedas are but a means. They desired wisdom, not +knowledge. They postulated the desire for the Supreme Spirit as the +true wisdom. From this it is but a step to yearning and love for the +Supreme. That step is made in the Divine Song. It is recognized by +early Buddhism as a Brahmanic trait. Is it necessarily imported from +Christianity? The proof is certainly lacking. Nor, to one accustomed +to the middle literature of Hindu religion, is the phraseology so +strikingly unique as would appear to be the case. Taken all in all, +the teaching of Christianity certainly may be suspected, but it cannot +be shown to exist in the Divine Song. + +Quite different is the case with the miraculous matter that grew up +about the infant Krishna. But here one is out of the epic and dealing +with the latest literature in regard to the man-god. This distinction +cannot be too much insisted upon, for to point first to the teaching +of the Divine Song and then to the Krishna legends as equally +reflecting Christianity is to mix up two periods as distinct as +periods can be established in Hindu literature. And the result of the +whole investigation shows that the proofs of borrowing are as +different as these +periods. The inner Christianity thought to be copied by the re-writer +of the Divine Song is doubtful in the last degree. The outer +Christianity reflected in the Puranic legends of Krishna is as +palpable as it is shocking. Shocking, for here not only are miracles +treated grotesquely, but everything that is meant spiritually in the +Occident is interpreted physically and carnally. The love of the +Bridegroom is sensual; the brides of God are drunken dancing girls. + +The 'coincidences,' as some scholars marvellously regard them, between +the legends of Christ and Krishna are too extraordinary to be accepted +as such. They are direct importations, not accidental coincidences. +Whatever is most marvellous in the accounts of Christianity finds +itself here reproduced in Krishnaism. It is not in the doctrine of +_avatars_, which resembles the doctrine of the Incarnation,[61] it is +in the totality of legends connected with Krishna that one is forced +to see Christian influence. The scenes of the nativity, the adoration +of the magi, the miracles during the Saviour's childhood, the +transfiguration, and other stories of Christ are reproduced with +astonishing similarity. One may add to this the Christmas festival, +where Krishna is born in a stable, and the use of certain +church-utensils in the temple-service. Weber has proved by collecting +and explaining these 'coincidences,'[62] that there must be identity +of origin. It remains only to ask from which side is the borrowing? +Considering how late are these Krishna legends in India[63] there can +be no doubt that the +Hindu borrowed the tales, but not the name; for the last assumption is +quite improbable because Krishna (=Christ?) is native enough, and +Vishnu is as old as the Rig Veda. That these tales are of secondary +importance, as they are of late origin, is a matter of course. They +are excrescences upon real Vishnuism (Krishnaism) and the result of +anthropomorphizing in its fullest extent the image of the man-god, who +is represented in the epic as the incarnation of the Supreme Spirit. +The doctrine of the incarnation is thoroughly Indic. It is Buddhistic +as well as Brahmanic, and precedes Vishnuism as it does Christianity. +The legends are another matter. Here one has to assume direct contact +with the Occident.[64] But while agreeing with Weber and disagreeing +with Barth in the determination of the relation of this secondary +matter, we are unable to agree with Weber in his conclusions in regard +to the one passage in the pseudo-epic that is supposed by him[65] to +refer to a visit to a Christian church in Alexandria. This is the +famous episode of the White Island, which, to be sure, occurs in so +late a portion of the Book of Peace (xii. 337. 20 ff) that it might +well be what Weber describes it as being. But to us it appears to +contain no allusion at all to Christianity. The account in brief is as +follows: Three priests with the insignificant names "First, Second, +Third,"[66] go to the far North (_dic uttar[=a]_) where, in the "Sea +of Milk," they find an Albion called 'White Island,' perhaps regarded +as one of the seven or thirteen 'islands,' of which earth consists; +and there Vishnu is worshipped as the one god by white men of +extraordinary physical characteristics. + +The fact that the 'one god' is already a hackneyed phrase of +philosophy; that there is no resemblance to a trinitarian god; that +the hymn sung to this one god contains no trace of Christian +influence, but is on the other hand thoroughly native in tone and +phraseology, being as follows: "Victory to thee, thou god with +lotus-eyes; Reverence to thee, thou creator of all things; Reverence +be to thee, O Vishnu;[67] thou Great Person; first-born one"; all +these facts indicate that if the White-islanders are indeed to be +regarded as foreigners worshipping a strange god, that god is strictly +monotheistic and not trinitarian. Weber lays stress on the expression +'first-born,' which he thinks refers to Christ; but the epithet is old +(Vedic), and is common, and means no more than 'primal deity.' + +There is much that appears to be foreign in the epic. This passage +seems rather to be a recollection of some shrine where monotheism +without Christianity was acknowledged. On the other hand, even in the +pseudo-epic, there is much apparently borrowed which yet is altogether +native to Brahmanic land and sect. It is not in any passage which is +proved to be of foreign origin that one reads of the boy of twelve +years who entered among the wise men and confuted their reasoning +(above, p. 382). It is not of course due to Christian influence that +the great 'saint of the stake' is taken by the 'king's men,' is +crucified (or literally impaled) among thieves, and lives so long that +the guard go and tell the king of the miracle;[68] nor is it necessary +to assume that everything elevated is borrowed. "When I revile, I +revile not again," sounds indeed like an echo of Christian teaching, +but how thoroughly Hindu is the reason. "For I know that self-control +is the door of immortality." And in the same breath, with a connection +of meaning patent only when one regards the whole not as borrowed but +as native, follow the words that we have ventured to put upon the +title-page of this volume, as the highest and at the same time the +truest expression of a religion that in bringing the gods to men +raised man to equally with God--"This is a holy mystery which I +declare unto you: There is nothing nobler than humanity."[69] + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: He appears in different complete + manifestations, while Vishnu appears only in part, as a + 'descent,' _avatar, i.e_., Vishnu is incarnate, Civa appears + whole.] + + [Footnote 2: The original story perhaps antedates the + Brahmanic Brahm[=a]. But, for all one knows, when the poem + was first written Brahm[=a] was already decadent as chief + god. In that case two strata of religious belief have been + formally super-imposed, Vishnuism and Civaism.] + + [Footnote 3: While agreeing with Telang that the original + G[=i]t[=a] is an old poem, we cannot subscribe to his + argument (SBE. VIII. p. 19) that the priority of the + S[=a]man over the Rig Veda is evidence of antiquity; still + less to the argument, p. 21, from the castes.] + + [Footnote 4: Compare Manu, i. 7: "He the subtile, + indiscernible, eternal, inconceivable One, who makes all + creatures."] + + [Footnote 5: Possibly the original opening of another poem.] + + [Footnote 6: The _avatars_ of Vishnu are meant. The very + knight to whom he speaks is later regarded (in South India) + as incarnate god, and today is worshipped as an _avatar_ of + Vishnu. The idea of the 'birth-stories' of the Buddhists is + thought by some scholars to have been connected historically + with the _avatars_ of Vishnu.] + + [Footnote 7: This is one of the notes struck in the later + Upanishads, the doctrine of 'special grace,' originating + perhaps still earlier in the V[=a]c hymn (see above).] + + [Footnote 8: That is, one that also has no desires may act + (without desiring the fruit of action.)] + + [Footnote 9: This is a S[=a]nkhya division.] + + [Footnote 10: This cleverly contrived or profound + universality of Vishnuism is one of the greatest obstacles + to missionary effort. The Vishnuite will accept Christ, but + as a form of Vishnu, as here explained. Compare below: "Even + they that sacrifice to other gods really sacrifice to Me."] + + [Footnote 11: Prakriti (_prak[r.]t[=i]_), nature; the term + belongs to the S[=a]nkhya philosophy, which recognizes + nature as distinct from spirit, a duality, opposed to + _adv[=a]ita_, the non-duality of the Ved[=a]nta system, + where the S[=a]nkhya 'nature' is represented by + _m[=a]y[=a]_, 'illusion.' Otherwise the word Prakrit is the + 'natural,' vulgar dialect, opposed to Sanskrit, the refined, + 'put-together' language.] + + [Footnote 12: Saints, literally 'the successful ones.'] + + [Footnote 13: Alluding to the later derivation of Yama from + _yam_, control.] + + [Footnote 14: "The letter A," as in the Upanishads (see + above, p. 226).] + + [Footnote 15: Compare a parallel list of diadochoi in xii. + 349. 51.] + + [Footnote 16: One of the Jaina traits of the epic, + _brahm[=a]di[s.]u t[r.]u[=a]nte[s.]u bh[=u]te[s.]u + parivartate_, in distinction from the Buddhistic + metempsychosis, which stops short of plants. But perhaps it + is rather borrowed from the B[.r]ahman by the Jain, for + there is a formal acknowledgment that _sth[=a]var[=a]s_ + 'stationary things,' have part in metempsychosis, Manu, xii. + 42, although in the distribution that follows this is almost + ignored (vs. 58).] + + [Footnote 17: It is rather difficult to compress the list + into this number. Some of the names are perhaps later + additions.] + + [Footnote 18: In contrast one may note the frequent boast + that a king 'fears not even the gods,' _e.g._, i. 199. 1.] + + [Footnote 19: Later there are twenty-one worlds analogous lo + the twenty-one hells.] + + [Footnote 20: Elsewhere, oh the other hand, the islands are + four or seven, the earlier view.] + + [Footnote 21: iii. 142. The boar-shape of Vishnu is a + favorite one, as is the dwarf-incarnation. Compare + V[=a]mana, V[=a]manaka, Vishnupada, in the list of holy + watering-places (iii. 83). Many of Vishnu's acts are simply + transferred from Brahm[=a], to whom they belonged in older + tales. Compare above, p.215.] + + [Footnote 22: In i. 197, Praj[=a]pati the Father-god, is the + highest god, to whom Indra, as usual, runs for help. Civa + appears as a higher god, and drives Indra into a hole, where + he sees five former Indras; and finally Vishnu comes on to + the stage as the highest of all, "the infinite, + inconceivable, eternal, the All in endless forms." Brahm[=a] + is invoked now and then in a perfunctory way, but no one + really expects him to do anything. He has done his work, + made the castes, the sacrifice, and (occasionally) + everything. And he will do this again when the new aeon + begins. But for this aeon his work is accomplished.] + + [Footnote 23: Thus in XII. 785. 165: "Neither Brahm[=a] nor + Vishnu is capable of understanding the greatness of Civa."] + + [Footnote 24: Or "three eyes."] + + [Footnote 25: Compare III. 39. 77: "The destroyer of + Daksha's sacrifice." Compare the same epithet in the hymn to + Civa, X. 7. 3, after which appear the devils who serve Civa. + Such devils, in the following, feast on the dead upon the + field of battle, though, when left to themselves, 'midnight + is the hour when the demons swarm,' III. 11. 4 and 33. In X. + 18 and XIII. 161 Civa's act is described in full.] + + [Footnote 26: Civa, called Bhava, Carva, the trident-holder, + the Lord ([=I]c[=a]na), Cankara, the Great God, etc., + generally appears at his best where the epic is at its + worst, the interpolations being more flagrant than in the + case of Vishnuite eulogies. The most devout worshipper of + Vishnu is represented as an adherent of Civa, as invoking + him for help after fighting with him. He is "invincible + before the three worlds." He is the sun; his blood is ashes. + All the gods, with Brahm[=a] at their head, revere him. He + has three heads, three faces, six arms (compare iii. 39. 74 + ff.; 83. 125); though other passages give him more.] + + [Footnote 27: Civa has as sign the bull: Vishnu, the boar.] + + [Footnote 28: ZDMG. xxxviii. pp. 197, 200.] + + [Footnote 29: _Lit. u. Cultur_, p. 461.] + + [Footnote 30: Holtzmann now says (in _Neunzehn Buecher_, p. + 198) that the whole episode which terminates with Baladeva's + visit an addition to the original. Holtzmann's monograph on + Brahm[=a] is in ZDMG. xxxviii. 167.] + + [Footnote 31: A good example is that of the two visions of + Arjuna, first the vision of Vishnu, then another vision of + Civa, whom Arjuna and Vishnu visit (vii. 80).] + + [Footnote 32: Cankara and Civa mean almost the same; 'giver + of blessings' and 'prospering' (or 'kindly'), respectively.] + + [Footnote 33: _Brahma[n.]as sumahotsavas_ (compare the + commentator). The _sam[=a]ja_ of Brahm[=a] may be explained + by that of Civa mentioned in the same place and described + elsewhere (iv. 13. 14 ff.; i. 164. 20).] + + [Footnote 34: Not _sleeping_, Vishnu, despite _svapimi_, + does not slumber; he only muses.] + + [Footnote 35: Man (divine) and god human, but N[=a]r[=a]yana + is a new name of Vishnu, and the two are reckoned as two + inseparable seers (divinities).] + + [Footnote 36: This is the only really trinitarian passage in + the epic. In i. 1. 32; xiii. 16. 15, the belief may be + indicated, but not certainly, as it is in Hariv. 10,662. See + on this point Holtzroann, ZDMG. xxxviii. p. 204. In xiv. 54. + 14 the form is V[=i]shnu, Brahm[=a], Indra.] + + [Footnote 37: Compare 339. 114, "thou art + _pancamah[=a]kalpa_." The commentator gives the names of + five sects, S[=a]ura, C[=a]kta, G[=a]neca, C[=a]iva, + Vaishnava. The 'five times,' implied in Pancak[=a]ta, he + says are day, night, month, seasons, and year (_ib_. 66). In + 340. 117 (which chapter is Pancar[=a]tric), Brahm[=a] "knows + that Vishnu is superior."] + + [Footnote 38: V[=a]j. S. xvi. 1-66; T[=a]itt. S. iv. 5. + 1-11.] + + [Footnote 39: Civa has no ordinary sacrifice: he is (as + above) in general a destroyer of sacrifice, _i.e_., of Vedic + sacrifice; but as Pacupati, "Lord of beasts," he claims the + bloody sacrifice of the first beast, man.] + + [Footnote 40: The usual opinion is that phallic worship was + a trait of southern tribes foisted upon northern Civaism. + Philosophically Civaism is first monotheistic and then + pantheistic, To-day it is nominally pantheistic but really + it is dualistic.] + + [Footnote 41: There are indications in this passage of some + sectarian feeling, and the fear of partisan warfare (229); + in regard to which we add from Muir and Holtzmann the + passage XII. 343. 121, where is symbolized a peaceful issue + of war between Vishnuism and Civaism.] + + [Footnote 42: Grahas are also planets, but in this cult they + are not astrological, as show their names.] + + [Footnote 43: They are possibly old, as Weber thinks, but + they seem to have nothing in common with the ancient female + divinities.] + + [Footnote 44: Compare another hymn to Durg[=a] in IV. 6. 5 + ff. (late). Durgi was probably an independent local deity, + subsequently regarded as Civa's female side. She plays a + great role, under various names, in the 'revived' + literature, as do the love-god and Ganeca. In both hymns she + is 'Vishnu's sister,' and in IV. 6 a 'pure virgin.'] + + [Footnote 45: One comparatively new god deserves a passing + mention, Dharma's son, K[=a]ma, the (Grecian?) love-god, + 'the mind-shaker,' 'the limbless one,' whose arrows are like + those of Cupid (I. 66. 32; 171. 34; III. 46. 2). He is an + adventitious addition to the epic. His later name of Ananga + occurs in XII. 59. 91. In I. 71. 41 and 171. 40 he is + Manmatha. The Atharvan god also has darts, III. 25, a mark + of this latest Veda.] + + [Footnote 46: Compare ii. 22. 18: "Great holiness, great + glory, penance, death in battle, these are each respectively + productive of heaven; the last alone is a sure cause."] + + [Footnote 47: This description and the sentiments are quite + late. The same sort of heaven (without the philosophical + bitterness, with which compare above, p. 229) is, however, + found in other passages, somewhat augmented with nymphs and + facile goddesses.] + + [Footnote 48: This doctrine is supposed by some scholars to + be due to outside influence, but the doubt is not + substantiated, and even in the Rig Veda one passage appears + to refer to it. Doubtless, however, the later expanded view, + with its complicated reckonings, may have been touched by + foreign influence.] + + [Footnote 49: _Na [=a]san s[=a]ma-[r.]g-yajur-varn[=a]s_. In + xii. 342. 8 the order is Rik-Yajus-Atharvan-S[=a]man. The + habit of putting S[=a]man instead of Rik at the head of the + Vedas is still kept in the late litany to Civa, who is "the + S[=a]man among the Vedas" meaning, of course, the first and + best. In the same place, "Civa is the Itih[=a]sa" epic + (xiii. 14. 323; and _ib_. 17. 78, 91), for the epic + outweighs all the Vedas in its own estimation.] + + [Footnote 50: iii. 149. 14; 188. 22; 189. 32; probably with + a recollection of the colors of the four castes, white, red, + yellow, black. According to xii. 233. 32, there is no + sacrifice in the Krita age, but, beginning with the Tret[=a] + age, there is a general diffusion of sacrifice in the + Dv[=a]para age. In another passage of the same book it is + said that marriage laws arose in the Dv[=a]para age (207. 38 + ff.).] + + [Footnote 51: The teaching varies somewhat in the allotment + of years. See Manu, I. 67.] + + [Footnote 52: Weber thinks, on the other hand, that the + parties represent respectively, Civa and Vishuu worship, + _Ind. St_. i. 206.] + + [Footnote 53: This book also is closely in touch with the + later Pur[=a]nas. For instance, Citragupta, Yama's + secretary, is known only to the books of the pseudo-epic, + the Vishnu Pur[=a]na, the Padma Pur[=a]na, etc.] + + [Footnote 54: _Neunzehn Buecher_, p. 86.] + + [Footnote 55: The epic does not care much for castes in some + passages. In one such it is said that members of all castes + become priests when they go across the Gomal, iii. 84. 48.] + + [Footnote 56: xii. 319. 87 ff. _(pr[=a]pya j[=n][=a]nam_ ... + _c[=u]dr[=a]d api_); xii. 328. 49 (_cr[=a]vayee caturo + var[n.][=a]n_). The epic regards itself as more than + equivalent (_adhikam)_ to the four Vedas, i. 1. 272.] + + [Footnote 57: Some ascribe the _sams[=a]ra_ doctrine to + Buddhistic influence--a thesis supported only by the fact + that this occurs in late Brahmanic passages and Upanishads. + But the assumption that Upanishads do not precede Buddha is + scarcely tenable. The Katha, according to Weber (_Sits. + Berl. Ak._ 1890, p. 930), is late (Christian!): according to + Oldenberg and Whitney, early (_Buddha_, p. 56; _Proc. AOS._ + May, 1886).] + + [Footnote 58: xii. 295. 5-6.] + + [Footnote 59: Noteworthy is the fact that parts of the + Civaite thirteenth book seem to be most Buddhistic (ch. i.; + 143. 48, etc.), and monotheistic (16. 12 ff.): though the + White Islanders are made Vishnuite in the twelfth. Compare + Holtzmann, _ad. loc_.] + + [Footnote 60: Nirv[=a]na, loosely used; termini technici; + possibly the evils of the fourth age; the mention of + (Buddhist) temples, etc.] + + [Footnote 61: On this point we agree neither with Weber, who + regards the _avatars_ as an imitation of the Incarnation + (_Ind. St._ ii. p. 169), nor with Schroeder, who (_Literatur + und Cultur_, p. 330) would derive the notion from the + birth-stories of Buddha. In our opinion the _avatar_-theory + is older than either and is often only an assimilation of + outlying totem-gods to the Brahman's god, or as in the case + of the flood-story the necessary belief that the 'fish' must + have been the god of the race. Some of these _avatars_ are + Brahmanic, presumably pre-Buddhistic.] + + [Footnote 62: Krishna's Geburtsfest (_janm[=a][s.]tam[=i]),_ + 1867.] + + [Footnote 63: Since they do not appear till after the real + epic we date them tentatively as arising after 600 A.D. Most + of them are in still later Pur[=a]nas.] + + [Footnote 64: Incidental rapport with the Greeks has been + pointed out in other instances; the _surang[=a]_, a mine, of + the late tale in i. 148. 12, etc (_Ind. St._ ii. p. 395), + has been equated with syrinx; Skanda with Alexander, etc. It + is needless to say that each of these is only a guess in + etymology. But Greek influence is perceptible in the Greek + soldiers and names of (Greek) kings that are found in the + epic.] + + [Footnote 65: _Ind. St._ i. 423; ii. 169. Weber believes + that little is native to India which resembles Christianity + in the way of theology; lore of God, special grace, + monotheism, all to him are stolen. We regret that we must + disagree with him in these instances.] + + [Footnote 66: Ekata, Dvita, Trita. A Dvita appears as early + as the Rig Veda. Ekata is an analogous formation and is old + also.] + + [Footnote 67: Hrish[=i]keca is 'lord of senses,' a common + epithet of Vishnu (Krishna).] + + [Footnote 68: i. 107. 1 ff. The spirits of the dead come to + him and comfort him in the shape of birds--an old trait, + compare B[=a]udh. Dh. C[=a]st. ii. 8. 14. 10; Cat. Br. vi. + 1. 1. 2.] + + [Footnote 69: xii. 300. 20.] + + * * * * * + + + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE PUR[=A]NAS.--EARLY SECTS, FESTIVALS, THE TRINITY. + + +Archaeologia, 'ancient lore,' is the meaning of Pur[=a]na +_(pur[=a]na_, 'old'). The religious period represented by the extant +writings of this class is that which immediately follows the +completion of the epic.[1] These works, although they contain no real +history, yet reflect history very plainly, and since the advent and +initial progress of Puranic Hinduism, with its various cults, is +contemporary with important political changes, it will be necessary +briefly to consider the circumstances in which arose these new creeds, +for they were destined to become in the future the controlling force +in the development of Hindu religion. + +In speaking of the extension of Buddhism we showed that its growth was +influenced in no small degree by the fact that this caste-less and, +therefore, democratic religion was adopted by post-Alexandrine rulers +in the Graeco-Bactrian period. At this time the Aryans were surrounded +with foreigners and pagans. To North and South spread savage or half +Hinduized native tribes, while soldiers of Greece and Bactria encamped +in the valley of the Ganges. Barbarians had long been active in the +North, and some scholars have even claimed that Buddha's own family +was of Turanian origin. The Brahmans then as now retained their +prestige only as being repositories of ancient wisdom; and outside of +their own 'holy land' their influence was reduced to a minimum by the +social and political tendencies that accompanied the growth of +Buddhism. After the fourth century B.C. the heart of India, the +'middle district,' between the Him[=a]laya and Vindhya mountains from +Delhi to Benares,[2] was trampled upon by one Graeco-Bactrian horde +after another. The principal effect of this rude dominion was +eventually to give political equality to the two great rival +religions. The Buddhist and the Brahman lived at last if not +harmoniously, at least pacifically, side by side. Members of the same +reigning family would profess Buddhism or Brahmanism indifferently. +One king would sometimes patronize both religions. And this continued +to be the case till Buddhism faded out, replaced by that Hinduism +which owed its origin partly to native un-Aryan influence (paganism), +partly to this century-long fusion of the two state religions. + +To review these events: In the first decades of the fourth century +(320 or 315-291 B.C.) Candragupta, Sandrocottos, had built up a +monarchy in Beh[=a]r[3] on the ruins left by the Greek invasion, +sharing his power with Seleucus in the Northwest, and had thus +prepared the way for his grandson, Acoka, the great patron of Buddhism +(264 or 259). This native power fell before the hosts of Northern +barbarians, which, after irruptions into India in the second century, +got a permanent foothold there in the first century B.C. These +Northern barbarians (their nationality is uncertain), whose greatest +king was Kanishka, 78 A.D., ruled for centuries the land they had +seized; but they were vanquished at last in the sixth century, +probably by Vikram[=a]ditya,[4] and were driven out. The +breathing-space between Northern barbarian and Mohammedan was +nominally not a long one, but since the first Moslem conquests had no +definitive result the new invaders did not quite overthrow Hindu rule +till the end of the tenth century. During this period the native +un-Aryan tribes, with their Hinduizing effect, were more destructive +as regards the maintenance of the old Brahmanic cult than were +outsiders.[5] + +When Tamerlane invaded India his was the fourth invasion after the +conquest of the Punj[=a]b by the Moslem in 664.[6] In 1525 the fifth +conqueror, Baber, fifth too in descent from Tamerlane, founded the +Mogul empire that lasted till the fall of this dynasty (nominally till +1857). But it must be remembered that each new conqueror from 997 till +1525 merely conquered old Mohammedan dynasties with new invasions. It +was all one to the Hindu. He had the Mohammedan with him all this time +only each new rival's success made his lot the harder, But Baber's +grandson, the Great Mogul, Akbar (who reigned from 1556 to 1605), gave +the land not only peace but kindness; and under him Jew, Christian, +Hindu, and Mohammedan at last forgot to fear or fight. After this +there is only the overthrow of the Mohammedan power to record; and the +rise of the Mahratta native kingdoms. A new faith resulted from the +amalgamation of Hinduism with Mohammedism (after 1500), as will be +shown hereafter. [8] In the pauses before the first Mohammedan +invasion, and between the first defeat of the Mohammedans and their +successful second conquest, the barbarians being now expelled and +Buddhism being decadent, Brahmanism rallied. In the sixth century +there was toleration for all faiths. In the seventh century +Kum[=a]rila renewed the strength of Brahmanism on the ritualistic side +with attacks on Buddhism, and in the ninth century Cankara placed the +philosophy of unsectarian pantheism on a firm basis by his commentary +on the Ved[=a]nta S[=u]tra.[7] These two men are the re-makers of +ancient Brahmanism, which from this time on continued in its +stereotyped form, adopting Hindu gods very coyly, and only as spirits +of small importance, while relying on the laws as well as the gods of +old, on holy _[=a]c[=a]ra_ or 'custom,' and the now systematized +exposition of its old (Upanishad) philosophy.[8] Its creative force +was already spent. Buddhism, on the other hand, was dying a natural +death. The time was ripe for Hinduism, which had been gathering +strength for centuries. After the sixth century, and perhaps even as +late as 1500, or later, were written the modern Pur[=a]nas, which +embody the new belief.[9] They cannot, on account of the distinct +advance in their cult, have appeared before the end of the epic age. +The breathing spell (between barbarian and complete Mohammedan +conquest) which gave opportunity to Kum[=a]rila to take a high hand +with Buddhism, was an opportunity also for the codification of the new +creeds. It is, therefore, to this era that one has probably to refer +the first of the modern sectarian Pur[=a]nas, though the ritualistic +Tantras and [=A]gamas of the lower Civaite sects doubtless belong +rather to the end than to the beginning of the period. We are +strengthened in this belief by the fact that the oldest of these works +do not pretend to antedate Kum[=a]rila's century, though the sects +mentioned in the epic are known in the first centuries of the +Christian era. The time from the first to the seventh centuries one +may accordingly suppose to have been the era during which was +developing the Brahmanized form of the early Hindu sects, the +literature of these and subsequent sects being composed in the +centuries succeeding the latter term. These sects again divide into +many subdivisions, of which we shall speak below. At present we take +up the character of the Pur[=a]nas and their most important points of +difference as compared with the sectarian parts of the earlier +pseudo-epic, examining especially the trinitarian doctrine, which they +inculcate, and its history. + +Save in details, even the special 'faith-scriptures' called Tantras go +no further than go the Pur[=a]nas in advocating the cult of their +particular divinities. And to this advocacy of special gods all else +in this class of writings is subordinated. The ideal Pur[=a]na is +divided into five parts, cosmogony, new creations, genealogies of gods +and heroes, _manvantaras_ (descriptions of periodic 'ages,' past and +future), and dynasties of kings. But no extant Pur[=a]na is divided +thus. In the epic the doctrine of trinitarianism is barely formulated. +Even in the Harivanca, or Genealogy, _va[.n]ca_, of Vishnu, there is +no more than an inverted triunity, 'one form, three gods,' where, in +reality, all that is insisted upon is the identity of Vishnu and Civa, +Brahm[=a] being, as it were, perfunctorily added.[10] In the +Pur[=a]nas, on the other hand, while the trinity is acknowledged, +religion is resolved again into a sort of sectarian monotheism, where +the devotee seems to be in the midst of a squabbling horde of +temple-priests, each fighting for his own idol. In the calmer aspects +of religion, apart from sectarian schism, these writings offer, +indeed, much that is of second-rate interest, but little that is of +real value. The idle speculations in regard to former divinities are +here made cobweb thin. The philosophy is not new, nor is the spirit of +religion raised, even in the most inspired passages, to the level +which it has reached in the Divine Song. Some of these Pur[=a]nas, of +which eighteen chief are cited, but with an unknown number of +subordinate works,[11] may claim a respectable age; many of them are +the most wretched stuff imaginable, bearing about the same literary +and historical relation to earlier models as do the later legal +Smritis. In fact, save for their religious (sectarian) purport, the +Pur[=a]nas for sections together do not differ much in content from +legal Smritis, out of which some may have been evolved, though, +probably, they were from their inception legendary rather than +didactic. It is more probable, therefore, that they appropriated +Smriti material just as they did epic material; and though it is now +received opinion that legal Smritis are evolved out of S[=u]tras, this +yet can be the case only with the oldest, even if the statement then +can be accepted in an unqualified form. In our own opinion it is +highly probable that Pur[=a]nas and later legal Smritis are divergent +developments from the same source.[12] One gives an account of +creation, and proceeds to tell about the social side; the other sticks +to the accounts of creation, goes on to theology, takes up tales of +heroes, introduces speculation, is finally wrenched over to and +amplified by sectarian writers, and so presents a composite that +resembles epic and law, and yet is generally religious and +speculative. + +A striking instance of this may be seen in the law-book of 'Vishnu.' +Here there is an old base of legal lore, S[=u]tra, interlarded with +Puranic material, and built up with sectarianism. The writer is a +Vishnuite, and while recognizing the trinity, does not hesitate to +make his law command offerings to Krishna V[=a]sudeva, and his family +(Pradyumna, Aniruddha), along with the regular Brahmanic oblations to +older spirits.[13] Brahmanism recognized Hindu deities as subordinate +powers at an early date, at least as early as the end of the S[=u]tra +period; while Manu not only recognizes Vishnu and Civa (Hara), but +recommends an oblation to Cr[=i] and K[=a]l[=i] (Bhadrak[=a]li, here, +as elsewhere, is Durg[=a]).[14] + +In their original form the Pur[=a]nas were probably Hesiodic in a +great extent, and doubtless contained much that was afterwards +specially developed in more prolix form in the epic itself. But the +works that are come down as Pur[=a]nas are in general of later +sectarian character, and the epic language, phraseology, and +descriptions of battles are more likely taken straight from the epic +than preserved from ante-epic times. Properly speaking one ought to +give first place to the Pur[=a]nas that are incorporated into the +epic. The epic M[=a]rkandeya Pur[=a]na, for instance, is probably a +good type of one of the earlier works that went by this name. That the +present Pur[=a]nas are imitations of the epic, in so far as they treat +of epic topics, may be presumed from the fact that although they often +have the formulae intact of the battlefield,[15] yet do they not +remain by epic descriptions but add weapons, etc., of more modern date +than are employed in the original.[16] + +The sectarian monotheism of the Pur[=a]nas never resulted in +dispensing with the pantheon. The Hindu monotheist is a pantheist, and +whether sectarian or philosophical, he kept and added to his +pantheon.[17] Indra is still for warriors, Maruts for husbandmen, +although old views shift somewhat. So for example, in the K[=u]rma +Pur[=a]na the Gandharvas are added for the C[=u]dras.[18] The +fourfoldness, which we have shown in the epic to be characteristic of +Vishnu, is now represented by the military epithet _caturvy[=u]has_ +(agmen quadratum), in that the god represents peace, wisdom, support, +and renunciation; though, as a matter of fact, he is _avy[=u]ha, +i.e_., without any of these.[19] Starting with the physical 'god of +the four quarters,' one gets even in the epic the 'controller of +four,' or perfect person, conceived like [Greek: aner tetragonos]. +Tennyson's 'four-square to all the winds that blow' is a good +connecting link in the thought. The Pur[=a]nas are a mine of legend, +although most of the stories seem to be but epic tales, more or less +distorted. Nala 'the great-great-grandson of R[=a]ma' is described +after the history of R[=a]ma himself; the installation of P[=u]ru, +when his father had passed over his eldest son, and such reminiscences +of the epic are the stock in trade of the legendary writers.[20] + +The origin of the four castes;[21] the descriptions of hell, +somewhat embellished,[22] where the 'sinful are cooked in fire';[23] the +exaltation of Vishnu as Krishna or K[=a]ma in one, and that of Civa in +another--these and similar aspects are reflections of epic matter, +spirit, tone, and language, only the faith is still fiercer in +religious matters, and the stories are fainter in historical +references. According to the Pur[=a]na last cited: "There is no +expiation for one that bows to a phallic emblem," _i.e_., Civaite, and +"all the B[=a]uddhas are heretics";[24] and according to the K[=u]rma +Pur[=a]na: "Vishnu is the divinity of the gods; Civa, of the devils," +although the preceding verses teach, in the spirit of the Divine Song, +that each man's divinity is that which he conceives to be the +divinity. Such is the concluding remark made by Vasistha in +adjudicating the strife between the Vishnuite and Civaite sectaries of +the epic heroes.[25] The relation that the Puranic literature bears to +religion in the minds of its authors is illustrated by the remark of +the N[=a]rad[=i]ya to the effect that the god is to be honored "by +song, by music, by dance, and by recounting the Pur[=a]nas" (xvii. 9). + +Some of the epic religious ceremonies which there are barely alluded +to are here described with almost the detail of a technical handbook. +So the N[=a]nd[=i]ya (xix.) gives an elaborate account of the raising +of a _dhvaja_ or standard as a religious ceremony.[26] The legal rules +affecting morality and especially caste-intercourse[27] show a laxity +in regard to the rules as formerly preached. Even the old Puranic form +of the epic is reproduced, as when M[=a]rkandeya converses again with +Yudhistris, exactly as he does in the epic.[28] The duration of the +ages; the fruit of sacrifices, among which are still mentioned the +_r[=a]jas[=u]ya, acvamedha_, and other ancient rites;[29] the virtue +of holy-places;[30] the admixture of pure pantheism with the idea of a +personal creation[31]--these traits are again just those which have +been seen already in the epic, nor is the addition of sections on +temple-service, or other more minute details of the cult, of +particular importance in a history of religious ideas. + +The Pur[=a]nas for our present purpose may all be grouped with the +remark that what is ancient in them is a more or less fugitive +resemblance to the epic style and matter;[32] what is new is the more +pronounced sectarianism with its adventitious growth of subordinate +spiritualities and exaggerated miracles. Thus for instance in the +Var[=a]ha Pur[=a]na there are eleven, in the Bh[=a]gavat Pur[=a]na +twenty (instead of the older ten) _avatars_ of Vishnu. So too the god +of love--although K[=a]ma and his dart are recognized in the late +Atharvan--as a petty spirit receives homage only in the latest +S[=u]tra (as Cupid, [=A]pastamba, ii, 2. 4. 1), and in late additions +to the epic he is a little god; whereas in the drama he is prominent, +and in the Pur[=a]nas his cult is described at length (though to-day +he has no temple). The 'mother'-fiend P[=u]tan[=a], who suckles babes +to slay them, is scarcely known to the early epic, but she is a very +real personality in the late epic and Pur[=a]nas. + +The addition to the trinity of the peculiar inferior godhead that is +advocated in any one Pur[=a]na, virtually making four divinities, is +characteristic of the period. + +In proportion as sectarian ardor is heightened religious tone is +lowered. The Puranic votary clinging to his one idea of god curses all +them that believe in other aspects of the divinity. Blind bigotry +fills the worshipper's soul. Religion becomes mere fanaticism. But +there is also tolerance. Sometimes in one and the same Pur[=a]na rival +forms are honored. The modern Hindu sects are in part the direct +development of Puranic doctrine. But most of the sects of to-day are +of very recent date, though their principles are often of respectable +antiquity, as are too their sectarian signs, as well as the animals of +their gods, some of which appear to be totems of the wild tribes, +while others are merely objects of reverence among certain tribes. +Thus the ram and the elephant are respectively the ancient beasts of +Agni and Indra. Civa has the bull; his spouse, the tiger. Earth and +Skanda have appropriated the peacock, Skanda having the cock also. +Yama has the buffalo (compare the Khond, wild-tribe, substitution of a +buffalo for a man in sacrifice). Love has the parrot, etc; while the +boar and all Vishnu's animals in _avatars_ are holy, being his chosen +beasts.[33] + + +EARLY SECTS. + +A classification of older sects (the unorthodox) than those of the +present remains to us from the works of Cankara's reputed disciple, +[=A]nanda Giri, and of M[=a]dhava [=A]c[=a]rya, the former a writer of +the ninth, the latter of the fourteenth century. According to the +statements made by these writers there were a great number of sects, +regarded as partly heterodox or wholly so, and it is interesting in +examining the list of these to see that some of the epic sects (their +names at least) are still in full force, while on the other hand the +most important factions of to-day are not known at all; and that many +sects then existed which must have been at that time of great +antiquity, although now they have wholly passed away.[34] These last +are indeed to the author of the critique of the sects not wholly +heterodox. They are only too emphatic, in worshipping their peculiar +divinity, to suit the more modern conceptions of the Hindu reviewer. +But such sects are of the highest importance, for they show that +despite all the bizarre bigotry of the Pur[=a]nas the old Vedic gods +(as in the epic) still continue to hold their own, and had their own +idols and temples apart from other newer gods. The Vedic divinities, +the later additions in the shape of the god of love, the god of +wealth, Kubera,[35] the heavenly bird, Garuda, the world-snake, Cesha, +together with countless genii, spirits, ghosts, the Manes, the +heavenly bodies, stars, etc., all these were revered, though of less +importance than the gods of Vishnuite and Civaite sects. Among these +latter the Civaite sects are decidedly of less interest than the +corresponding Vishnuite heresies, while the votaries of Brahm[=a] +(exclusively) are indeed mentioned, but they cannot be compared with +those of the other two great gods.[36] To-day there is scarcely any +homage paid to Brahm[=a], and it is not probable that there ever was +the same devotion or like popularity in his case as in the case of his +rivals. Other interesting sects of this period are the +Sun-worshippers, who still exist but in no such numbers as when +[=A]nand[=a] Giri counted six formal divisions of them. The votaries +of these sub-sects worshipped some, the rising sun, some, the setting +sun, while some again worshipped the noonday sun, and others, all +three as a _tri-m[=u]rti._ Another division worshipped the sun in +anthropomorphic shape, while the last awakens the wrath of the +orthodox narrator by branding themselves with hot irons.[37] + +Ganeca,[38] the lord of Civa's hosts, had also six classes of +worshippers; but he has not now as he then had a special and peculiar +cult, though he has many temples in Benares and elsewhere. Of the +declared Civaite sects of that day, six are mentioned, but of these +only one survives, the 'wandering' Jangamas of South India, the +Civaite R[=a]udras, Ugras, Bh[=a]ktas, and P[=a]cupatis having yielded +to more modern sectaries. + +Some at least among the six sects of the Vishnuite sects, which are +described by the old writers, appear to have been more ancient. Here +too one finds Bh[=a]ktas, and with them the Bh[=a]gavatas, the old +P[=a]ncar[=a]tras, the 'hermit' V[=a]ikh[=a]nasas, and Karmah[=i]nas, +the latter "having no rites." Concerning these sects one gets scanty +but direct information. They all worshipped Vishnu under one form or +another, the Bh[=a]ktas as V[=a]sudeva, the Bh[=a]gavatas[39] as +Bhagavat. The latter resembled the modern disciples of R[=a]m[=a]nuja +and revered the holy-stone, appealing for authority to the Upanishads +and to the Bhagavad Git[=a], the Divine Song. Some too worshipped +Vishnu exclusively +as N[=a]r[=a]yana, and believed in a heaven of sensual +delights. The other sects, now extinct, offer no special forms of +worship. What is historically most important is that in this list of +sects are found none that particularly worship the popular divinities +of to-day, no peculiar cult of Krishna as an infant and no +monkey-service. + +Infidel sects are numerous in this period, of which sects the worst in +the old writers' opinion is the sensual C[=a]rv[=a]ka. Then follow the +(Buddhist) C[=u]nyav[=a]ds, who believe in 'void,' and S[=a]ugatas, +who believe that religion consists only in kindness, the Kshapanakas, +and the Jains. The infamous 'left-hand' sectaries are also well known. + +To one side of the Puranic religions, from the earlier time of which +comes this account of heresies, reference has been made above: the +development of the fables in regard to the infant Krishna. That the +cult is well known in the later Pur[=a]nas and is not mentioned in +this list of wrong beliefs seems to show that the whole cult is of +modern growth, even if one does not follow Weber in all his signs of +modification of the older practice. + + +RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS. + +For the history of the cult there is in these works much to interest +one in the description and determination of popular festivals in honor +of the great sectarian gods. Further details of more specific nature +are given in other works which need not here be regarded. By far the +most important of these festivals are those that seem to have been +absorbed by the sectarian cults, although they were originally more +popular. Weber in the paper on the _r[=a]jas[=u]ya_, to which we have +had occasion several times to refer, has shown that a popular element +abided long in the formal celebrations of the Brahmanic ritual.[40] +is soundly beaten; that gaming creeps into the ceremony as a popular +aspect; that there was a special ceremony to care _katsenjammer_ +caused by over-drinking; and that the whole ceremony was a popular +spring festival, such as is found to-day (but without the royal part +in the play). + +Undoubtedly the original celebration was a popular one. Today the most +interesting of these popular fetes is in all respects the New Year's +Festival and the Spring Festival. The latter has been cut up into +several parts, and to show the whole intent of the original ceremonial +it is necessary to take up the _disjecta membra_ and place them side +by side, as has been done by Wilson, whose sketch of these two +festivals, together with that by Gover of the New Year's Feast called +Pongol, we give in abstract, premising that, however close be the +comparison with European festivals of like nature, we doubt +whether there is any historical connection between them and the Hindu +celebrations. + +We begin with the more popular New Year's, the Pongol:[41] The +interesting feature of this South India festival is that the Hindus +have done their best to alter its divinities and failed. They have, +indeed, for Indra and Agni got Krishna formally accepted as the god in +whose honor it is supposed to be held, but the feast remains a native +festival, and no one really thinks of the Puranic gods in connection +with it. Europe also has seen such dynamic alterations of divinities +in cases where feasts would insist till patrons of an orthodox kind +were foisted upon them to give an air of propriety to that which +remained heathenish.[42] The Pongol is a New Year's festival lasting +for three days. The first day is for Indra; the second, for (Agni) +S[=u]rya;[43] the third (to which is added, as a wind-up, a fourth +day), for cattle. The whole feast is a harvest-home and celebration of +cattle. The chief ceremony is the cooking of rice, which is put to +boil with great solemnity, and luck for the next year is argued from +its boiling well. If it does so a universal shout arises,[44] all rush +about, congratulate, and give presents to each other, and merry-making +follows. On the cattle-days the beasts are led about with painted +horns and decorated with ribbons, and are then chased and robbed by +the boys. The image of Ganeca is the only one seen, and his worship is +rather perfunctory. On the evening of the last day the women have a +party, paying obeisance to a peacock, and indulging in a family +reunion of very simple character. On this occasion the girl-wife may +return for a few hours to her mother. It is the only general fete for +women during the year. + +Not unlike this festival of the extreme south is the New Year's +celebration at the mouth of the Ganges. Here there is a grand fair and +jewels are cast into the river as propitiation to the river-goddess. +Not long ago it was quite customary to fling children also into the +river, but this usage has now been abolished.[45] Offerings are made +to the Manes, general and particular, and to the All-gods. As with the +Pongol, the feast is one of good-fellowship where presents are +distributed, and its limit is the end of the third day. After this the +festivities have no religious character. Thousands of pilgrims +assemble for this fete. Wilson, who gives an account of this +celebration, compares the ancient Roman New Year's, with the _mutui +amoris pignora_ which were sent at that season. The gifts in India are +sweetmeats and other delicacies, ominous of good for the next +year.[46] + +On the 2d of February occurs a feast to Cr[=i], or Lakshm[=i], +Vishnu's bride, patroness of all prosperity to her worshippers. At +present it is a literary festival on which all books, inkstands, pens, +etc., are cleaned and worshipped, as adjuncts to Sarasvat[=i], the +goddess of learning. This is rather significant, for Sarasvat[=i] is +properly the wife of Brahm[=a], but the Vishnuites of Bengal have made +her the wife of Vishnu, and identified her with Cr[=i]. It is to be +noticed that in this sole celebration of abstract learning and +literature there is no recognition of Civa, but rather of his rival. +Civa and Ganeca are revered because they might impede, not because, as +does Sarasvat[=i], they further literary accomplishment. Sarasvat[=i] +is almost the only fair goddess. She is represented not as a horror, +but as a beautiful woman sitting on a lotus, graceful in shape, a +crescent on her brow.[47] The boys, too, celebrate the day with games, +bat and ball, prisoner's base, and others "of a very European +character." The admixture of sectarian cults is shown by the +transference to this Vishnuite feast of the Civaite (Durg[=a]) +practice of casting into the river the images of the goddess.[48] When +applied distinctly to Sarasvat[=i] the feast is observed in +August-September; when to Lakshm[=i], in October-November, or in +February. There is, however, another feast, celebrated in the North +and South, which comes on the exact date fixed by the Romans for the +beginning of spring, and as an ending to this there is a feast to +K[=a]ma, Cupid, and his bride Rati ('Enjoyment'). This is the Vasanta, +or spring festival of prosperity and love, which probably was the +first form of the Lakshm[=i]-Sarasvat[=i] feast. + +Another traditional feast of this month is the 10th[49] (the eleventh +lunar day of the light half of M[=a]gha). The eleventh lunar day is +particularly holy with the Vishnuites, as is said in the Brahma +Pur[=a]na, and this is a Vishnuite festival. It is a day of fasting +and prayer, with presents to priests.[50] It appears to be a mixture +of Vedic prayers and domestic Vishnu-worship. On the 11th of February +the fast is continued, and in both the object is expiation of sin. The +latter is called the feast of 'six sesamum acts,' for sesamum is a +holy plant, and in each act of this rite it plays a part. Other rites +of this month are to the Manes on the 14th, 22d, and 24th of February. +Bathing and oblation are requisite, and all are of a lustral and +expiatory nature. Wilson remarks on the fact that it is the same time +of year in which the Romans gave oblations to the Manes, and +that Februus is the god of purification. "There can be no reasonable +doubt that the Feralia of the Romans and the Cr[=a]ddha (feast to the +Manes) of the Hindus, the worship of the Pitris and of the Manes, have +a common character, and had a common origin."[51] + +The 27th of February is the greatest Civaite day in the year. It +celebrates Civa's first manifestation of himself in phallic form. To +keep this day holy expiates from all sin, and secures bliss hereafter. +The worshipper must fast and revere the Linga. Offerings are made to +the Linga. It is, of course, a celebration formed of unmeaning +repetitions of syllables and the invocation of female Caktis, snapping +the fingers, gesticulating, and performing all the humbug called for +by Civaite worship. The Linga is bathed in milk, decorated, wrapped in +_bilva_ leaves, and prayed to; which ceremony is repeated at intervals +with slight changes. All castes, even the lowest, join in the +exercises. Even women may use the _mantras_.[52] Vigil and fasting are +the essentials of this worship.[53] + +The next festival closes these great spring celebrations. It bears two +names, and originally was a double feast, the first part being the +Dol[=a] Y[=a]tr[=a], or 'Swing-procession,' the second part being the +execrable Holi. They are still kept distinct in some places, and when +this occurs the Dolotsava, or Dol[=a] Y[=a]tr[=a], follows the Holi. +They are both spring festivals, and answer roughly to May-day, though +in India they come at the full moon of March. We have followed +Wilson's enumeration of all the minor spring feasts, that they may be +seen in their entirety. But in ancient times there was probably one +long Vasantotsava (spring-festival), which lasted for weeks, beginning +with a joyous celebration (2d of February) and continuing with lustral +ceremonies, as indicated by the now detached feast days already +referred to. The original cult, in Wilson's opinion, has been changed, +and the Dol[=a] Y[=a]tr[=a] is now given over to the Krishna-cult, +while the Hol[=i] divinity is a hobgoblin. The Dol[=a] Yatr[=a] begins +with fasting and ends (as Hol[=i]) with fire-worship. An image of +Krishna is sprinkled with red powder (_ab[=i]r_), and after this +(religious) ceremony a bonfire[54] is made, and an effigy, Holik[=a], +is put upon it and burned. The figure is carried to the fire in a +religious procession headed by Vishnuite or Brahman priests, of course +accompanied with music and song. After seven circumambulations of the +fire the figure is burned. This is the united observance of the first +day. At dawn on the morning of the second day the image of Krishna is +placed in a swing, _dol[=a]_, and swung back and forth a few times, +which ceremony is repeated at noon and at sunset. During the day, +wherever a swing is put up, and in the vicinity, it is the common +privilege to sprinkle one's friend with the red powder or red +rose-water. Boys and common people run about the streets sprinkling +red water or red powder over all passengers, and using abusive +(obscene) language. The cow-herd caste is conspicuous at this +ceremony. The cow-boys, collecting in parties under a koryphaios, +hold, as it were, a komos, leaping, singing, and dancing[55] through +the streets, striking together the wands which they carry. These +cow-boys not only dress (as do others) in new clothes on this +occasion,[56] but they give their cattle new equipments, and regard +the whole frolic as part of a religious rite in honor of Krishna, the +cow-herd. But all sects take part in the performance (that is to say, +in the Hol[=i] portion), both Civaites and Vishnuites. When the moon +is full the celebration is at its height. Hol[=i] songs are sung, the +crowd throws _ab[=i]r_ the chiefs feast, and an all-night orgy ends +the long carousal.[57] In the south the Dol[=a] takes place later, and +is distinct from the Hol[=i]. The burning here is of K[=a]ma, +commemorating the love-god's death by the fire of Civa's eye, when the +former pierced the latter's heart, and inflamed him with love. For +this reason the bonfire is made before a temple of Civa. K[=a]ma is +gone from the northern cult, and in upper India only a hobgoblin, +Hol[=i], a foul she-devil, is associated with the rite. The whole +performance is described and prescribed in one of the late +Pur[=a]nas.[58] In some parts of the country the bonfire of the +Hol[=i] is made about a tree, to which offerings are made, and +afterwards the whole is set on fire. For a luminous account of the +Hol[=i], which is perhaps the worst open rite of Hinduism, +participated in by all sects and classes, we may cite the words of the +author of _Ante-Brahmanical Religions_: "It has been termed the +Saturnalia or Carnival of the Hindus. Verses the most obscene +imaginable are ordered to be read on the occasion. Figures of men and +women, in the most indecent and disgusting attitudes, are in many +places openly paraded through the streets; the most filthy words are +uttered by persons who, on other occasions, would think themselves +disgraced by the use of them; bands of men parade the street with +their clothes all bespattered with a reddish dye; dirt and filth are +thrown upon all that are seen passing along the road; all business is +at a stand, all gives way to license and riot."[59] + +Besides these the most brilliant festivals are the R[=a]s Y[=a]tr[=a] +in Bengal (September-October), commemorating the dance of Krishna +with the _gop[=i]s_ or milk-maids, and the 'Lamp-festival' +(D[=i]p[=a]l[=a]), also an autumnal celebration. + +The festivals that we have reviewed cover but a part of the year, but +they will suffice to show the nature of such fetes as are enjoined in +the Pur[=a]nas. There are others, such as the eightfold[60] +temple-worship of Krishna as a child, in July or August; the marriage +of Krishna's idol to the Tulasi plant; the Awakening of Vishnu, in +October, and so forth. But no others compare in importance with the +New Year's and Spring festivals, except the Bengal idol-display of +Jagann[=a]th, the Rath Y[=a]tr[=a] of 'Juggernaut'; and some others of +local celebrity, such as the D[=u]rg[=a]-p[=u]j[=a].[61] The temples, +to which reference has often been made, have this in common with the +great Civaite festivals, that to describe them in detail would be but +to translate into words images and wall-paintings, the obscenity of +which is better left undescribed. This, of course, is particularly +true of the Civa temples, where the actual Linga is perhaps, as Barth +has said, the least objectionable of the sights presented to the eye +of the devout worshipper. But the Vishnu temples are as bad. +Architecturally admirable, and even wonderful, the interior is but a +display of sensual immorality.[62] + + +HISTORY OF THE HINDU TRINITY. + +In closing the Puranic period (which name we employ loosely to cover +such sects as are not clearly modern) we pause for a moment to cast a +glance backwards over the long development of the trinity, to the +units of which are devoted the individual Pur[=a]nas. We have shown +that the childhood-tales of Krishna are of late (Puranic) origin, and +that most of the cow-boy exploits are post-epic. Some are referred to +in the story of Cicup[=a]la in the second book of the +Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata, but this scene has been touched up by a late hand. +The Vishnu Pur[=a]na, typical of the best of the Pur[=a]nas, as in +many respects it is the most important and interesting, represents +Krishnaite Vishnuism as its height. Here is described the birth of the +man-god as a black, _k[r.][s.][n.]a,_ baby, son of Nanda, and his real +title is here Govinda, the cow-boy.[63] 'Cow-boy' corresponds to the +more poetical, religious shepherd; and the milk-maids, _gopis_ with +whom Govinda dallies as he grows up, may, perhaps, better be rendered +shepherdesses for the same reason. The idyllic effect is what is aimed +at in these descriptions. Here Krishna plays his rude and rustic +tricks, upsetting wagons, overthrowing trees and washermen, +occasionally killing them he dislikes, and acting altogether much like +a cow-boy of another sort. Here he puts a stop to Indra-worship, +over-powers Civa, rescues Aniruddha, marries sixteen thousand +princesses, burns Benares, and finally is killed himself, he the one +born of a hair of Vishnu, he that is Vishnu himself, who in 'goodness' +creates, in 'darkness' destroys,[64] under the forms of Brahm[=a] and +Civa.[65] + +In Vishnu, as a development of the Vedic Vishnu; in Civa, as +affiliated to Rudra; in Brahm[=a], as the Brahmanic third to these +sectarian developments, the trinity has a real if remote connection +with the triune fire of the Rig Veda, a two-thirds connection, filled +out with the addition of the later Brahmanic head of the gods. + +To ignore the fact that Vishnu and Rudra-Civa developed inside the +Brahmanic circle and increased in glory before the rise of sectaries, +and to asseverate, as have some, that the two chief characters of the +later trinity are an unmeaning revival of decadent gods, whose names +are used craftily to veil the modernness of Krishnaism and +Civaism,--this is to miscalculate the waxing dignity of these gods in +earlier Brahmanic literature. To say with Burnouf that the Vishnu of +the Veda is not at all the Vishnu of the mythologists, is a statement +far too sweeping. The Vishnu of the Veda is not only the same god with +the Vishnu of the next era, but in that next era he has become greatly +magnified. The Puranic All-god Vishnu stands in as close a relation to +his Vedic prototype as does Milton's Satan to the snaky slanderer of +an age more primitive. + +Civa-worship appears to have been adapted from a local cult in the +mountainous West, and at an early date to have been amalgamated with +that of his next resemblance, the Vedic Rudra; while Krishna-worship +flourished along the Ganges. These are those Dionysos and Herakles of +whom speak the old Greek authorities. One cult is possibly as +venerable as the other, but while Civaism became Brahmanized early, +Krishnaism was adopted much later, and it is for this reason, amongst +others, that despite its modern iniquities Civa has appealed more to +the Brahman than has Krishna. + +Megasthenes tells us a good deal about these Hindu representatives of +Herakles and Dionysos. According to him there were Dionysiac festivals +in honor of the latter god (Civa),[66] who belongs where flourishes +the wine, in the Acvaka district, north of the Kabul river. From this +place Civa's worship extended into the East, M[=a]gadha (Beh[=a]r), +around Gokarna in the West, and even to the Kalinga country in the +extreme Southeast. But it was especially native to the mountainous +Northwest, about the 'Gate of Ganges' (north of Delhi, near +Saharampur), and still further north in Kashmeer. In the epic, Civa +has his throne on K[=a]il[=a]sa,[67] the Northern mountain, in the +Him[=a]layas, and Ganges descend from the sky upon his head. + +On the other hand, Herakles, of the Ganges land, where grows no wine, +is plainly Krishna, who carries club, discus, and conch. The Greek +cities Methora and Kleisobora are Mathur[=a] and Krishna-pur, +'Krishna-town'; the latter on the Jumna, the former near it on the +same river, capital of the clan which venerated Krishna as its chief +hero and god, the Y[=a]davas. Megasthenes says, also, that Herakles' +daughter is Pandaie, and this agrees with the P[=a]ndya, a southern +development of the epic Gangetic P[=a]ndavas, who especially worship +Krishna in conjunction with the Y[=a]davas. Their South-Indic town, +Mathur[=a], still attests their origin. + +In speaking of the relative antiquity of Vishnuism and Civaism one +must distinguish the pantheistic form of these gods from the single +forms. While Civaism,_per se_, that is, the worship of Civa as a great +and terrible god, preceded the same exaltation of Krishna, as is shown +by their respective literary appearance, and even by Megasthenes' +remark that the worship of Dionysos preceded that of Herakles by +fifteen generations, yet did Krishnaism, as a popular pantheism, come +before Civaism as such. Although in the late Cvet[=a]cvatara Upanishad +Civa is pantheistic, yet is he not so in the epic till some of the +latest passages make him the All, in imitation of Krishna as All-god. +Probably Civaism remained by the first philosophy, Sankhyan dualism, +and was forced into Krishna's Vedantic pantheism, as this became +popular. At first neither was more than a single great god without any +philosophy.[68] + +In one of the early exegetical works, which is occupied somewhat with +philosophical matter, there is evidence that a triad existed between +the Vedic triad of fires and the Puranic triad. Fire, Wind (or Indra), +and the Sun (S[=u]rya), are stated in a famous passage to be the only +real gods, all the others being but names of these. But, although in +form this triad (Nirukta, vii. 4, 5) is like the Vedic triad,[69] it +is essentially a triad in a pantheistic system like that of the epic +and Pur[=a]nas, for it is added that "all the gods are parts of one +soul." In explanation it is said: "Fire is the earth-god, Wind, or +Indra, is the god of the atmosphere, and the sun is the god of the +sky." Now in the Rig Veda Indra is closely united not only with Agni +but with Vishnu, albeit in this period Vishnu is his subordinate. The +nearest approach of this Vishnu to his classical descendant is in one +of the latest hymns of the Rig Veda, where it is said that the seven +seeds of creation are Vishnu's, as in later times he comprises seven +males. In the philosophy of the T[=a]ittir[=i]ya Samhit[=a] the three +places of Vishnu are not, as in the Rig Veda, the two points of the +horizon (where the sun sets) and the zenith, but 'earth, air, and +sky.'[70] That is to say, in the Brahmanic period Vishnu is already a +greater god than he had been. Nay, more, he is explicitly declared to +be +"the best of the gods."[71] That best means greatest may be shown from +the same work, where in savage fable it is recited that all the gods, +including Indra, ran up to him to get his strength.[72] But especially +in the Upanishads is Vishnu the one great god left from the Rig Veda. +And it is with the philosophical (not with the ritualistic) Vishnu +that Krishna is equated. + +Of Civa, on the other hand, the prototype is Rudra ('red'), his +constant sobriquet. In the Rig Veda he is the god of red lightning, +who is the father of the Maruts, the storm-gods. His attributes of a +fulgurant god are never lost. Even as Civa the All-god he is still the +god of the blue neck, whose three-forked trident and home among the +mountains remind us of his physical origin. He is always the fairest +of the gods, and both early and late he is terrible, to be averted by +prayer, even where his magic 'medicines' are asked for. To him are +addressed the most suppliant cries: "O Rudra, spare us, strike not the +men, slay not the kine." In the Atharva Veda at every step one finds +characteristics which on the one hand are but exaggerations of the +type formulated in the Rig Veda, and on the other precursors of the +signs of the later god. In Civaism, in contradistinction to Vishnuism, +there is not a trace of the euhemerism which has been suspected in the +Krishna-Vishnu cult. The Rudra of the Rig Veda already begins to be +identified with the triune fire, for he bears the standing epithet of +fire, "he of three mothers."[73] And this name he keeps, whether as +Rudra, who is "brilliant as the sun" (RV. i. 43. 5), whose weapon is +"the shining one that is emitted from the sky and passes along the +earth" (_ib_. vii. 46. 3); or again, as the "red boar of the sky," +the "holder of the bolt" (_ib._ ii. 33. 3), and, above all gods, "the +terrible" (x. 126. 5). + +Coming to the Brahmanic period one finds him a dweller in the mountain +tops, of a red color, with a blue neck, the especial lord of the +mountains, and so of robbers; while he is also the 'incantation-god,' +the 'god of low people.' Some of these are Rudra's attributes; but +here his name is already Civa, so that one may trace the changes down +the centuries till he finds again in the epic that Civa is the lord of +mountains, the patron of thieves (Hara, robber?), and endowed with the +trident, the blue neck,[74] and the three mothers of old. In the +middle period he has so many titles that one probably has to accept in +the subsequent Civa not only the lineal descendant of the Vedic Rudra, +but also a combination of other local cults, where clan gods, +originally diverse, were worshipped as one in consequence of their +mutual likeness. One of the god's especial names is here Bhava, while +in the earlier period Bhava and Rudra are distinct, but they are +invoked as a pair (AV).[75] What gives Civa his later tremendous +popularity, however, is the feature to which we have alluded in the +chapter on the epic. In the epic, all the strength of Civa lies in the +Linga.[76] Both Bhava and Rudra, as Carva, the archer--his local +eastern name--are represented as hurling the lightning, and it is +simply from identity of attributes that they have become identified in +person (AV. x. i. 23). Rudra's title of Pacupati, or 'lord of +cattle'[77] goes back to the Vedic age: "Be kind to the kine of him +who believes in the gods" is a prayer of the Atharva Veda (xi. 2. 28). +Agni and Rudra, in the Rig-Veda, are both called 'cattle-guarding,' +but not for the same reason. Agni represents a fire-stockade, while +Rudra in kindness does not strike with his lightning-bolt. The two +ideas, with the identification of Rudra and Agni, may have merged +together. Then too, Rudra has healing medicines (his magical side), +and Agni is kindest to men. All Agni's names are handed over in the +Br[=a]hmanas to Rudra-Civa, just as Rudra previously had taken the +epithets of P[=u]shan (above), true to his robber-name. To ignore the +height to which at this period is raised the form of Rudra-Civa is +surely unhistorical; so much so that we deem it doubtful whether +Civa-invocations elsewhere, as in the S[=u]tra referred to above, +should be looked upon as interpolations. In the M[=a]itr[=a]yan[=i] +Collection, the Rudrajapas, the invocations to Rudra as the greatest +god, the highest spirit, the lord of beings (Bhava), are expressly to +Civa Girica, the mountain-lord (2. 9; Schroeder, p. 346). In the +[=A]itareya Br[=a]hmana it evidently is Rudra-Civa, the god of ghastly +forms (made by the gods, it is said, as a composite of all the 'most +horrible parts' of all the gods), who is deputed to slay the +Father-god (when the latter, as a beast, commits incest with his +daughter), and chooses as his reward for the act the office of 'lord +of cattle.'[78] This is shown clearly by the fact that the fearsome +Rudra is changed to the innocuous Rudriya in the next paragraph. As an +example of how in the Br[=a]hmanas Rudra-Civa has taken to himself +already the powers of Agni, the great god of the purely sacrificial +period, may be cited Cat. Br. vi. 1. 3. 10 and 2. 1. 12. Here Agni is +Kum[=a]ra, Rudra, Carva (Sarva)[79], Pacupati (lord of beasts), +Bh[=a]irava (terrible), Acani (lightning), Bhava (lord of beings), +Mah[=a]deva (great god), the Lord--his 'thrice three names.' But where +the Br[=a]hmana assumes that these are names of Agni it is plain that +one has Rudra-Civa in process of absorbing Agni's honors. + +The third element in the Pur[=a]nic trinity,[80] identified with the +Father-god, genealogically deserves his lower position. His rivals are +of older lineage. The reason for his inferior position is, +practically, that he has little to do with man. Being already created, +man takes more interest in the gods that preserve and destroy.[81] +Even Brahm[=a]'s old exploits are, as we have shown, stolen from him +and given over to Vishnu. The famous (totemistic) tortoise legend was +originally Brahm[=a]'s, and so with others of the ten 'forms' of +Vishnu, for instance the boar-shape, in which Vishnu manifests +himself, and the fish-shape of Brahm[=a] (epic) in the flood-story. +The formal _trim[=u]rti_ or _tr[=a]ipurusha_ ('three persons') is a +late figure. It would seem that a Harihara (Vishnu and Civa as one) +preceded the trinity, though the dual name is not found till quite +late.[82] But, as we showed above, the epic practically identifies +Vishnu and Civa as equals, before it unites with these Brahm[=a] as an +equal third. + +There arises now the further question whether sectarian Vishnuism be +the foisting of Krishnaism upon a dummy Vishnu. We think that, stated +in this way, such scarcely can have been the case. Neither of the +great sects is professedly of priestly origin, but each, like other +sects, claims Vedic authority, and finds Brahmanical support. We have +said that Vishnu is raised to his position without ictic suddenness. +He is always a god of mystic character, in short, a god for philosophy +to work upon. He is recognized as the highest god in one of the oldest +Upanishads. And it is with the philosopher's Vishnu that Krishna is +identified. Krishna, the real V[=a]sudeva (for a false V[=a]sudeva is +known also in the epic), is the god of a local cult. How did he +originate? The king of serpents is called Krishna, 'the black,' and +Vishnu reposes upon Cesha Ananta, the world-snake; but a more +historical character than this can be claimed for Krishna. This +god-man must be the same with the character mentioned in the +Ch[=a]ndogya Upanishad, 3. 17. 6. One may notice the similarities +between this Krishna and him of the epic cult. Krishna, son of +Devak[=i], was taught by his teacher, Ghora [=A]ngirasa, that +sacrifice may be performed without objective means; that generosity, +kindness, and other moral traits are the real signs of sacrifice; and +it is then said: "The priest Ghora [=A]ngirasa having said this to +Krishna, the son of Devak[=i]--and the latter was thereby freed from +(thirst) desire--said: "When a man is about to die let him resort to +this triad: 'the imperishable art thou,' 'the unmoved art thou,' +'breath's firmness art thou'; in regard to which are these two verses +in the Rig-Veda:[83] 'till they see the light of the old seed which is +kindled in the sky,' and 'perceiving above the darkness the higher +light, the sun, god among gods, we come to the highest light.'" +Krishna thus learned the abolition of sacrifice, and the worship of +the sun, the highest light (Vishnu), as true being--for this is the +meaning of the philosophical passage taken with its context. Kings and +priests discuss philosophy together in this period,[84] and it would +conform to later tradition to see in the pupil the son of a king. It +is, moreover, significant that the priest, Ghora [=A]ngirasa, is named +specially as priest of the sun-god elsewhere (K[=a]ush. Br. 30. 6), as +well as that Krishna [=A]ngirasa is also the name of a teacher. It is +said in this same Upanishad (3. 1. 1) that the sun is the honey, +delight, of the gods; and this chapter is a meditation on the sun,[85] +of which the dark (_k[r.][s.][n.]a_) form is that which comes from the +Itih[=a]sas and Pur[=a]nas, the fore-runners of the epic (3. 4. 3). +This is taught as a _brahma-upanishad_, a teaching of the absolute, +and it is interesting to see that it is handed down through Brahm[=a], +Praj[=a]pati, and Manu, exactly as Krishna says in the Divine Song +that his own doctrine has been promulgated; while (it is said further) +for him that knows the doctrine 'there is day,' his sun never sets (3. +11. 3-4). It is a doctrine to be communicated only to the eldest son +or a good student, and to no one else (_ib. 5), i.e_., it was new, +esoteric, and of vital importance. Here, too, one finds +Sanatkum[=a]ra, the 'ever young,' as Skanda,[86] yet as an earthly +student also (7. 1; 26. 2), just like Krishna. + +It cannot be imagined, however, that the cult of the Gangetic Krishna +originated with that vague personage whose pupilage is described in +the Upanishad. But this account may still be connected with the epic +Krishna. The epic describes the overthrow of an old Brahmanic Aryan +race at the hands of the P[=a]ndavas, an unknown folk, whose king's +polyandrous marriage (his wife is the spouse of his four brothers as +well as of himself) is an historical trait, connecting the tribe +closely with the polyandrous wild tribes located north of the Ganges. +This tribe attacked the stronghold of Brahmanism in the holy land +about the present Delhi; and their patron god is the Gangetic Krishna. +In the course of the narrative a very few tales are told of Krishna's +early life, but the simple original view of Krishna is that he is a +god, the son of Devak[=i]. The few other tales are late and +adventitious additions, but this is a consistent trait. Modern writers +are fain to see in the antithesis presented by the god Krishna and by +the human hero Krishna, late and early phases. They forget that the +lower side of Krishna is one especially Puranic. In short, they read +history backwards, for theirs is not the Indic way of dealing with +gods. In Krishna's case the tricky, vulgar, human side is a later +aspect, which comes to light most prominently in the Genealogy of +Vishnu and in the Vishnu Pur[=a]na, modern works which in this regard +contrast strongly with the older epic, where Krishna, however he +tricks, is always first the god. It is not till he becomes a very +great, if not the greatest, god that tales about his youthful +performances, when he condescended to be born in low life, begin to +rise. An exact parallel may be seen in the case of Civa, who at first +is a divine character, assuming a more or less grotesque likeness to a +man; but subsequently he becomes anthropomorphized, and is fitted out +with a sheaf of legends which describe his earthly acts.[87] And so +with Krishna. As the chief god, identified with the All-god, he is +later made the object of encomiums which degrade while they are meant +to exalt him. He becomes a cow-boy and acts like one, a god in a mask. +But in the epic he is the invading tribe's chief god, in process of +becoming identified with that god in the Brahmanic pantheon who most +resembles him. For this tribe, the (Yadavas) P[=a]ndavas, succeeded in +overthrowing the Brahmanic stronghold and became absorbed into the +Brahmanic circle. Their god, who, like most of the supreme gods of +this region among the wild tribes, was the tribal hero as sun-god, +became recognized by the priests as one with Vishnu. In the Upanishad +the priest-philosopher identifies Krishna with the sun as the 'dark +side' (_k[r.][s.][n.]a_, 'dark') of Vishnu, the native name probably +being near enough to the Sanskrit word to be represented by it. The +statement that this clan-god Krishna once learned the great truth that +the sun is the All-god, at the mouth of a Brahman, is what might be +expected. 'Krishna, the son of Devaki,' is not only the god, but he is +also the progenitor of the clan, the mystic forefather, who as usual +is deified as the sun. To the priest he is merely an _avatar_ of +Vishnu. The identity of Krishna with the Gangetic god described by +Megasthenes can scarcely be disputed. The latter as represented by the +Greek is too great a god to have passed away without a sign except for +a foreigner's account. And there is no figure like his except that of +Krishna. + +The numerous _avatars_[88] of Vishnu are first given as ten, then as +twenty, then as twenty-two,[89] and at last become innumerable. The +ten, which are those usually referred to, are as follows: First come +the oldest, the beast-_avatars_, viz., as a fish; as a tortoise;[90] +as a boar (rescuing earth from a flood); and as a man-lion (slaying a +demon). Next comes the dwarf-_avatar_, where Vishnu cheats Bali of +earth by asking, as a dwarf, for three steps of it, and then stepping +out over all of it (the 'three strides' of the Rig Veda). Then come +the human _avatars_, that of Paracu-R[=a]ma (R[=a]ma with the axe), +Krishna, R[=a]ma[91] (hero of the R[=a]m[=a]yana epic), Buddha, and +Kalki (who is still to come). + +The parallels between the latest Krishna cult and the Biblical +narrative are found only in the Pur[=a]nas and other late works, and +undoubtedly, as we have said in the last chapter, are borrowed from +Christian sources. Krishna is here born in a stable, his father, like +Joseph, going with his virgin spouse to pay taxes. His restoring of a +believing woman's son is narrated only in the modern J[=a]imini +Bh[=a]rata, These tales might have been received through the first +distant Christian mission in the South in the sixth century, but it is +more likely that they were brought directly to the North in the +seventh century; for at that time a Northern king of the V[=a]icya +caste, Cil[=a]ditya (in whose reign the Chinese pilgrim, Hiouen +Thsang, visited India), made Syrian Christians welcome to his court +(639 A.D.).[92] The date of the annual Krishna festival, which is a +reflex of Christmastide, is variously fixed by the Pur[=a]nas as +coming in July or August.[93] + +As Krishna is an _avatar_ of Vishnu[94] in the Bh[=a]rata, and as the +axe-R[=a]ma is another _avatar_ in legend (here Vishnu in the form of +Paracu-R[=a]ma raises up the priestly caste, and destroys the +warrior-caste), so in the R[=a]m[=a]yana the hero R[=a]ma (not +Paracu-R[=a]ma) is made an _avatar_ of Vishnu. He is a mythical prince +of Oude (hence a close connection between the R[=a]m[=a]yana +and Buddhism), who is identified with Vishnu. Vishnu wished to +rid earth of the giant R[=a]vana,[95] and to do so took the form of +R[=a]ma. As Krishnaism has given rise to a number of sects that +worship Krishna as Vishnu, so Ramaism is the modern cult of R[=a]ma as +Vishnu. Both of these sects oppose the Vishnuite that is not inclined +to be sectarian; all three oppose the Civaite; and all four of these +oppose the orthodox Brahman, who assigns supreme godship to Civa or +Vishnu as little as does the devotee of these gods in unsectarian form +to Krishna or R[=a]ma. + +Civa is on all sides opposed to Vishnu. The Greek account of the third +century B.C. says that he taught the Hindus to dance the kordax, but +at this time there appears to have been no such phallic worship in his +honor as is recorded in the pseudo-epic. Civa is known in early +Brahmanic and in Buddhistic writings, and even as the +bearer-of-the-moon, Candracekhara, he contrasts with Vishnu, as his +lightning-form and mountain-habitat differ from the sun-form and +valley-home of his rival. This dire god is conceived of as ascetic +partly because he is gruesome, partly because he is magical in power. +Hence he is the true type of the awful magical Yogi, and as such +appealed to the Brahman. Originally he is only a fearful magical god, +great, and even all-pervading, but, as seen in the Brahmanic +Catarudriya hymn, he is at first in no sense a pantheistic deity. In +this hymn there is a significant addition made to the earlier version. +In the first form of the hymn it is said that Rudra, who is here Civa, +is the god of bucolic people; but the new version adds 'and of all +people.' Here Civa appears as a wild, diabolical figure, 'the god of +incantations,' whose dart is death; and half of the hymn is taken up +with entreaties to the god to spare the speaker. He is praised, in +conjunction with trees, of which he is the lord, as the one 'clad in +skins,' the 'lord of cattle,' the 'lord of paths,' the 'cheater,' the +'deceiver.' When he is next clearly seen, in the epic, he is the god +to whom are offered human sacrifices, and his special claim to worship +is the phallus; while the intermediate literature shows glimpses of +him only in his simple Brahmanic form of terror. It has long been +known that Civaite phallic worship was not borrowed from the +Southerners, as was once imagined, and we venture with some scholars +to believe that it was due rather to late Greek influence than to that +of any native wild tribe.[96] + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Parts of the epic are called Pur[=a]nas, as + other parts are called Upanishads. These are the forerunners + of the extant Pur[=a]nas. The name, indeed, is even older + than the epic, belonging to the late Vedic period, where are + grouped together Pur[=a]nas and Itih[=a]sas, 'Ancient + History' and 'Stories'; to which are added 'Eulogies.' Weber + has long since pointed out that even when the 'deeds of + kings' were sung at a ceremony they were wont to be so + embroidered as to be dubbed 'fiction' by the Hindus + themselves. India has neither literary history (save what + can be gleaned from genealogies of doubtful worth), nor very + early inscriptions. The 'archaeology' of the Pur[=a]nas was + probably always what it is in the extant specimens, + legendary material of no direct historical value.] + + [Footnote 2: Strictly speaking to the present + Allah[=a]b[=a]d, where is the Pray[=a]ga, or confluence of + Yamun[=a] and Gang[=a] (Jumna and Ganges).] + + [Footnote 3: M[=a]gadha; called Beh[=a]r from its many + monasteries, _vih[=a]ras_, in Acoka's time.] + + [Footnote 4: So, plausibly, Mueller, _loc. cit_. below.] + + [Footnote 5: The tribes became Hinduized, their chiefs became + R[=a]jputs; their religions doubtless affected the ritual + and creed of the civilized as much as the religion of the + latter colored their own. Some of these un-Aryan peoples + were probably part native, part barbaric. There is much + doubt in regard to the dates that depend on accepted eras. + It is not certain, for instance, that, as Mueller claims, + Kanishka's inauguration coincides with the Caka era, 78 A.D. + A great Buddhist council was held under him. Some + distinguished scholars still think with Buehler that + Vikram[=a]ditya's inauguration was 57 B.C. (this date that + used to be assigned to him). From our present point of view + it is of little consequence when this king himself lived. He + is renowned as patron of arts and as a conqueror of the + barbarians. If he lived in the first century B.C. his + conquest amounted to nothing permanent. What is important, + however, is that all Vikram[=a]ditya stands for in legend + must have been in the sixth century A.D. For the drama, of + which he is said to have been patron, represents a religion + distinctly later than that of the body of the epic + (completed in the sixth or seventh century, Buehler, _Indian + Studies_, No. ii.). The dramatic and astronomical era was + but introductory to Kum[=a]rila's reassertion of Brahmanism + in the seventh century, when the Northern barbarian was + gone, and the Mohammedan was not yet rampant. In the rest of + Northern India there were several native dynasties in + different quarters, with different eras; one in Sur[=a]shtra + (Gujar[=a]t), one again in the 'middle district' or 'North + Western Provinces,' one in Kutch; overthrown by Northern + barbarians (in the fifth century) and by the Mohammedans (in + the seventh and eighth centuries), respectively. Of these + the Guptas of the 'middle district,' and the Valabh[=i]s of + Kutch, had neither of the eras just mentioned. The former + dated from 320-321 (perhaps 319), the latter from 190 + (A.D.). The word _samvat_, 'year,' indicates that the time + is dated from either the Caka or Vikram[=a]ditya era. See + IA. xvii. 362; Fergusson, JRAS. xii. 259; Mueller, _India, + What Can It Teach Us_? p. 282; Kielhorn, IA. xix. _24;_ + xxii. 111. The Northern barbarians are called Scythians, or + Huns, or Turanians, according to fancy. No one really knows + what they were.] + + [Footnote 6: The first host was expelled by the Hindus in + 750. After a period of rest Mahmud was crowned in 997, who + overran India more than a dozen times. In the following + centuries the land was conquered and the people crushed by + the second great Mohammedan, Ghori, who died in 1206, + leaving his kingdom to a vassal, Kutab, the 'slave sultan' + of Delhi. In 1294, thus slave dynasty having been recently + supplanted, the new successor to the throne was slain by his + own nephew, Allah-ud-din, who is reckoned as the third + Mohammedan conqueror of India. His successor swept even the + Dekhan of all its Hindu (temple) wealth; but his empire + finally broke down under its own size; preparing the way for + Timur (Tamerlane), who entered India in 1398.] + + [Footnote 7: Cankara himself was not a pure Brahman. Both + Vishnuites and Civaites lay claim to him.] + + [Footnote 8: Coy as was the Brahman in the adoption of the + new gods he was wise enough to give them some place in his + pantheon, or he would have offended his laity. Thus he + recognizes K[=a]l[=i] as well as Cr[=i]; in fact he prefers + to recognize the female divinities of the sects, for they + offer less rivalry.] + + [Footnote 9: There was a general revival of letters + antedating the Brahmanic theological revival. The drama, + which reflects equally Hinduism and Brahmanism, is now the + favorite light literature of the cultured. In the sixth + century the first astronomical works are written + (Var[=a]hamihira, who wrote the _B[r.]hat Sa[.m]hit[=a]_), + and the group of writers called the Nine Gems (reckoned of + Vikram[=a]ditya's court) are to be referred to this time. + The best known among them is K[=a]lid[=a]sa, author of the + _Cakuntal[=a]_. An account of this Renaissance, as he calls + it, will be found in Mueller's _India, What Can It Teach Us_? + The learned author is perhaps a little too sweeping in his + conclusions. It is, for instance, tolerably certain that the + Bh[=a]rata was completed by the time the 'Renaissance' + began; so that there is no such complete blank as he assumes + prior to Vikram[=a]ditya. But the general state of affairs + is such as is depicted in the ingenious article referred to. + The sixth and seventh centuries were eras that introduced + modern literature under liberal native princes, who were + sometimes not R[=a]jputs at all. Roughly speaking, one may + reckon from 500 B.C. to the Christian era as a period of + Buddhistic control, Graeco-Bactrian invasion, and Brahmanic + decline. The first five centuries after the Christian see + the two religions in a state of equilibrium, under Scythian + control, and the Mah[=a]-Bh[=a]rata, the expanded + Bh[=a]rata, is written. From 500 to 1000 is an era of native + rulers, Brahmanic revival in its pure form, and Hindu + growth, with little trouble from the Mohammedans. Then for + five centuries the horrors of Moslem conquest.] + + [Footnote 10: Har. 10,662. Compare the laudation of 'the two + gods' in the same section.] + + [Footnote 11: As the Jains have Angas and Up[=a]ngas, and as + the pseudo-epic distinguishes Nishads and Upanishads, so the + Brahman has Pur[=a]nas and Upapur[=a]nas (K[=u]rma + Pur[=a]na, i. p. 3). Some of the sects acknowledge only six + Pur[=a]nas as orthodox.] + + [Footnote 12: As an example of a Puranic Smriti (legal) we + may cite the trash published as the + V[r.]ddha-H[=a]rita-Sa[.m]hit[=a]. Here there is polemic + against Civa; one must worship Jagann[=a]th with flowers, + and every one must be branded with the Vishnu disc + (_cakra_). Even women and slaves are to use _mantras_, etc.] + + [Footnote 13: The lateness of this law-book is evident from + its advocacy of _suttee_ (XXV. 14), its preference for + female ancestors (see below), etc.] + + [Footnote 14: Manu, III. 89; XII. 121.] + + [Footnote 15: As, for example, in K[=u]rma Pur[=a]na, XVI. + p. 186, where is found a common epic verse description of + battle.] + + [Footnote 16: A good instance of this is found in Brihan + N[=a]rad[=i]ya Pur[=a]na, X., where the _churik[=a]_ and + _drugha[n.]a_ (24) appear in an imitative scene of this + sort; one of these being later, the other earlier, than the + epic vocabulary.] + + [Footnote 17: Perhaps the most striking distinction between + Vedic and Puranic, or one may say, Indic Aryan and Hindu + religions, is the emphasis laid in the former upon Right; in + the latter, upon idols. The Vedic religion insists upon the + law of right (order), that is, the sacrifice; but it insists + also upon right as rectitude, truth, holiness. Puranic + Hinduism insists upon its idols; only incidentally does it + recommend rectitude, truth, abstract holiness.] + + [Footnote 18: KP. i. p. 29.] + + [Footnote 19: K[=u]rma, xii. p. 102. Contrast _ib_. xxii. p. + 245, _caturvy[=u]hadhara Vishnur avy[=u]has procyate_ + (elsewhere _navavy[=u]ha_). Philosophically, in the doctrine + of the epic P[=a]ncar[=a]tras (still held by some + sectaries), Vishnu is to be revered as Krishna, Balar[=a]ma, + Pradymana, Aniruddha (Krishna's brother, son, and grandson), + representing, respectively, _[=a]tm[=a], j[=i]va,_ supreme + and individual spirit, perception, and consciousness. + Compare Mbh[=a]. xii. 340. 8, 72.] + + [Footnote 20: KP. xxi. p. 236; xxii. p. 238, etc.] + + [Footnote 21: _ib._ I, p. 23.] + + [Footnote 22: Compare Brihan N[=a]radiya Pur[=a]na, xiv. 10, + _bah[=u]ni k[=a][s.][t.]hay[=a]ntr[=a][n.]i_ (torture + machines) in hell. The old tale of N[=a]ciketas is retold at + great length in the Var[=a]ha Pur[a=]na. The oldest + Pur[=a]na, the M[=a]rkandeya, has but seven hells, a + conception older than Manu's twenty-one (compare on MP. x. + 80 ff., Scherman, _loc. cit_. p. 33), or the later lists of + thousands. The Padma Pur[=a]na, with celebrates R[=a]ma, has + also seven hells, and is in part old, for it especially + extols Pushkara (Brahm[=a]'s lone shrine); but it recommends + the _taptamudra_, or branding with hot iron.] + + [Footnote 23: Nar. xiv. 2.] + + [Footnote 24: xiv. 54 and 70.] + + [Footnote 25: KP. xxii. pp, 239-241.] + + [Footnote 26: As will be shown below, it is possible that + this may be a ceremony first taken from the wild tribes. See + the 'pole' rite described above in the epic.] + + [Footnote 27: Compare for instance _ib_. xxviii. 68, on the + strange connection of a C[=u]dr[=a] wife of a Guru.] + + [Footnote 28: KP. xxxvi. It is of course impossible to say + how much epic materials come from the literary epic and how + much is drawn from popular poetry, for the vulgar had their + own epoidic songs which may have treated of the same topics. + Thus even a wild tribe (Gonds) is credited with an 'epic.' + But such stuff was probably as worthless as are the popular + songs of today.] + + [Footnote 29: KP. xxx. p. 305; xxxvii. p. 352.] + + [Footnote 30: _ib._ p. 355.] + + [Footnote 31: Compare N[=a]rad[=i]ya, xi. 23,27,31 'the one + whom no one knows,' 'he that rests in the heart,' 'he that + seems to be far off because we do not know,' 'he whose form + is Civa, lauded by Vishnu,' xiii. 201.] + + [Footnote 32: Even Vishnu as a part of a part of the Supreme + Spirit in VP. is indicated by Vishnu's adoration of + _[=a]tm[=a]_ in the epic (see above).] + + [Footnote 33: Compare Williams' _Brahmanism and Hinduism_.] + + [Footnote 34: Cankara's adherents are chiefly Civaite, but + he himself was not a sectary. Williams says that at the + present day few worship Civa exclusively, but he has more + partial adherents than has Vishnu. _Religious Thought and + Life,_ pp. 59, 62.] + + [Footnote 35: The two last are just recognized in Brahmanic + legal works.] + + [Footnote 36: See Wilson's sketch of Hindu sects. The author + says that there were in his day two shrines to Brahm[=a], + one in [=A]jm[=i]r (compare Pushkara in the epic), and one + on the Ganges at Bithur. The Brahma Pur[=a]na is known also + as S[=a]ura (sun). This is the first in the list; in its + present state it is Vishnuite.] + + [Footnote 37: Sun-worship (Iranian?) is especially + pronounced in the Bhav[=i]shya(t) Pur[=a]na. Of the other + Pur[=a]nas the L[=i]nga is especially Civaite (_linga_ is + phallus), as are the Matsya and older V[=a]yu. Sometimes + Civa is androgynous, _ardhan[=a]r[=i]cvara_, 'half-female.' + But most of the Pur[=a]nas are Vishnuite.] + + [Footnote 38: On the Ganeca Pur[=a]na see JRAS. 1846, p. + 319.] + + [Footnote 39: The worshippers of Bhagavat were originally + distinct from the P[=a]ncar[=a]tras, but what was the + difference between them is unknown. The sect of this name in + the pseudo-epic is not C[=a]kta in expression but only + monotheistic. Probably the names of many sects are retained + with altered beliefs and practices. The Vishnu Pur[=a]na, i. + 11. 54, gives a model prayer which may be taken once for all + as the attitude of the Vishnuite: "Glory to V[=a]sudeva, him + of perfected wisdom, whose unrevealed form is (known as) + Brahm[=a], Vishnu, and Civa" (Hira[n.]yagarbha, Purusha, + Pradh[=a]na).] + + [Footnote 40: Weber shows for instance, _loc. cit_., that + Indra takes the place of older Varuna; that the house-priest + yields to the Brahm[=a]; that in this feast in honor of the + king he] + + [Footnote 41: Gover, JRAS. v. 91; IA. xx. 430.] + + [Footnote 42: In Hinduism itself there is a striking example + of this. The Jagann[=a]th ('Juggernaut') temple was once + dedicated to Buddha as _loka-n[=a]th_ or _jagan-n[=a]th_, + 'saviour of the world' Name, temple, and idol-car are now + all Vishnu's!] + + [Footnote 43: That is, Rain and Sun, for all Indra's warlike + qualities are forgotten, absorbed into those of Civa and his + son, the battle-god. The sun crosses the equator at noon of + the second day, the 'Mah[=a] Pongol.'] + + [Footnote 44: "Now every neck is bent, for the surface of + the waters disturbed. Then with a heave, a hiss, and a surge + of bubbles, the seething milk mounts to the top of the + vessel. Before it has had time to run down the blackened + sides, the air resounds with the sudden joyous cry of + 'Pongol, oh Pongol, S[=u]rya, S[=u]rya, oh Pongol,' The word + Pongol means "boiling," from the Tamil word _pongu_, to + boil; so that the joyous shout is, 'It boils, oh S[=u]rya, + it boils.' In a moment a convulsion of greetings animates + the assembly. Every one seizes his neighbor and asks, 'Has + it boiled?' Both faces gleam with delight as the answer + comes--'It has boiled.' Then both shout at the top of their + voices--'Oh Pongol, Pongol, oh S[=u]rya, oh Indra, Pongol, + Pongol.'" Gorer, _loc. cit_.] + + [Footnote 45: The Crocodile, _makara_, like the parrot, is + sacred to K[=a]madeva, Love. But as Ganges also is holy it + is difficult to say for which divinity the offering was + intended. Some, indeed, interpret _makara_ as dolphin.] + + [Footnote 46: A feast now neglected, though kept up by + strict Brahmans, occurs on or about the 20th January. The + orthodox adherents of the Civaite sects and C[=a]ktas also + observe it. It is a Cr[=a]ddha, or funeral feast to the + Manes. Also on the 26th and 30th January there are rites + nearly obsolete, the first being signalized by offerings to + Yama; the second, a Civaite feast (to his spouse, as 'giver + of bridegrooms'). The list is more celebrated in the South + than in the North. It is interesting chiefly as a parallel + to St. Valentine's day, or, as Wilson says, the nearer feast + of St. Agnes (21st January) on the eve of which divination + is practiced to discover future husbands. It is this time + also that the Greeks call 'marriage-month' (Gamelion); and + the fourth day from the new moon (which gives the name to + this Hindu festival, _caturth[=i]_, "fourth day") is the day + when Hesiod recommends the bringing home of the bride.] + + [Footnote 47: In case any writing has to be done on this day + it is done with chalk, not with the pens, "which have a + complete holiday" (Wilson).] + + [Footnote 48: The invocations show very well how the worship + of Brahm[=a] has been driven out in honor of his more + powerful rivals. For Sarasvat[=i] is invoked first as "Thou + without whom Brahm[=a] never lives"; but again as "Thou of + eight forms, Lakshm[=i], Medh[=a], Dhav[=a], Pusht[=i], + G[=a]ur[=i], Tusht[=i], Prabh[=a], Dhriti, O Sarasvat[=i]." + The great festivals, like the great temples, are not very + stricly sectarian. Williams says that in Civa's temple in + Benares are kept monkeys (sacred to Vishnu).] + + [Footnote 49: Between this and the last occur minor + holidays, one to avert small-pox; one (February the 4th) + sacred to the sun (Sunday, the seventh day of each lunar + fortnight, is strictly observed); and one to the Manes.] + + [Footnote 50: Fasting is not necessarily a part of civilized + religion alone. It is found in the Brahmanic and Hindu + cults, but it obtains also among the American Indians. Thus + the Dacotahs fast for two or three days at the worship of + sun and moon. Schoolcraft, _Histor. and Statist_., iii. + 227.] + + [Footnote 51: The last clause (meaning 'common historical + origin') were better omitted.] + + [Footnote 52: Except the mystic syllable _[=O]m_, supposed + to represent the trinity (_[=O]m_ is _a, u, m_), though + probably it was originally only an exclamation.] + + [Footnote 53: A small Vishnu festival in honor of Vishnu as + 'man-lion' (one of his ten _avatars_) is celebrated on the + 13th of March; but in Bengal in honor of the same god as a + cow-boy. On the 15th of March there is another minor + festival in Bengal, but it is to Civa, or rather to one of + his hosts, under the form of a water pot (that is to + preserve from disease).] + + [Footnote 54: The bonfire is made of fences, door posts, + furniture, etc. Nothing once seized and devoted to the fire + may be reclaimed, but the owner may defend his property if + he can. Part of the horse-play at this time consists in + leaping over the fire, which is also ritualistic with same + of the hill-tribes.] + + [Footnote 55: Compare the Nautch dances on R[=a]macandra's + birthday. Religious dances, generally indecent, are also a + prominent feature of the religions of the wild tribes (as + among American and African savages, Greeks, etc., etc.).] + + [Footnote 56: The 'Easter bonnet' in Indic form.] + + [Footnote 57: In sober contrast stands the yearly orthodox + Craddha celebration (August-September), though Brahmans join + in sectarian fetes.] + + [Footnote 58: Wilson draws an elaborate parallel between the + Hol[=i] and the Lupercalia, etc. (Carnival). But the points + of contact are obvious. One of the customs of the Hol[=i] + celebration is an exact reproduction of April-Fool's day. + Making "Hol[=i] fools" is to send people on useless errands, + etc. (Festum Stultorum, at the Vernal Equinos, transferred + by the Church to the first of November, "Innocents' Day").] + + [Footnote 59: Stevenson, JRAS. 1841, p. 239; Williams, + _loc. cit._; Wilkins, _Modern Hinduism_, ch. III.] + + [Footnote 60: The daily service consists in dressing, + bathing, feeding, etc It is divided into eight ridiculous + ceremonies, which prolong the worship through the day.] + + [Footnote 61: The brilliant displays attracted the notice of + the Greeks, who speak of the tame tigers and panthers, the + artificial trees carried in wagons, the singing, + instrumental music, and noise, which signalized a fete + procession. See Williams, _loc. cit_.] + + [Footnote 62: Such, for instance, is the most holy temple of + South India, the great temple of Cr[=i]rangam at + Trichinopoly. The idol car, gilded and gaudy, is carved with + obscenity; the walls and ceilings are frescoed with + bestiality. It represents Vishnu's heaven.] + + [Footnote 63: From this name or title comes the Gita + Govinda, a mystic erotic poem (in praise of the cow-boy god) + exaltedly religious as it is sensual (twelfth century).] + + [Footnote 64: VP.l. 2. 63. The 'qualities' or 'conditions' + of God's being are referred to by 'goodness' and + 'darkness.'] + + [Footnote 65: All this erotic vulgarity is typical of the + common poetry of the people, and is in marked contrast to + the chivalrous, but not love-sick, Bh[=a]rata.] + + [Footnote 66: Compare Duncker, LII^5. p. 327, More doubtful + is the identification of Nysian and Nish[=a]dan, _ib_. note. + Compare, also, Schroeder, _loc. cit._ p. 361. Arrian calls + (Civa) Dionysos the _[Greek: oitou dotera Iudeis]_ + (Schwanbeck, Fig. 1.).] + + [Footnote 67: This remains always as Civa's heaven in + distinction from Goloka or V[=a]ikuntha, Vishnu's heaven. + Nowadays Benares is the chief seat of Civaism.] + + [Footnote 68: The doctrine of the immaculate conception, + common to Vishnuism and Buddhism (above, p.431), can have no + exact parallel in Civaism, for Civa is not born as a child; + but it seems to be reflected in the laughable ascription of + virginity to Um[=a] (Civa's wife), when she is revered as + the emblem of motherhood.] + + [Footnote 69: In RV. v. 41. 4, the Vedic triad is Fire, + Wind, and (Tr[=i]ta of the sky) Indra; elsewhere Fire, Wind, + and Sun (above, p. 42), distinct from the triune fire.] + + [Footnote 70: In the Rig Veda the three steps are never thus + described, but in the later age this view is common. It is, + in fact, only on the 'three steps' that the identity with + the sun is established. In RV. 1. 156. 4, Vishnu is already + above Varuna.] + + [Footnote 71: Cat. Br. xiv. 1. 1. 5.] + + [Footnote 72: For other versions see Mulr, _Original + Sanskrit Texts_, iv. p. 127 ff.] + + [Footnote 73: Later interpreted as wives or eyes.] + + [Footnote 74: For an epic guess at the significance of the + title _n[=i]laka[n.][t.]ha_, 'blue-throated,' see Mbh[=a] i. + 18. 43.] + + [Footnote 75: AV. iv. 28; viii. 2; xi. 2. Thus even in the + Rig Veda pairs of gods are frequently besung as one, as if + they were divinities not only homogeneous but even + monothelous.] + + [Footnote 76: Brahm[=a]'s mark in the lotus; Vishnu's, the + discus (sun); Civa's, the Linga, phallic emblem.] + + [Footnote 77: The grim interpretation of later times makes + the cattle (to be sacrificed) _men_. The theological + interpretation is that Civa is the lord of the spirit, which + is bound like a beast.] + + [Footnote 78: The commenter, horrified by the murder of the + Father-god, makes Rudra kill 'the sin'; but the original + shows that it is the Father-god who was shot by this god, + who chose as his reward the lordship over kine; and such + exaltation is not improbable (moreover, it is historical!). + The hunting of the Father-god by Rudra is pictured in the + stars (Orion), Ait. Br. iii. 33.] + + [Footnote 79: See Weber. _Ind. St._ ii. 37; Muir, iv. 403. + Carva (Caurva) is Avestan, but at the same time it is his + 'eastern' name, while Bhava is his western name. Cat. Br. i. + 7. 3. 8.] + + [Footnote 80: The epic (_loc. cit_. above), the Pur[=a]nas, + and the very late Atharva Ciras Upanishad and M[=a]itr. Up. + (much interpolated). Compare Muir, _loc. cit_. pp. 362-3.] + + [Footnote 81: According to the epic, men honor gods that + kill, Indra, Rudra, and so forth; not gods that are passive, + such as Brahm[=a], the Creator, and P[=u]shan (xii. 15. 18), + _ya eva dev[=a] hant[=a]ras t[=a]l loko 'rcayate + bh[=r.]ca[=.m], na Brahm[=a][n.]am_.] + + [Footnote 82: Barth seems to imply that Harihara (the name) + is later than the _trim[=u]rti_ (p. 185), but he has to + reject the passage in the Hari-va[.n]ca to prove this. On + Ayen[=a]r, a southern god said to be Hari-Hara + (Vishnu-Civa), see Williams, _loc. cit_.] + + [Footnote 83: RV. viii. 6. 30; 1. 50. 10. Weber refers + Krishna further back to a priestly Vedic poet of that name, + to whom are attributed hymns of the eighth and tenth books + of the Rig Veda (_Janm[=a][s.][t.]am[=i]_, p. 316). He + interprets Krishna's mother's name, Devak[=i], as 'player' + _(ib)_ But the change of name in a Vedic hymn has no special + significance. The name Devak[=i] is found applied to other + persons, and its etymology is rather _deva_, divine, as + Weber now admits (Berl. Ak. 1890, p. 931).] + + [Footnote 84: In the epic, also, kings become hermits, and + perform great penance just as do the ascetic priests. + Compare the heroes themselves, and i. 42. 23 _raja + mah[=a]tap[=a]s_; also ii. 19, where a king renounces his + throne, and with his two wives becomes a hermit in the + woods. In i. 41. 31 a king is said to be equal to ten + priests!] + + [Footnote 85: In fact, the daily repetition of the + S[=a]vitr[=i] is a tacit admission of the sun god as the + highest type of the divine; and Vishnu is the most + spiritualized form of the sun-god, representing even in the + Rig-Veda the goal of the departing spirit.] + + [Footnote 86: Skanda (Subrahmanya) and Ganeca are Civa's two + sons, corresponding to Krishna and R[=a]ma. Skanda's own son + is Vic[=a]kha, a _graha_ (above, p. 415).] + + [Footnote 87: Civa at the present day, for instance, is + represented now and then as a man, and he is incarnate as + V[=i]rabhadra. But all this is modern, and contrasts with + the older conception. It is only in recent times, in the + South, that he is provided with an earthly history. Compare + Williams, _Thought and Life,_ p. 47.] + + [Footnote 88: _Ava-t[=a]ra_, 'descent,' from _ava_, 'down,' + and _tar_, 'pass' (as in Latin in-_trare_).] + + [Footnote 89: In the _Bh[=a]gavata Pur[=a]na_.] + + [Footnote 90: The tortoise _avatar_ had a famous temple two + centuries ago, where a stone tortoise received prayer. How + much totemism lies in these _avatars_ it is guess-work to + say.] + + [Footnote 91: Balar[=a]ma (or Baladeva), Krishna's elder + brother, is to be distinguished from R[=a]ma. The former is + a late addition to the Krishna-cult, and belongs with Nanda, + his reputed father. Like Krishna, the name is also that of a + snake, Naga, and it is not impossible that Naga worship may + be the foundation of the Krishna-cult, but it would be hard + to reconcile this with tradition. In the sixth century + Var[=a]hamihira recognizes both the brothers.] + + [Footnote 92: Edkins, cited by Mueller, _India_, p. 286.] + + [Footnote 93: Weber, _Janm[=a][s.][t.]am[=i]_, pp. 259, 318. + Weber describes in full the cult of the "Madonna with the + Child," according to the Pur[=a]nas.] + + [Footnote 94: On the subsequent deification of the Pandus + themselves see 1A. VII. 127.] + + [Footnote 95: Hence the similarity with Herakles, with whom + Megasthenes identifies him. The man-lion and hero-forms are + taken to rid earth of monsters.] + + [Footnote 96: Greek influence is clearly reflected in + India's architecture. Hellenic bas-reliefs representing + Bacchic scenes and the love-god are occasionally found. + Compare the description of Civa's temple in Orissa, Weber, + _Literature_, p. 368; _Berl. Ak._, 1890, p, 912. Civa is + here associated with the Greek cult of Eros and Aphrodite.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +MODERN HINDU SECTS.[1] + + +Although the faith of India seems to have completed a circle, landing +at last in a polytheism as gross as was that of the Vedic age, yet is +this a delusive aspect, as will appear if one survey the course of the +higher intellectual life of the people, ignoring, as is right, the +invariable factor introduced by the base imaginings of the vulgar. The +greater spirituality has always expressed itself in independent +movement, and voiced itself in terms of revolution. But in reality +each change has been one of evolution. To trace back to the Vedic +period the origin of Hindu sectarianism would, indeed, be a nice task +for a fine scholar, but it would not be temerarious to attempt it. We +have failed of our purpose if we have not already impressed upon the +reader's mind the truth that the progress of Brahmanic theology (in +distinction from demonology) has been one journey, made with rests and +halts, it is true, and even with digressions from the straight path; +but without abatement of intent, and without permanent change of +direction. Nor can one judge otherwise even when he stands before so +humiliating an exhibition of groundling bigotry as is presented by +some of the religious sects of the present day. The world of lower +organisms survives the ascent of the higher. There is always +undergrowth; but before the fall of a great tree its seeds sprout, +withal in the very soil of the weedy thicket below. So out of +the rank garden of Hindu superstitions arise, one after another, lofty +trees of an old seed, which is ever renewed, and which cultivation has +gradually improved. + +We have shown, especially in the chapters on the Atharva Veda and on +Hinduism, as revealed in epic poetry, how constant in India is the +relation between these two growths. If surprised at the height of +early Hindu thought, one is yet more astonished at the permanence of +the inferior life which flourishes beneath the shady protection of the +superior. Even here one may follow the metaphor, for the humbler life +below is often a condition of the grander growth above. + +In the Rig Veda there is an hymn of faith and doubt + + To INDRA.[2] + + He who, just born, with thought endowed, the foremost, + Himself a god hemmed in the gods with power; + Before whose breath, and at whose manhood's greatness, + The two worlds trembled; he, ye folk, is Indra. + + He who the earth made firm as it was shaking, + And made repose the forward tottering mountains; + Who measured wide the inter-space aerial, + And heaven established; he, ye folk, is Indra. + + Who slew the dragon, loosed the rivers seven, + And drove from Vala's hiding place the cattle;[3] + Who fire between the two stones[4] hath engendered, + Conqueror in conflicts; he, ye folk, is Indra. + + Who all things here, things changeable, created; + Who lowered and put to naught the barbarous color,[5] + And, like victorious gambler, took as winnings + His foe's prosperity; he, ye folk, is Indra. + + Whom, awful, they (yet) ask about: 'where is he?' + And speak thus of him, saying, 'he exists not'-- + He makes like dice[6] his foe's prosperity vanish; + Believe on him; and he, ye folk, is Indra. + + In whose direction horses are and cattle; + In whose, the hosts (of war) and all the chariots; + Who hath both S[=u]rya and the Dawn engendered, + The Waters' leader; he, ye folk, is Indra. + + Both heaven and earth do bow themselves before him, + And at his breath the mountains are affrighted; + Who bolt in arms is seen, the _soma_-drinker, + And bolt in hand; ('tis) he, ye folk, is Indra. + + Who helps the _soma_-presser, (_soma_)-cooker, + The praiser (helps), and him that active serveth; + Of whom the increase _brahma_ is and _soma_, + And his this offering; he, ye folk, is Indra. + +Here _brahma_, which word already in the Yajur Veda has taken to +itself the later philosophical signification, is merely prayer, the +meaning which in the Rig Veda is universal. + +The note struck in this hymn is not unique: + + (THE POET.) + + Eager for booty proffer your laudation + To Indra; truth (is he),[7] if truth existeth; + 'Indra is not,' so speaketh this and that one; + 'Who him hath seen? To whom shall we give praises?' + + (THE GOD.) + + I am, O singer, he; look here upon me; + All creatures born do I surpass in greatness. + Me well-directed sacrifices nourish, + Destructive I destroy existent beings.[8] + +These are not pleas in behalf of a new god. It is not the mere god of +physical phenomena who is here doubted and defended. It is the god +that in the last stage of the Rig Veda is become the Creator and +Destroyer, and, in the light of a completed pantheism, is grown too +great to retain his personality. With such a protest begins the great +revolt that is the sign of an inner evolution extending through the +Br[=a]hmanas and Upanishads. Indra, like other gods,[9] is held by the +rite; to the vulgar he is still the great god;[10] to the philosopher, +a name. The populace respect him, and sacerdotalism conserves him, +that same crafty, priestly power, which already at the close of the +Rig Vedic period dares to say that only the king who is subject to the +priest is sure of himself, and a little later that killing a priest is +the only real murder. We have shown above how the real divinity of the +gods was diminished even at the hands of the priests that needed them +for the rites and baksheesh, which was the goal of their piety. Even +Praj[=a]pati, the Father-god, their own creation, is mortal as well as +immortal.[11] We have shown, also, how difficult it must have been to +release the reason from the formal band of the rite. Socially it was +impossible to do so. He that was not initiated was excommunicated, an +outcast. But, on the other hand, the great sacrifices gradually fell +over from their own weight. Cumbersome and costly, they were replaced +by proxy works of piety; _vidh[=a]nas_ were established that obviated +the real rite; just as to-day, 'pocket altars' take the place of real +altars.[12] There was a gradual intrusion of the Hindu cult; popular +features began to obtain; the sacrifice was made to embrace in its +workings the whole family of the sacrificer (instead of its effect +being confined to him alone, as was the earlier form); and finally +village celebrations became more general than those of the individual. +Slowly Hinduism built itself a ritual,[13] which overpowered the +Brahmanic rite. Then, again, behind the geographical advance of +Brahmanism[14] lay a people more and more prone to diverge from the +true cult (from the Brahmanic point of view). In the latter part of +the great Br[=a]hmana[15] there is already a distrust of the Indus +tribes, which marks the breaking up of Aryan unity; not that breaking +up into political division which is seen even in the Rig Veda, where +Aryan fights against Aryan as well as against the barbarian, but the +more serious dismemberment caused by the hates of priests, for here +there was no reconciliation. + +The cynical scepticism of the Brahmanic ritualists, as well as the +divergence of opinions in regard to this or that sacrificial +pettiness, shows that even where there was overt union there was +covert discord, the disagreement of schools, and the difference of +faith. But all this does but reflect the greater difference in +speculation and theology which was forming above the heads of the +ritualistic bigots. For it is not without reason that the Upanishads +are more or less awkwardly laid in as the top-stone on the liturgical +edifice. They belong to the time but they are of it only in part. Yet +to dissociate the mass of Brahmanic priestlings from the Upanishad +thinkers, as if the latter were altogether members of a new era, would +be to lose the true historical perspective. The vigor of protest +against the received belief continues from the Rig Veda to Buddha, +from Buddha till to-day. + +The Vedic cult absorbed a good deal of Hinduism, for instance the +worship of Fate,[16] just as Hinduism absorbed a good deal of Vedic +cult. Nor were the popular works obnoxious to the priest. In the +Ch[=a]ndogya Upanishad[17] the Itih[=a]sas and Pur[=a]nas +(fore-runners of the epic) are already reckoned as a fifth Veda, being +recognized as a Veda almost as soon as was the Atharvan,[18] which +even in Manu is still called merely 'texts of Atharvan and Angiras' +(where texts of Bhrigu might as well have been added). Just as the +latter work is formally recognized, and the use of its magical +formulas, if employed for a good purpose, is enjoined in epic[19] and +law (_e.g._ Manu, xi. 33), so the Hinduistic rites crept gradually +into the foreground, pushing back the _soma_-cult. Idols are formally +recognized as venerable by the law-makers;[20] even before their day +the 'holy pool,' which we have shown to be so important to Hinduism, +is accepted by Brahmanism.[21] Something, too, of the former's +catholicity is apparent in the cult at an early date, only to be +suppressed afterwards. Thus in [=A]it. Br. II. 19, the slave's son +shares the sacrifice; and the slave drinks _soma_ in one of the +half-Brahmanical, half-popular festivals.[22] Whether human sacrifice, +sanctioned by some modern sects, is aught but pure Hinduism, Civaism, +as affected by the cult of the wild-tribes, it is hard to say. At any +rate, such sacrifices in the Brahmanic world were obsolete long before +one finds them in Hinduism. Of Buddhistic, Brahmanic, and Hinduistic +reciprocity we have spoken already, but we may add one curious fact, +namely, that the Buddhism of Civaism is marked by its holy numbers. +The Brahmanic Rudra with eight names[23] and eight forms[24] is +clearly Civaite, and the numbers are as clearly Buddhistic[25] Thus, +as Feer has shown, Buddhist hells are eight, sixteen, etc, while the +Brahmanic hells are seven, twenty-one, etc. Again, the use of the +rosary was originally Civaite, not Buddhisttc;[26] and Buddha in Bali, +where they live amicably side by side, is regarded as Civa's +brother.[27] + +Two things result from this interlocking of sectarian Brahmanism with +other sects. First, it is impossible to say in how far each influenced +the other; and, again, the antiquity of special ideas is rendered +doubtful. A Brahmanic idea can pretty safely be allotted to its first +period, because the literature is large enough to permit the +assumption that it will appear in literature not much later than it +obtains. But a sectarian idea may go back centuries before it is +permanently formulated, as, for example, the doctrine of special grace +in a modern sect. + +One more point must be noticed before we proceed to review the sects +of to-day. Hindu morality, the ethical tone of the modern sects, is +older than the special forms of Hindu viciousness which have been +received into the cult. A negative altruism (beyond which Brahmanism +never got) is characteristic of the Hindu sects. But this is already +embodied in the golden rule, as it is thus formulated in the epic +'Compendium of Duty': + + Not that to others should one do + Which he himself objecteth to. + This is man's duty in one word; + All other rules may be ignored.[28] + +The same is true of the 'Ten Commandments' of one of the modern sects. +It is one of the strong proofs that Christian morals did not have much +effect upon early Hinduism, that, although the Christian Church of St. +Thomas, as is well established, was in Malabar as early as 522,[29] +and Christians were in the North in the seventh century, yet no trace +of the active Christian benevolence, in place of this abstention from +injury, finds its way into the epic or Pur[=a]nas. But an active +altruism permeates Buddhism, and one reads in the birth-stories even +of a saviour Buddha, not the Buddha of love, M[=a]itreya, who was to +be the next Buddha on earth, but of that M[=a]itrakanyaka, who left +heaven and came to earth that he might redeem the sins of others.[30] + +Whether there is any special touch between the older sects and those +of modern days[31] that have their headquarters in the same districts +is a question which we have endeavored to investigate, but we have +found nothing to substantiate such an opinion. Buddhism retired, too +early to have influence on the sects of to-day, and between Jainism +and the same sects there does not seem to be any peculiar rapport even +where the sect is seated in a Jain stronghold.[35]] The Jains occupy, +generally speaking, the Northwest (and South), while the Buddhists +were located in the Northeast and South. So Civaism may be loosely +located as popular in the Northeast and South, while Vishnuism has its +habitat rather in the jain centres of the Northwest (and South). + +We have mentioned in the preceding chapter the sects of a few +centuries ago, as these have been described in Brahmanic +literature.[33] The importance, and even the existence of some of the +sects, described in the _Conquest of Cankara_, has been questioned, +and the opinion has been expressed that, since they are described only +to be exposed as heretical, they may have been creations of fancy, +imaginary sects; the refutation of their principles being a _tour de +force_ on the part of the Brahmanic savant, who shows his acumen by +imagining a sect and then discountenancing it. It does not, indeed, +seem to us very probable that communities were ever formed as 'Agnis' +or 'Yamas,' etc, but on the other hand, we think it is more likely +that sects have gone to pieces without leaving any trace than that +those enumerated, explained, and criticised should have been mere +fancies.[46]] Moreover, in the case of some of these sects +there are still survivors, so that _a fortiori_ one may presume the +others to have existed also, if not as sects or communities, yet as +bodies professing faith in Indra or Yama, etc. The sects with which we +have to deal now are chiefly those of this century, but many of these +can claim a definite antiquity of several centuries at least. They +have been described by Wilson in his famous _Sketch_, and, in special +cases, more recently and more fully by Williams' and other writers. + + +THE CIVAITES. + +While the Vishnuites have a dualistic, as well as idealistic +background, they are at present Vedantic, and may be divided to-day +simply into intelligent and unintelligent adherents of pantheism, the +former comprising the R[=a]ma sects, and the latter most of the +Krishnaites. On the other hand, in Civaism one must distinguish quite +sharply in time between the different sects that go by Civa's name. If +one look at the sects of modern times he will find that the most +degraded are dualistic, in so far as they may be said to have any +philosophy, and that idealistic Civaism is a remnant of the past. But +he will not find a pronounced sectarianism in any of these old +Vedantic aspects of Civaism. On the contrary, wherever Civaism is +pantheistic it is a Civaism which obtains only in certain ancient +schools of philosophy; where it is monotheistic it is among leaders +who have been influenced by the modern teaching of Islam, and regard +Civa merely as a name for the One God. It is necessary, therefore, as +it is everywhere in India, to draw as sharp a line as possible between +the beliefs of the vulgar and the learned. For from the earliest +period the former accepted perfunctorily the teaching of the latter, +but at heart and in cult they remained true to their own lights. + +The older S[=a]nkhya form of Civaism was still found among the +P[=a]cupatas,'adherents of the Lord' (Pacupati) and Mahecvaras +('adherents of the great Lord'), who are mentioned in the epic and in +inscriptions of the fifth century. In the ninth century there was a +purely philosophical Civaism which is Vedantic. But neither in the +fact (which is by no means a certainty) that Cankara accepted Civa as +the name of the All-god, nor in the scholastic Civaite philosophy of +Kashmeer, which in the next two centuries was developed into a purely +idealistic system at the hands of Abhinavagupta and Som[=a]nanda, is +there any trace of a popular religion. Civa is here the pantheistic +god, but he is conceived as such only by a coterie of retired +schoolmen. On the other hand, the popular religions which spring up in +the twelfth century are, if Vedantic, chiefly Vishnuite, or, if +Civaite, only nominally Vedantic. Thus what philosophy the Jangamas +professedly have is Vedantic, but in fact they are deistic (not +pantheistic) disciples of Civa's priest, Basava (Sanskrit Vrishabha), +who taught Civa-worship in its grossest form, the adoration of the +Linga (phallus); while his adherents, who are spread over all India +under the name of Jangamas, 'vagrants,' or Ling[=a]yits, +'phallus-wearers,' are idolatrous deists with but a tinge of Vedantic +mysticism. So in the case of the Tridandins, the Dacan[=a]mis, and +other sects attributed to Civaism, as well as the Sm[=a]rtas (orthodox +Brahmans) who professed Civaism. According to Wilson the Tridandins +(whose triple, _tri_, staff, _da[n.][d.]i_, indicates control of word, +thought, and deed) are Southern Vishnuites of the R[=a]m[=a]nuja sect, +though some of them claim to be Vedantic Civaites. Nominally Civaite +are also the Southern 'Saints,' Sittars (Sanskrit Siddhas), but these +are a modern sect whose religion has been taught them by Islam, or +possibly by Christianity.[36] The extreme North and South are the +districts where Civaism as a popular religion has, or had, its firmest +hold, and it is for this reason that the higher religions which obtain +in these districts are given to Civa. But in reality they simply take +Civa, the great god of the neighborhood, in order to have a name for +their monotheistic god, exactly as missionaries among the American +Indians pray to the Great Spirit, to adapt themselves to their +audience's comprehension. In India, as in this country, they that +proselyte would prefer to use their own terminology, but they wisely +use that of their hearers. + +We find no evidence to prove that there were ever really sectarian +Civaites who did not from the beginning practice brutal rites, or else +soon become ascetics of the lowest and most despicable sort. For +philosophical Civaites were never sectaries. They cared little whether +the All-god or One they argued about was called Vishnu or Civa. But +whenever one finds a true Civaite devotee, that is, a man that will +not worship Vishnu but holds fast to Civa as the only manifestation of +the supreme divinity, he will notice that such an one quickly becomes +obscene, brutal, prone to bloodshed, apt for any disgusting practice, +intellectually void, and morally beneath contempt. If the Civaite be +an ascetic his asceticism will be the result either of his lack of +intelligence (as in the case of the sects to be described immediately) +or of his cunning, for he knows that there are plenty of people who +will save him the trouble of earning a living. Now this is not the +case with the Vishnuites. To be sure there are Vishnuites that are no +better than Civaites, but there are also strict Vishnuites, +exclusively devotees of Vishnu, who are and remain pure, not brutal, +haters of bloodshed, apt for no disgusting practices, intellectually +admirable, and morally above reproach. In other words, there are +to-day great numbers of Vishnuites who continue to be really +Vishnuites, and yet are really intelligent and moral. This has never +been the case with real Civaites. Again, as Willams[37] has pointed +out, Civaism is a cheap religion; Krishnaism is costly. The Civaite +needs for his cult only a phallus pebble, _bilva_ leaves and water. +The Krishnaite is expected to pay heavily for _leitourgiai_. But +Civaism is cheap because Civaites are poor, the dregs of society; it +is not adopted because it is cheap. + +We think, therefore, that to describe Civaism as indifferently +pantheistic or dualistic, and to argue that it must have been +pantheistic a few centuries after the Christian era because Civa at +that time in scholastic philosophy and among certain intellectual +sects was regarded as the one god, tends to obscure the historical +relation of the sects. Without further argumentation on this point, we +shall explain what in our view is necessary to a true understanding of +the mutual relations between Civaites and Vishnuites in the past. + +Monotheism[38] and pantheism are respectively the religious expression +of the S[=a]nkhya and Ved[=a]nta systems of philosophy. Civaism, +Krishnaism, and R[=a]maism are all originally deistic. Pure Civaism +has remained so to this day, not only in all its popular sectarian +expressions, but also in the Brahmanic Civaism of the early epic, and +in the Civaism which expresses itself in the adoration-formulae of the +literature of the Renaissance. But there is a pseudo-Civaism which +starts up from the ninth to the twelfth centuries, and tries to work +Civa's name into a pantheistic system of philosophy. Every such +attempt, however, and all of them are the reflex of the growing +importance of Vedantic ideas, fails as such to produce a religion. If +the movement becomes popular and develops into a religious system for +the masses, it at once gives up Civa and takes up Vishnu, or, keeping +Civa, it drops pantheism and becomes a low form of sectarian ascetism. +Civaism is, therefore, fundamentally non-Vedantic, and Unitarian.[39] + +On the other hand, while Krishnaism and Ramaism begin as deistic +(tribal) cults, they are soon absorbed into Brahmanic Vishnuism. Now +Vishnuism is essentially Brahmanistic, and the only orthodox +(Brahmanic) system is that which holds to the completion of Vedic +pantheism. The first systematic philosophy, however, was not orthodox. +It was the S[=a]nkhya, which peeps out in the dualism of the oldest +distinctly philosophical works, and lingers in the Puranic S[=a]nkhya. +The marks of this dualism we have shown in the Divine Song of the +epic. It is by means of it that Krishnaism as an expression of this +heterodox Vishnuism became possible. Vishnuism was soon rescued from +the dualists, and became again what it was originally, an expression +of pantheism. But Vishnu carried Krishna with him as his _alter ego_, +and in the epic the two are finally one All-god. Vedantic philosopliy +continued to present Vishnu rather than Civa as its All-god, until +to-day Vishnuism is the sectarian aspect of the Ved[=a]nta system. But +with Vishnu have risen Krishna and R[=a]ma as still further types of +the All-god. Thus it is that Vishnuism, whether as Krishnaism or as +Ramaism, is to-day a pantheistic religion. But, while R[=a]ma is the +god of the philosophical sects, and, therefore, is almost entirely a +pantheistic god; Krishna, who was always a plebeian, is continually +reverting, so to speak, to himself; that is to say, he is more +affected by the vulgar, and as the vulgar are more prone, by whatever +sectarian name they call themselves, to worship one idol, it happens +that Krishna in the eyes of his following is less of a pantheistic god +than is R[=a]ma. Here again, therefore, it is necessary to draw the +line not so much between names of sects as between intelligent and +unintelligent people. For Krishnaism, despite all that has been done +for Krishna by the philosophers of his church, in this regard +resembles Civaism, that it represents the religion of unintelligent +(though wealthy) classes, who revere Krishna as their one pet god, +without much more thought of his being an All-god _avatar_ than is +spent by the ordinary Civaite on the purely nominal trinitarianism +which has been foisted upon Civa. + +But we must now give an account of the low sectaries, the +miracle-mongers, jugglers,[40] and ascetic whimsicalities, which +together stand under the phallic standard of Civaism. Ancient and +recent observers enumerate a sad list of them. The devotees of the +'highest bird' are a low set of ascetics, who live on voluntary alms, +the result of their affectation of extreme penance. The +[=U]rdhvab[=a]hus, 'Up-arms,' raise their arms till they are unable to +lower them again. The [=A]k[=a]camukhas, 'Sky-facers,' hold their +faces toward the sky till the muscles stiffen, and they live thus +always. The Nakhls, 'Nail' ascetics, allow their nails to grow through +their clenched hands, which unfits them for work (but they are all too +religiously lazy to work), and makes it necessary for the credulous +faithful to support them. Some of these, like the K[=a]naph[=a]ts, +'Ear-splitters,' who pierce the ear with heavy rings, have been +respectable Yogis in the past, but most of them have lost what sense +their philosophic founders attached to the sign, and keep only the +latter as their religion. Some, such as the [=U]kharas and +S[=u]kharas, appear to have no distinctive features, all of them being +the 'refuse of beggars' (Wilson). Others claim virtue on the strength +of nudity, and subdue their passions literally with lock and key. The +'Potmen,' the 'Skull-men,' G[=u]daras and K[=a]p[=a]likas, are +distinguished, as their names imply, only by their vessels. The +former, however, are the remnant of a once thoughtful sect known by +name since the sixth century, and K[=a]naph[=a]ts and K[=a]p[=a]likas +both show that very likely others among these wretches are but the +residue of ancient Civaite sects, who began as philosophers (perhaps +Buddhists), and became only ascetic and thus degraded; for, Civa +apparently has no power to make his worshippers better than himself, +and he is a dirty monster, now and then galvanized into the +resemblance of a decent god. + +There is a well-known verse, not in Manu, but attributed to him (and +for that reason quite a modern forgery),[41] which declares that +Cambhu (Civa) is the god of priests; Vishnu, the god of warriors; +Brahm[=a], the god of the V[=a]icyas (farmers and traders); and +Ganeca, the god of slaves. It is, on the contrary, Civa himself, not +his son Ganeca, who is the 'god of low people' in the early +literature. It is he who 'destroys sacrifice,' and is anything but a +god of priests till he is carefully made over by the latter. Nowadays +some Brahmans profess the Civaite faith, but they are Vishnuite if +really sectarian. + + +No Brahman, for instance, will serve at a Civa shrine, except possibly +at Benares, where among more than an hundred shrines to Civa and his +family, Vishnu has but one; and though he will occasionally perform +service even in a heretic Jain temple he will not lower himself to +worship the Linga. Nor is it true that Civa is a patron of literature. +Like Ganeca, his son, Civa may upset everything if he be not properly +placated, and consequently there is, at the beginning of every +enterprise (among others, literary enterprises) in the Renaissance +literature, but never in the works of religion or law or in any but +modern profane literature, an invocation to Civa. But he is no more a +patron of literature than is Ganeca, or in other words, Civaism is not +more literary than is Ganecaism. In a literary country no religion is +so illiterate as Civaism, no writings are so inane as are those in his +honor. There is no poem, no religious literary monument, no Pur[=a]na +even, dedicated to Civa, that has any literary merit. All that is +readable in sectarian literature, the best Pur[=a]nas, the Divine +Song, the sectarian R[=a]m[=a]yana, come from Vishnuism. Civaism has +nothing to compare with this, except in the works of them that pretend +to be Civaites but are really not sectaries, like the Sittars and the +author of the Cvet[=a]cvatara. Civa as a 'patron of literature' takes +just the place taken by Ganeca in the present beginning of the +Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata. Vy[=a]sa has here composed the poem[42] but Ganeca +is invoked as Vighneca, 'Lord of difficulties,' to help the poet write +it out. Vy[=a]sa does the intellectual work and Ganeca performs the +manual labor. Vishnuism, in a word, is the only cultivated (native) +sectarian religion of India; and the orthodox cult, in that it is +Vedantic, lies nearer to Vishnuism than to Civaism. Why then does one +find Civa invoked by philosophy? Because monotheism in distinction +from pantheism was the belief of the wise in the first centuries after +the Christian era, till the genius of Cankara definitively raised +pantheism in alliance with orthodoxy to be the more esteemed; and +because Civa alone, when the choice lay between him and Vishnu, could +be selected as the One God. For Vishnuism was now merged with +Krishnaism, a new vulgar cult, and Civa was an old and venerated god, +long since a member of the Brahmanic pantheon. The connection between +Civaism and the S[=a]nkhya system gave it a more respectable and +archaic appearance in the eyes of the conservative Brahman, while the +original asceticism of Civa undoubtedly appealed much more to +Brahmanic feeling than did the sentimentalism of the Vishnuite. In the +extreme North, in the ninth century, philosophy and Civaism are +nominally allied, but really sectarian Civaism was the cult of the +lowest, not of the highest classes. Many of the professed Civaites are +to-day tending to Vedantism, which is the proper philosophy of the +Vishnuite; and the Civaite sects are waning before the Vishnuite +power, not only in the middle North, where the mass of the population +is devoted to Vishnu, but even in Civa's later provinces in the +extreme South. The social distribution of the sectaries in the Middle +Ages was such that one may assign older Vishnuism to the middle +classes, and Civaism to the highest on its philosophical and decently +ascetic side, but to the lowest on its phallic and magical side. + +But none of the Civaite sects we have mentioned, imbecile as appear to +be the impostors that represent them, are equal in despicable traits +to the C[=a]ktas. These worshippers of the androgynous Civa (or of +Cakti, the female principle alone), do, indeed, include some +Vishnuites among themselves, but they are originally and prevailingly +Civaite.[43] Blood-offerings and human sacrifices are a modern and an +ancient Trait of Civa-worship;[44] and the hill-tribes of the Vindhya +and the classical drama show that the cult of Aghor[=i] is a Civaite +manifestation which is at once old and derived from un-Aryan sources. +Aghor[=i] and all female monsters naturally associate with Civa, who +is their intellectual and moral counterpart. The older Aghoris exacted +human sacrifice in honor of Devi, P[=a]rvat[=i], the wife of Civa.[2] +The adoration of the female side of a god is as old as the Rig Veda, +but Civaism has combined this cult with features probably derived from +other independent local cults, such as that of P[=a]rvat[=i], the +'mountain goddess.' They are all united in the person of Civa's wife +of many names, the 'great goddess,' Mah[=a]dev[=i], the 'hard' +Durg[=a], K[=a]l[=i], Um[=a], etc.[45] And it is to this ferocious +she-monster that the most abject homage of the Civaites is paid. So +great is the terror inspired by Durg[=a] that they that are not +Civaites at all yet join in her festival; for which purpose, +apparently, she is dubbed Vishnu's 'sister.' But it is not +blood-guiltiness alone which is laid at the door of this cult. The +sectarian religions have an exoteric and an esoteric side, the +religion of the 'right hand' and of the 'left hand.' It is the latter +(to which belong many that deny the fact) wherein centre the +abominations of Civaism; in less degree, those of Vishnuism also. +Obscenity is the soul of this cult. Bestiality equalled only by the +orgies of the Indic savages among the hill-tribes is the form of this +'religion.'[47] It is screened by an Orphic philosophy, for is not +Nature or Illusion the female side of the Divine Male? It is screened +again by religious fervor, for it is pious profligacy that prompts the +rites. It is induced practically by an initial carousal and +drunkenness; and this is antique, for even the old _soma_-feasts were +to a great extent drunken revels, and the gods have got drunk from the +time of the Vedas[48] to do their greatest deeds. But in practice, +Cakti-worship, when unveiled, amounts to this, that men and women of +the same class and family indulge in a Bacchanalian orgy, and that, as +they proceed, they give themselves over to every excess which liquor +and lust can prompt. A description of the different rites would be to +reduplicate an account of indecencies, of which the least vile is too +esoteric to sketch faithfully. Vaguely to outline one such religious +festival will suffice. A naked woman, the wife of the chief priest, +sits in the middle of the 'holy circle.' She represents Durg[=a], the +divine female principle. The Bacchic orgy begins with hard drinking. +Civa as Bh[=a]irava, 'the dreadful,' has his human counterpart also, +who must then and there pair with the impersonated Durg[=a]. The +worship proper consists in the repetition of meaningless _mantra_ +syllables and yells; the worship improper, in indulgence in 'wine and +women' (particularly enjoined in the rite-books called Tantras). Human +sacrifice at these rites is said to be extinct at the present day.[49] + +But blood-lust is appeased by the hacking of their own bodies. +Garments are cast in a heap. Lots are drawn for the women's +garments[50] by the men. With her whose clothes he gets each man +continues the debauch, inviting incest in addition to all other +excess.[51] + +The older Vishnuite sects (P[=a][=n]car[=a]tras, etc.) may have had +some of this filth in their make-up; but mass for mass the practices +are characteristic of Civaism and not of Vishnuism.[52] Especially +Civaite, however, is the 'mother worship,' to which reference was made +in the chapter on epic Hinduism. These 'mothers' are guardian +goddesses, or fiends of disease, etc. One may not claim that all +C[=a]ktas are Civaites, but how small a part of Vishnuism is occupied +with Cakti-worship can be estimated only by surveying the whole body +of worshippers of that name. + +We cannot leave the lust and murder of modern Civaism without speaking +of still another sect which hangs upon the heels of K[=a]l[=i], that +of the Thugs. It may, indeed, be questioned whether Civa should be +responsible for the doings of his spouse, K[=a]l[=i]. But like seeks +like, and there is every historical justification in making out Civa +to be as bad as the company he keeps. Durg[=a] and K[=a]l[=i] are not +vainly looked upon as Civa's female side. So that a sect like the +Thugs,[53] which worshipped K[=a]li, may, it is true, be taken out of +the Civaite sects, but only if one will split Civaism in two and +reproduce the original condition, wherein Civa was one monster and +K[=a]li was another; which is scarcely possible after the two have for +centuries been looked upon as identical. With this in mind it may be +granted that the Thugs payed reverence to K[=a]li, rather than to her +lord. Moreover, many of them were Mohammedans; but, for our purpose, +the significant fact is that when the Thugs were Hindus they were +K[=a]li-Civaites. And we believe that these secret murderers, strange +as it seems, originated in a reformatory movement. As is well known, +it was a religious principle with them not to spill blood.[54] They +always throttled. They were, of course, when they first became known m +1799 (Sherwood's account), nothing but robbers and murderers. But, +like the other Civaite monstrosities, they regarded their work as a +religious act, and always invoked K[=a]li if they were Hindus. We +think it probable, therefore, that the sect originated among the +K[=a]li-worshippers as a protest against blood-letting. Admitting that +robbery is under Civa's protection (Civa is 'god of robbers'), and +that K[=a]li wanted victims, a sect probably claimed that the victims +should be throttled, and not bled. Not that this was necessarily a new +reform. There is every reason to suppose that most of Civa's females +are aboriginal wild-tribe divinities. Now among these savages one sees +at times a distinct refusal to bleed human victims. Thuggery may then +have been the claim of an old conservative party, who wished to keep +up the traditional throttling; though this is pure speculation, for, +at the time when the sect became exposed, this means of death was +merely the safest way to kill. They insisted always on being called +Thugs, and scorned the name of thief. They were suppressed by 1840. +Reynolds describes them as "mostly men of mild and unobtrusive +manners, possessing a cheerful disposition."[55] + + + +THE VISHNUITE SECTS. + +There is a formal idealistic Civaism, as we have shown, and there was +once a dualistic Vishnuism; but in general the Vishnuite is an +idealist. To comprehend the quarrels among the sects of this religion, +however, it will be necessary to examine the radical philosophical +differences of their founders, for one passes, in going from modern +Civaism to Vishnuism, out of ignorant superstition into philosophical +religion, of which many even of the weaker traits are but recent +Hinduistic effeminacy substituted for an older manly thinking. + +The complex of Vishnuite sects presents at first rather a confused +appearance, but we think that we can make the whole body separate +itself clearly enough into its component parts, if the reader will +pause at the threshold and before entering the edifice look at the +foundation and the outer plan of Vedantic philosophy. + +At the beginning of Colebrooke's essays on Hindu philosophy he +thus describes four of the recognized systems: "The two +M[=i]m[=a]ms[=a]s... are emphatically orthodox. The prior one, +_p[=u]rva_[56] which has J[=a]imini for its founder, teaches the art +of reasoning, with the express view of aiding the interpretation of +the Vedas. The latter, _uttara_[57] commonly called Ved[=a]nta, and +attributed to Vy[=a]sa (or B[=a]dar[=a]yana), deduces from the text of +the Indian scriptures a refined psychology, which goes to a denial of +a material world. A different philosophical system, partly heterodox, +and partly conformable to the established Hindu creed, is the +S[=a]nkhya; of which also, as of the preceding, there are two schools; +one usually known by that name,[58] the other commonly termed +Yoga."[59] + +The eldest of these systems, as we have already had occasion to state, +is the dualistic S[=a]nkhya. It was still highly esteemed in the ninth +century, the time of the great Vedantist, Cankara.[60] A theistic form +of this atheistic philosophy is called the Puranic S[=a]nkhya, and +Pata[.n]jali's Yoga is thoroughly theistic. Radically opposed to the +dualistic S[=a]nkhya stands the Ved[=a]nta,[61] based on the +Upanishads that teach the identity of spirit and matter. + +As representative of the metaphysics of the S[=a]nkhya and Ved[=a]nta +systems respectively stand in general the two great religions of +India. The former, as we have shown, is still potent in the great Song +of the epic, and its principles are essentially those of early +Civaism. The latter, especially in its sectarian interpretation, with +which we have now to deal, has become the great religion oL India. But +there are two sectarian interpretations of Vishnu, and two +philosophical interpretations of the All-spirit in its relation to the +individual soul or spirit.[62] Again the individual spirit of man +either enjoys after death immortal happiness, as a being distinct from +the All-spirit; or the _jiva_, individual spirit, is absorbed into the +All-spirit (losing all individuality, but still conscious of +happiness); or the individual spirit is absorbed into an All-spirit +that has no happiness or affection of any kind. + +Now the strict philosophy of the Ved[=a]nta adopts the last view _in +toto_. The individual spirit (soul, self) becomes one with the +universal Spirit, losing individuality and consciousness, for the +universal Spirit itself is not affected by any quality or condition. A +creative force without attributes, this is the All-spirit of Cankara +and of the strict Vedantist. To Cankara the Creator was but a phase of +the All-spirit, and the former's immortality ended with his creation; +in other words, there is no immortal Creator, only an immortal +creative power. + +In the twelfth century arose another great leader of thought, +R[=a]m[=a]nuja. He disputed the correctness of Cankara's +interpretation of Vedantic principles. It is maintained by some that +Cankara's interpretation is really correct, but for our purpose that +is neither here nor there.[63] Cankara's _brahma_ is the +one and only being, pure being, or pure thought. Thought is not an +attribute of _brahma_, it is _brahma_. Opposed to this pure being +(thought) stands _m[=a]y[=a]_, illusion, the material cause of the +seen world. It is neither being nor not-being; it is the cause of the +appearance of things, in that it is associated with _brahma_, and in +so far only is _brahma_ rightly the Lord. The infinite part of each +individual is _brahma_; the finite part is _m[=a]y[=a]._ Thus +B[=a]dar[=a]yana (author of the Ved[=a]nta S[=u]tras) says that the +individual is only illusion. + +R[=a]m[=a]nuja[64], on the other hand, teaches a _brahma_ that is not +only universal, but is the universal personal Lord, a supreme +conscious and willing God. Far from being devoid of attributes, like +Cankara's _brahma_, the _brahma_ of R[=a]m[=a]nuja has all attributes, +chief of which is thought or intelligence. The Lord contains in +himself the elements of that plurality which Cankara regards as +illusion. As contrasted with the dualistic S[=a]nkhya phiiosophy both +of these systems inculcate monism. But according to Cankara all +difference is illusion; while according to R[=a]m[=a]nuja _brahma_ is +not homogeneous, but in the diversity of the world about us he is +truly manifested. Cankara's _m[=a]y[=a]_ is R[=a]m[=a]nuja's body of +_(brahma)_ the Lord. Cankara's personal god exists only by collusion +with illusion, and hence is illusory. The _brahma_ of R[=a]m[=a]nuja +is a personal god, the omnipotent, omniscient, Lord of a real world. +Moreover, from an eschatological point of view, Cankara explains +salvation, the release from re-birth, _sams[=a]ra_, as complete union +with this unqualified _brahma_, consequently as loss of individuality +as well as loss of happiness. But R[=a]m[=a]nuja defines salvation as +the departure from earth forever of the individual +spirit, which enters a heaven where it will enjoy perennial bliss[65]. + +R[=a]m[=a]nuja's doctrine inspires the sectarian pantheism of the +present time. In this there is a metaphysical basis of conduct, a +personal god to be loved or feared, the hope of bliss hereafter. In +its essential features it is a very old belief, far older than the +philosophy which formulates it[66]. Thus, after the hard saying "fools +desire heaven," this desire reasserted itself, and under +R[=a]m[=a]nuja's genial interpretation of the Ved[=a]nta S[=u]tras the +pious man was enabled to build up his cheerful hope again, withal on +the basis of a logic as difficult to controvert as was that of Cankara +himself[67]. + +Thus far the product of Vedantism is deism. But now with two steps one +arrives at the inner portal of sectarianism. First, if _brahma_ is a +personal god, which of the gods is he, this personal All-spirit? As a +general thing the Vedantist answers, 'he is Vishnu'; and adds, +'Vishnu, who embraces as their superior those other gods, Civa, and +Brahm[=a].' But the sectary is not content with making the All-god one +with Vishnu. Vishnu was manifested in the flesh, some say as Krishna, +some say as R[=a]ma[68]. The relation of sectary to Vishnuite, and to +the All-spirit deist, may be illustrated most clearly by comparison +with Occidental religions. One may not acknowledge any personal god as +the absolute Supreme Power; again, one may say that this Supreme Power +is a +personal god, Jehovah; again, Jehovah may or may not be regarded as +one with Christ. The minuter ramifications of the Christian church +then correspond to the sub-sects of Krishnaism or Ramaism.[69] + +The Occidental and Oriental conceptions of the trinity are, however, +not identical. For in India the trinity, from the Vishnuite point of +view, is an amalgamation of Civa and Brahm[=a] with Vishnu, +irrespective of the question whether Vishnu be manifest in Krishna or +not; while the Christian trinity amalgamates the form that corresponds +to Vishnu with the one that corresponds to Krishna.[70] To the +orthodox Brahman, on the other hand, as Williams has very well put it, +Krishna is an incarnation of Vishnu, who is himself only an +incarnation, that is, a form, of God. + +Having now explained the two principal divisions of the modern sects, +we can lead the reader into the church of Vishnu. It is a church of +two great parties, each being variously subdivided. Of these two +parties the Krishnaites are intellectually the weaker, and hence +numerically the stronger. All Krishnaites, of course, identify the +man-god Krishna with Vishnu, and their sub-sects revert to various +teachers, of whom the larger number are of comparatively recent date, +although as a body the Krishnaites may claim an antiquity as great, if +not greater, than that of the Ramaites. + +But the latter party, in their various sub-sects, all claim as +their founder either R[=a]m[=a]nuja himself or one of his followers; +and since, if the claim be granted, the R[=a]ma sects do but continue +his work, we shall begin by following out the result of his teaching +as it was interpreted by his disciples; especially since the +Krishnaites have left to the Ramaites most of the philosophizing of +the church, and devoted themselves more exclusively to the moralities +and immoralities of their more practical religion. As a matter of +fact, the Ramaites to-day are less religious than philosophical, while +in the case of the Krishnaites, with some reservations, the contrary +may be said to be the case. + + +THE RAMAITES. + +Since the chief characteristic of growth among Hindu sectaries is a +sort of segmentation, like that which conditions the development of +amoebas and other lower organisms, it is a forgone conclusion that the +Ramaites, having formed one body apart from the Krishnaites, will +immediately split up again into smaller segments. It is also a +foregone conclusion, since one is really dealing here with human +types, that these smaller segments will mutually hate and despise each +other much more than they hate their common adversaries. Just as, in +old times, a Calvinist hated a Lutheran more than he did a Russian +Christian (for he understood his quarrel better), so a 'cat-doctrine' +Ramaite hates a 'monkey-doctrine' Ramaite far more than he hates a +Krishnaite, while with a Civaite he often has an amicable union; +although the Krishnaite belittles the Ramaite's manifestation of +Vishnu, and the Civaite belittles Vishnu himself.[71] + +The chief point of difference theologically between the Ramaites is +the one just mentioned. The adherents of the 'cat-doctrine' teach that +God saves man as a cat takes up its kitten, without free-will on the +part of the latter. The monkey-doctrinaires teach that man, in order +to be saved, must reach out to their God (R[=a]ma, who is Vishnu, who, +again, is All-god, that is, _brahma_), and embrace their God as a +monkey does its mother.[72] The resemblance to the Occidental sects +here becomes still more interesting. But we have given an earlier +example of the doctrine of free grace from the epic, and can now only +locate the modern sects that still argue the question. The 'monkey' +Ramaites are a sect of the North (_vada_), and hence are called +Vada-galais;[73] the 'cat' or Calvinistic Ramaites of the South +(_ten_), are called Ten-galais. Outwardly these sects differ in having +diverse _mantras_, greetings, dress, and especially in the +forehead-signs, which show whether the 'mark of Vishnu' shall +represent (Vadagal belief) one or (Tengal) two feet of the god +(expressed by vertical lines[74] painted fresh daily on the forehead). +The Ten-galais, according to a recent account, are the more numerous +and the more materialistic.[75] + +All the Ramaites, on the other hand, hold that (1) the deity is not +devoid of qualities; (2) Vishnu is the deity and should be worshipped +with Lakshm[=i], his wife; (3) R[=a]ma is the human _avatar_ of +Vishnu; (4) R[=a]m[=a]nuja and all the great teachers since his day +are also _avatars_ of Vishnu. + +In upper India, about the Ganges, R[=a]m[=a]nuja's disciple, +R[=a]m[=a]nand (fifth in descent), who lived in the fourteenth +century, has more followers than has the founder. His disciples +worship the divine ape, Hanuman[76] (conspicuous in both epics), as +well as R[=a]ma. They are called 'the liberated,' Avadh[=u]tas, but +whether because they are freed from caste-restrictions,[77] or from +the strict rules of eating enjoined by R[=a]m[=a]nuja, is doubtful. +R[=a]m[=a]nand himself had in turn twelve disciples. Of these the most +famaous is Kab[=i]r, whose followers, the Kab[=i]r Panth[=i]s (sect), +are widely spread, and of whom no less a person than N[=a]nak, the +Sikh, claimed to be a successor. But it will be more convenient to +describe the Sikhs hereafter. Of R[=a]m[=a]nand's other disciples that +founded sects may be mentioned Kil, whose sectaries, the Kh[=a]kis, of +Oude, unite successfully R[=a]ma-worship, Hanuman-worship, and Civaite +fashions (thus presenting a mixture like that of the southern +M[=a]dhvas, who unite the images of Civa and Vishnu). The R[=a]s +D[=a]sa sect, again, owes to its founder the black C[=a]lagr[=a]ma +pebble, an object of reverent awe, which gives rise to a sort of +sub-cult subsequently imitated by others.[78] Another widely-spread +sect which claim R[=a]m[=a]nand as their founder's teacher is that of +the D[=a]d[=u] Panth[=i]s. This branch also of the Ramaites we shall +more appropriately discuss under the head of deism (below). Finally, +we have to mention, as an outcome of the R[=a]m[=a]nand faith, the +modern R[=a]m[=a]yana, Ramcaritmanas, the new bible of the sect, +composed in the sixteenth century by Tulas[=i]d[=a]sa ('slave of +Vishnu'),the greatest of modern Hindu poets. What the Divine Song and +the Bh[=a]gavata Pur[=a]na are to the Krishnaite, the older (epic) +R[=a]m[=a]yana of V[=a]lm[=i]ki and Tulas[=i]d[=a]sa's new poem (of +the same name) are to the Ramaite.[79] + + +THE KRISHNAITES. + +There are two great sects that worship Vishnu as especially manifested +in the human form of Krishna. But, as distinguished from the +philosophical Ramaite, the Krishnaite is not satisfied with a +declaration of faith in the man-god, and in fact his chief cult is of +the child-god Krishna, the B[=a]la Gop[=a]la or Infant Shepherd. This +recalls the older Krishna (of the Harivanca), whose sporting with the +milk-maids is a favorite topic in later Krishnaite literature. As a +formulated cult, consisting for the most part of observances based on +the mystic side of affection for the personal saver of man (the +_bhakti_ principle of 'devotion,' erotically expanded[80]), this +worship obtains both among C[=a]itanyas and Vallabhas, sects that +arose in the sixteenth century.[81] + +C[=a]itanya, born in Bengal in 1485, of whom it is fabled that wise +men came and gave homage to him while he was yet a child, was active +in Bengal and Orissa, where his sect (named after him) is one of the +most important at the present day. C[=a]itanya preached a practical as +well as a theoretical reform. He taught the equality of all +worshippers of whatever caste, and the religious virtue of marriage. +At the present day caste-feeling and religious profession are somewhat +at variance. But a compromise is affected. While in the temple the +high-caste C[=a]itanyas regard their lowly co-religionists as equals; +when out of it they become again arrogantly high-caste, Making a +virtue of marriage instead of celibacy caused the sect to become +popular with the middle and lower classes, but its adherents are +usually drawn from the dregs of the populace.[82] The principle of +love for God (that is, for Krishna) is especially dwelt upon by +C[=a]itanya. The devotee should feel such affection as is felt by a +young man for a girl. To exercise or inspire this rapt and mystic +devotion, recourse is had to singing, dancing. and other familiar +means of arousing religious fervor. If the dancing devotee swoons it +is a sign that God accepts his love. At the present day C[=a]itanya +himself is regarded as the incarnate deity. He and his two chief +disciples, who (like all Gosains, religious Teachers) are divine, form +a little sub-trinity for the sect.[83] This sect, like so many others, +began as a reform, only to become worse than its rivals. + +Vallabha or Vallabh[=a]e[=a]rya, 'Teacher Vallabha,' was also of the +sixteenth century, but his sect belongs especially to the Northwest, +while the sphere of C[=a]itanya's influence was in the Northeast. He +lived near the Ganges, is said to have been a scholar, and wrote a +commentary on the early life of Krishna in the tenth book of the +Bh[=a]gavata Pur[=a]na, and on the Divine +Song. In Bombay and Kutch his disciples are most numerous, the +Epicureans of Vishnuism. For their precept is 'eat and enjoy.' No +mortification of the senses is allowed. Human love typifies divine +love.[84] The teachers acquired great renown and power, assuming and +maintaining the haughty title of _mah[=a] r[=a]jas_ ('great kings'). +They are as gods, and command absolutely their devotees.[85] Here the +worship of the Infant Krishna reaches its greatest height (or depth). +The image of the infant god is daily clothed, bathed, anointed, and +worshipped. Religious exercises have more or less of an erotic +tendency, and here, if anywhere, as one may learn from Wilson, +Williams, and other modern writers on this sect, there are almost as +great excesses as are committed among the Civaite sects. As a sect it +is an odd combination of sensual worship and theological speculation, +for they have considerable sectarian literature. The most renowned +festival of the Infant Krishna is the celebration of the stable-birth +of Krishna and of the Madonna (bearing him on her breast), but this we +have discussed already. Besides this the Jagann[=a]th procession in +Bengal and Orissa, and the great autumnal picnic called the R[=a]s +Y[=a]tra, are famous occasions for displaying Krishnaite, or, indeed, +general Vishnuite zeal. At the R[=a]s Y[=a]tra assemble musicians, +dancers, jugglers, and other joy-creating additions to the religious +feast, the ostensible reason for which is the commemoration of +Krishna's dances with the milk-maids. The devotees belong chiefly to +the wealthy middle classes. These low sects worship Krishna +with R[=a]dh[=a] (his mistress, instead of Lakshm[=i], Vishnu's wife). +Here, too, as Krishnaites rather than as Vishnuites, are found the +'left-hand' worshippers of the female power.[86] + +This sensual corruption of Vishnuism, which is really not Vishnuism +but simple Krishnaism, led to two prominent reforms within the fold. +Among the Vallabhas arose in protest the Caran D[=a]s[=i]s, who have +taken from the M[=a]dhvas of the South their Ten Commandments (against +lying, reviling, harsh speech, idle talk, theft, adultery, injury to +life, imagining evil, hate, and pride); and evolved for themselves the +tenet that faith without works is dead. The same protest was made +against the Vallabhas by Sv[=a]mi N[=a]r[=a]yana. He was born about +1780 near Lucknow, and advocated a return to Vallabha's purer faith, +which had been corrupted. Probably most of the older reformers have +had much the same career as had Sv[=a]mi N[=a]r[=a]yana. Exalted by +the people, who were persuaded by his mesmeric eloquence, he soon +became a political figure, a martyr of persecution, a triumphant +victor, and then an ascetic, living in seclusion; whence he emerged +occasionally to go on tours "like a bishop visiting his diocese" +(Williams). He is worshipped as a god.[87] The sect numbers to-day a +quarter of a million, some being celibate clergy, some householders. + +In contrast to Vishnuism the following points are characteristic of +orthodox Brahmanism (Cankara's Vedantism): The orthodox believe that +there is one spirit in three forms, co-eternal impersonal +essences--being, knowledge, and joy. When it wills it becomes +personal, exists in the object, knows, rejoices, associating itself +with illusion. In this state it has three corporeal forms, causal, +subtile, gross. With the causal body (identified with illusion, +ignorance) it becomes the Supreme Lord, that is, the totality of +dreamless human spirits. With the subtile form it becomes the golden +seed, or thread-spirit (dreaming spirits); with the gross form it +becomes V[=i]r[=a]j, V[=a]icv[=a]nara, the waking spirit. The lowest +state is that of being wide awake. The personal god (Brahm[=a], +Vishnu, Civa, of the sectaries) is this it as influenced by the three +qualities, _rajas, sattva, tamas_ (passion, truth, and ignorance), +respectively. Three essences, three corporeal forms, and three +qualities constitute, therefore, the threefold trinity of the +orthodox, who are called Sm[=a]rtas, they that 'hold to +tradition.'[88] What the sectary rejects, namely, the scriptures (Veda +and Upanishads, etc.) and the caste system, that the orthodox retains; +what the sectary holds, namely, R[=a]m[=a]nuja's qualified +non-duality, and absolute godhead in Civa or Krishna, that the +orthodox rejects (although he may receive the sectary's god into his +pantheon). Some of the sects still keep respect for caste, excusing +their respect on the ground that "it is well enough for God to ignore +social distinctions, but not for man." But caste-distinctions are +generally ignored, or there is positive hate of the Brahman. In +antithesis to the orthodox, the sectaries all hold one other important +tenet. From the idea of _bhakti_, faith or devotion, was developed +that of love for Krishna, and then (as an indication of devotion) the +confession of the name of the Lord as a means of grace. Hence, on the +one hand, the meaningless repetition of the sect's special _kirttan_ +or liturgies, and _mantra,_ or religious formula; the devotion, +demanded by the priest, of _man, tan, dhan_ (mind, body,[89] and +property); and finally, the whole theory of death-bed confessions. +Sinner or heretic, if one die at last with Krishna's name upon the +lips he will be saved.[90] + +Of the sub-divisions of the sub-sects that we have described, the +numbers often run into scores. But either their differences are based +on indifferent matters of detail in the cult and religious practice; +or the new sect is distinguished from the old simply by its endeavor +to make for greater holiness or purity as sub-reformers of older +sects. For all the sects appear to begin as reformers, and later to +split up in the process of re-reformation. + +Two general classes of devotees, besides these, remain to be spoken +of. The Sanny[=a]sin, 'renouncer,' was of old a Brahman ascetic. +Nowadays, according to Wilson, he is generally a Civaite mendicant. +But any sect may have its Sanny[=a]sins, as it may have its +V[=a]ir[=a]gins, 'passionless ones'; although the latter name +generally applies to the Vishnuite ascetics of the South. + +Apart from all these sects, and in many ways most remarkable, are the +sun-worshippers. All over India the sun was (and is) worshipped, +either directly (as to-day by the Sauras),[91] or as an incarnate +deity in the form of the priest Nimba-[=a]ditya, who is said to have +arrested the sun's course at one time and to be the sun's +representative on earth. Both Puranic authority and inscriptional +evidence attest this more direct[92] continuance of the old Vedic +cult. Some of the finest old temples of India, both North and South, +were dedicated to the sun. + + +DEISTIC REFORMING SECTS. + +We have just referred to one or two reforming sects that still hold to +the sectarian deity. Among these the M[=a]dhvas, founded by (Madhva) +[=A]nandat[=i]rtha, are less Krishnaite or R[=a]maite than +Vishnuite,[93] and less Vishnuite than deist in general; so much so +that Williams declares they must have got their precepts from +Christianity, though this is open to Barth's objection that the +reforming deistic sects are so located as to make it more probable +that they derive from Mohammedanism. Madhva was born about 1200 on the +western coast, and opposed Cankara's pantheistic doctrine of +non-duality. He taught that the supreme spirit is essentially +different to matter and to the individual spirit.[94] He of course +denied absorption, and, though a Vishnuite, clearly belonged in spirit +to the older school before Vishnuism became so closely connected with +Ved[=a]nta doctrines. It is the same Sankhyan Vishnuism that one sees +in the Divine Song, that is, duality, and a continuation of +C[=a]ndilya's ancient heresy.[95] + +Here ends the course of India's native religions. From a thousand +years B.C. to as many years after she is practically uninfluenced by +foreign doctrine, save in externals. + +It is of course permissible to separate the reforming sects of +the last few decades from the older reformers; but since we see both +in their aim and in their foreign sources (amalgamation with cis-Indic +belief) only a logical if not an historical continuance of the older +deists, we prefer to treat of them all as factors of one whole; and, +from a broader point of view, as successors to the still older +pantheistic and unitarian reformers who first predicated a supreme +spirit as _ens realissimum_, when still surrounded by the clouds of +primitive polytheism. Kab[=i]r and D[=a]d[=u], the two most important +of the more modern reformers, we have named above as nominal adherents +of the R[=a]m[=a]nand sect. But neither was really a sectarian +Vishnuite.[96] Kab[=i]r, probably of the beginning of the fifteenth +century, the most famous of R[=a]m[=a]nand's disciples, has as +religious descendants the sect of the Kab[=i]r Panth[=i]s. But no less +an organization than that of the Sikhs look back to him, pretending to +be his followers. The religious tenets of the Kab[=i]r Panth[=i]s may +be described as those of unsectarian Unitarians. They conform to no +rites or _mantras_. Kab[=i]r assailed all idolatry, ridiculed the +authority of all scriptures, broke with Pundit and with Mohammedan, +taught that outer form is of no consequence, and that only the 'inner +man' is of importance. These Panth[=i]s are found in the South, but +are located chiefly in and about Benares, in Bengal in the East, and +in Bombay in the West. There are said to be twelve divisions of them. +Kab[=i]r assailed idolatry, but alas! Discipline requires +subordination. The Guru, Teacher, must be obeyed. It was not long +before he who rejected idolatry became himself a deity. And in fact, +every Teacher, Guru, of the sect was an absolute master of thought, +and was revered as a god.[97] + +In the fifteenth century, near Laho[.r]e, was born N[=a]nak (1469), +who is the nominal founder of the Sikhs, a body which, as N[=a]nak +claimed, was a sect embodying the religion of Kab[=i]r himself, of +whom he claimed to be a follower. The Granth, or bible of the Sikhs, +was first compiled by the pontiff Arjun, in the sixteenth century. +Besides the portions written by N[=a]nak and Arjun himself, there were +collected into it extracts from the works of 'twelve and a half' other +contributors to the volume, Kab[=i]r, R[=a]m[=a]nand, etc.[98] This +Granth was subsequently called the [=A]digranth, or First Book, to +distinguish it from the later, enlarged, collection of several books, +one of which was written by Guru Govind, the tenth Sikh pontiff. The +change from a religious body to a church militant and political body +was made by this Govind in the eighteenth century.[99] The religious +sect settled in the Punj[=a]b, became wealthy, excited the greed of +the government, was persecuted, rose in revolt, triumphed, and +eventually ruled the province. One of the first to precipitate the +uprising was the above-mentioned Arjun (fourth pontiff after +N[=a]nak). He played the king, was accused of rebellion, imprisoned, +and probably killed by the Mohammedans. The Sikhs flew to arms, and +from this time on they were perforce little more than robbers and +plunderers. Govind made the final change in organization, and, +so to speak, at one blow created a nation, for the church at his hands +was converted into the united militant body called Kh[=a]ls[=a] under +the Guru as pontiff-king, with a 'council of chiefs.' They were vowed +to hate the Mohammedan and Hindu. All caste-distinctions were +abrogated. Govind instituted the worship of Steel and Book (sword and +bible). His orders were: "If you meet a Mohammedan, kill him; if you +meet a Hindu, beat and plunder him." The Sikhs invoked the 'Creator' +as 'highest lord,' either in the form of Vishnu or R[=a]ma. Their +founder, N[=a]nak, kept, however, the Hindu traditions in regard to +rites. He was a travelled merchant, and is said to have been in +Arabia. As an example of the Sikh bible may serve the following +extracts, translated from the original dialect by Trumpp and Prinsep +respectively: + + _From Trumpp_: + + True is the Lord, of a true name, + But the import of (this) language is Infinite. + They say and beg, give, give! + The Liberal gives presents. + What may again be put before (him) + By which his court may be seen? + What word may be spoken by the mouth, + Which having heard he may bestow love? + Early reflect on the greatness of the True Name.[100] + From his beneficence comes clothing, + From his look the gate of salvation. + N[=a]nak (says): Thus it is known, + That he himself is altogether truthful. + + _From Prinsep_: + + Thou art the Lord, to thee be praise; + All life is with thee. + Thou art my parents; I, thy child. + All happiness is from thy mercy. + No one knows God. + + Highest Lord among the highest, + Of all that is thou art the regulator, + And all that is from thee obeys thy will, + Thy movements, thy pleasure; thou alone knowest. + N[=a]nak, thy slave is a free-will offering unto thee.[101] + +The religious side of this organization remained under the name of +Ud[=a]sis,[102] or Nirmalas ('spotless ones'). The [=A]digranth was +extended by other additions, such as that of Govind (above), and now +constitutes a large heterogeneous collection of hymns and moral rules. +Seven sub-sects of the religious body were developed in course of +time. The military body has a well-known history. They were complete +masters of the Punj[=a]b in 1764, and remained there as an independent +race till that province was occupied by the British in 1848. Both +Kab[=i]r and his follower N[=a]nak were essentially reformers. They +sought for a religion which should rest on the common truths of +Hinduism and Mohammedanism.[103] As a matter of form the political +party of Govind, the Govind Singhs, or Simhis, worshipped the Hindu +gods, and they showed respect for the Brahman priests for a long +while; but they rejected the Vedas and caste--the two most essential +features of orthodoxy.[104] + +D[=a]d[=u], the second great reformer, who shows Mohammedan influence +quite as plainly as does Kab[=i]r, also claimed R[=a]m[=a]nand as his +teacher. The sects that revert to D[=a]d[=u], D[=a]d[=u] Panth[=i]s, +now number more than half an hundred. Some of the votaries are +soldiers; some are mendicants. The founder lived about the end of the +sixteenth century. The outward +practices of the sects differ somewhat from those of other sects. Like +Persians, they expose their dead. They are found about [=A]jm[=i]r and +other districts of the North, in the seats of the Jains. Their faith +and reformatory tendency may be illustrated by the following extract, +as translated by Wilson:[105] + +"He is my God who maketh all things perfect. O foolish one, God is not +far from you. He is near you. God's power is always with you. Whatever +is to be is God's will. What will be will be. Therefore, long not for +grief or joy, because by seeking the one you may find the other. All +things are sweet to them that love God. I am satisfied with this, that +happiness is in proportion to devotion. O God, Thou who art truth, +grant me contentment, love, devotion, and faith.... Sit ye with +humility at the feet of God, and rid yourselves of the sickness of +your bodies. From the wickedness of the body there is much to fear, +because all sins enter into it. Therefore, let your dwelling be with +the fearless, and direct yourselves toward the light of God. For there +neither sword nor poison have power to destroy, and sin cannot enter. +The greatest wisdom is in preventing your minds from being influenced +by bad passions, and in meditating upon the One God. Afford help also +to the poor stranger. Meditate on Him by whom all things were +made."[106] + +This tradition of reform is maintained by others without intermission +down to the present century, and the M[=a]dhvas and Sv[=a]mi +N[=a]r[=a]yana, of whom we have spoken above as being more directly +connected with sectarian bodies, are, in fact, scarcely more concerned +with the tenets of the latter than were Kab[=i]r and D[=a]d[=u]. Thus +the seventeenth century sees the rising of the B[=a]b[=a]l[=a]ls and +S[=a]dhus; and the eighteenth, of the Satn[=a]mis, 'worshippers of the +true name,' who, with other minor bodies, such as the N[=a]ngi +Panthis, founded by Dedr[=a]j in this century, are really pure +deists, although some of them, like the Vi[t.]h[t.]hals, claim to be +followers of Kab[=i]r. And so they are, in spirit at least. + + +THE DEISM OF TO-DAY.[107] + +And thus one arrives at modern deism, not as the result of new +influences emanating from Christian teaching, but rather as the +legitimate successor of that deism which became almost monotheistic in +the first centuries after our era, and has ever since varied with +various reformers between two beliefs, inclining now to the +pantheistic, now to the unitarian conception, as the respective +reformers were influenced by Ved[=a]nta or S[=a]nkhya (later +Mohammedan) doctrine. + +The first of the great modern reformers is R[=a]mmohun Roy, who was +born in 1772, the son of a high-caste Krishnaite Brahman. He studied +Persian and Arabic literature at Patna, the centre of Indic Mohammedan +learning. When a mere boy, he composed a tract against idolatry which +caused him to be banished from home. He lived at Benares, the +stronghold of Brahmanism, and afterwards in Tibet, the centre of +Buddhism. "From his earliest years," says Williams, "he displayed an +eagerness to become an unbiassed student of all the religions of the +globe." He read the Vedas, the P[=a]li Buddhist works, the Kur[=a]n, +and the Old Testament in the original; and in later years even studied +Greek that he might properly understand the New Testament. The +scholastic philosophy of the Hindus appeared to him, however, as +something superior to what he found elsewhere, and his efforts were +directed mainly to purifying the national faith, especially from +idolatry. It was at his instigation that the practice of widow-burning +was abolished (in 1829) by the British. He was finally ostracized from +home as a schismatic, and retired to Calcutta, uniting about him a +small body of Hindus and Jains, and there established a sort of church +or sect, the [=A]tm[=i]ya Sabh[=a],'spiritual society' (1816), which +met at his house, but eventually was crushed by the hostility of the +orthodox priests. He finally adopted a kind of Broad-church +Christianity or Unitarianism, and in 1820, in his 'Precepts of Jesus' +and in one of his later works, admits that the simple moral code of +the New Testament and the doctrines of Christ were the best that he +knew. He never, however, abjured caste; and his adoption of +Christianity, of course, did not include the dogma of the trinity: +"Whatever excuse may be pleaded in favor of a plurality of persons of +the Deity can be offered with equal propriety in defence of +polytheism" (Final Appeal). Founded by him, the first theistic church +was organized in 1828 at Calcutta, and formally opened in 1830 as the +Br[=a]hma Sam[=a]j; ('the Congregation of God'). In doing this he +wished it to be understood that he was not founding a new sect, but a +pure monotheistic worship. The only creed was a confession of faith in +the unity of God. For himself, he abandoned pantheism, adopted the +belief in a final judgment, in miracles, and in Christ as the 'Founder +of true religion.' He died in 1833 in England. His successor, +Debendran[=a]th T[=a]gore,[108] was not appointed leader of the +Br[=a]hma Sam[=a]j; till much later; after he had founded a church of +his own ('the Truth-teaching Society'), which lasted for twenty years +(1839-1859), before it was united with the Br[=a]hma Sam[=a]j. In the +meantime Debendran[=a]th become a member of the latter society (1841). +He established the covenant of the Sam[=a]j, a vow taken by every +member to lead holy lives, to abstain from idolatry, to worship no +created object, but only God, the One without a second,[109] the +Creator, Preserver, Destroyer, the Giver of Emancipation. + +The church was newly organized in 1844 with a regularly appointed +president and minister, and with the administration of the oath to +each believer. This is the [=A]di Br[=a]hma Sam[=a]j, the First +Congregation, in distinction from the schism which soon took place. +The first quarrel in this church was due to a difference of opinion in +regard to the authority of the Vedas. Some members rejected them, +others maintained their infallibility; while between these extremes +lay various other opinions, some members questioning the infallibility +of the Vedas but maintaining their authority. By a majority vote it +was eventually decided that the Vedas (and Upanishads) were not +infallible. + +In the meantime in other provinces rival Sam[=a]jas had been formed, +and by 1850 there were several of these broad-minded Congregations, +all trammelled by their environment, but doing their best to be +liberal. + +We pause here in the compilation of the data recorded in this +paragraph to assert, independently of Professor Williams, who has +given us the historical facts, but would doubtless not wish to have +imputed to himself the following judgment which we are led to pass, +that the next step of the Sam[=a]j; placed it upon the only ground +where the objects of this church can be attained, and that in the +subsequent reform of this reform, which we shall have to record below, +a backward step has been taken. For Debendran[=a]th changed the +essential character of the Sam[=a]j from pantheistic theism to pure +deism. The inner circle of the society had a narrower declaration of +faith, but in his Br[=a]hma Dharma, published about 1850, +Debendran[=a]th formulated four articles of faith, to subscribe to +which admitted any one into the Sam[=a]j. These articles read as +follows: (t) Brahma (neuter) alone existed in the beginning before the +universe; naught else existed; It [He] created all the universe. (2) +It [He] is eternal, intelligent, infinite, blissful, self-governed +(independent), without parts, just one (neuter) without a second, +all-pervading, the ruler (masculine noun) of all, refuge of all, +omniscient, omnipotent, immovable, perfect, without parallel (all +these adjectives are neuter). (3) By worship of this One alone can +bliss be obtained in the next world and in this. (4) The worship of +this (neuter) One consists in love toward this (One) and in performing +works pleasant (to this One). + +This deism denies an incarnate God, scriptural authority, and the good +of rites and penance; but it teaches the efficacy of prayer and +repentance, and the belief in God as a personal Creator and Heavenly +Father.[110] Intellectual--anything but emotional--it failed to +satisfy many worshippers. And as a church it was conservative in +regard to social reforms. + +In 1858 Keshub Chunder Sen, a Vishnuite by family, then but twenty, +joined the Sam[=a]j, and being clever, young, eloquent, and +cultivated, he, after the manner of the Hindus, undertook to reform +the church he had just entered, first of all by urging the abolition +of caste-restrictions. Debendran[=a]th was liberal enough to be +willing to dispense with his own thread (the caste-mark), but too +wisely conservative to demand of his co-religionists so complete a +break with tradition and social condition. For the sacred thread to +the Hindu is the sign of social respectability. Without it, he is out +of society. It binds him to all that is dearest to him. The leader of +the older Sam[=a]j; never gave up caste; the younger members in +doing so mix religion with social etiquette, and so hinder the advance +they aim at. Sen urged this and other reforms, all repugnant to the +society in which he lived, changes in the rite at the worship of +ancestors, alterations in the established ritual at birth-ceremonies +and funerals, abolition of polyandry and of child-marriages, and, +worst of all, granting permission to marry to those of different +castes. His zeal was directed especially against caste-restrictions +and child-marriages. Naturally he failed to persuade the old Sam[=a]j +to join him in these revolutionary views, to insist on which, however +sensible they seem, cannot be regarded otherwise than as indiscreet +from the point of view of one who considers men and passions. For the +Sam[=a]j, in the face of tremendous obstacles, had just secured a +foot-hold in India. Sen's headlong reforms would have smashed to +pieces the whole congregation, and left India more deeply prejudiced +than ever against free thought. Sen failed to reform the old church, +so in 1865 he, with some ardent young enthusiasts, reformed themselves +into a new church, ceremoniously organized in 1866 as the Br[=a]hma +Sam[=a]j; of India, in distinction from the Calcutta Sam[=a]j, or +[=A]di Sam[=a]j. A futile effort was made to get all the other local +congregations to join the new Sam[=a]j, the last, of course, to be the +first and head of the organization. + +The new Sam[=a]j renounced caste-restrictions and Brahmanism +altogether, but it was tainted with the hysterical _bhakti_ fervor +which Sen inherited from his childhood's religion, and which (if one +may credit Williams' words) "brought the latest development of Indian +Theism into closer harmony with Christian ideas." The chief leader of +this Sam[=a]j besides Sen was his cousin Prot[=a]p Chunder Mozoomdar, +official secretary of the society. Its literary organ is the _Indian +Mirror_. + +The reform of this reform of course followed before long. The new +Sam[=a]j was accused of making religion too much a matter of emotion +and excitement. Religious fervor, _bhakti_, had led to "rapturous +singing of hymns in the streets"; and to the establishment of a kind +of love-feasts ('Brahma-feasts' they were called) of prayer and +rejoicing; and, on the other hand, to undue asceticism and +self-mortification.[111] Sen himself was revered too much. One of the +most brilliant, eloquent, and fascinating of men, he was adored by his +followers--as a god! He denied that he had accepted divine honors, but +there is no doubt, as Williams insists, that his Vishnuite tendency +led him to believe himself peculiarly the recipient of divine favors. +It was charged against him that he asserted that all he did was at +God's command, and that he believed himself perennially inspired.[112] +If one add to this that he was not only divinely inspired, but that he +had the complete control of his society, it would appear to be easy to +foresee where the next reformer might strike. For Sen "was not only +bishop, priest, and deacon all in one," says Williams, "he was a Pope, +from whose decision there was no appeal." But it was not this that +caused the rupture. In 1877 this reformer, "who had denounced early +marriages as the curse of India," yielded to natural social ambition +and engaged his own young daughter to a Koch (R[=a]jbanshi) prince, +who in turn was a mere boy. The Sam[=a]j protested with all its might, +but the marriage was performed the next year, withal to the +accompaniment of idolatrous rites.[113] After this Sen became somewhat +theatrical. In 1879 he recognized (in a proclamation) God's +Motherhood--the old dogma of the female divine. In 1880 he announced, +in fervid language, that Christianity was the only true religion: "It +is Christ who rules British India, and not the British Government. +England has sent out a tremendous moral force in the life and +character of that mighty prophet to conquer and hold this vast empire. +None but Jesus, none but Jesus, none but Jesus, ever deserved this +bright, this precious diadem, India, and Jesus shall have it.... +Christ is a true Yogi." He accepts Christ, but not as God, only as +inspired saint (as says Williams). More recently, Sen proposed an +amalgamation of Hinduism, Mohammedanism, and Christianity as the true +religion. + +Meanwhile the Sam[=a]j was rent by discord. Sen's opponents, the new +reformers, were unable, however, to oust the brilliant leader from the +presidency. Consequently they established a new church, intended to be +a General Congregation, the fourth development (1878) of the Br[=a]hma +Sam[=a]j. And so the fight has gone on ever since. At the present day +there are more than a hundred deistic churches, in which the +devotional exercises consist in part of readings from the Vedas, +Bible, Kur[=a]n, and Avesta. The [=A]rya Sam[=a]j is one of the most +important of the later churches, some of which endeavor to obtain +undefiled religion by uniting into one faith what seems best in all; +others, by returning to the Vedas and clearing them of what they think +to be later corruptions of those originally pure scriptures. Of the +latter sort is the [=A]rya Sam[=a]j. Its leader, Day[=a]nanda, claims +that the Vedas are a true revelation. The last reformer of which we +have knowledge is a bright young high-caste Hindu of upper India, who +is about to found a 'world-religion,' for which task he is now making +preliminary studies. He has visited this country, and recently told us +that, if he had time, he could easily convert America. But his first +duty lies, of course, in the reformation of India's reformations, +especially of the Sam[=a]jas! + +The difficulty with which all these reformers and re-reformers have to +contend is pitifully clear. Their broad ideas have no fitting +environment. Their leaders and thinkers may continue to preach deism, +and among their equals they will be heard and understood. They are, +however, not content with this. They must form churches. But a church +implies in every case an unnatural and therefore dangerous growth, +caused by the union either of inferior minds (attracted by eloquence, +but unable to think) with those that are not on the same plane, or of +ambitious zealots with reluctant conservatists. Many join the church +who are not qualified to appreciate the leader's work. They overload +the founder's deism with the sectarian theism from which they have not +really freed themselves. On the other hand, younger men, who have been +educated in English colleges and are imbued with the spirit of +practical reform, enter the church to use it as an instrument for +social progress. So the church is divided, theists and reformers both +being at odds with the original deists; and the founder is lucky if he +escapes being deified by one party and being looked upon by the other +as too dull.[114] + +India is no more prepared as a whole for the reception of the liberal +views of the Sam[=a]j; than was the negro for the right to vote. +Centuries of higher preliminary education are needed before the people +at large renounce their ancestral, their natural faith. A few earnest +men may preach deism; the people will remain polytheists and +pantheists for many generations. Then, again, the Sam[=a]jas have to +contend not only with the national predisposition, but with every +heretical sect, and, besides these, with the orthodox church. But thus +far their chief foe is, after all, their own heart as opposed to their +head. As long as deistic leaders are deified by their followers, and +regard themselves as peculiarly inspired, they will preach in vain. +Nor can they with impunity favor the substitution of emotion for ideas +in a land where religious emotion leads downwards as surely as falls a +stone that is thrown. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: In the following we keep to the practice we + have adopted in the early part of the work, giving + anglicized words without distinction of vowel-length, and + anglicizing as far as possible, writing thus S[=a]nkhya but + Sankhyan, Ved[=a]nta but Vedantist. In modern proper names + we have adopted in each case the most familiar form.] + + [Footnote 2: Rig Veda, II. 12. Compare X. 121. We omit some + of the verses.] + + [Footnote 3: See note, p. 20, above.] + + [Footnote 4: Metaphor from earthly fire-making; cloud and + cliff (Ludwig); or, perhaps, heaven and earth.] + + [Footnote 5: 'Made low and put in concealment' the D[=a]sa + color, _i.e._ the black barbarians, the negroes. 'Color' + might be translated 'race' (subsequently 'caste').] + + [Footnote 6: D[=i]ce, _vijas_, literally 'hoppers' (and so + sometimes, interpreted as birds). The same figure occurs not + infrequently. Compare AV. iv. 16. 5, _ak[s.][=a]n iva_. + 'Believe,' _cr['a]d-dhatta, i.e_., cred-(d)[=i]te, literally + 'put trust.'] + + [Footnote 7: Sometimes rendered, "a true (laudation) if any + is true."] + + [Footnote 8: viii. 100. 3-4. The penultimate verse is + literally 'the direction(s) of the order magnify me,' the + order being that of the seasons and of seasonable rites.] + + [Footnote 9: Compare the 'devil-worship of Ucanas,' and the + scoffs at P[=u]shan. The next step in infidelity is denial + of a future life and of the worth of the Vedas.] + + [Footnote 10: In the Buddhistic writings Indra appears as + the great popular god of the Brahmans (with Brahm[=a] as the + philosophical god).] + + [Footnote 11: His body is mortal; his breaths immortal, Cat. + Br. x. 1. 4. 1; xi. 1. 2. 12.] + + [Footnote 12: On these curious pocket-altars, double + triangles representing the three gods and their wives, with + Linga and Yon[=i], see JRAS. 1851, p. 71.] + + [Footnote 13: In the Tantras and late Pur[=a]nas. In the + earlier Pur[=a]nas there is as yet no such formal cult.] + + [Footnote 14: Embodied in the tale of Agni's advance, IS. i. + 170.] + + [Footnote 15: Cat Br. ix. 3.1. 18.] + + [Footnote 16: On this _quasi_ deity in modern belief compare + IA. XVIII. 46. It has happened here that a fate Providence + has become supreme. Thus, too, the Mogul Buddha is realty + nothing more or less than Providence.] + + [Footnote 17: 7. I. 2.] + + [Footnote 18: In RV. X. 90. 9, _chandas_, songs, + incantations, imply a work of this nature.] + + [Footnote 19: Unless it be distinctly _good_ magic the epic + heroes are ashamed to use magical rites. They insist on the + intent being unimpeachable.] + + [Footnote 20: [=A]p. I. II. 30, 20, etc. Compare Weber, + _Omina_ p. 337, and see the Bibliography.] + + [Footnote 21: T[=a]itt. S. VI. I. 1, 2, 3, + _t[=i]rthesn[=a]li._] + + [Footnote 22: Compare Weber's account of the R[=a]jas[=u]ya, + p. 98; and, apropos of the Dacapeya, _ib._ 78, note; where + it is stated that _soma_-drinking for the warrior-caste is + still reflected in this (originally independent) ceremony.] + + [Footnote 23: The list given above (p. 464) of the 'thrice + three names' is made eight by suppressing Kum[=a]ra, and the + 'eight names' are to-day the usual number.] + + [Footnote 24: C[=a]nkh. (K[=a]nsh.) Br. vi. 1.] + + [Footnote 25: The Brahmanic multiple by preference is (three + and) seven (7,21,28,35), that of the Buddhist, eight. Feer, + JA., 1893, p. 113 ff., holds the Svargaparva of the epic to + be Buddhistic on account of the hells. More probably it is a + Civaite addition. The rule does not always hold good, for + groups of seven and eight are sometimes Buddhistic and + Brahmanic, respectively.] + + [Footnote 26: Leumann, _Rosaries_.] + + [Footnote 27: Friederich,; JRAS. viii. 157; ix. 59. The only + established reference to Buddha on the part of Brahmanism, + with the exception of late Pur[=a]nas of uncertain date, is + after Kshemendra (1066 A.D.). Compare Holtzmann, s. + _Geschichte_, p. 103.] + + [Footnote 28: _Na tat parasya sandadhy[=a]t pratik[=u]la[.m] + yad [=a]tmanas_. This is a favorite stanza in the epic, and + is imitated in later literature (Sprueche, 3253, 6578, + 6593).] + + [Footnote 29: Burnell in the _Indian Antiquary_, second and + following volumes; Swanston, JRAS. 1834; 1835; Germann, _Die + Kirche der Thomaschristen_.] + + [Footnote 30: Above, cited from Hardy.] + + [Footnote 31: Some of the multitudinous subcastes + occasionally focus about a religious principle to such an + extent as to give them almost the appearance of religious + devotees. Thus the Bhats and Ch[=a]rans are heralds and + bards with the mixed faith of so many low-caste Hindus. But + in their office of herald they have a religious pride, and, + since in the present day they are less heralds than + expressmen, they carry property with religious reverence, + and are respected in their office even by robbers; for it + this caste that do not hesitate to commit _traga_, that is, + if an agreement which they have caused to be made between + two parties is not carried out they will kill themselves and + their families, with such religious effect that the guilt + lies upon the offending party in the agreement, who expiates + it by his own life. They are regarded as a sort of divine + representative, and fed themselves to be so. A case reported + from India in this year, 1894, shows that the feeling still + exists. The herald slew his own mother in the presence of + the defaulting debtor, who thereupon slew himself as his + only expiation.] + + [Footnote 32: As, for example, between the D[=a]d[=u] + Panth[=i]s and the Jains in Ajmir and Jeypur. The last was a + chief Digambara town, while Mathur[=a] (on the Jumna) was a + Cret[=a]mbara station. For a possible survival of Buddhism, + see below, p. 485, note.] + + [Footnote 33: The _Sarcadarca[n.]asa[=n.]graha_ of S[=a]yana + (fourteenth century) and the _Ca[=n.]kara-vijaya,_ or + 'Conquest of Cankara.'] + + [Footnote 34: Thus the Dabist[=a]n enumerates as actual + sects of the seventeenth century, 'moon-worshippers,' + 'star-worshippers,' 'Agni-worshippers,' 'wind-worshippers,' + 'water-worshippers,' 'earth-worshippers,' '_trip[=u]jas_' + (or worshippers of all the three kingdoms of nature), and + 'worshippers of man' (_manu[s.]yabhakt[=a]s_), "who + recognise the being of God in man, and know nothing more + perfect than mankind" (ii. 12), a faith which, as we have + shown, is professed in the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata.] + + [Footnote 35: _Religious Thought and Life_.] + + [Footnote 36: The Kashmeer Civaites claim Cankara as their + teacher. The sect of Basava started in the south, Mysore. + They have some trashy literature (legends, etc.) which they + dignify by the name of Pur[=a]nas. Buehler has given an + account of the Kashmeer school. For further details see + Barth, pp. 184, 206.] + + [Footnote 37: _Brahmanism and Hinduism_, p.62 ff. To this + and to the same author's _Thought and Life_, we are indebted + for many facts concerning the sects as they appear to-day, + though much in these books is said after Wilson or other + scholars, whose work is now common property, and calls for + no further acknowledgment.] + + [Footnote 38: It is, perhaps, necessary to keep repeating + that Hindu monotheism does not exclude other gods which, at + the hands of the one god, are reduced to sprites, angels, + demons, etc. But it ought not to be necessary to insist on + this, for an American monotheist that believes in angels and + devils is the same sort of monotheist. The Hindu calls the + angels 'gods' or 'divinities,' but they are only attendant + hosts of the One.] + + [Footnote 39: Some of the Civaite sects are, indeed, + Buddhistic in origin, a fact which raises the question + whether Buddhism, instead of disappearing from India, was + not simply absorbed; much as Unitarianism in New England has + spent its vitality in modifying the orthodox creed. Thus the + _karma_ of Buddhism may still be working in the person of + some modern Hindu sects. See the next note below.] + + [Footnote 40: Most of the Yogi jugglers are Civaites (when + they are not Buddhistic), and to-day they share with the + (Mohammedan) fakirs the honor of being not only ascetics but + knaves. The juggler Yogi is, however, a figure of + respectable antiquity. The magical tricks practiced on the + epic heroes are doubtless a reflex of the current mesmerism, + which deceives so cleverly to-day. We have shown above a + Buddhistic strain of Mah[=a]tmaism in an early Buddhistic + tract, and Barth, p. 213, suggests a Buddhistic origin for + the K[=a]naph[=a]ts. See also Holtzmann, _loc. cit._ The + deistic Yogis of Gorakhn[=a]th's sect are respectable enough + (see an account of some of this sort in the Dabist[=a]n, II. + 6), but they are of Buddhistic origin. The K[=a]naph[=a]ts + of Kutch (Danodhar) were once a celibate brotherhood. JRAS. + 1839, p. 268.] + + [Footnote 41: See JAOS. xi. 272. To ascribe this verse to + the 'older Manu' would be a grave slip on the part of a + Sanskrit scholar.] + + [Footnote 42: i. 1. 76.] + + [Footnote 43: The Dabist[=a]n, without any animus, reports + of the C[=a]ktas of the seventeenth century that "Civa is, + in their opinion, _with little exception_, the highest of + the deities" (II. 7). Williams calls C[=a]ktaism "a mere + offshoot of Civaism" _Religious Thought and Life_, p. 184.] + + [Footnote 44: The Dabist[=a]n rather assumes as a matter of + course that a body of Yogis would kill and eat a boy of the + Mohammedan faith (II. 12); but here the author may be + prejudiced.] + + [Footnote 45: The present sect of this name consists only of + a few miserable mendicants, particularly savage and filthy + (Wilson).] + + [Footnote 46: All of them now represent Cakti, the female + principle. Linga-worship has also its counterpart, + Bhaga-worship (here Yoni), perhaps represented by the altar + itself. Compare the Dabist[=a]n, II. 7, on the Civaite + interpretation of the Mohammedan altar. To Durga human + beings were always sacrificed. After mentioning a gold idol + of Durg[=a] (to whom men were sacrificed yearly), the author + adds: "Even now they sacrifice in every village of the + Kohistan of Nandapur and the country adjacent, a man of + good family" (_ib._). Durg[=a] {above, p. 416) is Vishnu's + sister.] + + [Footnote 47: The sexual antithesis, so unimportant in the + earliest Aryan nature-hymns, becomes more and more + pronounced in the liturgical hymns of the Rig Veda, and may + be especially a trait of the older fire-cult in opposition + to _soma_-cult (compare RV. X. 18. 7). At any rate it is + significant that Yoni means the altar itself, and that in + the fire-cult the production of fire is represented as + resulting from the union of the male and female organs.] + + [Footnote 48: Nevertheless the Brahmanic, and even the + Hinduistic, law-codes condemn all intoxicating liquors + except in religious service. To offer such drink to a man of + the lower castes, even to a C[=u]dra, is punishable with a + fine; but to offer intoxicating liquor to a priest is + punishable with death (Vishnu, V. 100).] + + [Footnote 49: Formerly performed by the Kar[=a]ris. "The + C[=a]ktas hold the killing of a man to be permitted," + Dabist[=a]n, II. 7. "Among them it is a meritorious act to + sacrifice a man," _ib_.] + + [Footnote 50: Hence the name of K[=a][=n]culiyas + _[ka[=n]culi_, a woman's garment).] + + [Footnote 51: This has no parallel in Vishnuism except among + some of the R[=a]dh[=a] devotees. Among the R[=a]dh[=a] + Vallabh[=i]s the vulgarities of the Civaites are quite + equalled; and the assumption of women's attire by the + Sakh[=i] Bh[=a]vas of Benares and Bengal ushers in rites as + coarse if less bloody than those of the Civaites.] + + [Footnote 52: Of course each god of the male trinity has his + Cakti, female principle. Thus Brahm[=a]'s Cakt[=i] is + S[=a]vitr[=i] (in the epic), or Sarasvat[=i], or V[=a]c; + that of Vishnu is Cr[=i], or Lakshm[=i], or R[=a]dh[=a]; + that of Civa is Um[=a], Durg[=a], K[=a]l[=i], etc. Together + they make a female trinity (Barth, p. 199); So even the + Vedic gods had their (later) wives, who, as in the case of + S[=u]ry[=a], were probably only the female side of a god + conceived of as androgynous, like Praj[=a]pat[=i] in the + Brahmanic period.] + + [Footnote 53: Historically, Thags, like Panj[=a]b, + Santh[=a]ls, etc, is the more correct form, but phonetically + the forms Thugs, Punj[=a]b, Sunth[=a]ls or Sonth[=a]ls, are + correct, and [=a], the indeterminate vowel (like o in + London), is generally transcribed by u or o (in Punj[=a]b, + Nep[=a]l, the [=a] is pronounced very like au, and is + sometimes written so, Punjaub, etc).] + + [Footnote 54: The Jemidar, captain, gives the order to the + Buttoat, strangler, who takes the _rumal_ (yard of cotton) + with a knot tied in the left end, and, holding his right + hand a few inches further up, passes it from behind over the + victim's head. As the latter falls the strangler's hands are + crossed, and if done properly the Thugs say that "the eyes + stand out of the head and life becomes extinct, before the + body falls to the ground" (Notes on the 'Thags, Thugs, or + Thegs,' by Lieutenant Reynolds; of whom Lieutenant-Colonel + Smythe says that he knew more than any other European about + the Thugs, 1836). The Buttoat received eight annas extra for + his share. Each actor in the scene had a title; the victim + was called Rosy. For their argot see the R[=a]maseeana.] + + [Footnote 55: Thugs (defined as 'knaves' by Sherwood, more + probably 'throttlers') must be distinguished from Decoits. + The latter (Elphinstone, i. 384) are irreligious gangs, + secretly bound together to sack villages. Peaceable citizens + by day, the Decoits rise at night, attack a village, slay, + torture, rob, and disappear before morning, 'melting into + the population' and resuming honest toil. When the police + are weak enough they may remain banded together; otherwise + they are ephemerally honest and nocturnally assassins. The + Thugs or Ph[=a]ns[=i]gars (_ph[=a]ns[=i]_, noose) killed no + women, invoked K[=a]li (as Jay[=i]), and attacked + individuals only, whom the decoys, called Tillais, lured + very cleverly to destruction. They never robbed without + strangling first, and always buried the victim. They used to + send a good deal of what they got to K[=a]li's temple, in a + village near Mirz[=a]pur, where the establishment of priests + was entirely supported by them. K[=a]li (or Bhav[=a]n[=i]) + herself directed that victims should be strangled, not bled + (so the Thug legend). Their symbol was a pick, emblem of the + goddess, unto whom a religious ceremony was performed before + and after the murder was committed. Local small bankers + often acted as fence for them.] + + [Footnote 56: This is called either + P[=u]rva-m[=i]m[=a]ms[=a] (Karma-m[=i]m[=a]ms[=a]) or simply + M[=i]m[=a]ms[=a].] + + [Footnote 57: Or C[=a]r[=i]raka-m[=i]m[=a]msa, or + Brahma-m[=i]m[=a]ms[=a] (_m[=i]m[=a][=m.]sa,_ reflexion, + philosophy).] + + [Footnote 58: Kapila's system, usually known as the + S[=a]nkhya.] + + [Footnote 59: And attributed to Pata[=n.]jali. Compare + Deussen, _System des Ved[=a]nta,_ p. 20.] + + [Footnote 60: Born In 788. But some scholars refer him to + the seventh century. See IA. xiii. 95; xvi. 41. His name, a + title of Civa, indicates his nominal sect.] + + [Footnote 61: For the meaning of Ved[=a]nta (whether 'end of + Veda,' or 'goal of Veda') compare Deussen, _loc. cit._ p. 3, + note (above, p. 253, note).] + + [Footnote 62: The Supreme Spirit or All-Spirit is either + purely non-dualistic or qualifiedly non-dualistic; in the + latter event he is, says the sectary, identical with Vishnu, + who may be represented either by Krishna or R[=a]ma + (sub-sects). Pure non-duality (unconditioned _[=a]tm[=a]_) + was taught by Cankara.] + + [Footnote 63: Gough, _Philosophy of the Upanishads_.. + Compare Williams, _loc. cit_. In our own view the + unsystematic Upanishads teach both doctrines (above, p. 228, + note).] + + [Footnote 64: Before K[=a]m[=a]nuja it was taught by + C[=a]ndilya that _brahma_ (and the individual spirit) was + conditioned, a doctrine supposed to be that of the old + Bh[=a]gavatas or P[=a][.n]car[=a]tras; but this is quite + uncertain. The C[=a]ndilyan chapter of the Ch[=a]ndogya + Upanishad (above, p. 221) may be thus interpreted, _vis_, + that the (conditioned) individual spirit is identical with + _brahma_.] + + [Footnote 65: Thibaut, _Introduction to the Ved[=a]nta + S[=u]tras_, SBE. XXXIV. p. XXXI; Deussen, _System des + Ved[=a]nta_, p.469.] + + [Footnote 66: Philosophical illusion, _m[=a]n[=a]_, appears + first in late Upanishads.] + + [Footnote 67: The author of the Dabist[=a]n (seventeenth + century) tells a Berkeleyan story in regard to Cankara's + doctrine of illusion. His enemies wished to test his belief + in his own philosophy; so they drove an elephant at him, on + which the philosopher ran away. "Ho!" they jeered, "Did you + not maintain that all was a mere illusion? Then an elephant + is illusion. Yet you take to flight before it." "Yes," + replied the philosopher, "all is illusion; there was no + elephant, and there was no flight" (II. 4).] + + [Footnote 68: The Sm[=a]rta (orthodox) Brahman believes, on + the other hand, that Vishnu, Civa, and Brahm[=a] are all + mere forms of the Supreme [=A]lm[=a].] + + [Footnote 69: If Mohammed were regarded as one with Allah + there would be an Occidental parallel to the Krishna and + R[=a]ma sects.] + + [Footnote 70: Whether the Hindu trinitarianism derives from + the Occident or not (the former view being historically + probable, but not possible to prove) the importance of the + dogma and its place in Hindu theology is very different to + the condition of things in the Christian church. In India + trinitarianism is merely a convenience in adjusting the + claims of two heterodox sects and orthodoxy, each believer + being willing to admit that the god of the other is his own + god, only with the understanding that the last is a superior + manifestation. In late Civaism both Vishnu and Brahm[=a] are + indeed called the 'sons of God' (Civa). but in the sense + that they are distinctly subordinate creatures of Civa + (JAOS. iv. 147).] + + [Footnote 71: But some Hindus worship both Vishnu and Civa + without insisting that one is higher than the other. + Moreover, there is a Mahratta sect of Vishnuites who + complacently worship Buddha (Vishnu's ninth _avatar_) as + Vi[t.]h[t.]hala or P[=a]ndura[.n]ga. These are simply + eclectic, and their god is without or with quality. Buddha + is here not a deceiver, but an instructor (JRAS. 1842, p. + 66; IA. XI. 56, 149).] + + [Footnote 72: The Civaites, too, are divided on the + questions both of predestination and of free grace. The + greater body of them hold to the 'monkey doctrine'; the + Pacupatas, to the 'cat.'] + + [Footnote 73: Sanskrit _kal[=a]_, school + (_marka[t.]a-ny[=a]ya_ and _m rj[=a]ra-ny[=a]ya_). The + Southern school has its own Veda written in Tamil. Williams, + JRAS. xiv. 301. According to the same writer the Ten-galais + hold that Vishnu's wife is finite, created, and a mediator; + the Vada-galais, that she is infinite, and uncreated.] + + [Footnote 74: All Vishnuites have the vertical sign; + Civaites have a horizontal sign (on the forehead).] + + [Footnote 75: _Proceed. AOS_. 1894, p. iii. The Vada-school + may be affected by Civaism.] + + [Footnote 76: A divine monkey appears in the Rig Veda, but + not as an object of devotion.] + + [Footnote 77: The teachers of the Ramaites are generally + Brahmans, but no disciples are excluded because of their + caste. R[=a]m[=a]nuja adopted the monastic system, which + Cankara is said to have taken from the Buddhists and to have + introduced into Brahmanic priestly life. Both family priests + and cenobites are admitted into his order.] + + [Footnote 78: What the Linga is to Civaite the + C[=a]lagr[=a]ma is to the Vishnuite (who also reveres the + _tulas[=i]_ wood). The C[=a]lagr[=a]ma is a black pebble; + the L[=i]nga is a white pebble or glass (Williams). The + Civaites have appropriated the _d[=u]rv[=a]_ grass as sacred + to Ganeca. Sesamum seeds and _d[=u]rv[=a]_ are, however, + Brahmanically holy. Compare Cat. Br. iv. 5-10, where + _d[=u]rv[=a]_ grass is even holier than _kuca_-grass. The + rosaries used by the sects have been the subject of a paper + by Leumann, and are described by Williams. Thirty-two or + sixty-four berries of _eleocapus ganitrus (rudr[=a]ksha_) + make the Civaite rosary. That of the Vishnuite is made of + lotus-seeds or of _tuls[=a]_ wood in one hundred and eight + pieces.] + + [Footnote 79: For an account and list of the works of + Tulas[=i]d[=a]s[=a] (Tuls[=i]d[=a]s), compare IA. xxii. 89, + 122, 227. Jayadeva (twelfth century), the author of the + G[=i]ta Govinda (translated by Jones, Lassen, and Ruckert), + is sometimes reckoned falsely to the adherents of + R[=a]m[=a]nand, but he is really a Krishnaite.] + + [Footnote 80: The _bhakti_ doctrine is that of the extant + C[=a]ndilya S[=u]tras, which make faith and not works or + knowledge a condition of salvation. They are modern, as + Cowell, in his preface to the work, has shown. Cowell here + identifies K[=a]cyapa with Ka[n.][=a]da, the V[=a]iceshika + philosopher, his school holding that the individual spirits + are infinite in number, distinct from the Supreme Spirit.] + + [Footnote 81: The infant-cult is of course older than these + sects. For an account of the ritual, as well as its + intrusion into the earlier cult of the Pur[=a]nas, with the + accompanying resemblances to Madonna-cult, and the new + features (the massacre of the innocents, the birth in the + stable, the three wise men, etc.) that show borrowing from + Christianity, compare Weber's exhaustive treatise referred + to above, the _K[=r.][=s.][n.]ajanm[=a][=s.][=t.]am[=i], + Krishna's Geburtsfest_.] + + [Footnote 82: Williams, _loc. cit._] + + [Footnote 83: 'Gosain' means shepherd, like Gop[=a]la. Some + of the sects, like the Kart[=a]bh[=a]js, recognize only the + Teacher as God. Williams states that in Bengal a fourth + member has been added to this sect-trinity. On Dancing-girls + see IA. XIII-165.] + + [Footnote 84: The philosophical tenet of this sect 'pure + _adv[=a]ita_' (non-duality) distinguishes it from the + qualified duality taught by R[=a]m[=a]nuja. This is a + reversion to Cankara. The C[=a]itanya sect teaches not + absorption but individual existence in a heaven of sensuous + (sensual) pleasure.] + + [Footnote 85: "In the temples where the Mah[=a]r[=a]jas + (priests) do homage to the idols men and women do homage to + the Mah[=a]r[=a]jas.... The best mode of propitiating the + god Krishna is by ministering to the sensual appetites of + his vicars upon earth. Body and soul are literally made over + to them, and women are taught to deliver up their persons to + Krishna's representatives," Williams, _loc. cit_. p. 309.] + + [Footnote 86: On these sects see Wilson, Hunter (Statistical + Account), Williams, JRAS. xiv. 289. The festival verses in + honor of the Madonna are: "Honor to thee, Devak[=i], who + hast borne Krishna; may the goddess who destroys sin be + satisfied, revered by me. Mother of God art thou, Adit[=i], + destroying sin. I will honor thee as the gods honor thee," + _etc_. (Weber, _Janm[=a][s.][t.]am[=i]_, p. 286). The + birth-day celebration is not confined to Krishnaites; but in + the R[=a]ma sect, though they celebrate the birth, they do + not represent the man-god as a suckling. In other respects + this feast is imitated from that of Krishna (Weber, p. 310, + note). The R[=a]macandra celebration takes place in the + spring. The birth-day of Ganeca is also celebrated by the + Civaites (in August-September).] + + [Footnote 87: He himself claimed to be an incarnate god. He + adopted the qualified non-duality of R[=a]m[=a]nuja. See + Williams' account of him and of the two great temples of the + sect, _loc. cit_.] + + [Footnote 88: From Williams, _loc. cit_. p. 291 ff. The + three qualities (sometimes interpreted as activity, purity, + and indifference) are met with for the first time in the + Atharva Veda, where are found the Vedantic 'name' and 'form' + also; Muir, v. p. 309. The three qualities that condition + the idealist Vedantist's personal Lord in his causal body + are identical with those that constitute the 'nature,' + _prak[=r.]ti_, of the S[=a]nkhya dualist.] + + [Footnote 89: Among the Vallabhas (above, p. 505). The + Teacher is the chief god of most of the Vallabhas (Barth, p. + 235}. For the Vi[t.]h[t.]hal view of caste see 1A. XI.152.] + + [Footnote 90: It is true of other sectaries also, Ramaites + and Civaites, that the mere repetition of their god's name + is a means of salvation.] + + [Footnote 91: Now chiefly in the South. The Dabist[=a]n + gives several divisions of sun-worshippers. For more details + see Barth, p. 258. Apollonius of Tyana saw a sun-temple at + Taxila, JRAS. 1859, p. 77.] + + [Footnote 92: More direct than in the form of Vishnu, who at + first is merely the sun. Of the relation with Iranian + sun-worship we have spoken above.] + + [Footnote 93: They brand themselves with the Vishnu-mark, + are generally high-caste, live in monasteries, and profess + celibacy. They are at most unknown in the North. They are + generally known by their founder's name, but are also called + Brahma-Samprad[=a]yins, 'Brahma-adherents.'] + + [Footnote 94: So the P[=a]cupata doctrine is that the + individual spirit is different to the supreme lord and also + to matter (_p[=a]ca_, the fetter that binds the individual + spirit, _pacu_, and keeps it from its Lord, _pacupat[=i]_). + The fact is that every sectary is more a monotheist than a + pantheist. Especially is this true of the Civaite. The + supreme is to him Civa.] + + [Footnote 95: Wilson gives a full account of this sect in + the _As[=i]atick Researches_, xvi, p. 100.] + + [Footnote 96: Of the Kab[=i]r Panth[=i]s Wilson says: "It is + no part of their faith to worship any Hindu deity." A glance + at the Dabist[=a]n will preclude the possibility of claiming + much originality for the modern deism of India. This work + was written in 1645, and its Persian author describes, as a + matter of every-day occurrence, religious debates between + 'Jews, Nazarines, Mussulmen, and Hindus,' who meet more to + criticise than to examine, but yet to hear explained in full + the doctrines of their opponents, in just such tourneys of + argument as we showed to be popular among the priests of the + Upanishads and epic. Speaking of the Vedas, the author says + that every one derives from them arguments in favor of his + own creed, whether it be philosophical, mystical, unitarian, + atheistic, Judaic, or Christian. Dabist[=a]n, vol. II, p. + 45.] + + [Footnote 97: Before election the Guru must be examined. If + the faithful are not satisfied, they may reject him. but, + having elected him, they are bound to obey him implicitly. + He can excommunicate, but he may not punish corporally. This + deification of the Guru was retained by the Sikhs, and the + office was made hereditary among them (by Arjun), till + Govind, the tenth pontiff, who left no successor, declared + that after his death the Granth (bible) should be the sole + authority of the church.] + + [Footnote 98: The 'half' contributor was a woman, and hence + was not reckoned as a complete unit.] + + [Footnote 99: The word Sikh means 'disciple' (of N[=a]nak). + The name the Sikhs assumed as a nation was Singhs + (_si[.m]has_), 'Lions of the Punj[=a]b.'] + + [Footnote 100: The 'true name,' _sat n[=a]m_, is the + appellation of God.] + + [Footnote 101: JRAS. 1846, p. 43, Prinsep's compilation + (Wilson). Compare Trumpp, ib. V. 197 (1871); and + [=A]digranth, 1877.] + + [Footnote 102: This sect was founded by a descendant of + N[=a]nak.] + + [Footnote 103: It was not till Mohammedan persecution + influenced them that the religious Sikhs of N[=a]nak became + the political haters and fighters of Govind.] + + [Footnote 104: It is said that Govind sacrificed to Durg[=a] + the life of one of his own disciples to prepare himself for + his ministry. Trumpp, [=A]digranth; Barth, p. 204. The lives + of the later Gurus will be found in Elphinstone's history + and Prinsep's sketch (a _resume_ by Barth, p. 248 ff.).] + + [Footnote 105: With some small verbal alterations.] + + [Footnote 106: The conclusion of this extract shows the + narrower polemic spirit: "Pundits and Q[=a]z[=i]s are fools. + What avails it to collect a heap of books? Let your minds + freely meditate on the spirit of God. Wear not away your + lives by studying the Vedas."] + + [Footnote 107: For the data of the following paragraphs on + the deistic reformers of to-day we are indebted to an + article of Professor Williams, which first appeared in the + thirteenth volume of the _Journal of the Royal Asiatic + Society,_ and has since been published in the same author's + _Brahmanism and Hinduism._] + + [Footnote 108: Born in 1818.] + + [Footnote 109: _ekam[=a]tr[=a]dvit[=i]ya_ (masculine); with + this form contrast below, in the Br[=a]hma Dharma (religion) + of Debendran[=a]th, the neuter _ekam ev[=a]dvit[=i]yam_. The + only God of the first Sam[=a]j; is a person; that of the + reform is exoterically Nature.] + + [Footnote 110: But, as will be noticed in the four articles + (which are in part a compilation of phrases from the + Upanishads) the personality of Brahm[=a] is not insisted on + for the outer church. For this reason, although the inner + church doubtless understands It as He, yet this neuter + should be preserved in the translation. The articles are so + drawn up as to enable any deist to subscribe (without + Vedantic belief as a condition of acceptance) to the + essential creed of the Congregation. One or two sentences in + the original will reveal at a glance the origin of the + phraseology: _brahma_ (being) _v[=a] ekam idam-agra + [=a]s[=i]t; tad ida[.m] sarvam as[r.]jal; tad eva nityam, + ekam ev[=a]dvit[=i]yam; tasmia pr[=i]tis ... + tadup[=a]sanam_. Compare Ch[=a]ndogya Upanishad: _sad_ + (being) _idam agra [=a]s[=i]d ekam ev[=a]dvit[=i]yam_; and + the V[=a]jasaney[=i]-Br[=a]hmana Upanishad: _brahma v[=a] + idam-agra [=a]s[=i]t_, etc.] + + [Footnote 111: It is interesting to see this fervor, or + ecstatic delirium, surviving from the time of the Rig Veda, + where already (albeit only in the latest hymns, which are + quite Brahmanic) flourishes the mad _muni:_ and fervid + ascetism ('heat,'_tapas_) begins to appear as a means of + salvation. RV. x. 109, 136.] + + [Footnote 112: "I regard myself as Christ and C[=a]itanya," + reported by Sen's own missionary as the words of the former. + Sen's disciples deny some of these assertions, but they seem + to be substantiated, and Sen's own language shows that he + claimed miraculous powers. Compare the discussions on this + point, JRAS. xiii. 281 ff.] + + [Footnote 113: This was afterwards excused on the ground + that the marriage would not have been legal without these + rites. But Sen presumably was aware of this in advance. From + the performance of the rites he had the decency to absent + himself. It should be said, however, in Sen's behalf, that + the marriage itself had nothing revolting about it, and + though in consenting to it Sen violated his faith, as is + evident from the protest of the Sam[=a]j, yet was the + marriage not an extreme case of child-marriage, for both the + 'children' were sixteen. Sen's own excuse (he thought excuse + necessary) was that he was inspired when he consented to the + nuptials.] + + [Footnote 114: The theistic tendency in the Hindu mind is so + exaggerated that even now it is with the greatest difficulty + that the vulgar can be restrained from new idolatry. Not + only priests, but even poets are regarded as gods. + Jn[=a]ndev and Tuk[=a]r[=a]m, the hymn-makers of the + Mahratta Vi[t.]h[t.]hals, are demi-gods to-day (IA. xi. 56. + 149). A few striking examples are almost requisite to make + an Occidental reader understand against what odds the deism + of India has to contend. In 1830 an impudent boy, who could + train snakes, announced that he could also work miracles. + The boy was soon accepted as Vishnu's last _avatar_; hymns, + _abhangs_, were sung to him, and he was worshipped as a god + even after his early demise (from a snake-bite). A weaver + came soon after to the temple, where stood the boy's now + vacant shrine, and fell asleep there at night. In the + morning he was perplexed to find himself a god. The people + had accepted him as their snake-conquering god in a new + form. The poor weaver denied his divinity, but that made no + difference. In 1834 the dead boy-god was still receiving + flowers and prayers. Another case: In the eighties some + Englishmen on entering a temple were amazed to see revered + as an _avatar_ of Vishnu the brass castings of the arms of + the old India Co. This god was washed and anointed daily. + Even a statue of Buddha (with the inscription still upon it) + was revered as Vishnu. In 1880 a meteorite fell in Beh[=a]r. + In 1882 its cult was fully established, and it was + worshipped as the 'miraculous god.' A Mohammedan inscription + has also been found deified and regularly worshipped as a + god, JRAS. 1842, p. 109; 1884, pt. III, pp. I, LIX.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +RELIGIOUS TRAITS OF THE WILD TRIBES. + + +Besides the phases of pure Aryan and modified Aryan religions which +have already been examined, there are represented in India several +other aspects of civilized religion; for, apart from Brahmanic and +sectarian worships, and apart from Tamil (southern) imitations of +these, there are at present in the country believers of the Jewish +religion to the number of seventeen thousand; of Zoroastrianism, +eighty-seven thousand; of Christianity, two and a quarter millions; of +Mohammedanism, more than fifty-seven millions. But none of these +faiths, however popular, comes into an historical account of India's +religions in a greater extent than we have brought them into it +already, that is, as factors of minor influence in the development of +native faiths till, within the last few centuries, Mohammedanism, +which has been the most important of them all in transfiguring the +native theistic sects, draws a broad line across the progress of +India's religious thought. + +All these religions, however, whether aboriginal or imported, must +again be separated from the more general phenomena of superstition +which are preserved in the beliefs of the native wild tribes. One +descends here to that lowest of rank undergrowth which represents a +type of religious life so base that its undifferentiated form can be +mated with like growths from all over the world. These secondary +religions are, therefore, important from two points of view, that of +their universal aspect, and, again, that of their historical +connection with the upper Indic growth above them;[1] for it is almost +certain that some +of their features have conditioned the development of the latter. + +The native wild tribes of India (excluding the extreme Northern +Tibeto-Burman group) fall into two great classes, that of the +Kolarians and that of the Dravidians, sometimes distinguished as the +Yellow and the Black races respectively. The former, again, are called +Indo-Chinese by some writers, and the geographical location of this +class seems, indeed, to show that they have generally displaced the +earlier blacks, and represent historically a yellow wave of +immigration from the Northeast (through Tibet) prior to the Aryan +white wave (from the Northwest), which latter eventually treated them +just as they had treated the aboriginal black Dravidians.[2] Of the +Kolarians the foremost representatives are the Koles, the Koches, the +Sunth[=a]ls, and the Sav[=a]ras (Sauras), who are all regarded by +Johnston as the yellow Dasyus, barbarians, of the earliest period; +while he sees in the V[=a]icyas, or third caste of the Hindu political +divisions, the result of a union of the Northwest and Northeast +conquerors. But, although the V[=a]icyas are called 'yellow,' yet, +since they make the most important numerical factor of the Aryans, +this suggestion can scarcely be accepted, for there is no evidence to +show that the yellow Mongoloid barbarians were amalgamated so early +with the body politic of the Aryans. The chief representatives of the +Dravidians, +on the other hand, are the Khonds and Gonds of the middle of +the peninsula, together with the Or[=a]ons and the Todas of the +extreme South.[3] All of these tribes are of course sub-divided, and +in some degree their religious practices have followed the bent of +their political inclinations. We shall examine first the religions of +the older tribes, the Dravidians, selecting the chief features or such +traits as have peculiar interest. + + +THE DRAVIDIANS. + +Gonds: These savages, mentioned in early literature, are the most +numerous and powerful of the wild tribes, and appear to have been less +affected by outside belief than were any other, except the related +Khonds. Their religion used to consist in adoring a representation of +the sun, to which were offered human sacrifices.[4] As among the +Or[=a]ons, a man of straw (literally) is at the present day +substituted for the human victim. Besides the sun, the moon and stars +are worshipped by them. They have stones for idols, but no temples.[5] +Devils, witchcraft, and the evil eye also are feared. They sacrifice +animals, +and, with the exception of the R[=a]j Gonds,[6] have been so little +affected by Hindu respect for that holiest of animals, that they +slaughter cows at their wedding-feasts, on which occasion the +bacchanalian revels in which they indulge are accompanied with such +excess as quite to put them upon the level of Civaite bestiality. The +pure Gonds are junglemen, and have the virtues usually found among the +lowest savages, truth, honesty, and courage. Murder is no crime, but +lying and stealing are sinful; for cowardice is the greatest crime, +and lying and stealing (instead of straightforward and courageous +robbery and murder) are regarded as indications of lack of courage. +But the 'impure,' that is the mixed Gonds that have been corrupted by +mingling with Hindus and other tribes, lie and steal like civilized +people. In fact, the mixed Gonds are particularly noted for servility +and dishonesty. The uncivilized Gonds of the table-lands are said +still to cut up and eat their aged relatives and friends, not to speak +of strangers unfortunate enough to fall into their hands. Among the +pure Gonds is found the practice of carrying an axe, which is the sign +of their religious devotion to the sacrifice-god.[7] The favorite +religious practice used to be to take a prisoner alive, force him to +bow before the god-stone, and at the moment when he bent his head, to +cut it off. To this and to self-defence against other gods (wild +beasts) the hatchet is devoted, while for war are used the bow and +knife. One particular celebration of the Gonds deserves special +notice. They have an annual feast and worship of the snake. The +service is entirely secret, and all that is known +of it is that it is of esoteric, perhaps phallic character. Both at +the sun-feast and snake-feast[8] licentious and bacchanalian worship +are combined, and the latter trait is also the chief feature of +wedding and funeral sports. In the former case (the natives of the +same tribe intermarry, but with the same pretence of running off with +the bride that is found in the Hindu ritual)[9] there is given a +wedding feast by the bridegroom's father, and the feast ends with a +_causerie de lundi_ (the favorite drink of the Gonds is called +_lundi_); while on the latter occasion there is a mourning feast, or +wake, which also ends in general drunkenness. + +The Khonds: Even more striking is the religion of the Khonds. Their +chief rite is human sacrifice to the earth-goddess,[10] Tari; but, +like the Gonds, they worship the sun as chief divinity. Other gods +among them are the river-god, rain-god, spring, wealth, hill-god, and +smallpox-god. All their religious feasts are excuses for excess both +in drinking and otherwise. One of their beliefs is that there is a +river of hell, which flows around a slippery rock, up which climbs the +one that would escape torment. Their method of sacrificing a human +victim is to put him into the cleft of a tree, where he is squashed, +or into fire. They seem to have an odd objection to shedding blood for +this purpose, and in this respect may be compared with the Thugs. +Another very interesting trait is the religion which is intertwined +with business, and its peculiar features. Victims offered either to +the sun or to the war-god serve to mark boundary lines. Great is the +patience with which +these victims, called _merias_, are waited for. The sacrificer +captures fit specimens when they are young, and treats them with +particular kindness till they are almost grown up. Indeed, they are +treated thus by the whole village. At the appointed time they are +slowly crushed to death or smothered in a mud bath, and bits of their +flesh are then cut out and strewn along the boundary lines. Boys are +preferred, but either boys or girls may be used. This sacrifice is +sometimes made directly to the 'Boundary-god,'[11] an abstraction +which is not unique; for, besides the divinities recorded above, +mention is made also of a 'Judgment-god.' Over each village and house +preside the Manes of good men gone; while the 'father is god on earth' +to every one. They used to destroy all their female children, and +this, together with their national custom of offering human +sacrifices, has been put down with the greatest difficulty by the +British, who confess that there is every probability that in reality +the crime still *obtains among the remoter clans. These Khonds are +situate in the Madras presidency, and are aborigines of the Eastern +Gh[=a]ts. The most extraordinary views about them have been published. +Despite their acknowledged barbarity, savageness, and polytheism, they +have been soberly credited with a belief in One Supreme God, 'a theism +embracing polytheism,' and other notions which have been abstracted +from their worship of the sun as 'great god.' + +Since these are by far the most original savages of India, a completer +sketch than will be necessary in the case of others may not be +unwelcome. The chief god is the light-or sun-god. "In the beginning +the god of light created a wife, the goddess of earth, the source of +evil." On the other hand, the +sun-god is a good god. Tari, the earth-divinity, tried to prevent +Bella[12] Pennu (sun-god) from creating man. But he cast behind him a +handful of earth, which became man. The first creation was free of +evil; earth gave fruit without labor (the Golden Age); but the dark +goddess sowed in man the seed of sin. A few were sinless still, and +these became gods, but the corrupt no longer found favor in Bella (or +Boora) Pennu's eyes. He guarded them no more. So death came to man. +Meanwhile Bella and Tari contended for superiority, with comets, +whirlwinds, and mountains, as weapons. According to one belief, Bella +won; but others hold that Tari still maintains the struggle. The +sun-god created all inferior deities, of rain, fruit, *hunt, +boundaries, etc., as well as all tutelary local divinities.[13] Men +have four kinds of fates. The soul goes to the sun, or remains in the +tribe (each child is declared by the priest to be N.N. deceased and +returned), or is re-born and suffers punishments, or is +annihilated.[14] The god of judgment lives on Grippa Valli, the +'leaping rock,' round which flows a black river, and up the rock climb +the souls with great effort. The Judgment-god +decides the fate of the soul); sending it to the sun (the +sun-soul), or annihilating it, etc. The chief sins are, to be +inhospitable, to break an oath, to lie except to save a guest, to +break an old custom, to commit incest, to contract debts (for which +the tribe has to pay), to be a coward, to betray council. The chief +virtues are, to kill in battle, to die in battle, to be a priest, to +be the victim of a sacrifice. Some of the Khonds worship the sun-god; +some the earth-goddess, and ascribe to her all success and power, +while they hold particularly to human sacrifice in her honor. They +admit (theoretically) that Bella is superior, but they make Tari the +chief object of devotion, and in her honor are held great village +festivals. They that do not worship Tari do not practice human +sacrifice. Thus the Civaite sacrifice of man to the god's consort is +very well paralleled by the usage that obtains among them. The Khond +priests may indulge in any occupation except war; but some exercise +only their priestcraft and do nothing else. The chief feast to the +sun-god is Salo Kallo (the former word means 'cow-pen'; the latter, a +liquor), somewhat like a _soma_-feast. It is celebrated at harvest +time with dancing, and drinking, "and every kind of licentious +enjoyment." Other festivals of less importance celebrate the +substitution of a buffalo for human sacrifice (not celebrated, of +course, by the Tari worshippers). The invocation at the harvest is +quite Brahmanic: "O gods, remember that our increase of rice is your +increase of worship; if we get little Rice we worship little." Among +lesser gods the 'Fountain-god' is especially worshipped, with a sheep +or a hog as sacrifice. Female infanticide springs from a feeling that +intermarriage in the same tribe is incest (this is the meaning of the +incest-law above; it might be rendered 'to marry in the tribe'). + +Of the Or[=a]ons, or Dhangars,[15] we shall mention but one or +two good parallels to what is found in other religions. These +Dravidians live in Bengal, and have two annual festivals, a harvest +feast and one celebrating the marriage of heaven and earth. Like the +Khonds, they recognize a supreme god in the sun, but, just as we +showed was the case with the Hindus, who ignore Brahm[=a] because they +do not fear him, so here, the Or[=a]ons do not pray to the sun, on the +ground that he does them no harm; but they sacrifice to evil spirits +because the latter are evil-doers. These savages, like the Burmese +Mishmis, have no idea of a future life in heaven; but in the case of +people killed in a certain way they believe in a sort of +metempsychosis; thus, for instance, a man eaten by a tiger becomes a +tiger. In the case of unfortunates they believe that they will live as +unhappy ghosts; in the case of other men they assume only annihilation +as their fate.[16] It is among this tribe that the mouse-totem is +found, which is Civa's beast and the sign of Ganeca.[17] + +THE KOLARIANS. + +The Sunth[=a]ls: These are immigrants into the West Bengal jungles, +and have descended from the North to their present site. They are +called the finest specimens of the native savage. The guardian of the +tribe is its deceased ancestor, and his ghost is consulted as an +oracle. Their race-god is the 'Great Mountain,' but the sun represents +the highest spirit; though they +worship spirits of every sort, and regard beasts as divine; the men +revering the tiger, and the women, elephants. The particularly nasty +festival called the _bandana_, which is celebrated annually by this +tribe, is exactly like the 'left-hand' cult of the Caktas, only that +in this case it is a preliminary to marriage. All unmarried men and +women indulge together in an indescribable orgie, at the end of which +each man selects the woman he prefers.[18] + +The Koles ('pig-stickers'): Like the last, this tribe worship the sun, +but with the moon as his wife, and the stars as their children. +Besides these they revere Manes, and countless local and sylvan +deities. Like Druids, they sacrifice only in a grove, but without +images.[19] + +All these tribes worship snakes and trees,[25]] and often the only +oath binding upon them is taken under a tree.[21] The +sun-worship, which is found alike in Kolarian and Dravidian tribes, +may be traced through all the ramifications of either. In most of the +tribes the only form of worship is sacrifice, but oaths are taken on +rice, beasts, ants, water, earth, etc. (among some P[=a]h[=a]riahs on +the arrow). Some have a sort of belief in the divinity of the chief, +and among the Lurka Koles this dignity is of so much importance that +at a chief's death the divine dignity goes to his eldest son, while +the youngest son gets the property. In regard to funeral rites, the +Koles first burn and then bury the remains, placing a stone over the +grave. + +Besides the Or[=a]ons' totem of the mouse, the Sunth[=a]ls have a +goose-totem, and the Garos and Kassos (perhaps not to be included in +either of the two groups), together with many other tribes, have +totems, some of them _avatars_, as in the case of the tortoise. The +Garos, a tribe between Assam and Bengal, are in many respects +noteworthy. They believe that their vessels are immortal; and, like +the Bh[=a]rs, set up the bamboo pole, a religious rite which has crept +into Hinduism (above, p. 378). They eat everything but their totem, +immolate human victims, and are divided into 'motherhoods,' +M[=a]h[=a]ris, particular M[=a]h[=a]ris intermarrying. A man's sister +marries into the family from which comes his wife, and that sister's +daughter may marry his son, and, as male heirs do not inherit, the +son-in-law succeeds his father-in-law in right of his wife, and gets +his wife's mother (that is, his father's sister) as an additional +wife.[22] The advances are always made by the girl. She and her party +select the groom, go to his house, and carry him off, though he +modestly pretends to run away. The sacrifice for the +wedding is that of a cock and hen, offered to the sun. The god they +worship most is a monster (very much like Civa), but he has no local +habitation. + +Of the Sav[=a]ras or Sauras of the Dekhan the most interesting deity +is the malevolent female called Th[=a]kur[=a]n[=i], wife of Th[=a]kur. +She was doubtless the first patroness of the throttling Thugs (_thags_ +are _[t.]haks_, assassins), and the prototype of their Hindu +K[=a]l[=i]. Human sacrifices are offered to Th[=a]kur[=a]n[=i], while +her votaries, as in the case of the Thugs, are noted for the secrecy +of their crimes. + +Birth-rites, marriage-rites, funeral rites (all of blood), human +sacrifice, _tab[=u]_ (especially among the Burmese), witchcraft, +worship of ancestors, divination, and demonology are almost universal +throughout the wild tribes. In most of the rites the holy stone[23] +plays an important part, and in many of the tribes dances are a +religious exercise. + +Descendants of the great Serpent-race that once ruled M[=a]gadha +(Beh[=a]r), the Bh[=a]rs, and Ch[=i]rus (Cheeroos) are historically of +the greatest importance, though now but minor tribes of Bengal. The +Bh[=a]rs, and Koles, and Ch[=i]rus may once have formed one body, and, +at any rate, like the last, the Bh[=a]rs are Kolarian and not +Dravidian. This is not the place to argue a thesis which might well be +supported at length, but in view of the sudden admixture of foreign +elements with the Brahmanism that begins to expand at the end of the +Vedic period it is almost imperative to raise the question whether the +Bh[=a]rs, of all the northern wild tribes the most cultivated, whose +habitat +extended from Oude (Gorakhpur) on both sides of the Ganges over all +the district between Benares and Allah[=a]b[=a]d, and whose name is +found in the form Bh[=a]rats as well as Bh[=a]rs, is not one with that +great tribe the history of whose war has been handed down to us in a +distorted form under the name of Bh[=a]rata (Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata). The +Bh[=a]ratas, indeed, claim to be Aryans. But is it likely that a race +would have come from the Northeast and another from the Northwest, and +both have the same name? Carnegy believed, so striking was the +coincidence, that the Bh[=a]rats were a R[=a]jput (Hindu) tribe that +had become barbaric. But against this speaks the type, which is not +Aryan but Kolarian.[24] Some influence one may suppose to have come +from the more intelligent tribes, and to have worked on Hindu belief. +We believe traces of it may still be found in the classics. For +instance, the famous Frog-maiden, whose tale is told in the +Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata, reminds one rather forcibly of the fact that in +Oude and Nep[=a]l frog-worship (not as totem) was an established cult. +The time for this worship to Begin is October; it is different to +thunder-worship (July, the _n[=a]ga_-feast), and the frog is +subordinate to the snake. And, again, the snake-worship that grows so +rapidly into the Hindu cult can scarcely have been uninfluenced by the +fact that there are no less than thirty snake-tribes.[2] + +But despite some interesting points of view besides those + + +touched upon here, details are of little added value, since it is +manifest that, whether Kolarian or Dravidian, or, for the matter of +that, American or African, the same rites will obtain with the same +superstition, for they belong to every land, to the Aryan ancestor of +the Hindu as well as to the Hindu himself. Even totemism as a survival +may be suspected in the 'fish' and 'dog' people of the Rig Veda, as +has recently been suggested by Oldenberg. In the Northeast of India +many tribes worship only mountains, rivers, and Manes, again a trait +both Vedic and Hinduistic, but not necessarily borrowed. Some of these +tribes, like the Kh[=a]s[=i]as of Oude, may be of R[=a]jput descent +(the Khasas of Manu, X. 22), but it is more likely that more tribes +claim this descent than possess it. We omit many of the tribal customs +lest one think they are not original; for example, the symbol of the +cross among the [=A]bors, who worship only diseases, and whose symbol +is also found among the American Indians; the sun-worship of the +Katties, who may have been influenced by Hinduism; together with the +cult of Burmese tribes too overspread with Buddhism. But often there +is a parallel so surprising as to make it certain that there has been +influence. The Niadis (of the South), for example, worship only the +female principle. Many other tribes worship _cakti_ almost +exclusively. The Todas worship stone images, buffaloes, and even +cow-bells, but they have a celibate priesthood! We do not hesitate to +express our own belief that the _cakti_-worship is native and drawn +from similar cults, and that the celibate priesthood, on the other +hand, is taken from civilization. + +Such a fate appears to have happened in modern times to several +deities, now half Brahmanized. For example, Vet[=a]la (worshipped in +many places) is said in the Dekhan to be an _avatar_, or, properly +speaking, a manifestation of Civa. What is he in reality? A native +wild god, without a temple, worshipped in the open air under the shade +of a tree, and in an +enclosure of stones. Just such a deity, in other words, as we have +shown is worshipped in just such a way by the wild tribes. A +monolith[26] in the middle of twelve stones represents this primitive +Druidic deity. The stones are painted red in flame-shape for a certain +distance from the ground, with the upper portion painted white. +Apparently there is here a sun-god of the aborigines. He is worshipped +in sickness, as is Civa, and propitiated with the sacrifice of a cock, +without the intervention of any priest. The cock to Aesculapius +("_huic gallinae immolabantur_") may have had the same function +originally, for the cock is always the sun-bird. Seldom is Vet[=a]la +personified. When he has an image (and in the North he sometimes has +temples) it is that of an armless and legless man; but again he is +occasionally represented as a giant 'perfect in all his parts.'[27] To +the Brahman, Vet[=a]la is still a mere fiend, and presides over +fiends; nor will they admit that the red on his stones means aught but +blood. In such a god, one has a clue to the gradual intrusion of Civa +himself into Brahmanic worship. At first a mountain lightning fiend, +then identified with Rudra, a recognized deity, then made +anthropomorphic. There are, especially in the South, a host of minor +Hindu deities, half-acknowledged, all more or less of a fiendish +nature in the eyes of the orthodox or even of the Civaite. Seen +through such eyes they are no longer recognizable, but doubtless in +many instances they represent a crude form of nature-worship or +demonology, which has been taken from the cult of the wild +tribes, and is now more or less thoroughly engrafted upon that of +their civilized neighbors.[28] + +One of the most interesting, though not remarkable, cases of +similarity between savage and civilized religions is found in the +worship of snakes and trees.[29] In the N[=a]ga or dragon form the +latter cult may have been aided by the dragon-worshipping barbarians +in the period of the northern conquest. But in essentials not only is +the snake and dragon worship of the wild tribes one with that of +Hinduism, but, as has been seen, the tatter has a root in the cult of +Brahmanism also, and this in that of the Rig Veda itself. The +poisonous snake is feared, but his beautiful wave-like motion and the +water-habitat of many of the species cause him to be associated as a +divinity with Varuna, the water-god. Thus in early Hinduism one finds +snake-sacrifices of two sorts. One is to cause the extirpation of +snakes, one is to propitiate them, Apart from the real snake, there is +revered also the N[=a]ga, a beautiful chimerical creature, human, +divine, and snake-like all in one. These are worshipped by sectaries +and by many wild tribes alike. The N[=a]ga tribe of Chota N[=a]gpur, +for instance, not only had three snakes as its battle-ensign, but +built a serpent-temple.[30] + +Tree and plant worship is quite as antique as is snake-worship. For +not only is _soma_ a divine plant, and not only does Yama sit in +heaven under his 'fair tree' (above, p. 129), but 'trees and plants' +are the direct object of invocation in the Rig Veda (V. 41. 8); and +the Brahmanic law enjoins upon the faithful to fling an offering, +_bali_, to the great gods, to the waters, and 'to the trees';[31] as +is the case in the house-ritual. We shall seek, therefore, for the +origin of tree-worship not in the character of the tree, but in that +of the primitive mind which deifies mountains, waters, and trees, +irrespective of their nature. It is true, however, that the greater +veneration due to some trees and plants has a special reason. Thus +_soma_ intoxicates: and the _tulas[=i]_, 'holy basil,' has medicinal +properties, which make it sacred not only in the Krishna-cult, but in +Sicily.[32] This plant is a goddess, and is wed annually to the +C[=a]lagr[=a]ma stone with a great feast.[33] So the _cam[=i]_ plant +is herself divine, the goddess Cam[=i]. Again, the mysterious rustle +of the _bo_ tree, _pipal_ may be the reason for its especial +veneration; as its seeming immortality is certainly the cause of the +reverence given to the banian. It is not necessary, however, that any +mystery should hang about a tree. The palm is tall, (Civa's) _acoka_ +is beautiful, and no trees are more revered. But trees are holy _per +se_. Every 'village-tree' (above, p. 374, and Mbh[=a]. ii. 5. 100) is +sacred to the Hindu. And this is just what is found among the wild +tribes, who revere their hut-trees and village-trees as divine, +without demanding a special show of divinity. The birth-tree (as in +Grecian mythology) is also known, both to Hindu sect and to wild +tribe. But here also +there is no basis of Aryan ideas, but of common human experience. The +ancestor-tree (totem) has been noticed above in the case of the Gonds, +who claim descent from trees. The Bh[=a]rs revere the (Civaite!) +_bilva_ or _bel_, but this is a medicinal tree. The marriage-tree is +universal in the South (the tree is the male or female ancestor), and +even the Brahmanic wedding, among its secondary after-rites, is not +without the tree, which is adorned as part of the ceremony. + +Two points of view remain to be taken before the wild tribes are +dismissed. The first is that Hindu law is primitive. Maine and Leist +both cite laws as if any Hindu law were an oracle of primitive Aryan +belief. This method is ripe in wrong conclusions. Most of the matter +is legal, but enough grazes religion to make the point important. Even +with the sketch we have given it becomes evident that Hindu law cannot +be unreservedly taken as an exponent of early Brahmanic law, still +less of Aryan law. For instance, Maine regards matriarchy as a late +Brahmanic intrusion on patriarchy, an inner growth.[34] To prove this, +he cites two late books, one being Vishnu, the Hindu law-giver of the +South. But it is from the Southern wild tribes that matriarchy has +crept into Hinduism, and thence into Brahmanism. Here prevails the +matriarchal marriage*rite, with the first espousal to the +snake-guarded tree that represents the mother's family. In many cases +geographical limitations of this sort preclude the idea that the +custom or law of a law-book is Aryan.[35] + +The second point of view is that of the Akkadists. It is claimed by +the late Lacouperie, by Hewitt, and by other well-known writers that a +primitive race overran India, China, and the rest of the world, +leaving behind it traces of advanced religious ideas and other marks +of a higher civilization. Such a cult may have existed, but in so far +as this theory rests, as in a marked degree it does rest, on +etymology, the results are worthless. These scholars identify +Gandharva with Gan-Eden, K[=a]ci (Benares) with the land of the sons +of Kush; Gautama with Chinese ('Akkadian') _gut_, 'a bull,' etc. All +this is as fruitful of unwisdom as was the guess-work of European +savants two centuries ago. We know that the Dasyus had some religion +and some civilization. Of what sort was their barbaric cult, whether +Finnish (also 'Akkadian')[36] or aboriginal with themselves, really +makes but little difference, so far as the interpretation of Aryanism +is concerned; for what the Aryans got from the wild tribes of that day +is insignificant if established as existent at all. A few legends, the +Deluge and the Cosmic Tree, are claimed as Akkadian, but it is +remarkable that one may grant all that the Akkadian scholars claim, +and still deny that Aryan belief has been essentially affected by +it.[37] The Akkadian theory will please them that cannot reconcile the +Rig Veda with their theory of Brahmanic influence, but the fault lies +with the theory. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: The Dasyus, heathen, or pagans, are by no means + a wholly uncivilized mass to the poets of the Rig Veda. They + have wealth, build forts, and are recognized as living in + towns or forts. We learn little about them in Brahmanic + literature, except that they bury their dead and with them + their trinkets. Their graves and dolmen gray-stones are + still found.] + + [Footnote 2: Some scholars think that the Dravidians entered + from the Northwest later than the Kolarians, and, pushing + them to either side of the peninsula, descended through them + to the South. The fact that some Kolarian tribes closely + related by language are separated (to East and West) by + hundreds of miles, and have lost all remembrance of their + former union, favors this view of a Dravidian wedge + splitting and passing through the Kolarian mass. But all + here is guess-work. The Dravidians may have been pushed on + by Kolarians that entered later, while the latter may have + been split by the Aryan invasion; and this seems to us more + probable because the other theory does not explain why the + Kolarians did not go South instead of taking to the hills of + the East and West.] + + [Footnote 3: The whole list of these tribes as given by + Cust, _Sketch of the Modern Languages of the East Indies_, + is as follows: The Kolarians include the Sunth[=a]ls, + Mund[=a]ri Koles (Koches), Kh[=a]rians, Juangs, Korwas, + Kurs, Sav[=a]ras, Mehtos, Gadabas, P[=a]h[=a]rias; the + Dravidians include the tribes called Tamil, Telugu, + Kanarese, Malay[=a]lim, Tulu, Kudagu, Toda, Kota, Khond, + Gond, Or[=a]on, R[=a]jmah[=a]li, Keik[=a]di, Yeruk[=a]la.] + + [Footnote 4: The sacrifices of the wild tribes all appear to + have the object of pleasing or placating the god with food, + animal or vegetable; just as the Brahmanic sacrifice is made + to please, with the secondary thought that the god will + return the favor with interest; then that he is bound to do + so. Sin is carried away by the sacrifice, but this seems to + be merely an extension of the simpler idea; the god condones + a fault after an expression of repentance and good-will. + What lies further back is not revealed in the early texts, + though it is easy to make them fruitful in "theories of + sacrifice."] + + [Footnote 5: Of course no tribe has what civilization would + call a temple, but some have what answer to it, namely, a + filthy hut where live the god and his priest. Yet the Gonds + used to build roads and irrigate very well.] + + [Footnote 6: The (R[=a]j) Gonds were first subdued by the + R[=a]jputs, and where the Hindus and Gonds have intermarried + they are known as R[=a]j Gonds. Others have become the + 'Mohammedan Gonds.' Otherwise, in the case of the pure or + '[=A]ssul' (the greater number), neither Hindu nor + Mohammedan has had much influence over them, either socially + or religiously. The Gonds whipped the British in 1818; but + since then they have become 'pacified.'] + + [Footnote 7: It is often no more than a small hatchet stuck + in the belt, if they wear the latter, which in the jungle is + more raiment than they are wont to put on.] + + [Footnote 8: The snake in the tree is common to many tribes, + both being tutelary. The Gonds are 'sons of the forest + Trees,' and of the northern bull.] + + [Footnote 9: It seems to us that this feature need not be + reckoned as a sign of exogamy. It is often, so far as we + have observed, only a stereotyped form to express + bashfulness.] + + [Footnote 10: Some say earth-_god._ Thus the account given + in JRAS. 1842, p. 172, says 'male earth-god as ancestor,' + but most modern writers describe the divinity as a female. + Some of the Khonds worship only earth (as a peacock). This + is the peacock revered at the Pongol.] + + [Footnote 11: The Gonds also have a boundary-god. Graves as + boundaries are known among the Anglo-Saxons. Possibly Hermes + as boundary-god may be connected with the Hermes that + conducts souls; or is it simply as thief-god that he guards + from theft? The Khond practice would indicate that the + corpse (as something sacred) made the boundary, not that the + boundary was made by running a line to a barrow, as is the + case in the Anglo-Saxon connection between barrow and + bound.] + + [Footnote 12: Some may compare Bellerophon !] + + [Footnote 13: Tutelary deities are of house, village, + groves, etc. The 'House-god' is, of course, older than this + or than Hinduism. The Rig Veda recognizes V[=a]stoshpati, + the 'Lord of the House,' to whom the law (Manu, III. 89, + etc.) orders oblations to be made. But Hinduism prefers a + female house-goddess (see above, p. 374). Windisch connects + this Vedic divinity, V[=a]stos-pati, with Vesta and Hestia. + The same scholar compares Keltic _vassus, vassallus_, + originally 'house-man'; and very ingeniously equates + Vassorix with Vedic _vas[=a][.m] r[=a]j[=a]--vic[=a][.m] + r[=a]j[=a]_, 'king of the house-men' (clan), like + _h[.u]skarlar_,'house-fellows,' in Scandinavian (domesticus, + *_ouk(tes)_). Windisch, _Vassus und Vassallus_, in the + _Bericht. d. k. Saechs. Gesell_. 1892, p. 174.] + + [Footnote 14: That is to say, a dead man's spirit goes to + heaven, or is re-born whole in the tribe, or is re-born + diseased (anywhere, this is penal discipline), or finally is + annihilated. Justly may one compare the Brahmanic division + of the Manes into several classes, according to their + destination as conditioned by their manner of living and + exit from life. It is the same idea ramifying a little + differently; not a case of borrowing, but the growth of two + similar seeds. On the other hand, the un-Aryan doctrine of + transmigration may be due to the belief of native wild + tribes. It appears first in the Catapatha, but is hinted at + in the 'plant-souls' of the RV. (above, pp. 145,204,432), + possibly in RV. I. 164. 30,38; Boetlingk, _loc. cit_., 1893, + p. 88.] + + [Footnote 15: This tribe now divides with the Lurka Koles + the possession of Chota Nagpur, which the latter tribe used + to command entire. The Or[=a]ons regard the Lurka Koles as + inferiors. Compare JRAS. 1861, p. 370 ff. They are sometimes + erroneously grouped with the Koles, ethnographically as well + as geographically. Risley, _Tribes and Castes of Bengal_, p. + XXXII.] + + [Footnote 16: Something like this is recorded by Brinton, + _Myths of the New World_, p. 243, as the belief of an + American tribe, which holds that the fate of the dead + depends on the manner of death, the funeral rites, or "some + such arbitrary circumstance" (as in Greece).] + + [Footnote 17: Compare the epic 'Mouse-people,' M[=u]shikas, + as well as Apollo's mouse. Possibly another Hindu mark of + sectarianism may be traced to the wild tribes, the use of + vermilion markings. This is the most important element in + the Bengal wedding rite (Risley).] + + [Footnote 18: Above the Sunth[=a]ls, who inhabit the jungle + and lower slopes of the R[=a]jmah[=a]l hills, live the + P[=a]h[=a]r[=i]as, who never tell a lie (it is said), and + whose religion in some aspects is worth noticing. They + believe in one god (over each village god), who created + seven brothers to rule earth. The P[=a]h[=a]r[=i]as descend + from the eldest of these brothers. They believe in + transmigration, a future state, and oracles. But it is + questionable whether they have not been exposed to + Buddhistic influence, as 'Budo Gosain' is the name of the + supreme (sun-)god.] + + [Footnote 19: In the ninth century Orissa was formed of the + territories of Khonds, Koles, and Sav[=a]ras. In the old + grouping of tribes these, together with the Gonds and Bhils, + were the "five children of the soil" between the Vindhya + mountains, the east chain of the Gh[=a]ts, and the mouth of + the God[=a]var[=i] to the centre of the valley of the + Nerbudda. The last mentioned tribe of Bhils (Bheels) is + almost devoid of native religion, but is particularly noted + for truth, honesty, and fidelity. JRAS. 1844, pp. 181, 189, + 192; 1852, p. 216 ff. It is an ancient race, but its origin + is not certain.] + + [Footnote 20: Trees are revered by the Brahmans also, as by + the American Indians. Schoolcraft, i. 368. The tree-spirit + is an advance on this (Brahmanic and Hinduistic).] + + [Footnote 21: Thus the Bhils' wedding is simply a mutual + promise under the _sing[=a]_ tree. These savages, however, + live together only so long as they choose. When the family + separates, the father takes the elder children, and the + mother takes the younger ones. They are polygamous. It is + from this tribe that the worship of Aghor[=i], the Vindhya + fiend, accepted as a form of K[=a]l[=i], was introduced into + Civaite worship. At present their religion is a mixture of + Hindu and native superstition. Thus, like the Gonds, they + worship stone images of gods placed in a circle, but they + recognize among these gods several of the Hindu divinities.] + + [Footnote 22: Rowney, _Wild Tribes_, p. 194. The goose-totem + of the Sunth[=a]ls is also Brahm[=a]'s sign. As Vishnu is + carried on an eagle, and Civa on a bull, so Brahm[=a] rides + a goose (or flamingo). The 'ten ancestors' demanded of the + Brahman priest were originally on the mother's side as well + as on the father's. Weber, _R[=a]jas[=u]ya_, p. 78. The + matriarchal theory is, however, southern. (Compare the + oblations to the ancestresses in Vishnu's law-book, 74.)] + + [Footnote 23: The marriage-stone, as in the Hindu rite is + quite common. Of lesser superstitions the _tab[=u]_, + analogous to the avoidance of unlucky names among the + Hindus, may be mentioned. Friendship among girls is cemented + by a religious ceremony. After this, among the Or[=a]ons, + the two avoid each other's name, calling each other only 'my + flower' or 'my meet-to-smile' (Rowney). In this tribe + exogamy is 'more respectable,' but not necessary. The girls + are generally bought, and have fixed prices, but we have + seen the customary price (twenty-five pigs) cited only for + Assam among the Meeris. If one man cannot pay so much, + several unite, for polyandry prevails all through the + northern tribes (JRAS. XI. 38), and even in the Punj[=a]b.] + + [Footnote 24: Sherring (JRAS. V. 376) says decidedly that + Bh[=a]rs, or Bh[=a]rats, and Ch[=i]rus cannot be Aryans. + This article is one full of interesting details in regard to + the high cultivation of the Bh[=a]rat tribe. They built + large stone forts, immense subterranean caverns, and made + enormous bricks for tanks and fortifications (19 X 11 X + 2-1/2 inches), the former being built regularly to east and + west (_surajbedi_). One of their chief cities lay five miles + west of Mirz[=a]pur, and covered several miles, entirely + surrounding the Puranic city of Vindhyacal, built in the + midst of it. Six or seven hundred years ago the Bh[=a]rs + held Oude and Benares. Carnegy's opinion is given in his + _Races, Tribes, and Castes of the Province of Oude_ (Oudh). + The Bh[=a]rs, says Elliot, _Chronicles of Oonayo_, built all + the towns not ending in _pur_, _mow_, or _[=a]b[=a]d_ + (Hindu, Mongol, Mohammedan). Their sacra (totems?) are the + bamboo, _bel_-tree, tortoise, and peacock.] + + [Footnote 25: JRAS. XII. 229; IA. XXII. 293.] + + [Footnote 26: Among the southern Koders the dolmen form + grave-stones; perhaps the religious employment of them in + this wise led to the idea of the god-stone in many cases; + but it is difficult to say in monolith-worship whether the + stone itself be not a god; not a fetish, for (as has been + said by others) a fetish is a god only so long as he is + regarded as being useful, and when shown to be useless he is + flung away; but a god-stone is always divine, whether it + grants prayers or not.] + + [Footnote 27: Wilson's note to Stevenson's description, + JRAS. 1838, p. 197. The epic disease-gods are not unique. + The only god known to the Andaman Islanders (Bay of Bengal) + was a disease-devil, and this is found as a subordinate + deity in many of the wild tribes.] + + [Footnote 28: In the current _Indian Antiquary_ there is an + exceedingly interesting series of papers by the late Judge + Burnell on Devil-worship, with illustrations that show well + the character of these lower objects of worship.] + + [Footnote 29: The standard work on this subject is + Fergusson's _Tree and Serpent Worship_, which abounds in + interesting facts and dangerously captivating fancies.] + + [Footnote 30: JRAS. 1846, p. 407. The ensign here may be + totemistic. In Hinduism the epic shows that the standards of + battle were often surmounted with signa and effigies of + various animals, as was the case, for example, in ancient + Germany. We have collected the material on this point in a + paper in JAOS. XIII. 244. It appears that on top of the + flag-staff images were placed. One of these is the + Ape-standard; another, the Bull standard; another, the + Hoar-standard. Arjuna's sign was the Ape (with a lion's + tail); other heroes had peacocks, elephants, and fabulous + monsters like the _carabha_. The Ape is of course the god + Hanuman; the Boar, Vishnu; the Bull, Civa; so that they have + a religious bearing for the most part, and are not + totemistic. Some are purely fanciful, a bow, a swan with + bells, a lily; or, again, they are significant of the + heroe's origin (Drona's 'pot'). Trees and flowers are used + as standards just like beasts. Especially is the palm a + favorite emblem. These signa are in addition to the + battle-flags (one of which is blue, carried with an ensign + of five stars). On the plants compare Williams, _Brahmanism + and Hinduism_, p. 338.] + + [Footnote 31: [=A]pastambo, 2. 2. 3. 22; Manu, III. 88.] + + [Footnote 32: Vule _apud_ Williams.] + + [Footnote 33: _ib_. The Rig Veda, X. 81. 4, knows also a + 'tree of creation.'] + + [Footnote 34: _Early Law and Custom_, p. 73 ff.] + + [Footnote 35: Thus it is common Aryan law that, on the birth + of a child, the mother becomes impure for ten days, either + alone or with the father. But the latter's impurity is only + nominal, and is removed by bathing (Manu, V. 62, and + others). B[=a]udh[=a]yana alone states that "according to + some" only the father becomes impure (1. 5. 11. 21). This is + the custom of a land described by Apollonius Rhodius (II. + 1010}, "where, when women bear children, the men groan, go + to bed, and tie up the head; but the women care for them." + Yet B[=a]udh[=a]yana is a Southerner and a late writer. The + custom is legalized only in this writer's laws. Hence it + cannot be cited as Brahmanic or even as Aryan law. It was + probably the custom of the Southern half-Hinduized + environment.] + + [Footnote 36: American Indians are also Dravidian, because + both have totems![* unknown symbol]] + + [Footnote 37: For the Akkadist theory may be consulted + Lacouperie in the _Babylonian and Oriental Record_, i. 1, + 25, 58; iii. 62 ff.; v. 44, 97; vi. 1 ff.; Hewitt, in + reviewing Risley's _Tribes and Castes of Bengal_, JRAS. + 1893, p. 238 ff. See also Sayce's _Hibbert Lectures_. On the + Deluge and Tree of Life, compare the _Babylonian and + Oriental Record_, iv. 15 and 217.] + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +INDIA AND THE WEST. + + +If in Hinduism, and even in Brahmanism, there are certain traits +which, with some verisimilitude, may be referred to the immediate +environment of these religions, how stands it in respect of that wider +circle of influence which is represented by the peoples of the West? +With Egypt and Phoenicia, India had intercourse at an early date, but +this appears to have been restricted to mercantile exchange; for India +till very late was affected neither by the literature nor by the +religion of Egyptians or Syrians.[1] Of a more direct sort seem to +have been the relations between India and Babylon, and the former may +owe to the latter her later astronomy, but no definitive proof exists +(or even any great historical probability) that Babylon gave India +even legendary additions to her native wealth of myths.[2] From the +Iranians the Hindus parted too early to receive from Zoroastrianism +any influence. On the contrary, in our opinion the religion of +Zoroaster budded from a branch taken from Indic soil. Even where +Persian influence may, with propriety, be suspected, in the later +Indic worship of the sun, India took no new religion from Persia; but +it is very possible that her own antique and preserved heliolatry was +aided, and acquired new strength from more modern contact with the +sun-worshippers of the West. Of Iranian influence in early times, +along the line of Hindu religious development, there is scarcely a +trace, although in 509 B.C. Darius's general conquered the land about +the Indus.[3] But the most zealous advocate of Persia's prestige can +find little to support his claims in pre-Buddhistic Brahmanic +literature, though such claims have been made, not only in respect of +the position of secondary divinities, but even as regards +eschatological conceptions. It is not so easy to refute an improbable +historical theory as it is to propound it, but, on the other hand, the +_onus probandi_ rests upon him that propounds it, and till now all +arguments on this point have resulted only in increasing the number of +unproved hypotheses, which the historian should mention and may then +dismiss. + +The Northern dynasty that ruled in India in the sixth century seems to +have had a hand in spreading Iranian sun-worship beyond the Indus, but +we doubt whether the radical effect of this dominion and its belief +(it is described by Kosmas, an Egyptian traveller of the time) is as +great as has been claimed.[4] + +From Greece, the Hindus received architectural designs, numismatic, +and perhaps a few literary hints, but they got thence neither +religious myths, nor, with the possible exception of the cult of the +later Love-god and fresh encouragement to phallic +-worship, new rites;[5] though they may have borrowed some fables, and +one even hears of a Buddhistic king endeavoring to buy a sophist of +Antiochus. But there is no ground for assuming philosophical influence +on Brahmanism. + +Christianity came late into the religious life of India, and as a +doctrine made upon her no deep or lasting impression. Certain details +of Christian story have been woven into the legends of Krishna, and +some scholars believe that the monotheistic worshippers depicted in +the pseudo-epic were Christians. But in respect of the latter point it +is enough to say that this account of foreign belief had no new +monotheizing effect upon the pantheism of India; the strange +(unbrahmanic) god was simply accepted as Vishnu. Nor do we believe +that the faith-doctrine of Hindu sectarianism and the trinitarianism +of India were derived from Christian sources. But it must be admitted +to be historically possible that the creed of the Christians, known to +the Hindus of the sixth and seventh centuries, may have suggested to +the latter the idea of the trinity as a means of adjusting the claims +of Brahmanism, Krishnaism, and Civaism.[6] + +But from the Mohammedan India has taken much, albeit +only in the last few centuries. When Alexander entered India there +were still two bodies of Indic people west of the Indus. But the trend +was eastward, as it had been for centuries, and the first inroad of +the Mohammedan had little further effect than to seize a land forsaken +by Aryans and given over to the hordes of the North. The foundation of +the new empire was not laid till the permanent occupation of the +Punj[=a]b and annexation of Lahore in 1022-23. In the thirteenth +century all Hindustan acknowledged the authority of the slave sultan +of Delhi.[7] Akbar died in 1605. By the end of the century the Mogul +rule was broken; the Mahratta princes became imperial. It is now just +in this period of Mohammedan power when arise the deistic reforming +sects, which, as we have shown, were surrounded with deists and +trinitarians. Here, then, we draw the line across the inner +development of India's religions, with +Kab[=i]r, N[=a]nak, D[=a]du, and perhaps even Basava. In the +philosophy of the age that succeeds the epic there are but two phases +of religion, pantheism for the wise, a more or less deistic polytheism +for the vulgar[8] (in isolated cases may be added the monotheism of +certain scholastic philosophers); and so Indic religion continued till +the advent of Islamism. Nevertheless, though under Mohammedan +influence,[9] the most thoughtful spirits of India received monotheism +and gave up pantheism, yet was the religious attitude of these +thinkers not averse from that taken by the Sankyan philosophers and by +the earlier pantheists. From a philosophical point of view one must, +indeed, separate the two. But all these, the Unitarian Hariharaist, +the real pantheist of the Upanishads, who completed the work of the +Vedic quasi-pantheist, and the circle that comprises Kab[=i]r, +N[=a]nak, and D[=a]du, were united in that they stood against +encircling polytheism. They were religiously at one in that they gave +up the cult of many divinities, which represented respectively +nature-worship and fiend-worship (with beast-worship), for the worship +of one god. Therefore it is that, while native advance stops with the +Mohammedan conquest, one may yet claim an uninterrupted progress for +the higher Indic religion, a continual elevation of the thoughts of +the wise; although at the same time, beside and below this, there is +the circle of lower beliefs that continually revolves upon itself. For +in the zooelatry[10] and polytheism that adores monsters to-day +it is difficult to see a form of religion higher in any respect than +that more simple nature-polytheism which first obtained.[11] + +This lower aspect of Indic religions hinges historically on the +relation between the accepted cults of Hinduism[12] and those of the +wild tribes. We cannot venture to make any statements that will cast +upon this question more light than has been thrown by the above +account of the latter cults and of their points of contact with +Hinduism. It may be taken for granted that with the entrance into the +body politic of a class composed of vanquished[13] or vanquishing +natives, some of the religion of the latter may have been received +also. Such, there is every reason to believe, was the original worship +of Civa as Carva, Bhava, and of Krishna; in other words, of the first +features of modern sectarian Hinduism, though this has been so +influenced by Aryan civilization that it has become an integral part +of Hindu religion.[14] + +But, again, for a further question here presents itself, how much in +India to-day is Aryan? We are inclined to answer that very little of +blood or of religion is Aryan. Some priestly families keep perhaps a +strain of Aryan blood. But Hindu literature is not afraid to state how +many of its authors are of low caste, how many of its priests were +begotten of mixed marriages, how many formed low connections; while +both legendary and prophetic (_ex post facto_) history speak too often +of slave-kings and the evil times when low castes will reign, for any +unprejudiced person to doubt that the Hindu population, excluding many +pure priests but including many of the priests and the R[=a]jputs +('sons of kings'), represents Aryanhood even less than the belief of +the Rig Veda represents the primitive religion; and how little of +aboriginal Aryan faith is reflected in that work has been shown +already. + +As one reviews the post-Vedic religions of civilized India he is +impressed with the fact that, heterogeneous as they are, they yet in +some regards are so alike as to present, when contrasted with other +beliefs, a homogeneous whole. A certain uniqueness of religious style, +so to speak, differentiates every expression of India's theosophy from +that of her Western neighbors. What is common and world-wide in the +forms of Indic faith we have shown in a previous chapter. But on this +universal foundation India has erected many individual temples, +temples built after designs which are not uniform, but are all +self-sketched, and therefore peculiar to herself. In each of these +mental houses of God there is revealed the same disposition, and that +disposition is necessarily identical with that expressed in her +profane artistry,[15] for the form of religion is as much a matter of +national taste as is that which is embodied in literature, +architecture, and painting. And this taste, as expressed in religion, +isolates Brahmanic and Hinduistic India, +placing her apart, both from the gloom of Egypt and the grace of +Greece; even as in her earliest records she shows herself individual, +as contrasted with her Aryan kinsfolk. Like Egypt, she feels her dead +ever around her, and her cult is tinged with darkness; but she is fond +of pleasure, and seeks it deliriously. Like Greece, she loves beauty, +but she loves more to decorate it; and again, she rejoices in her +gods, but she rejoices with fear; fear that overcomes reason, and +pictures such horrors as are conjured up by the wild leaps of an +uncurbed fancy. For an imagination that knows no let has run away with +every form of her intellectual productivity, theosophy as well as art. +This is perceptible even in her ritualistic, scientific, and +philosophical systems; for though it is an element that at first seems +incongruous with such systems, it is yet in reality the factor that +has produced them. Complex, varied, minute, exact, as are the details +which she loves to elaborate in all her work, they are the result of +this same unfettered imagination, which follows out every fancy, +pleased with them all, exaggerating every present interest, unconfined +by especial regard for what is essential.[16] This is a heavy charge +to bring, nor can it be passed over with the usual remark that one +must accept India's canon as authoritative for herself, for the taste +of cosmopolitan civilization is the only norm of judgment, a norm +accepted even by the Hindus of the present day when they have learned +what it is. But we do not bring the charge of extravagance for the +sake of comparing India unfavorably with the Occident. Confining +ourselves to the historical method of treatment which we have +endeavored heretofore to maintain, we wish to point out the important +bearings which this intellectual trait has had upon the lesser +products of India's religious activity. + +Through the whole extent of religious literature one finds what are +apparently rare and valuable bits of historical information. It is +these which, from the point of view to which we have just referred, +one must learn to estimate at their real worth. In nine cases out of +ten, these seeming truths are due only to the light imagination of a +subsequent age, playing at will over the records of the past, and +seeking by a mental caper to leap over what it fails to understand. To +the Oriental of an age still later all the facts deducible from such +statements as are embodied in the hoary literature of antiquity appear +to be historical data, and, if mystic in tone, these statements are to +him an old revelation of profoundest truth. But the Occidental, who +recognizes no hidden wisdom in palpable mystification, should hesitate +also to accept at their face value such historical notes as have been +drafted by the same priestly hand. + +Nor would we confine the application of this principle to the output +of extant Brahmanic works. The same truth cuts right and left among +many utterances of the Vedic seers and all the theories built upon +them. To pick out here and there an _ipse dixit_ of one of the later +fanciful Vedic poets, who lived in a period as Brahmanic (that is, as +ritualistic) as is that which is represented by the actual +ritual-texts, and attempt to reconstruct the original form of +divinities on the basis of such vagaries is useless, for it is an +unhistorical method which ignores ancient conditions. + +In less degree, because here the conditions are more obvious, does +this apply to the religious interpretation of the great body of +literature which has conserved for posterity the beginnings of +Hinduism. But upon this we have already animadverted, and now need +only range this literature in line with its predecessors. Not because +the epic pictures Krishna as making obeisance to Civa is Krishna here +the undeveloped man-god, who represents but the beginning of his +(later) greatness, and is still subject to the older Civa. On the +contrary, it is the +epic's last extravagance in regard to Civa (who has already bowed +before the great image of Krishna-Vishnu) that demands a furious +counter-blast against the rival god. It is the Civaite who says that +Krishna-Vishnu bows; and because it is the Civaite, and because this +is the national mode of expression of every sectary, therefore what +the Civaite says is in all probability historically false, and the +sober historian will at least not discover 'the earlier Krishna' in +the Krishna portrayed by his rival's satellites. + +But when one comes to the modern sects, then he has to deplore not so +much the lack of historical data as the grotesque form into which this +same over-vivid imagination of the Hindu has builded his gods. As the +scientific systems grow more and more fancifully, detailed, and as the +liturgy flowers out into the most extraordinary bloom of weird legend, +so the images of the gods, to the eye in their temples, to the mind in +the descriptions of them, take to themselves the most uncouth details +imagined by a curious fancy. This god is an ascetic; he must be +portrayed with the ascetic's hair, the ascetic's wild appearance. He +kills; he must be depicted as a monster, every trait exaggerated, +every conceivable horror detailed. This god sported with the +shepherdesses; he must have love-adventures related in full, and be +worshipped as a darling god of love; and in this worship all must be +pictured in excess, that weaker mortal power may strive to appreciate +the magnitude of the divine in every fine detail. + +These traits are those of late Vedism, Brahmanism, and Hinduism. But +how marked is the contrast with the earlier Vedic age! The grotesque +fancy, the love of minutiae, in a word, the extravagance of +imagination and unreason are here absent, or present only in hymns +that contrast vividly with those of the older tone. This older tone is +Aryan, the later is Hindu, and it is another proof of what we have +already emphasized, that the Hinduizing influence was felt in the +later Vedic +or Brahmanic period. There is, indeed, almost as great a gulf between +the Dawn-hymns and the Catapatha as there is between the latter and +the Pur[=a]nas. One may rest assured that the perverted later taste +reproduces the advance of Hindu influence upon the Aryan mind exactly +in proportion to the enormity displayed. + +On the other hand, from the point of view of morality, Brahmanic +religion is not in any way individual. The race, whether Aryan or +Hinduistic, had as fragile virtue as have other folks, and shows the +same tentative efforts to become purer as those which characterize +every national advance. There is, perhaps, a little too much formal +insistence on veraciousness, and one is rather inclined to suspect, +despite Muellers brave defence of the Hindu in this regard, that lying +came very naturally to a people whose law-givers were so continuously +harping on the beauty of truth. The vicious caste-system necessarily +scheduled immorality in accordance with the caste order, as certain +crimes in other countries are estimated according to the race of the +sinner rather than according to any abstract standard. In the matter +of precept we know no better moral laws than those promulgated by the +Brahmans, but they are the laws that every people evolves for itself. +Religious immorality, the excess of Cakti worship, is also not +peculiar to the Hindu. If one ask how the morality of India as a whole +compares with that of other countries, we reply that, including +religious excesses, it stands level with the personal morality of +Greece in her best days,[17] +and that without the religiously sensual (Hindu) element, it is +_nominally_ on a par with that of London or New York. There are good +and bad men, and these make good and bad coteries, which stand inside +the pale of a religious profession. There is not much theoretical +difference. Few of the older gods are virtuous, and Right, even in the +Rig Veda, is the moral power, that is, Right as Order, correct +behavior, the prototype both of ritual and of _[=a]c[=a]ra,_ custom, +which rules the gods. In the law-court the gods are a moral group, and +two of them, Varuna and Agni, hate respectively the sins of adultery +and untruth. In the law it is, however, Dharma and the Father-god or +his diadochos, who, handing down heavenly precepts, gives all moral +laws, though it must be confessed that the Father-god is almost the +last to care for morality. And pure Brahmanism stops with Brahm[=a]. +In modern Hinduism, to kill, lust, steal, drink, so far from +offending, may please a god that is amorous, or bloodthirsty, or, like +Civa, is 'the lord of thieves.' Morality here has God himself against +it. In the Rig Veda, to sin is merely to displease a god. But even in +Brahmanism, as in Buddhism, there is not that intimate connection +between goodness and godness that obtains in Christianity. The +Brahman, like the Buddhist, was self-controlled, in order to exert +control upon the gods and the course of his own future life. He not +only, as is perhaps the case elsewhere, was moral with an ulterior +motive, but his moral code lacked the divine hand. It was felt as a +system which he applied to himself for his own good. He did not assume +that he offended a god by not following it, except in two special +cases, as in sins against Agni and Varuna. Ulterior motives are +deprecated, but because he that seeks absorption into God must quit +desires.[18] + +We have said that the moral code of the Hindus at its best seems to be +on a par with the best as found elsewhere. Not to lie, not to steal, +not to injure another illegally,[19] to be brave, to be loyal, to be +hospitable,--these are the factors of its early and late law. In +certain late cases may be added 'to be self-restrained.' But if these +laws be compared with those of the savage races it will be found that +most of them are also factors of primitive ethics. Therefore we say +that the Hindu code as a whole is savage and antique, and that, +excluding religious excess and debauchery, it is on a par with the +modern ethical code only nominally. In reality, however, this savage +and ancient code is not on a level with that of to-day. And the reason +is that the ideal of each is different. In the savage and old-world +conception of morality it is the ideal virtue that is represented by +the code. It was distinct laudation to say of a man that he did not +lie, or steal, and that he was hospitable.[20] But to-day, while these +factors remain to formulate the code, they no longer represent ideal +virtue. Nay rather, they are but the assumed base of virtue, and so +thoroughly is this assumed that to say of a gentleman that he does not +lie or steal is not praise, but rather an insult, since the imputation +to him of what is but the virtue of children is no longer an encomium +when applied to the adult, who is supposed to have passed the point +where theft and lying are moral temptations, and to have reached a +point where, on the basis of these savage, antique, and now childish +virtues, he strives for a higher moral ideal. And this ideal of +to-day, which makes fair-mindedness, liberality of thought, and +altruism the respective representatives of the savage virtues of +manual honesty, truth-speaking, and hospitality, is just what +is lacking in the more primitive ideal formulated in the code of +savages and of the Brahman alike.[21] It is not found at all among +savages, and they may be left on one side. In India all the factors of +the modern code are entirely lacking at the time when the old code was +first completely formulated. Liberality of thought comes in with the +era of the Upanishads, but it is a restricted freedom. Altruism is +unknown to pure Brahmanism. But it obtains among the Buddhists, who +also have liberality of thought and fair-mindedness. Hence, from the +point of view of the higher morality, one must confess that Buddhism +offers the best parallel to the best of to-day. On the other hand, +Buddhistic altruism exceeds all other. + +We have sketched the sphere of influence exerted by the West upon +India, and found it on the whole inconsiderable. The Indic religions +till the twelfth century assimilated what little they drew from +foreign sources, and stand before the world as a peculiar growth, +native to the soil in all their essential characteristics.[22] + +But to the other side of India's contact with the West we have as yet +barely alluded. India has given as she has received. What influence +has she had upon Western cults and beliefs? The worship that +substituted idols for ideal forms we have traced back to the end of +the Vedic period. It is not, however, a mark of early Brahmanism, nor +is it a pronounced feature before the age of Buddhism. But in Buddha's +time, or soon after, flourished the worship of images, and with it the +respect for relics. The latter feature of the new religion made +necessary shrines to keep the holy objects, sacred museums, which soon +became the formal _st[=u]pas,_ above-ground +and under-ground, and these made the first temples of India.[23] Fully +developed, they became the great religious buildings affected by +Buddhism, with their idol service, prostrations, repetitions of +prayers, dim religious light (lamp-service), offerings of flowers, +fruits, etc. From this source may have been derived many of the +details in the Roman Catholic worship, which appears to have taken +from Buddhism the rosary, originally a mark of the Civaite.[24] By +what is, to say the least, an extraordinary coincidence, each of these +churches is conspicuous for its use of holy water, choirs, sacred +pictures, tonsure, vestments, the bell in religious service, the +orders of nuns, monks, and the vows of the monastic system.[25] The +most curious loan made by the Roman and Greek churches is, however, +the quasi-worship of Gotama Buddha himself (in so far as a Romanist +worships his saints), for, under cover of the Barlaam and Josaphat +story, Buddha has found a niche as a saint in the row of canonized +Catholic worthies, and has his saint-day in the calendar of the Greek +and Roman churches.[26] But it is not his mother who is the Virgin of +Lamaism, which has made of Buddha the Supreme God. + +Besides external phases of the religious cult, India has given +to the West a certain class of literary works and certain +philosophical ideas. The former consists, of course, in the +fable-literature, which spread from India to Eastern Europe (Babrius) +and has preserved in many tales of to-day nothing more than Buddhistic +Birth-stories or other Indic tales (the Pa[.n]catantra) and +legends.[27] Of these we can make only passing mention here, to turn +at once to the more important question of philosophical and religious +borrowing. + +It has been claimed, as we have incidentally stated, that the Logos +doctrine was imported from India. Were this so, it would, indeed, be a +fact of great historical importance, but, interesting as would be such +a loan, we cannot see that the suggestion is based on data of cogent +character. The history of the doctrine in India and Greece is simply +this: V[=a]c, Speech or Word, appears in the Rig Veda (in the hymn +cited above, p. 143) as an active female divine power, showing grace +to mortals. In the Brahmanic period V[=a]c becomes more and more like +the Greek Logos, and it may truthfuly be said that in this period "the +Word was God." In Greece, on the other hand, the conception of Logos +begins with Heraclitus, passes on to the Stoics; is adopted by Philo; +becomes a prominent feature of Neo-Platonism; and reappears in the +Gospel of St. John. It is certainly legitimate to suppose that +Heraclitus might have received the idea indirectly, if not directly, +from contemporary Eastern philosophers; but the fact that he did so +remains unproved; nor is there any foundation for the assumption of +borrowing other than the resemblance between the Grecian and Indic +conceptions. But this resemblance is scarcely marked enough in +essential features to prejudice one in favor of Weber's theory +(amplified by Garbe), as it is not detailed enough to be striking, for +V[=a]c is never more than one of many female abstractions. + +With the exception of the one case to be mentioned immediately, we are +forced to take the same position in regard to the similarity between +other forms of early Greek and Hindu philosophy. Both Thales and +Parmenides were indeed anticipated by Hindu sages, and the Eleatic +school seems to be but a reflexion of the Upanishads. The doctrines of +Anaximander and Heraclitus are, perhaps, not known first in Greece, +but there is no evidence that they were not original to Greece, or +that they were borrowed from India, however much older may be the +parallel trains of thought on Indic soil. + +Quite as decidedly, however, as we deny all appearance of borrowing on +the part of the founders of other early Grecian schools, must we claim +the thought of India to be the archetype of Pythagorean philosophy. +After a careful review of the points of contact, and weighing as +dispassionately as possible the historical evidence for and against +the originality of Pythagoras, we are unable to come to any other +conclusion than that the Greek philosopher took his whole system +indirectly from India. His 'numbers,' indeed, are the S[=a]nkhya only +in appearances.[28] But his theory of metempsychosis is the Indic +_sams[=a]ra_, and Plato is full of Sankhyan thought, worked out by him +but taken from Pythagoras. Before the sixth century B.C. all the +religious-philosophical ideas of Pythagoras are current in India (L. +von Schroeder, _Pythagoras_). If there were but one or two of these +cases, they might be set aside as accidental coincidences, but such +coincidences are too numerous to be the result of chance. Even in +details the transmigration theory of Pythagoras harmonizes with that +of India. Further (after Schroeder und Garbe) may be mentioned the +curious prohibition against eating beans; the Hesiodic-Pythagorean +[Greek: _pros elion me omichein_]; the vow of silence, like that taken +by the Hindu _muni_; the doctrine of _five_ elements (aether as +fifth); above all, the so-called Pythagorean Theorem, developed in the +mathematical +Culvas[=u]tras[29] of India; the irrrational number [square root +symbol]2; then the whole character of the religious-philosophical +fraternity, which is exactly analogous to the Indic orders of the +time; and finally the mystic speculation, which is peculiar to the +Pythagorean school, and bears a striking resemblance to the +fantastical notions affected by the authors of the Br[=a]hmana.[30] +Greek legend is full of the Samian's travels to Egypt, Chaldaea, +Phoenicia, and India. The fire beneath this smoke is hidden. One knows +not how much to believe of such tales. But they only strengthen the +inference, drawn from 'the Pythagorean school,' the man's work itself, +that the mysticism and numbers with which he is surrounded are taken +from that system of numbers and from that mysticism which are so +astonishingly like his own. All subsequent philosophies borrowed from +Pythagoreanism, and in so far has India helped to form the mind of +Europe.[31] + +But we cannot omit a yet more important religious influence exerted by +India upon the West. As is well known, Neo-Platonism and Christian +Gnosticism owe much to India. The Gnostic ideas in regard to a +plurality of heavens and spiritual worlds go back directly to Hindu +sources. Soul and light are one in the S[=a]nkhya system before they +become so in Greece, and when they appear united in Greece it is by +means of the thought which is borrowed from India. The famous 'three +qualities' of the S[=a]nkhya reappear as the Gnostic 'three classes,' +[Greek: pneumagikoi], [Greek: psuchikoi], [Greek: ulikoi].[32] In +regard to Neo-Platonism, Garbe +says: "The views of Plotinus are in perfect agreement with those of +the S[=a]nkhya system."[33] Porphyry, the disciple of Plotinus, has +the Yoga doctrine of immediate perception of truth leading to union +with the deity. As is well known and undisputed, this Porphyry copies +directly from the treatise of Bardesanes, which contains an account of +the Brahmatis;[34] while in many instances he simply repeats the +tenets of the S[=a]nkhya philosophy. The means of communication may +have been Alexandria, where met the trades of the East and West. +Perhaps the philosophers of India as well as of Greece were brought +together there. But, if the East and West had a mutual meeting-ground, +the ideas common to both occupy no common place in their respective +homes. In Greece, Pythagoreanism and Gnosticism are strange, and are +felt as such by the natives. In India these traits are founded on +ancient beliefs, long current, universal, nationally recognized. The +question of giver and receiver, then, admitting the identity of +thought, can scarcely be raised. If two men meet, one a Methodist and +one a Baptist, and after they have conversed the Methodist be found +totally immersed, he will not be credited with having invented +independently his new mode of baptism. + +India's influence as an intellectual factor in modern European thought +has thus far been of the slightest. Her modern deism is borrowed, and +her pantheism is not scientific. Sanskrit scholars are rather fond of +citing the pathetic words of Schopenhauer, who, speaking of the +Upanishads, says that the study of these works "has been the solace of +my life; it will be the solace of my death"; but Schopenbauer knew the +Upanishads only in a very free form of translation, and it can +scarcely have been the loose philosophy so much as the elevated spirit +of +these works that solaced the unphilosophical bitterness of his life. +This general impression will doubtless continue to be felt by all that +study the best works of Brahmanism. The sincerity, the fearless search +of the Indic sages for truth, their loftiness of thinking, all these +will affect the religious student of every clime and age, though the +fancied result of their thinking may pass without effect over a modern +mind. For a philosophy that must be orthodox can never be definitive. +But, if one turn from the orthodox completed systems to the tentative +beginnings of the Ved[=a]nta (in the Upanishads), he finds as the +basis of this earlier speculation only an _a priori_ meta-physical +assumption.[35] + +Apart from philosophical influence there is at present more or less +interest in Europe and America in Indic superstition and spiritualism, +and half-educated people will doubtless be influenced for some time to +come by Mah[=a]tmaism and Yogism, just as they are moved by native +seance-spirits and mesmerism. Blavatskyism (which represents no phase +of Buddhism) will always find disciples among the ignorant classes, +especially in an agnostic or atheistic environment, so that one should +attribute the mental attitude of such minds to their lack of culture +rather than to India; for if Mah[=a]tmaism had not been discovered, +they would still profess it under another name. Buddhism, too, apart +from Hartmann, may be said to have some influence on popular thought, +yet it is a very unreal Buddhism, which amounts only to the adoption +of an altruistic creed. But we know of none among the many that +profess themselves 'Buddhists' who has really adopted Buddhistic +principles, and but few who even understand those principles. A bar to +the adoption of Buddhism lies in the implicit necessity +of renunciation for all who would become perfected, and in the +explicit doctrine of _karma_ in its native form. The true Buddhist is +not satisfied to be a third-class Buddhist, that is, simply a man that +seeks to avoid lust, anger, and ignorance. He will become a +second-class Buddhist and renounce the world, give up all family ties +and earthly affections, and enter the Order. But he will not do this, +thinking that he is thereby to become perfect. For, to be a +first-class Buddhist, he must get wisdom. He must believe in the +impermanence of everything, and in the awful continuation of his own +_karma_ as a resultant group, which, as such, will continue to exist +if, to the purity and peace of the lower classes of Buddhists, he fail +to add in his own case the wisdom that understands the truth of this +_karma_ doctrine.[36] Now no modern mind will believe this hypothesis +of _karma_ and no modern will even enter the Order. Nevertheless, +while one may not become a true Buddhist in the native sense, it is +possible to be a Buddhist in a higher sense, and in its new form this +is a religion that will doubtless attract many Occidentals, though it +is almost too chaste to win adherents where marriage is not regarded +as detrimental to high thinking. But if one substitute for the +Buddhistic _karma_ the _karma_ of to-day, he may well believe that his +acts are to have effect hereafter, not as a complex but as individual +factors in determining the goodness of his descendants and indirectly +of his environment. Then there remains the attainment of purity, +kindness,[37] and wisdom, which last may be interpreted, in accordance +with the spirit of the Master, as seeing things in their +true relations, and the abandonment of whatever prevents such +attainment, namely, of lust, anger, and ignorance. But to be a true +Buddhist one must renounce, as lust, all desire of evil, of future +life, which brings evil; and must live without other hope than that of +extinguishing all desire and passion, believing that in so doing he +will at death be annihilated, that is, that he will have caused his +acts to cease to work for good or ill, and that, since being without a +soul he exists only in his acts, he will in their cessation also cease +to be. + +At least one thing may be learned from Buddhism. It is possible to be +religious without being devout. True Buddhism is the only religion +which, discarding all animism, consists in character and wisdom. But +neither in sacrificial works, nor in kindness alone, nor in wisdom +alone, lies the highest. One must renounce all selfish desires and +live to build up a character of which the signs are purity, love for +all, and that courageous wisdom which is calm insight into truth. The +Buddhist worked out his own salvation without fear or trembling. To +these characteristics may be added that tolerance and freedom of +thought which are so dissimilar to the traits of many other religions. + +So much may be learned from Buddhism, and it were much only to know +that such a religion existed twenty-four centuries ago. But in what, +from a wider point of view, lies the importance of the study of Hindu +religions? Not, we venture to think, in their face value for the +religious or philosophical life of the Occident, but in the +revelation, which is made by this study, of the origin and growth of +theistic ideas in one land; in the light these cast by analogy on the +origin of such ideas elsewhere; in the prodigious significance of the +religious factor +in the development of a race, as exhibited in this instance; in the +inspiring review of that development as it is seen through successive +ages in the loftiest aspirations of a great people; and finally in the +lesson taught by the intellectual and religious fate of them among +that people that have substituted, like the Brahman ritualist, form +for spirit; like the Vedantist, ideas for ideals; like the sectary, +emotion for morality. But greatest, if woeful, is the lesson taught by +that phase of Buddhism, which has developed into Lamaism and its +kindred cults. For here one learns how few are they that can endure to +be wise, how inaccessible to the masses is the height on which sits +the sage, how unpalatable to the vulgar is a religion without +credulity. + +Ever since Cotton Mather took up a collection to convert the +Hindus,[38] Americans have felt a great interest in missionary labor +in India. Under the just and beneficent rule of the British the Hindus +to-day are no longer plundered and murdered in the way they once were; +nor is there now so striking a contrast between the invader's precept +and example as obtained when India first made the acquaintance of +Christian militants. + +The slight progress of the missionaries, who for centuries have been +working among the Hindus, is, perhaps, justified in view of this +painful contrast. In its earlier stages there can be no doubt that all +such progress was thereby impeded. But it is cause for encouragement, +rather than for dismay, that the slowness of Christian advance is in +part historically explicable, sad as is the explanation. For against +what odds had not the early missionaries to struggle! Not the heathen, +but the Christian, barred the way against Christianity. Four hundred +years ago the Portuguese descended upon the Hindus, cross and sword in +hand. For a whole century these victorious immigrants, with unheard-of +cruelty and tyranny, cheated, stripped, and slaughtered the natives. +After them came the Dutch, but, Dutch or Portuguese, it was the same. +For it was merely another century, during which a new band of +Christians hesitated at no crime or outrage, at no meanness or +barbarity, which should win them power in India. In 1758 the Dutch +were conquered by the English, who, becoming now the chief +standard-bearers of the Christian church, committed, Under +Varisittart, more offences against decency, honor, honesty, and +humanity than is pleasant for believer or unbeliever to record; and, +when their own theft had brought revolt, knew no better way to impress +the Hindu with the power of Christianity than to revive the Mogul +horror and slay. (in their victims' fearful belief) both soul and body +alike by shooting their captives from the cannon's mouth. Such was +Christian example. It is no wonder that the Christian precept ('thou +shalt love thy neighbor as thyself') was uttered in vain, or that the +faith it epitomized was rejected. The hand stole and killed; the mouth +said, 'I love you.' The Hindu understood theft and murder, but it took +him some time to learn English. One may hope that this is now +forgotten, for the Hindu has not the historical mind. But all this +must be remembered when the expenditures of Christianity are weighed +with its receipts.[39] + +In coming to the end of the long course of Hindu religious thought, it +is almost inevitable that one should ask what is the present effect of +missionary effort upon this people, and what, again, will eventually +be the direction which the native religious sense, so strongly +implanted in this folk, will take, whether aided or not by influence +from without. + +Although it is no part of our purpose to examine into the workings of +that honest zeal which has succeeded in planting so many stations up +the Indic coast, there are yet some obvious truths which, in the light +of religious history, should be an assistance to all whose work lies +in making Hindu converts. To compile these truths from this history +will not be otiose. In the first place, Christian dogma was formally +introduced into South India in the sixth century; it was known in the +North in the seventh, and possibly long before this; it was the topic +of debate by educated Hindus in the sixteenth and seventeenth. It has +helped to mould the Hindus' own most intellectual sects; and, either +through the influence of Christian or native teaching, or that of +both, have been created not only the Northern monotheistic schools, +but also the strict unitarianism of the later Southern sects, whose +scriptures, for at least some centuries, have inculcated the purest +morality and simplest monotheistic creed in language of the most +elevated character.[40] In the second place, the Hindu sectary has +interwoven with +his doctrine of pantheism that of the trinity. In the third place, the +orthodox Brahman recognizes in the cult of Christianity, as that cult +is expressed, for instance, in Christmas festivities, one that is +characteristic, in outward form and inner belief, of a native +heterodox sect. In the fourth place, the Hindu sectary believes that +the native expression of trinitarian dogma, faith-doctrine, child-god +worship, and madonna-worship takes historical precedence over that of +Christianity; and the orthodox Hindu believes the same of his +completed code of lofty moral teachings. Vishnuism is, again, so +catholic that it will accept Christ as an _avatar_ of Vishnu, but not +as an exclusive manifestation of God. In the fifth place, the Hindu +doctors are very well educated, and often very clever, both delighting +in debate and acute in argument It follows, if we may draw the obvious +inference, that, to attack orthodox Brahmanism, or even heterodox +Hinduism, requires much logical ability as well as learning, and that +the best thing a missionary can do in India, if he be not conscious of +possessing both these requisites, is to let the native scholars alone. + +But native scholars make but a small part of the population, and among +the uneducated and 'depressed' classes there is plenty for the +missionary to do. Here, too, where caste is hated because these +classes suffer from it, there is more effect in preaching equality and +the brotherly love of Christianity, doctrines abhorrent to the social +aristocrats, and not favored even by the middle classes. But what here +opposes Christian efforts is the splendid system of devotion, the +magnificent fetes, the gorgeous shows, and the tickling ritualism, +which please and overawe the fancy of the native, who is apt to desire +for himself a pageant of religion, not to speak of a visible god in +idol form; while from his religious teacher he demands either an +asceticism which is no part of the Christian faith, or a leadership in +sensuous and sensual worship. + +What will be the result of proselytizing zeal among these variegated +masses?[41] Evidently this depends on where and how it is exercised. +The orthodox theologian will not give up his inherited faith for one +that to him is on a par with a schismatic heresy, or take dogmatic +instruction from a level which he regards as intellectually below his +own. From the Sam[=a]jas no present help will come to the missionary; +for, while they have already accepted the spirit of Christianity, +liberal Hindus reject the Christian creed.[42] At a later day they +will join hands with the missionary, perhaps, but not before the +latter is prepared to say: There is but one God, and many are his +prophets. + +There remain such of the higher classes as can be induced to prefer +undogmatic Christianity to polytheism, and the lowest class, which may +be persuaded by acts of kindness to accept the dogmas with which these +are accompanied. It is with this class that the missionary has +succeeded best. In other cases his success has been in inverse ratio +to the amount of his dogmatic teaching. And this we believe to be the +key to the second problem. For, if one examine the maze of India's +tangled creeds, he will be surprised to find that, though dogmatic +Christianity has its Indic representative, there yet is no indigenous +representative of undogmatic Christianity. For a +god in human form is worshipped, and a trinity is revered; but this is +not Christianity. Love of man is preached; but this is not +Christianity. Love of God and faith in his earthly incarnation is +taught; but this, again, is not Christianity. No sect has ever +formulated as an original doctrine Christ's two indissoluble +commandments, on which hang all the law and the prophets. + +It would seem, therefore, that to inculcate active kindness, simple +morality, and the simplest creed were the most persuasive means of +converting the Hindu, if the teacher unite with this a practical +affection, without venturing upon ratiocination, and without seeking +to attract by display, which at best cannot compete with native +pageants.[43] Moreover, on the basis of undogmatic teaching, the +missionary even now can unite with the Sam[=a]j and Sittar church, +neither of which is of indigenous origin, though both are native in +their secondary growth. For it is significant that it is the Christian +union of morality and altruism which has appealed to each of these +religious bodies, and which each of them has made its own. In +insisting upon a strict morality the Christian missionary will be +supported by the purest creeds of India itself, by Brahmanism, +unsectarian Hinduism, the Jain heretics, and many others, all of whom +either taught the same morality before Christianity existed, or +developed it without Christian aid. The strength of Christian teaching +lies in uniting with this the practical altruism which was taught by +Christ. In her own religions there is no hope for India, and her best +minds have renounced them. The +body of Hinduism is corrupt, its soul is evil. As for Brahmanism--the +Brahmanism that produced the Upanishads--the spirit is departed, and +the form that remains is dead. But a new spirit, the spirit of +progress and of education, will prevail at last. When it rules it will +undo the bonds of caste and do away with low superstition. Then India +also will be free to accept, as the creed of her new religion, +Christ's words, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and thy neighbor as +thyself.' But to educate India up to this point will take many +centuries, even more, perhaps, than will be needed to educate in the +same degree Europe and America.[44] + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: Lassen interprets _ophir_ as Abh[=i]ras, at the + mouth of the Indus. The biblical _koph_ is Sanskrit _kapi_, + ape. Other doubtful equivalents are discussed by Weber, + _Indische Skizzen_, p. 74.] + + [Footnote 2: The legend of the Flood and the fancy of the + Four Ages has been attributed to Babylon by some writers. + Ecstein claims Chaldean influence in Indic atomic + philosophy, _Indische Studien_, ii. 369, which is doubtful; + but the Indic alphabet probably derived thence, possibly + from Greece. The conquests of Semiramis (Serimamis in + the original) may have + included a part of India, but only Brunnhofer finds trace of + this in Vedic literature, and the character of his work we + have already described.] + + [Footnote 3: Senart attributes to the Achaemenides certain + Indic formulae of administration. IA. xx. 256.] + + [Footnote 4: Certain Hindu names, like those to which we + called attention in the epic, containing Mihira, _i.e.,_ + Mithra; the Magas; _i.e.,_ Magi; and recommendations of + sun-worship in the Pur[=a]nas are the facts on which Weber + bases a theory of great influence of Persia at this later + period. Weber claims, in fact, that the native sun-worship + was quite replaced by this importation (_Indische Skizzen_, + p. 104). This we do not believe. Even the great number of + Persians who, driven out by Arabians, settled in Gujar[=a]t + (the name of Bombay is the same with Pumbadita, a Jewish + settlement in Mesopotamia) had no other effect on the + Brahmanic world that absorbed them (_ib._ p. 109) than to + intensify the fervor of a native cult.] + + [Footnote 5: Weber ascribes to Greek influence the Hindus + first acquaintance with the planets. On a possible dramatic + loan see above, p. 2, note. The Greeks were first to get + into the heart of India (as far as Patna), and between the + court of Antiochus the Great and the king S[=a]ubhagasena + there was formal exchange of ambassadors in the third + century B.C. The name of Demetrius appears as Datt[.a]mitra + in the Hindu epic. He had "extended his rule over the Indus + as far as the Hydaspes and perhaps over M[=a]lava and + Gujarat" (about 200 B.C.; Weber, _Skizzen_). In the second + century Menandros (the Buddhists' 'Milinda') got as far as + the Jumna; but his successors retreated to the Punj[=a]b and + eventually to Kabul (_ib_.) Compare also Weber, _Sitz. d. + koenig. Preuss. Akad_., 1890, p. 901 ff., _Die Griechien in + Indien_. The period of Greek influence coincides with that + of Buddhist supremacy in its first vigor, and it is for this + reason that Brahmanic literature and religion were so + untouched by it. There is to our mind no great probability + that the Hindu epic owes anything to that of Greece, + although Weber has put in a strong plea for this view in his + essay _Ueber das R[=a]m[=a]ya[n.]a_.] + + [Footnote 6: The romance of a Russian traveller's late + 'discovery,' which Sanskrit scholars estimate at its true + value, but which may seem to others worthy of regard, is + perhaps, in view of the interest taken in it, one that + should be told correctly. Nicholas Notovitch asserts that he + discovered seven years ago in the Tibetan monastery of + Himis, a work which purports to give a life of Christ from + birth to death, including sixteen years spent in India. This + life of 'Issa' (Jesus) is declared to have been written in + the first century of the Christian era. Unfortunately for + the reputation of the finder, he made a mistake in + exploiting his discovery, and stated that his manuscript had + been translated for him by the monks of Himis 'out of the + original P[=a]li,' a dialect that these monks could not + understand if they had specimens of it before them. This + settled Notovitch's case, and since of course he did not + transcribe a word of the MS. thus freely put at his + disposal, but published the forgery in a French + 'translation,' he may be added to the list of other + imposters of his ilk. The humbug has been exposed for some + time, and we know of no one who, having a right to express + an opinion, believes Notovitch's tale, though some ignorant + people have been hoaxed by it. If the blank sixteen years in + Christ's life ever be explained, it may be found that they + were passed in a Zoroastrian environment; but until real + evidence be brought to show that Christ was in India, the + wise will continue to doubt it. As little proof exists, it + may be added, of Buddhistic influence in the making of the + Gospels. But this point is nowadays scarcely worth + discussing, for competent scholars no longer refer vague + likenesses to borrowing. Certain features are common to the + story of Christ and to the legends of Buddha; but they are + common to other divine narratives also. The striking + similarities are not found in the earliest texts of the + Southern Buddhists. [=I]ca for Jesus is modern, Weber, _loc. + cit._, p. 931.] + + [Footnote 7: Elphinstone, I. pp, 140, 508; II. chap. I. The + 'slave dynasty' of Kutab, 1206-1288. It was the bigoted + barbarity of these Mohammedans that drove Brahmanic religion + into the South.] + + [Footnote 8: Though immediately before it the Harihara cult, + survival of Sankhyan dualism, is practically monotheistic. + Basava belongs to the twelfth century.] + + [Footnote 9: The literary exchange in the realm of fable + between Arabia and later Sanskrit writers (of the twelfth + century) is very evident. Thus in Indic dress appear at this + time the story of Troy, of the passage over the Red Sea, of + Jonas, etc. On the other hand, the Arabians translated + native Hindu fables. See Weber, IS. iii. 327, _Ueber den + Zusammenhang griechischer Fabeln mit indischen_, and + _Indische Skizzen_, p. 111, and _Die Griechen in Indien_. + Arabia further drew on India for philosophical material, and + Alber[=u]ni himself translated Kapila's work (Weber,_loc. + cit_.).] + + [Footnote 10: Whereby cows, snakes, cats (sacred to one of + the Civaite 'mothers'), crocodiles, monkeys, etc, are + worshipped.] + + [Footnote 11: Pantheists in name alone, most of the lower + caste-men are practically polytheists, and this means that + they are at bottom dualists. They are wont to worship + assiduously but one of the gods they recognize.] + + [Footnote 12: Where Brahmanism may be said to cease and + Hinduism to begin can be defined but vaguely. Krishnaism is + rank Hinduism. But Civaism is half Brahmanic. For the rest, + in its essential aspects, Hinduism is as old as the Hindus. + Only the form changes (as it intrudes upon Brahmanism).] + + [Footnote 13: It is highly probable that the mention of the + Northwestern C[=u]dras in Mbh[=a]. VI. 9. 67 refers to the + Afghan S[=u]droi, and that the slave-caste as a whole, which + bears the name C[=u]dra, received this appellation first as + conquered tribes of Afghanistan.] + + [Footnote 14: Brahmanism has always been an island in a sea. + Even in the Brahmanic age there is evidence to show that it + was the isolated belief of a comparatively small group of + minds. It did not even control all the Aryan population.] + + [Footnote 15: We refer partly to literature, that of the + drama and novel, for instance; and partly to the fine arts. + But in connection with the latter it may be remarked that + painting, and the fine arts generally, are expressly + reckoned as the pursuit of slaves alone. For instance, even + as late a jurist as he that wrote the law-code of 'Vishnu' + thus (chap. ii.) parcels out the duties and occupations of + the four castes: The duty of a priest is to teach the Veda, + his means of livelihood is to sacrifice for others and to + receive aims; the duty of the warrior is to fight, his means + of livelihood is to receive taxes for protecting the other + castes; the duty of the V[=a]icya is to tend cattle, his + means of livelihood 1s gain from flocks, farm, trade, or + money-lending. The duty of a slave, Cudra, is to serve the + three upper castes; his means of livelihood is the fine + arts.] + + [Footnote 16: It is this that has exaggerated, though not + produced, that most marked of native beliefs, a faith which + Intertwines with every system, Brahmanic, Buddhistic, or + Hinduistic, a belief in an ecstatic power in man which gives + him control over supernatural forces. Today this Yogism and + Mah[=a]tmaism, which is visible even in the Rig Veda, is + nothing but unbridled fancy playing with mesmerism and + lies.] + + [Footnote 17: The Hindu sectarian cults are often strangely + like those of Greece in details, which, as we have already + suggested, must revert to a like, though not necessarily + mutual, source of primitive superstition. Even the sacred + free bulls, which roam at large, look like old familiar + friends, [Greek: apheton dnion tauron en tps tou IIoseidonos + Ierps] (Plato, _Kritias_, 119); and we have dared to + question whether Lang's 'Bull-roarer' might not be sought in + the command that the priest should make the bull roar at the + sacrifice; and in the verse of the Rig Veda which says that + the priests "beget (produce) the Dawn by means of the roar + of a bull" (vii. 79. 4); or must the bull be _soma_? For + Mueller's defence of the Hindu's veraciousness, see his + _/India, What Can It Teach Us_, p. 34.] + + [Footnote 18: Some exception may be taken to this on the + ground that moral laws really are referred to the Creator in + one form or another, This we acknowledge as a theory of + authority, but it so seldom comes into play, and there is so + little rapport between gods and moral goodness, that the + difference in this regard is greater by far than the + resemblance. A Christian sins against God, a Hindu sins + against himself. The Christian may be punished by God; the + Hindu punishes himself (the _karma_). The latter may say + that moral laws are of God, but he means that they are + natural laws, the violation of which has the same effect as + touching fire.] + + [Footnote 19: The _lex talionis_ is in full force in Hindu + law, even in the codes of Hinduism; for example, 'Vishnu,' + V. 19.] + + [Footnote 20: Deceit of a foe is no sin in any system. "All + is fair in war."] + + [Footnote 21: This idea may be carried out in other + instances. The bravery of civilization is not the bravado + that savages call bravery, and modesty is now a virtue where + boasting used to be reckoned as the necessary complement of + bravery. As for hospitality in the old sense, it is not now + a 'virtue' not to kill a guest.] + + [Footnote 22: India's relations with Rome were late and + wholly of mercantile character.] + + [Footnote 23: It is interesting, as showing incidentally the + close connection between Buddhism and Civaism in other than + philosophical aspects, that the first Indic grotto-temple + mentioned by foreigners (in the third century A.D.) was one + which contained a statue of an androgynous (Civaite) deity + (Weber, _Indische Skizzen_, p. 86, note).] + + [Footnote 24: Rosaries are first mentioned in the AV. + Paricista, XLIII. 4. 11 (Leumann, Rosaries).] + + [Footnote 25: In Lamaism there is also the tiara-crowned + pope, and the transubstantiation theory; the reverence to + Virgin and Child, confessions, fasts, purgatory, abbots, + cardinals, etc. Compare David's _Hibbert Lectures_, p. 193.] + + [Footnote 26: The literature on this subject is very + extensive (see the Bibliography). On Buddhism and + Christianity see Bohlen's _Altes Indien_, I. 334 (Weber, + _Indische Skizzen_, p. 92). At a recent meeting of the + British Association E.B. Tylor presented a paper in which is + made an attempt to show Buddhistic influence on + pre-Columbian culture in America. On comparing the Aztec + picture-writing account of the journey of the soul after + death with Buddhistic eschatology, he is forced to the + conclusion that there was direct transmission from Buddhism. + We require more proof than Aztec pictures of hell to believe + any such theory; and reckon this attempt to those already + discussed in the eighth chapter.] + + [Footnote 27: It is a mooted question in how far the + influence in this line has been reciprocal. See _Indische + Studien_, iii. 128.] + + [Footnote 28: The S[=a]nkhya has no systematic connection + with the 'numbers' of Pythagoras.] + + [Footnote 29: Compare on the Culvas[=u]tras, Thibaut, J.A. + Beng. xliv. p. 227; Von Schroeder, _Pythagoras und die + Inder; Literatur und Cultur_, p. 718 ff, who also cites + Cantor, _Geschichte der Mathematik_, p. 540, and refutes the + possibility, suggested by the latter, of the loan being from + Greece to India on the ground that the Culvas[=u]tra are too + old to belong to the Alexandrine period, and too essentlal a + part of the religious literature to have been borrowed; and + also on the ground that they are not an addition to the + Cr[=a]utas[=u]tra, but they make an independent portion (p. + 721, note).] + + [Footnote 30: Compare Garbe (_loc. cit_. below), and his + _S[=a][.m]khya Philosophic_, p. 94.] + + [Footnote 31: This view is not one universally accepted by + Sanskrit scholars. See, for instance, Weber, _Die Griechen + in Indien_. But to us the minute resemblance appears too + striking to be accidental.] + + [Footnote 32: Lassen, and Weber, _Indische Skizzen, p_. 91.] + + [Footnote 33: Garbe, in a recent number of the _Monist_, + where is given a _resume_ of the relations between Greek and + Hindu philosophical thought.] + + [Footnote 34: Weber, _loc. cit._] + + [Footnote 35: The existence of a soul (spirit) in man is + always assumed in the Upanishads. In the pantheistic system + (the completed Ved[=a]nta) the verity of traditional belief + is also assumed. The latter assumption is made, too, though + not in so pronounced a manner, in the Upanishads.] + + [Footnote 36: The Upanishad philosopher sought only to save + his life, but the Buddhist, to lose it.] + + [Footnote 37: This is not a negative 'non-injury' kindness. + It is a love 'far-reaching, all*pervading' (above, p. 333). + The Buddhist is no Stoic save in the stoicism with which he + looks forward to his own end. Rhys Davids has suggested that + the popularity of Tibet Buddhism in distinction from + Southern Buddhism may have been due to the greater weight + laid by the former on altruism. For, while the earlier + Buddhist strives chiefly for his own perfection, the + spiritualist of the North affects greater love for his kind, + and becomes wise to save others. The former is content to be + an Arhat; the latter desires to be a Bodhisat, 'teacher of + the law' (_Hibbert Lectures_, p. 254). We think, however, + that the latter's success with the vulgar was the result + rather of his own greater mental vulgarity and animism.] + + [Footnote 38: Hurst's _Indika_, chap. XLIX, referring to + _India Christiana_ of 1721, and the correspondence between + Mather and Ziegenbalg, who was then a missionary in India. + The wealthy 'young men' who contributed were, in Hurst's + opinion, Harvard students.] + + [Footnote 39: The Portuguese landed in Calcutta in 1498. + They were driven out by the Dutch, to whom they ceded their + mercantile monopoly, in 1640-1644. The Dutch had arrived in + 1596, and held their ground till their supremacy was wrested + from them by Clive in 1758, The British had followed the + Dutch closely (arriving in 1600), and were themselves + followed soon after by the Germans and Danes (whose activity + soon subsided), and by the French. The German company, under + whose protection stood Ziegenbalg, was one of the last to + enter India, and first to leave it (1717-1726). The most + grotesquely hideous era in India's history is that which was + inaugurated by the supremacy of the Christian British. Major + Munroe's barbaric punishment of the Sepoys took place, + however, in Clive's absence (1760-1765). Marshman, I, p. + 305, says of this Munroe only that he was "an officer of + undaunted resolution"! Clive himself was acquitted by his + own countrymen of theft, robbery, and extortion; but the + Hindus have not acquitted him or Hastings; nor will + Christianity ever do so.] + + [Footnote 40: For specimens of the sacred Kural of + Tiruvalluvar N[=a]r[=a]yana*N[=a]yan[=]r, see the examples + given by Pope, _Indian Antiquary_, seventh and following + volumes. The Sittars, to whom we have referred above, are a + more modern sect. Their precept that love is the essential + of religion is not, as in the case of the Hindu idolators, + of erotic nature. They seem to be the modern representatives + of that Buddhistic division (see above) called S[=a]ugatas, + whose religion consists in 'kindness to all.' In these sects + there is found quietism, a kind of quakerism, pure morality, + high teaching, sternest (almost bigoted) monotheism, and the + doctrine of positive altruism, strange to the Hindu idolator + as to the Brahman. The Prem S[=a]gar, or 'Ocean of Love,' is + a modern Hindu work, which illustrates the religious love + opposed to that of the Sittars, namely, the mystic love of + the Krishnaite for his savior, whose grace is given only to + him that has faith. It is the mystic rapt adoration that in + expression becomes erotic and sensual.] + + [Footnote 41: Hinduism itself is unconsciously doing a + reforming work among the wild tribes that are not touched by + the Christian missionary. These tribes, becoming Hinduized, + become civilized, and, in so far as they are thus made + approachable, they are put in the way of improvement; though + civilization often has a bad effect upon their morals for a + season.] + + [Footnote 42: The substitution of the doctrine of redemption + for that of _karma_ is intellectually impossible for an + educated Hindu. He may renounce the latter, but he cannot + accept the former. The nearest approach to such a conception + is that of the Buddhistic 'Redeemer' heresy referred to + above. In all other regards Samaj and pantheism are too + catholic to be affected; In this regard they are both + unyielding.] + + [Footnote 43: We question, for instance, the advisability of + such means to "fill up the church" as is described in a + missionary report delivered at the last meeting of the + Missionary Union of the Classis of New York for the current + year: "A man is sent to ride on a bicycle as fast as he can + through the different streets. This invariably attracts + attention. Boys and men follow him to the church, where it + is easy to persuade them to enter." But this is an admission + of our position in regard to the classes affected. The + rabble may be Christianized by this means, but the + intelligent will not be attracted.] + + [Footnote 44: After the greater part of our work had passed + the final revision, and several months after the whole was + gone to press, appeared Oldenberg's _Die Religion des Veda_, + which, as the last new book on the subject, deserves a + special note. The author here takes a liberal view, and does + not hesitate to illustrate Vedic religion with the light + cast by other forms of superstition. But this method has its + dangers, and there is perhaps a little too much straining + after original types, giant-gods as prototypes and totemism + in proper names, where Vedic data should be separated from + what may have preceded Vedic belief. Oldenberg, as a + ritualist, finds in Varuna, Dawn, and the Burial Service the + inevitable stumbling-blocks of such scholars as confuse + Brahmanism with early Vedism. To remove these obstacles he + suggests that Varuna, as the moon, was borrowed from the + Semites or Akkadians (though be frankly admits that not even + the shadow of this moon lingers in Vedic belief); explains + Dawn's non-participation in _soma_ by stating that she never + participates in it (which explains nothing); and jumps over + the Burial Hymn with the inquiry whether, after all, it + could not be interpreted as a cremation-hymn (the obvious + answer being that the service does imply burial, and does + not even hint at cremation). On the other hand, when + theoretical barbarism and ritualism are foregone, Oldenberg + has a true eye for the estimation of facts, and hence takes + an unimpeachable position in several important particulars, + notably in rejecting Jacobi's date of the Rig Veda; in + rejecting also Hillebrandt's moon-_soma_; in denying an + originally supreme Dy[=a]us; in his explanation of + henotheism (substantially one with the explanation we gave a + year ago); and in his account of the relation of the Rig + Veda to the (later) Atharvan. Despite an occasional + brilliant suggestion, which makes the work more exciting + than reliable, this book will prove of great value to them + that are particularly interested in the ritual; though the + reader must be on his guard against the substitution of + deduction for induction, as manifested in the confusion of + epochs, and in the tendency to interpret by analogy rather + than in accordance with historical data. The worth of the + latter part of the book is impaired by an unsubstantiated + theory of sacrifice, but as a whole it presents a clear and + valuable view of the cult.] + + * * * * * + + + + +ADDENDA. + + +Page 154, note 3: Add to (RV.) x. 173, AV. vi. 88. + +Page 327, third line from the top: Read Buddhaghosha. According to +Chalmers, as quoted by T.W. Rhys Davids in his recent lectures, traces +of mysticism are found in some of the early texts (as yet +unpublished). The fact that the canonical P[=a]li books know nothing +of the controversy (involving the modification of traditional rules) +of the second council gives a terminus to the canon. Senart, on the +other hand, thinks that the vague language of the Acoka inscriptions +precludes the fixing of the canon at so early a date. + +Page 340, note 4: The gods here are priests. The real meaning seems to +be that the Brahman priests, who were regarded as gods, have been put +to naught in being reduced to their true estate. Compare Senart, +(revised) _Inscriptions de Piyadasi_, third chapter. Acoka dismissed +the Brahman priests that his father had maintained, and substituted +Buddhist monks. + +Page 436, note 2: From B[=e]r[=u]n[=i] it would appear that the Gupta +and Valabh[=i] eras were identical (319-20 A.D). See Fleet, Indian +Antiquary, xvii. 245. Many scholars now assign Kum[=a]rila to the +eighth century rather than to the end of the seventh. + + * * * * * + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY.[1] + + +GENERAL WORKS. + +#Journals#: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Soctety (JRAS.);[2] Journal of +the German Oriental Society (Zeitschrift der Deutschen +Morgenlaendischen Gesellschaft, ZDMG.); Journal Asiatique (JA.); +Journal of the American Oriental Society (JAOS.); Branch-Journals of +the JRAS.; Calcutta Review; Madras Journal; Indian Antiquary (IA.). +Some of the articles in the defunct Zeitschrift fuer die Kunde des +Morgenlandes (ZKM.), and in the old Asiatick Researches (AR.) are +still worth reading. Besides these, the most important modern journals +are the transactions of the royal Austrian, Bavarian, Prussian, and +Saxon Academies, the Museon and the Revue de l'histoire des religions. +Occasional articles bearing on India's religions or mythology will be +found in the American Journal of Philology (AJP.); the Wiener +Zeitschrift fuer die Kunde des Morgenlandes (WZKM.); the Babylonian and +Oriental Record (BOR.); Kuehn's Zeitschrift fuer vergleichende +Sprachforschuhg (KZ.); Bezzenberger's Beitraege (BB.); and the +Indogermanische Forschungen (IF.). + +#Histories, studies, etc.#: Prinsep, Essays (Indian Antiquities); +Lassen, Indische Alterthumskunde. Histories of India by Elphinstone +(religious material, chapters iv book i, and iv book ii), by +Elliot, by Marshman (complements Elphinstone), and by Wheeler +(unreliable); The Rulers of India; Hunter's Indian Empire and Brief +History. Mill's excellent History of India is somewhat prejudiced. +Dutt's History of Civilization in Ancient India is praise-worthy +(1890). Invaluable are the great descriptive Archaeological Surveys by +Cunningham, Burgess, and Buehler, and Hunter's Statistical Account of +Bengal. Literary History:[3] Colebrooke, Essays, reedited by Cowell, +with notes by Whitney; Wilson, Essays; Weber, Indische Studien (IS.); +Benfey, Orient and Occident (OO.); Mueller, Ancient Sanskrit Literature +(ASL.), Science of Religion; Weber, Vorlesungen ueber Indische +Literaturgeschichte (also translated), Indische Streifen, Indische +Skizzen; L. von Schroeder, Indiens Literatur und Cultur; Whitney, +Oriental and Linguistic Studies, Language and the Study of Language; +Duncker, Geschichte des Alterthums (third volume, may be bought +separately); Williams, Indian Wisdom (inaccurate but readable). + + +VEDIC RELIGION. + +#Literature#: Roth, Zur Literatur und Geschichte des Weda;[4] Benfey, +Vedica und Verwandtes; Zimmer, Altindisches Leben (AIL.); +R[=a]jendralala Mitra, Indo-Aryans(unreliable); Bergaigne, La Religion +Vedique (also JA. ix, xiii); De Gubernatis, Letture sopra la Mitologia +Vedica; Pischel and Geldner, Vedische Studien;[5] Regnaud, Le Rig Veda +et les origines de la mythologie indo-europeenne, and Les hymnes du +Rig Veda, sont-ils prieres? (Ann. d. Mus. Guimet, Bibl. d'etudes, t. +i, and special studies). Regnaud's point of view renders nugatory most +of what he writes on the Veda.[6] The most useful collection of Vedic +and Brahmanic Texts that illustrate Hindu Mythology and Religion is to +be found in Muir's Original Sanskrit Texts (OST.), especially the +fourth and fifth volumes.[7] For the Sacred Books of the East (SBE.) +see Hems below. + +#Translations of the rig veda#: Complete, by Grassmann and by Ludwig; +partial, by Roth, Benfey, Langlois, Bergaigne; in English chiefly by +Wilson, Mueller, Muir, Peterson, Griffith. Of these the German +translation of Grassmann is often inaccurate;[8] that of Ludwig, often +unintelligible. Benfey has translated a number of specimens, OO., BB., +i, vii, and in Kleinere Schriften. The incomplete translation of +Wilson has been carried on by Cowell; those of Peterson and Griffith +are publishing in India; Langlois' is useless. Mueller's partial +translations will be found in various volumes, Ancient Sanskrit +Literature, India: What Can it Teach Us, Chips, Hibbert Lectures, +JRAS. ii. 448, iii. 199, etc.; and all the Hymns to the Maruts, SBE. +xxxii. Whitney has translated the cosmogonic hymn, PAOS., May, 1882; +and Deussen has just published the philosophical hymns, Geschichte der +Philosophie, i, 1. A group of Vedic hymns in English dress will be +found in Muir, OST. v.; extracts (without connection) are given by +Bergaigne, in La Religion Vedique, and special essays in JA. (above). +In German a capital little collection is the Siebzig Lieder of Geldner +and Kaegi. The best general introductory manual for the study of the +Rig Veda, accompanied with frequent translations, is Kaegi's Der Rig +Veda (translated into English by Arrowsmith). + +#Translations of the atharva veda# are all partial. The handiest +collection is Grill's Hundert Lieder des Atharva Veda. Specimens will +be found translated by Aufrecht, IS. i. 121 (book xv); (Roth) Bruce, +JRAS. 1862, p. 321 (book xii. 1); Kuhn, Indische und Germanische +Segensspriiche, KZ. xiii. 49, 113; Weber, IS. iv. 393, v. 195, 218, +xiii. 129, xvii. 178 (books i-iii, xiv); Grohmann, _ib._ ix. 381; +Ludwig, vol. iii, of his translation of the Rig Veda; Zimmer, AIL.: +Victor Henry, books vii and xiii (Les hymnes Rohitas);[9] Bloomfield, +Seven Hymns, and Contributions AJP. vii. 466, xi. 319, xii. 414, JAOS. +xv. 143, xvi. 1; ZDMG. xlviii. 541; Florenz, BB. xii. 249 (book vi.). +Of The S[=a]ma V[=e]da: Stevenson (1842) in English (inaccurate) and +Benfey (1848) in Gcrman have made translations. On the Yajur Veda +see Schroeder, Literatur und Cultur, and below. + +#Vedic mythology#: Windischmann, Ursagen der Arischen Voelker, Bay. +Ak., 1858; Kuhn, KZ. iv. 88, Herabkunft des Feuers (Prometheus);[10] +Roth, Die hoechsten Goetter der Arischen Voelker, ZDMG. vi. 67 (_ib._ +vii. 607); Wilson, Preface of Langlois: Cox, Aryan Mythology; Whitney, +Oriental and Linguistic Studies, ii. p. 149, JAOS. iii. 291, 331; +Mueller, Second Series of Science of Language, Biographies of +Words.[11] General interpretation of divinities, Mueller, Muir, +Bergaigne, Kaegi, Pischel-Geldner, _loc. cit._ The last books on the +subject are Oldenberg's scholarly volume, Die Religlon des Veda (note, +p. 571, above), and Phillip's The Teaching of the Vedas (1895), the +work of a charlatan. + +SPECIAL STUDIES OF VEDIC DIVINITIES: + +#Aditi#: Roth, IS. xiv. 392; Hillebrandt, Ueber die Goettin Aditi; +Mueller, SBE. xxxii. 241; Colinet, Etude sur le mot Aditi, Museon, xii. +81. [=A]dityas, Roth, ZDMG. vi. 67 (above); Darmesteter, Ormazd et +Ahriman. + +#Agni#: L. von Schroeder, Apollon-Agni, KZ. xxix. 193[12] (see epic, +below). + +#Apsaras# (see Gandhanas). + +#Aryaman# (Acvins, Mitra, etc.): Bollensen, ZDMG. xli. 494. + +#Asura# as Asen, Schrader, p. 599; P. von Bradke, Dy[=a]us Asura. See +Dy[=a]us. + +#Acvins#: Myriantheus, Die Acvins oder Arischen Dioskuren; _not_ +Dioskuroi, Pischel, Vedische Studien, Preface, p. xxvii; as +constellation, etc., Benfey, OO. ii. 245, iii. 159; Gemini, Weber, +last in R[=a]jas[=u]ya, p. 100; as Venus, 'span-god,' Bollensen, ZDMG. +xli. 496; other literature, Muir, OST. v. 234; Colinet, Vedic Chips, +BOR. iii. 193 (n[=a]satya, Avestan n[=a]onhaithya, n[=a] as +'very').[13] + +#Brihaspati#: Roth, ZDMG. i. 66; Muir, v. 272; Hillebrandt, Vedische +Mythologie, i. 404. + +#Dawn# (see Ushas). + +#Dy[=a]us#: P. von Bradke, Dy[=a]us Asura, also Beitraege, ZDMG. xl. +347; not the same with Teutonic Tiu, Bremer, IF. iii. 301; as +'all-father' of primitive Aryans, Mueller, Origin of Religion, p. 209; +followed by Tiele, Outlines of History of Ancient religions, p. 106; +see Hopkins, PAOS. Dec. 1894; form of Word, Collitz. KZ. xxvii. 187; +BB. xv. 17. + +#Earth# (see Nritus). + +#Gandharvas#: KZ. i. 513; Meyer, Gandharven-Kentauren (list of +Apsarasas); Pischel, VS. i. 78; Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, i. +427. + +#Haritas# (sun's steeds) as Charites, KZ. x. 96; ib. 365; Sonne, _loc. +cit. s_. S[=u]ryra; Mueller, Science of Language, ii. 388. + +#Heaven# (see Dy[=a]us and Varuna). + +#Indra# (etymology, Benfey, OO. i. 49; PW. sv.; andra, A.-Sax. 'ent,' +'giant,' BB. i. 342;[17]] nar, [Greek: _anor-_, Jacobi, KZ. xxxi. 316; +Indra's bolt, vadha, 'wetter,' Delbrueck, KZ. xvi. 266): Perry, Indra +in the Rig Veda, JAOS. xi. 117 (see epic, below). + +#K[=a]ma#: Weber, ZDMG. xiv. 269, IS. v. 224, xvii. 290; Muir, v. 402. + +#Manu#:[15] Roth, ZDMG. iv. 430; Weber, IS. i. 194 ('man and moon'), +ZDMG. iv. 302; Muir, OST. i. 161; Kuhn, KZ. iv. 91; Burnouf, Preface +of Bh[=a]g. Pur[=a]na, p. iii; Ascoli (m[=a]nus, mactus), KZ. xvii. +334; Maspiter as 'man,' Corssen, KZ. ii. 32;[16] Manu's wife, Weber, +ZDMG. xviii. 286. Compare also KZ. xii. 293, xix. 156, Mannus (see +Laws, below). + +#Maruts# (dubious etymology, Grassmann, KZ. xvi. 161; P. von Bradke, +_loc. cit. s._. Dy[=a]us): von Bradke, Wunderliche Geburt, Festgruss +an Roth, p. 117 (Brahmanic, same point of view in parody, RV. x. 102, +ZDMG. xlvi. 445). Hymns to Maruts, translated by Mueller, SBE. xxxii. + +#Mitra#: Windischmann, Abh. K.M., 1857; Weber, IS. xvii. 212 (see +Varuna). + +#Namuci#: Lanman, JAS. Beng. viii. 1889; Bloomfield, JAOS. xv. 143. + +#Nritus# as Nerthus, Hoffmann; (Roth) Bruce, Vedic Conceptions of the +Earth, JRAS. 1862, p. 321; Prithiv[=i], ZDMG. xli. 494. + +#Parjanya#: Buehler, Zur Mythologic des Rig Yeda, OO. i. 214; Hirt, 1F. +i. 481, 'oak-god.'[4] + +#Purandhi#: Pischel, VS. i. 202; Hillebrandt, WZKM. iii. 188, 259; +Colinet, BOR. ii. 245, iv. 121 ('abundance'), Congress, 1892. + +#Pricni# (p[r.]cni) as Frigy, KZ. ii. 478; 'freckles,' KZ. xix. 438. + +#P[=u]shan#: Muir, OST. v. 171; Bergaigne, La Relig. Ved. ii. 420; +Hillebrandt, ved. myth., i. 456 (with soma); gubernatis, letture, p. +82 (as setting sun); pischel, vs. i. 11 (s[=u]ry[=a] and p[=u]shan); +perry, notes on the vedic deity p[=u]shan, drisler memorial, p. 240. + +#Ribhus# ([r.]bhavas, etymology, 'alf,' 'Orpheus'; or Orpheus from +[r.]gh, [Greek: orchietai], Kuhn KZ. iv. 103; Wackernagel, KZ. xxiv. +297); Ludwig, iii. 187, as Seasons. Neve, Etudes sur les hymnes +(1842), and Essai sur le mythe des Ribhavas (1847, misleading, Ribhu +as apotheosis). + +#Rohitas#: Henry (above). + +#Rudra# (etymology, Pischel, VS. i. 57[18]): Weber, Vedic Conception +of, IS. ii. 19; Pischel, Vedica, ZDMG. xl. 120; Rudra's mouse +and Smintheus, KZ. iii. 335; Grohmann, Apollo Smintheus und die +Bedeutung der Maeuse in der Mythologie der Indogermanen. + +#Sarany[=u]# (sara[n.]y[=u]): [Greek: ertngis], ZDA. vi. 117; KZ. i. +439 (storm; riddle, _ib_. 440); Bloomfield, JAOS. xv. 172; as Dawn, +Mueller, Lectures, Second Series; Saram[=a], and S[=a]rameyas as +Hermeias, _ib._; Aufrecht, ZDMG. xiii. 493 (RV. x. 108, translated). + +#Soma#: Windischmann, Ueber den Somacultus der Arier, Abh. Muench. Ak., +iv; Roth, ZDMG. xxxv. 681, xxxviii. 134; Ehni, _ib._ xxxiii. 166; +Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, i; Soma and the eagle, Kuhn, +Herabkunft (above); Roth, ZDMG. xxxvi. 353; Bloomfield, JAOS. xvi (p. +1, further literature), Festgruss an Roth, p. 149; Weber, Vedische +Beitraege, p. 3 (Sitz. Berl. Ak. 1894, p. 775); and Agni ritual, +Knauer, Vedische Fragen, Festgruss an Roth, p. 61. + +#Surya# (see Haritas): sonne, hymn to, kz. xii-xv; form of word, j. +schmidt, kz. xxvi. 9. see p[=u]shan (and hinduism, below). +s[=a]vitr[=i], whitney, colebrooke's essays, ii. iii. + +#Trita#: Macdonnell, Mythological Studies, JRAS. 1893, p. 419 (ap[=a]m +nap[=a]t, lightning; Trita as Thridhi, name of Odin, 'third' form of +fire); form of word, BB. ix. 99; Perry, see Indra (p. 26); Bloomfield, +PAOS. 1894, p. cxix. Other literature, Kaegi, _loc. cit._, note 112 d. + +#Ushas# (U[S.]AS): Muir, v. 181; Bergaigne, i. 241, etc; Sonne, KZ. x. +416; Mueller, Science of Language, ii. 391, etc. + +#Vv[=a]c#: logos, Weber, IS. ix. 473. + +#Varuna# (varu[n.]a): Roth, ZDMG. vi. 71; Weber, IS. xvii. 212; Muir, +v. 58; Bergaigne, iii. 110; Hillebrandt, Varu[n.]a und Mitra; +Darmesteter, Ormazd et Ahriman; Sonne, KZ. xii. 364; Pischel, VS. i. +188; Geldner, _ib_. 142; Ludwig, iii. 314; Oldenberg as a borrowed god +(PAOS. 1894); as water, Geldner, BB. xi. 329; form of word, Bolensen, +ZDMG. xli. 504 (var 'hell sein'); Bohnenberger (Roth), Varu[n.]a nach +den Liedern des Rig Veda (Mitra as appellative becomes a new god, p. +85);[19] as svar, Regnaud, Rev. xix. 79. + +#Vastoshpati# ('house-lord'): Windisch, Vassus und Vassallus, Bericht. +d. k. Saech. Gesell. 1892, p. 174 (vassus for vast). + +#V[=a]ta#, vayu (v[=a]ta is [Greek: aetes], 'wind'): Stokes, BB. xix. +74, compares Irish fath, 'breath,' but gives also fath, a kind of poem +(vates, vods, English 'wood' as 'mad'). V[=a]ta, Wuotan, Zimmer, ZDA. +vii. (19) 179 + +#Vishnu# (vi[s.][n.]u like jishnu, ji[s.][n.]u, vi, 'fly,' the +heavenly bird?): Muir, iv and v (older texts relative to Vishnu), +PAOS. Dec. 1894. + +#Yama#: Roth, ZDMG. ii. 216, iv, 417 (Jemshid), JAOS. iii. 335, IS. +xiv. 393; Whitney, Oriental and Linguistic Studies, i. 46; Mueller, +Science of Language, ii. 528, 534; Westergaard, with Weber's notes, +IS. iii. 402; Muir, JRAS. i. 287; OST. v. 284; Bergaigne, i. 86, ii. +96, etc; Grassmann, KZ. xi. 13, 'binder'; Ehni, Der Vedische Mythus +des Yama; Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, i. 489; Bloomfield, JAOS. +xv. 163, 172; Hopkins, PAOS. 1891, p. xciv; Scherman, +Visionsliteratur; Leumann, KZ. xxxii. 301 (Yam[=i][20]); L. von +Schroeder, Literatur, p. 217 (Ymir, Praj[=a]pati); Breal, Hercule et +Circus; Benfey, Vedica, 149; Van den Gheyn, Cerbere (1883); +Casartelli, Dog of Death, BOR. iv. 265.[21] Yama's sadana, Pischel, +VS. i. 242.[22] + +#Veda and brahmanism#: Oldenberg, Die Hymnen des Rig Veda, and ZDMG. +xlii. 199, Ueber die Liedverfasser des Rig Yeda (see Hinduism, below); +Roth, _ib_. iv. 514, divisions of the Rig Veda; Bergaigne, Recherches +sur l'histoire de la Samhit[=a] du Rig Veda, JA. (1886 and following +years), also on the liturgy, _ib_. 1888; JA. x. No. 3; Pincott, JRAS. +xvi. 381; Hillebrandt, Spuren einer aelteren Rig Veda Recension, BB. +viii. 195; Lanman, JAOS. x. 580; Brunnhofer, KZ, xxv. 374, BB. x. 234 +(Collitz, BB. vii. 183); Roth, on the worth of tradition, ZDMG. xxi. +1; Whitney, on Translation of Veda, OLS.; PAOS. Oct. 1867; Goldstuecker +on S[=a]ya[n.]a, in Preface to P[=a][n.]ini. Cult against mantra, +Roth, ZDMG. vii. 604; viii. 467; Weber, _ib._ viii. 389; Pischel and +Geldner, Preface to Vedische Studien and ZDMG. xlviii. 702; Colinet, +Les Principes de I'exegese vedique, Museon, 1890; Bloomfield, +Contributions (above); E. Hardy, Die Vedisch-brahmanische Periode d. +Relig. d. Alt. Ind.; Muir, Priests and Interpreters of the Veda, JRAS. +ii. 257, 303; Haug, Contribution, 1863, and Interpretation of the +Veda, Congress, 1874; Ludwig, Die philosophischen und religioesen +Anschanungen des Veda; also Ludwig, Rig-Veda, iii (Mantra-Literatur), +pp. 262, 284, 301, and his works, Ueber Methode bei Interpretationen +des Rig Veda, and Ueber die neuesten Arbeiten auf dem Gebiet der RV. +Forschung. Further (Vedic and later literature), Oldenberg, ZDMG. +xxxvii. 54; _ib_. xxxix. 52; Windisch, Verh. d. Geraer Philologen +Versammlung, Vedische Wettfahrtt in Festgruss an Roth; Weber, Episches +im Vedischen Ritual, Sitz. Berl. Ak., 1891; Schermann, Philosophische +Hymnen (also Visionsliteratur). + +#Vedic and brahmanic belief#: Pott, Vedic and Orphic Kosmic Egg, +Ovidiana, KZ. viii. 179 (Peleus as _Urschlamm I_); von Bradke, +Beitraege z. altind. Religions und Sprachgescbichte, ZDMG. xl. 347, +655; Schrader, chapter xiii; Zimmer, AIL.; Roth and Boehtlingk, +Vedische Raethsel, ZDMG. xxxvii. 109; (and eschatology) xlvi. 759; +Windisch, _ib_. xlviii. 353.[23] Eschatology: Weber, Eine Legende, +ZDMG. ix. 237 (Bhrigu) and 308; Burnell, a Legend from the +Talavak[=a]ra, Congress, 1880, IA. xiii. 16, 21; Benfey, Orient und +Occident, iii. 169, and Hermes, Minos, Tartaros; Whitney, PAOS., Nov., +1858, May, 1886; Boehtlingk, Bericht d. k. Saechs. Gesell, 23. April, +1893, p. 88; Henotheism: Whitney, _loc. cit_., Oct. 1881, see IA. +xi. 146; Hopkins, Drisler Memorial. Social position of priests +(castes), Weber,[24] Nachtraege, p. 795; Collectanea, IS. x; Muir, +JRAS. ii. 257; OST. i; Hopkins, Four Castes, also JAOS. xiii; +Schlagintweit (Caste at Present), ZDMG. xxxiii. 549. Cult: E. Hardy, +_loc. cit_. above; on _Om_ see Bloomfield, PAOS. Oct. 1889; Cult of. +Manes, Caland, Altind. Ahnencult, and Ueber Totenverehrung bei Einigen +der IE. Voelker; Winternitz, WZKM. iv. 199; Whitney, OLS. i. 46; Kaegi, +_loc. cit_., note 265, with literature. Funeral: Roth, ZDMG. viii. +467; Mueller, _ib_. ix. pp. i and xiiii (sic); Wilson, JRAS. 1854, p. +201; Regnaud, Cr[=a]ddha vedique, Rev. d'hist. d. relig. xxv. 1; +Donner, pi[n.][d.]apit[r.]yajna; Lanman, Mortuary Urns, PAOS. May, +1891. Wedding: Weber, Hochzeitssprueche, IS. v. 177; Stenzler, +P[=a]raskara, ZDMG. vii. 527; Haas, Heiratsgebraeuche d. alten Inder, +IS. v. 267; Schroeder, Die Hochzeitsbraeuche der Esten; Winternitz, Das +Ai. Hochzeitsrituell. Omens, Ordeals, etc.: Weber, Zwei Vedische +Texte ueber Omina und Portenta, Wurfel-Orakel, Vedische Beitraege;[25] +Schlagintweit, Gottesurtheile; Stenzler, ZDMG. ix. 661; Kaegi, Alter +und Herkunft der germanischen Gottesurtheile (with further +literature); Jolly, Beitraege zur Rechtsgeschichte, ZDMG. xliv. 347. +The earliest essay on Ordeals was presented by Warren Hastings, 1784, +Asiatick Researches, i. 389. Star-lore: Colebrooke; Weber, IS. ii. +236; Haug, Introduction to [=A]it. Br.; Weber, Die Vedischen +Nachrichten von d. Nakshatra; Sitz. Berl. Ak. 1861, p. 267;[26] +Mueller, Ancient Hindu Astronomy and Chronology; Burgess, JRAS. xxv. +717; Jacobi, Methods and Tables. Witchcraft, Medicine: Kuhn, KZ. +xiii. 49; Grohmann, IS. ix. 381; Bloomfield, Contributions, AJP. vii, +xi, xii; Pictet, KZ. v. 24, 321; Jolly, Knoblauch, Festgruss an Roth, +p. 18; medicine and divination, Bower MS., +JASB. 1891; IA. xxi. 29, 129; WZKM. v. 103. Blood-money: Roth, ZDMG. +xli. 672; Aryan and Indic, Buehler and Schroeder, Festgruss an Roth; +Jolly, _loc. cit._., p. 339. Sacrifices: Hillebrandt, Das altind. +Neu-u. Vollmondsopfer, and Nationale Opfer, Festgruss an Boehtlingk; +Lindner, Die Diksk[=a], and _loc. cit._, Ernteopfer; Weber, +V[=a]japeya and R[=a]jas[=u]ya, Sitz. Berl. Ak., 1892, 1893, and Zur +Kenntniss d. Ved. Opferrituals, IS. x. 321, xiii. 217; Schwab, Das +Altindische Thieropfer. Suttee and Human Sacrifices: Colebrooke, +Duties of Faithful Hindu Widow, Asiatick Researches, iv. 209; Wilson, +JRAS. 1851, p. 96, 1854, p. 201, 1859, p. 209; Mueller, Chips, ii. 34; +Hall, JRAS. iii. 183, 193; R[=a]jendral[=a]la Mitra, Indo-Aryans, ii. +114; Weber, ZDMG. vii. 585, xviii. 262 (Manu, Minotaur, _ib._ p. 286), +Ind. Streifen, i. 54; Zimmer, AIL. p. 328; Hillebrandt, ZDMG. xl. 711. + +#Ritual, etc#: (above and) Mueller, ZDMG. ix. p. xliii; Garbe, ZDMG. +xxxiv. 319 (Pravargya); Rarity of Soma-sacrifice, Haug, ZDMG. xvi. +273; Hindu Doctrine of Atonement, Stenzler, Congress, 1874, p. 205; +Atharva Ritual, Garbe, V[=a]it[=a]na S[=u]tra; Magoun, Asur[=i] Kalpa; +Agni Sacrifice, Thibaut, Agni Citi, Pandit, JAS. Beng., xliv, 1875, +Culva S[=u]tra; Koulikovski, Les Trois Feux Sacres, Rev. xx. 121. +Serpent-worship: Stier, Sarpedon, KZ. xi. 234; Fergusson, Tree and +Serpent Worship; Cuthbert, Serpent Temples, JRAS. 1846, p. 407; +compare _ib_, 1891; Winternitz, Sarpabali, Schlangencult, Mit. d. +anthrop. Gesell., Wien, xviii; IA. xv. 258; Buehler, _ib_. vi. 270; +Snakes and Buddha, Bendall, Meghas[=u]tra, JRAS. xii. 286; Senart, +Buddha; Oldham, JRAS. xxiii. 361. Idols: Weber, Omina und Portenta, +p. 337; Ludwig, Nachrichten; Bollensen, ZDMG. xxii. 587, xlvii. 586; +Mueller, Chips, i. 37;[27] Muir, OST., v. 453; Kaegi, Rig Veda, note +79^a. Ages and Holy Numbers:[28] Roth, Ueber den AV., and Ueber den +Mythus von den fuenf Menschen-Geschlechtern bei Hesiod; Weber, Cycles, +IS. ix. 460; ZDMG. xv. 132; Kaegi, Die Neunzahl; Schroeder, seven as +holy number, KZ. xxix. 224; Hopkins, Holy Numbers of the Rig Veda.[29] +See Star-lore, above. + +#Brahmanism#: Specimens, Muir, OST. iv; S[=a]man, Benfey, Griffith; +Sha[d.]vi[.m]ca, Weber, Omina (above); M[=a]it. S., Haug, IS. ix. 174; +von Schroeder, Literatur, and ZDMG. xxxiii. 177; Catapatha, partial +translation, Eggeling, SBE., xii, xxvi, xli; Muir, JRAS. 1862, p. 31 +(OST.); Weber, IS. i. 161 and Ind. Streifen, i. 9; first chapter, +ZDMG. iv. 289; Brunnhofer (relation of parts), BB. x. 234; [=A]it. +Br., Haug; Weber, IS. ix. 177; Deluge, etc., Bopp, Suendfluet; Weber, +ZDMG. v. 525, Ind. Streifen, i. 9; Roth, ZDMG. vi. 243; Lindner, Ir. +Fluthsage, Festgruss an Roth. Upanishads:[30] Cowell, Roer, Bib. +Ind.; Whitney, Boehtlingk (Ka[t.]ha, Ch[=a]ndogya, Ait +K[=a]ush[=i]tak[=i], Kena, B[r.]had[=a]ra[n.]yaka); Weber, IS. i, ii, +ix; Mueller, SBE., i, xv (all the chief works);[31] Oertel, +J[=a]imin[=i]ya, PAOS. 1894; list of, Mueller, ZDMG. xix. 137; +Concordance of Upanishads, Jacob. For a general introduction the best +work in English are the translations in the Sacred Books. Gough's +Philosophy of the Upanishads has many translations, but the book is +otherwise not to be recommended. On [=a]tm[=a] as [Greek: autmen], see +KZ. xvii 145. Philosophy: Deussen, Das System des Ved[=a]nta, 1883, +is now the standard work;[32] to which should be added the same +author's S[=u]tra; Jacob's Ved[=a]ntas[=a]ra; and Thibaut, Ved[=a]nta +S[=u]tra, SBE. xxxiv.[33] For the S[=a]nkhya, Davies, S[=a]nkhya; and +Ballantyne, Aphorisms; but the best work is now Garbe, Die S[=a]mkhya +Philosophie (1894). A good general introduction to Hindu Pantheism has +been given by Lanman, Beginnings of Hindu Pantheism. The best general +summary[34] of Hindu philosophies is found in the revised edition of +Colebrooke's Essays. Other special studies include Roth, Brahma und +die Brahmanen,[35] ZDMG. i. 66 (on _brahma_); Mueller, _ib_. vi. 1, +219, vii. 287 (Beitraege zur Kenntniss der Ind. Phil.); Roer, _ib_. +xxi. 309, xxii. 383 (Die Lehrsprueche der Vaiceshika Philosophie); +Muir, Theism in Vaiceshika Philosophy, JRAS. 1862, p. 22; Ballantyne, +Ny[=a]yas[=u]tras; Windisch, Ueber das Ny[=a]yabh[=a]shya, 1888, an +Sitz der denkenden Seele, Beitr. d. k. Saechs. Gesell., 1891, p. 55; +Ballantyne and Cowell, C[=a][n.][d.]ilya's Aphorisms (text by B., +translation by C., Bib. Ind.); Regnaud, Le Pessimisme Br[=a]hmanique, +Ann. du Mus. Guimet, i, and Materiaux pour servir a l'histoire de la +philosophie d'Inde. The Sarvadarcanasa[.n]graha is translated by +Cowell and Gough. The S[=u]tras of the six systems have all been +translated (with the texts) in India. On the date of Cankara see +Pathak, IA. xi. 174; and Telang and Fleet, _ib_. xiii. 95, xvi. 41; +Logan, _ib_. xvi. 160. + +#House-rules and law#: All the most important manuals of custom and +law have been translated by Stenzler, Buehler, Jolly, Oldenberg, +Bloomfield and Knauer (SBE. ii, vii, xiv, xxv, xxix, xxx, xxxiii; +Stenzler, P[=a]raskara, [=A]cval[=a]yana and Y[=a]jnavalkya; +Oldenberg, IS. xv. 1, C[=a]nkh[=a]yana; Knauer, Gobhila, also Vedische +Fragen, Festgruss an Roth; Bloomfield, Gobhila, ZDMG. xxxv. 533).[36] + +JAINISM. + +Colebrooke's Essays (Cowell), ii. 402; Lassen, iv. 763; Wilson, +Essays, i. 319; Weber, IS. xv. 263, xvi. 211, xvii. 1,[37] and Berlin +MSS., vol. ii, 1892; Klatt, Stotra (MSS.), ZDMG. xxxiii. 445; Leumann, +Berichte von den Schismen der Jaina, IS. xvii. 91; Jacobi, Stutayas +and Stotra, ZDMG. xxxii. 509, IS. xiv. 359, also origin of sects, +ZDMG. xxxviii. 1, Introduction to Kalpa S[=u]tra (Abh. k. M.,[38] +1879, Mab[=a]v[=i]ra is N[=a]taputta). Compare also Jacobi, ZDMG. +xxxiv. 247; Oldenberg, _ib_. 748; Jacobi, _ib_. xxxv. 667, xl. 92; +Burnell, IA. i. 354; Rice and Buehler, _ib_. iii. 153, vii. 28, 143, +etc; Burgess, _ib._ xiii. 191; Windisch, Hemacandra's Yogac[=a]stra, +ZDMG. xxviii. 185. Jacobi has translated Ac[=a]r[=a]nga and Kalpa +S[=u]tras for SBE. xxii. Hoernle, Digambara Pattavalis, IA. xx. 341, +xxi. 57. A popular essay on Jains by Williams appeared JRAS. xx. 279. +On Jain tradition compare Buehler, Sitz. Wien. Ak. 1883, WZKM. i. 165, +ii. 141, iii. 233, iv. 313, v. 59, 175 (Mathur[=a], Congress, 1892, p. +219). On Gos[=a]la compare Hoernle, Bib. Ind., Uv[=a]saga Das[=a]o +(seventh Anga) with Leumann's review; and Rockhill, Life of Buddha, p. +249. Compare also Jain Bh[=a]rata and R[=a]m[=a]ya[n.]a of Pampa, +Rice, JRAS. xiv. 19; Leumann, Dacavaikalika-S[=u]tra und Niryukti, +Jinabhadra's J[=i]takalpa, Sitz. Berl. Ak. 1892, Die Legende von Citta +und Sa[.m]bh[=u]ta, WZKM. v. 111, vi. 1; Thomas, Early Faith of Acoka +(to show prior Jainism; a dubious contention) JRAS. ix. 155. On the +Jain nurture of vermin see JRAS. 1834, p. 96. On dates compare Jacobi, +Kalpas[=u]tra and Oldenberg (above). The Catrunjaya M[=a]h[=a]tmyam +(Weber, Abh. k. M., 1858) is probably not an early work (Buehler, Three +New Edicts, IA. vi. 154). On Weber's view in regard to Jain-Greek +legends see his essay Ahaly[=a]-Achilleus, Sitz. Berl. Ak., 1887. See +too Barth, Revue, xix. 292 ff., xx. 332. + +BUDDHISM. + +Colebrook's Essays; Wilson, Buddha and Buddhism, JRAS., 1856, pp. 229, +357; Bennett, Gaudama, JAOS. ii. 3; R. Spence Hardy, Eastern +Monarchism and Manual of Buddhism; E. Hardy, Der Buddhismus nach +aelteren P[=a]liwerken; Burnouf, Le Lotus de la Bonne Loi and +Introduction a l'histoire du Bouddhisme indien (Nepal); Koeppen, Die +Religion des Buddha; Weber, Ueber den Buddhismus, Ind. Skizzen, and +Streifen, i. 104; Barthelemy Saint-Hilaire, Le Bouddha et sa religion +(now antiquated); Oldenberg, Buddha; Kern, Der Buddhismus; T.W. Rhys +Davids, Manual of Buddhism, and Hibbert Lectures; Copleston, Buddhism; +Monier Williams, Buddhism;[39] Mary Sumner's Histoire (ed. Foucaux); +Senart's Essai sur la legende du Buddha, JA. 1873, p. 114; 1874, p. +249; 1875, P. 97, and published separately. Valuable is the same +author's article, JA. viii, 1876, Notes, and work (containing) Les +Inscriptions de Piyadasi; compare IA. xvii. 188; ZDMG. xl. 127 +(buehler). on N[=a]g[=a]rjuna (second century) see Beal, IA. xv. 353. +Of historical interest, if otherwise valueless, are Schoebel, Le +Buddha et le Bouddhisme, 1857; and Holmboe, Traces de Buddhisme en +Norvege avant l'introduction du christianisme. Lillie, Buddha and +Early Buddhism, also influence of Buddhism on Christianity, and JRAS. +xiv. 218, Buddhist Saint Worship, and _ib_. xv. 419, on Ceylon +Buddhism; Beal, Schools, IA. ix. 299. + +#Buddhist texts#: Burnouf, Foucaux, above; Weber, Dhammapada,[40] +ZDMG. xiv. 29: Mueller, Science of Religion, and SBE. x, with +Fanshoell's Sutta Nip[=a]ta; J. Weber and Huth, Tib. Buddhist +S[=u]tras, ZDMG. xlv. 577; Pischel, Assal[=a]yana Sutta; Childers, +Khuddaka P[=a]tha, JRAS. iv. 309.; Davids, Buddhist Suttas translated +from the P[=a]li; and Davids and Oldenberg,[41] Vinaya Texts, SBE. xi, +xiii, xvii, xx; Kern, Lotus, _ib_. xxi; Davids, Milinda, _ib_. xxxv; +Cowell and Mueller, Mah[=a]y[=n]na S[=u]tras, _ib_. xlix; Foucaux, +Lalita Vistara, Ann. du MG. vi, xix; Pratimokha, above, and Beal and +Gogerly, JRAS. 1862, p. 407; Dickson, _ib_. vii. 1, viii. 62; +Childers, _ib_. vii. 49; viii. 219; Rogers (and Mueller), +Buddhaghosha's Parables; Foulkes, IA. xix. 105; Carus, Gospel of +Buddha. + +#Nirv[=a][n.]a#: Out of the immense literature we select Mueller +(Buddhist Nihilism), Science of Religion, p. 141; Oldenberg, Buddha, +p. 273; Frankfurter, JRAS. xii. 548; Rhys Davids, Manual, and Hibbert +Lectures, tenth Appendix. + +#Date of nirv[=a][n.]a#: Westergaard, Buddha's Totesjahr, Ueber den +aeltesten Zeitraum der Ind. Geschichte; Cunningham, Bhilsa Topes; +Buehler IA. vi. 149 ff., Three New Edicts of Acoka; Kern, Jaar-telling; +Mueller, Acad. March 1, 1884, SBE. x.: Davids, Ancient Coins and +Measures of Ceylon, p. 57; Oldenberg, Vinaya Pitaka, SBE. xiii. p. +xxii.[42] + +#Foreign buddhism#: Stan. Julien, Histoire de la vie de Hiouen Thsang, +Memoires (compare JA. Dec. 1857), Voyages des Pelerins Bouddhistes; +Wassiljew, Der Buddhismus; Bigandet, Life of Gaudama; Fergusson, +Hiouen Thsang's Journey from Patna, JRAS. vi. 213, 396; Wilson, _ib._ +1859, p. 106 ('Summary Account'); JAS. Beng. i; As. Researches, xx +(Csoma, Asiatic Buddhism); Beal, Diamond S[=u]tras (etc., JRAS.); +Gutzlatf (Sykes), Buddhism in China, JRAS. 1854, p. 73; 1856, pp. 316, +357 (Wilson, Notes, Inscriptions); Edkins, Chinese Buddhism; Beal +(Chinese), Dhammapada, The Romantic Legend, and Travels of the +Buddhist Pilgrim Fah-Hian,[43] Life of Buddha, BOR. _passim_; Mueller, +Buddhist Pilgrims, Chips, i; Koeppen (above); Hodgson, Memoirs; Burnouf +(above); Schlagintweit, Buddhistic Idols in Tibet, JRAS. 1863, p. 437, +and (Ann. du Musee Guimet, iii) Buddhism in Tibet (Lamaism in the +second part); Rockhill, The Life of Buddha, and The Land of the Lamas; +Lamaistic succession, Mayers, JRAS. iv. 284; Lamaist extension of +Buddhist Confession, IA. xxiii. 73; Lamaism and Catholicism, Davids, +Hibbert Lectures; Modern Lamaism, Waddell, Buddhism of Thibet or +Lamaism; Schiefner, T[=a]ran[=a]tha's Geschichte (and Tibetische +Lebensbeschreibung); Tibet texts (above); Bastian, Buddhist Literature +of the Burmese, ZDMG. xvii. 697, and Buddhist Psychology, _ib._ xx. +419; Fuehrer, Buddhist Manu, BBRAS. xv. 329; Jardine and Forchhammer, +Notes on Buddhist Law (in Burmah); Friederich, Buddhism in Bali, JRAS. +viii 158, ix. 59; dharmac[=a]stra, IA. xiii. 24; Crawfurd, Hindu +Religion in Bali, AR. xiii. 128;[44] in Ceylon, Foulkes, IA. xvii. +100. + +#Buddhist legends#: Burnouf, Introduction; Davids, Buddhist Birth +Stories, and BOR. iv. 9; Beal, JRAS. vi. 377; Fausboell, Two +J[=a]takas, JRAS. v. i., Five and Ten (1872); Feer, JA. 1875 +(v, vi);[45] Fausboell, Weber, IS. v. 412; Acvaghosha (fifth ccntury); +Weber, Streifen, i. 186; Cowell, Acvaghosha; Levi, JA. 1892, p. 201; +Beal, SBE. xix. Hells: Feer, Etudes Bouddhiques, l'Enfer indien, JA. +1892, p. 185, 1893, p. 112;[46] Koeppen, p. 239; Senart, Notes, JA. +viii. 477. Symbols: Cunningham, JRAS. 1851, pp. 71, 114; Hodgson, +_ib._ 1861, p. 393; Sewell and Pincott, _ib._ xix. 238 and xxii. +299;[47] IA. vii. 176; _ib._ xv. 61, 89, 217, and following volumes +(sacred trees); Lillie, Saints and Trees, JRAS. xiv. 218. Topes, +Temples: Cunningham, above, p. 108, and St[=u]pa of Bharhut, Bhilsa +Topes (synods, schisms); Fergusson, Rock-cut Temples of India, JRAS. +1844, p. 30, and Topes of S[=a]nchi and Amar[=a]vat[=i]; Beal, JRAS. +v. 164; Burgess, Arch. Surv. of Western India, and Cave Temples of +India (symbols) with Fergusson; the latter, History of Indian and +Eastern Architecture, Tree and Serpent Worship; Simpson, JRAS. xxi. 49 +(temples from tombs); Mueller, Dagobas from Ceylon, ZDMG. xii. 514[48] +(also dates). Women leaders of Buddhist Reformation, Miss Bode, JRAS. +xxv. 517. + +#Brahmanism and Buddhism#: Burnouf, Bh. P. Introd. p. 137 (Indra +highest god); Williams, JRAS. xviii. 127; Holtzmann, Zur Geschichte, +p. 103; (and Jainism) Leumann, Die Legende von Citta und Sambh[=u]ta, +WZKM (above); Bastian, Brahmanic Inscriptions in Buddhist Temples (of +Siam), JAOS. viii. 377. + +#Buddhist heresies#, D[=i]pava[.m]sa (above); doctrines, Wassiljew +(above); Le Buddhisme et les Grecs, Levi, Revue, xxiii. 36. + +HINDUISM. + +EPIC: Ktesias, IA. x. 296 ff.; McCrindle, Ancient India as +described by Ktesias and by Megasthenes and Arrian;[49] date of +Bh[=a]rata, Buehler, Kirste, Ind. Studies, No. ii; in Cambodia, +Barth, Inscriptions Sanskrites du Cambodge; of R[=a]m[=a]ya[n.]a, +Weber, R[=a]m[=a]ya[n.]a, IA., reprint; Jacobi, R[=a]m[=a]ya[n.]a,[50] +Festgruss an Boehtlingk, p. 44, GGA., Nos. 16 of 1892, 1893; epic +language, Franke, Was ist Sanskrit? BB. xvii. 54; epos and Veda, +Oldenberg, ZDMG. xxxvii. 54, xxxviii. 439, xxxix. 52; Weber, Episches +im Vedischen Ritual,[51] Sitz, Berl. Ak. 1891; Ludwig, Ironie, +Festgruss an Boehtlingk. Resume, Wheeler, History (unreliable); +Williams, Indian Wisdom. Translations, Wilson, Sabh[=a], JRAS. 1842, +p. 137; Thomson (1855), Davies, Lorinser, and Telang (SBE. viii), +Bhagavad G[=i]ta, etc; Milman, Nala; Muir, IA. vii, viii, Metrical +Translations, and OST.; Arnold, S[=a]vitr[=i], Idylls, etc. (free); +Holtzmann (Sr.), Indische Sagen; Foucaux, 'Kairata Parva'; Sadous, +fragments (1858); H. Fauche (several books of Bh[=a]rata); Pratapa +Chandra Roy (almost all); Griffith, R[=a]m[=a]ya[n.]a, Schoebel. (Mus. +Guimet, xiii), Gorresio, Fauche, _id_. Studies, Holtzmann, Indra, +Apsaras, Brahm[=a],[52] ZDMG. xxxii. 290, xxxiii. 631, xxxviii. 167, +Agni, Arjuna (each separately), Zur Geschichte, Neunzehn Buecher +(literature); Hopkins, Manu in Epic, JAOS. xi. 239, Ruling Caste, +_ib_. xiii, etc.; Sauer, Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata and Wate (primitive epic, +unconvincing); Neve, Morals and Women (antiquated); Weber, +Mother-Worship, Zwei Ved. Texte, and West, IA. x. 245; Roussel, Les +idees religieuses, Museon, xii. 263, 295. For Philosophy, see above. +Pur[=a][n.]as, Modern Sects: Lassen, i. 481; Wilson, Analysis, +1838-39 (essays); Burnouf, Bh[=a]gavata; Wilson, Vishnu; Rueckert, +M[=a]rka[n.][d.]eya, Wortham, JRAS. xiii. 103, 355 (partial); _ib_. +xvii. 221; Wolheim, Padma (Latin, partial); Stevenson, Ga[n.]eca, +JRAS. 1846, p. 319; Ante-Brahmanic Religions, and Feudalism, _ib_. +1846, pp. 330, 390; in Dekhan, _ib_. 1838, p. 189; Sykes, Traits, +_ib_. 1860, p. 223; G[=i]ta-Govinda, Lassen (Latin), Rueckert, +ZKM. i. 132. Fables: WZKM. vii. 215; Pratapa Chandra Gosha, +Durg[=a]p[=u]j[=a]; T[=i]rtha: Williams, Hinduism (list), IA. v. 209, +Cunningham, Survey; Hunter, Indian Empire (sects), Orissa, and Report; +Civaite sects, Sen[=a]th[=i] R[=a]ja, Mus. Guim. vii; Krishna, Weber, +ZDMG. vi. 92; Berl. Ak., 1867, p. 217, IS. xiii. 354; Neve, Des +elements etrangers, etc; Phallus, IA. iv. 211, v. 183, Kittel, Ueber +d. Ursprung des Linga Cultus (refutes Wurm, Geschichte der Indischen +Religion); Stevenson, JRAS. 1846, p. 337; P[=a]ncar[=a]tra, Hall, +V[=a]savadatta. C[=a]rv[=a]ka, Colebrooke, Muir, _loc. cit_. +Var[=a]hamihira, see above. Fate: IA. xviii. 46. Sects: Jones, AR. ii. +334; names of week-days, Cunningham, IA. xiv. i; Grierson, _ib_. 322; +Dikshit, _ib_. xvi. 113; Wilson's Sketch of the Religious Sects of the +Hindus, AR., Essays; Hunter's Statistical Account of Bengal; Kitt's +Compendium of Castes and Tribes; Elphinstone's History; Mueller, Chips, +iv. 329; Williams, Religious Thought and Life, and Brahmanism and +Hinduism; W.J. Wilkins, Modern Hinduism; Wilson, On the Sikhs, JRAS. +1846, p. 43; Prinsep, Origin of Sikh Power; MacGregor, History of +Sikhs;[53] Kab[=i]r; Trumpp, [=A]digranth, JRAS. v. 197, Congress, +1880, p. 159, and [=A]digranth (complete), IA. vi ff.; Die Religion +der Sikhs. Vishnuism, Williams, JRAS. xiv. 289. Mohammedanism in +Hinduism, Dabist[=a]n, vol. ii.[54] Ritual: Buehler, IA. 1883; temples; +Hurst, Indika (especially p. 294); Burgess, IA. xii. 315; Williams, +Thought and Life, p. 448 (see Buddhism). Thugs: Reynolds, JRAS. 1837, +p. 200; Sherwood, AR. xiii. 25, Ph[=a]ns[=i]gars; Shakespear, _ib_. +xiii. 282; also Sleeman, Report, and Ramaseeana (Thugs' Argot and +papers on Thugs); Elphinstone, i. 369, 371 (Bh[=a]ts and Ch[=a]rans), +384 (Thugs and Decoits). C[=a]itanyas, Hunter, Statistical Account, +Williams and Wilkins, _loc. cit_.; On 'pocket-altars,' JRAS. 1851, p. +71; Vidh[=a]nas, Burnell, Meyer; K[=a]nph[=a]tis, Celibates, of Kutch, +JRAS. 1839, p. 268; Ling[=a]yits, Kittel, above, and IA. iv, v; Tulsi +D[=a]s, R[=a]m[=a]ya[n.]a, works of Ramavat sect, Grierson, IA. xxii. +89, 122, 227; Pandus as gods, IA, vii. 127; their fish-emblems, _ib_. +xxii. 61; Bombay Dancing Girls, IA. xiii. 165; Sun-worship, temples, +St. Julien, Voy. iii. 172; Burgess, Survey, p. 216; in Taxila, JRAS. +1859, p. 77; in Pur[=a][n.]as, Lassen, ii. 832, 919; IA. vi. 11, vii. +69, 71, viii. 30 ([=a]dityabhaktas). Theistic Reformers: Wilson, +Essays; Hunter, Account; Mueller, Chips; Williams, JRAS. xiii. I, 281; +Tiru Valluvar, Graul, Kural, and Pope, IA. vii ff.; N[=a]ngi +Panth[=i]s, IA. xiii. 1; Tamil Civaites, Foulkes, Catechism; JAOS. iv. +129; Ph[=a]ndarpur Vishnuites, Vi[t.]h[t.]ala Bhaktas (Kab[=i]r), +Stevenson, JRAS. 1842 p. 64; especially Mitchell, IA. xi. 56, 149, +hyrons of Tuk[=a], and celebration, Congress, 1892, p. 282. +Festivals:[55] above, V[=a]japeya; Hillebrandt, Sonnwendfeste; JRAS. +1846, p. 60; Gover, _ib_. v. 91; IA. xx. 430; Holi, JRAS. 1838, p. +189; 1841, p. 239; Vet[=a]la, _ib_. 1838, p. 192; Dekhan deities, +_ib_. 1842, p. 105. + +WILD TRIBES. + +Johnston. Yellow Men of India; Hunter, _loc. cit_.; Hewitt, Early +History of Northern India (speculative), JRAS. xx. 321, etc.; Oppert, +Original Inhabitants, Madras Journal, 1887, 1888; Breeks, Account of +Primitive Tribes, etc. (Nilagiris, Todas); Hodgson, Aboriginal Tribes, +JAS. Beng., xxv. 31; Samuelis, Native Dress and Religious Dances, +_ib_. 295; Neumann, English Realm in India, ii; Latham, Ethnology of +India; Macpherson, JRAS. 1842, p. 172, and 1852, p. 216(Khonds); +Briggs, Aboriginal Races, _ib_. 275; Sherring, Hindu (Bengal) Tribes; +the Sacred City of the Hindus; also Bhar-tribe by the same, JRAS. v. +376; Risley, Tribes and Castes of Bengal; Rowney, Wild Tribes; Khonds, +Koles,[56] S[=a]uras, Gonds (and Bh[=i]ls) JRAS. 1852, p, 216 (1844, +p. 181); also _ib_. 1842, p. 172; Marshman, History, iii. p. 108 +(Khonds); thirty Snake-tribes, JRAS. xii. 229; _ib_. 1859, p.1,[57] +Frye, Uriya and Khonds, religious dances, p. 16; creed and sacrifice, +pp. 20, 36; Marshman ii. p. 164 (infanticide); Kitt, Compendium of +Castes and Tribes found in India; Santh[=a]ls, JRAS. 1852, p. 285; IA. +xxii. 294 (emigration); Avery, Aboriginal Tribes, IA. xiv. 125; +Carnegy, Races Tribes and Castes (Oude); Dalton (Bengal), Descriptive +Ethnology; Social Customs in Kashmeer and Oude, IA. xviii. 287, 386; +Campbell, Sant[=a]l folklore (totemistic origin from goose);[58] +Kork[=u]s, Kolarian Tribe in middle of (Dravidian) Gonds, JRAS. xvi. +164; Newbold, Chenchwars, wild tribe in forests of eastern Ghauts, +JRAS. 1845, p. 271; Cain, Koi, southern tribe of Gonds, JRAS. xiii. +410 (witches, Pandus, etc); Dunbar, Lurka Koles, JRAS., 1861, p. 370; +Dravidians, Kittel, and Caldwell, _loc. cit._; Polyandry, Thomas, +JRAS. xi. 37; Simpson (rites, sacrifices, etc.), P[=u]jas in the +Sutlej valley, JRAS. xvi. 13; Burnell, Devil-worship of Tuluvas, IA. +1894; Waddell, Frog-worship (Nepal), IA. xxii. 293; Steere, Swahili +Tales, IA. _passim_.[59] A volume has lately been published on the +Chittagong Hill Tribes[60] by Riebeck with superb illustrations; and +photographic illustrations of racial types may be studied in Watson's +and Kaye's volumes, The People of India. Discussion (biassed) of +_r[=a]jputs_ of Scythian origin, Elphinstone, i. 440. On Dravidian +literature, see Elliot, IA. xvi. 158. On Gipsies, Grierson, _ib._ 35; +etymology, _ib._ 239. + + +GEOGRAPHY, INDIA AND THE WEST. + +Schmidt, Die Urheimath d. Indog. u. d. europaeische Zahlsystem, Sitz. +Berl. Akad. 1890, p. 297; Hirt,[61] Die Urheimath d. Indogermanen, IF. +i. 464; Schrader, Sprachvergleichung und Urgeschlchte, p. 616; Lassen, +Indische Alterthumskunde, i. 643; Vivien de Saint Martin, Etudes sur +la Geographie du Veda; Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 3; Aufrecht, +ZDMG. xiii. 498 (Ras[=a] as Milky Way); Ludwig, Nachrichten ueber +Geographie, etc.; Whitney, Language and the Study of Language; +Oldenberg, Buddha, p. 399 (we cite from the first edition); Thomas, +Rivers of the Rig Veda, JRAS. xv. 357.[62] On the relations of the +Hindus and the West: Weber (relations with Semites), Indische +Skizzen, and Die Griechen in Indien, in Sitz. Berl. Akad. 1890, p. +901; Steinthal, ZDMG. xi. 396; Grill, _ib_. xxvii. 425; Stein, IA. +xvii. 89. Leo's view in regard to German-Indian unity (reviewed, ZDMG. +viii. 389) is worth citing as a curioslty.[63] Brunnhofer's works have +been cited above, p. 15. On the Beziehungen der Indier zum Westen a +valuable article has lately been written by Franke (ZDMG. xlvii. 595). +Weber, Ueber d. P[=a]ras[=i]prakaca d. K[r.][s.][n.]ad[=a]sa, as well +as in his R[=a]jas[=u]ya, V[=a]japeya, Vedische Beitraege, etc., has +treated of the relations with Persia (Fables, IS. iii. 327). In the +works cited above the same author has discussed the relations with all +other Western nations, including the Greeks, on which Sykes, Notes on +Religious State of India, JRAS. 1841, p. 243, is readable; Bohlen, +_Altes-Indien,_ and Levi, La Grece et I'lnde d'apres les documents +indiens (revue des etudes grecques, 1891) should be read.[64] The +subject of Early Christianity in India has been treated by Burnell, +IA. iii. 308, iv. 153, etc. (see also above, p. 479); while Priaulx, +in JRAS. 1861, 1862, has written a series of interesting articles on +India's Connection with Rome. The Indian travels of Apollonius of +Tyana, JRAS. 1859, p. 70, etc., are of no value beside those of +Ktesias and Megasthenes. The origin of the Hindu Alphabet and the +native system of Dates have to do with the originality of parts of +Hindu literature, but these outlying subjects, which have a literature +of their own, we can only touch upon. A good _resume_ of the +discussion in regard to the alphabet will be found in JRAS. xvi. 325, +by Cust; a new theory of Franke's, ZDMG. xlvi. 731. Halevy derives the +alphabet from Greece. But see now Buehler, Ind. Studies, iii, 1895 +(North Semitic, seventh century, B.C.) The native eras are discussed +by Cunningham, Book of Indian Eras; and in Mueller's India, What Can It +Teach Us? p. 282. On the native date for the beginning of the +Kali-yuga, _i.e._ this age (the year 3101 or 3102 B.C), JRAS. iv. 136, +and Thomas, edition of Prinsep's Antiquities, may be read.[65] A +general survey of primitive Aryan culture will be found in Schrader, +_loc. cit._, to which may be added on Vedic (Aryan) metres, Westphal, +KZ. ix. 437; and Allen, _ib._ xxiv. 556 (style, Heinzel, Stil d. +altgerm. Poesie). On the name [=A]rya, besides _loc. cit._ above, p. +25, may be added, Windisch, Beitr. z. Geschichte d. D. Sprache, iv. +211; Pott, Internat. Zt. fuer allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, ii. p. 105 +ff. Criticism of a too great confidence in the results of the +comparattve method, AJP. xv. 154; PAOS. 1895. + + * * * * * + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [Footnote 1: This bibliography is meant only to orient the + reader in regard to exegetical literature. It is not + complete, nor does it give editions of texts. The order + follows in general that of the chapters, but the second and + last paragraphs respectively must be consulted for + interpretation and geography. Works that cover several + fields are placed under the literature of the first. The + special studies on Vedic divinities have been arranged + alphabetically.] + + [Footnote 2: On account of the inconvenient form in which + appeared the earlier numbers of the JRAS. we cite the Old + Series only by date. All references without date refer to + the New Series (vol i, NS., 1864).] + + [Footnote 3: On the artistic side Emil Schlagintweit's great + work, Indien in Wort und Bild, contains much of interest to + the student of religious paraphernalia. See also below under + wild tribes.] + + [Footnote 4: Roth, Morality of the Veda; Whitney, Result of + Vedic Researches (JAOS. iii. 289 and 331); Whitney, History + of the Vedic Texts, _ib_. iv. 245.] + + [Footnote 5: Under this title Roth has an essay (on the + comparison of texts), KZ. xxvi. 45.] + + [Footnote 6: See below. Defence of the same by the author, + WZKM. vii. 103.] + + [Footnote 7: JRAS, i. 51 ff., and subsequent volumes, + Contributions to a Knowledge of the Vedic Theogony and + Mythology and Progress of the Vedic Religion toward Abstract + Conceptions of the Deity.] + + [Footnote 8: It cannot be too much emphasized that + Grassmann's translation should never be used for comparative + purposes. At the same time, for a general understanding of + the contents of the whole Rig Veda it is the only book that + can be recommended. Ludwig's translation is so uncouth that + without a controlling knowledge of the original it is often + meaningless.] + + [Footnote 9: Bloomfield, AJP. xii. 429. Compare also + Regnaud, Le Mythe de Rohita. The same author has published + various Vedic articles in the Rev. de l'histoire des + religions, vols. xv-xxvi. Whitney's complete translation of + AV. will soon appear.] + + [Footnote 10: Sexual side of fire-cult; whirlwind of fire, + M[=a]taricvan, Schwartz, KZ. xx. 202; compare Hillebrandt, + ZDMG. xxxiii. 248.] + + [Footnote 11: Neisser's Vorvedisches im Veda, BB. xvii. 244, + is not a mythological study.] + + [Footnote 12: Apollon here is Saparye[n.]ya, 'worshipful.' + This derivation is attacked by Froehde, Apollon, BB. xix. + 230 (compare Fick, _ib._ xviii. 138), who derives Apollon + from [Greek: phellhon], 'word,' comparing [Greek: hapellhaxein], + 'conciliare,' _pell_ being 'spell' (in Gospel, etc.), + 'inter-pellare.' Thus Apollo would be 'prophet,' 'warspello.' + On _vahni_, Agni, compare Neisser, Vedica, BB. xviii. 301 + (xix. 120, 248).] + + [Footnote 13: Oldenberg, _loc. cit_., interprets Acvins as + morning and evening stars! The epithet (of Agni and Acvins) + _bhura[n.]yu_ has been equated with Phor[=o]neus, we forget + by whom.] + + [Footnote 14: Oldenberg's (Die Religion des Veda) + Old-Man-of-the-Mountains-Indra thus gets etymological + support.] + + [Footnote 15: For convenience included in this list.] + + [Footnote 16: Maspiter is Mars-pater.] + + [Footnote 17: Hirt equates Parjanya, Perkunas, Fjoergyn, as + originally epithet of Dy[=a]ns-Zeus, with [Greek: + phegotaios], the 'Oak-god.' See also Zimmer, ZDA. vii. (19) + 164.] + + [Footnote 18: Mueller explains Rudra as 'howler'; Leo + identifies him with Wuotan; Jones with Apollo, Kuhn. KZ. + iii. 335; as A. Sax. Rodor, _ib_. ii. 478: P. von Bradke. + ZDMG. xi. 361. Oldenberg's delineation of Rudra in Die + Religion des Veda is based on the Brahmanic Rudra-Civa (see + PAOS. Dec 1894).] + + [Footnote 19: Kerbaker, Varuna e gli Aditya (Naples, + Proceedings of the Royal Academy) is known to us only by + title.] + + [Footnote 20: The author justly remarks that no sociological + data can be made of Yama's wife or sister.] + + [Footnote 21: Dog sees Death, sharp sight of dog causes + myth.] + + [Footnote 22: Other less important examples of etymological + ingenuity are Scherer, Brahman as flamen ([Greek: Brhagkos], + Bragi, see Kaegi, Rig Veda, note 82); abhrad[=i]t[=a] as + Aphrodite, Sonne, KZ. x. 415; Ahaly[=a] as Achilleus, Weber, + Sitz. Berl. Ak., 1887; Id[=a] as Iris (Windischmann), + Poseidon, potidas, i[=d.]aspati (Fick, KZ. xxi. 462); but in + KZ. i. 459 Poseidon is patye davan. On the form compare BB. + viii. 80; x. 237; KZ. xxx. 570. Prellwitz, BB. ix. 327, + agrees with Fick and Pott as to i[d.]as representing + [Greek: oidma] and compares [prosklhotios]. Garga is Gorgo, + Kern, JRAS. iv. 431; P[=a]jasya is Pegasos, etc, KZ. i. 416, + xxix. 222; Parvata is Pelasgos, Burda, KZ. xxi. 470; but + compare Stier, _ib_. xi. 229, where Pelasgoi are 'cranes'; + and Pische, _ib_. xx. 369, where they are [Greek: + parhrhhasioi]. Sabheya is Yavi[s.][t.]ha (not Hephaistos, as + says Kuhn), Mueller, _ib._ xviii. 212; and v[r.]trahan is not + Bellerophon (as says Pott), _ib_. iv. 416, v. 140 (bellero + is varvara). Carad is Ceres, Mueller, _ib_. xviii. 211; + svav[=a]n is [Greek: enas], Autrecht, ZDMG. xiii 499; svar + 'sing' in Silenus, Siren: Buddhaguru in Pythagoras, etc. + Helena is Saram[=a], and Hermes 1s S[=a]rameya. Mueller, + Chips, ii. 138, note. Compare for further clever guesses + Cox's Aryan Mythology, Mueller's Lectures, Second Series, and + Biographies of Words.] + + [Footnote 23: Compare Deussen, Geschichte der Philosophie, + i. 105. On Vedic and Sanskrit Riddles, _loc. cit_.; also + Haug, Vedische Raethselfragen (also Brahma und die + Brahmanen); Fuehrer, ZDMG. xxxix. 99.] + + [Footnote 24: There is an essay on this subject by Kern, + Ind. Theorieen over de Standenverdeeling, which we have not + seen.] + + [Footnote 25: Sitz. Berl. Ak. 1858, 1859, and 1894, + respectively. The Wurfel-Orakel (and Schiefner) is published + also in Ind. Streifen, i. 274. The essay on Omina and + Portenta contains translations of parts of the + Sha[d.]vi[.m]ca Br[=a]hma[n.]a, of the S[=a]ma Veda, and of + the K[=a]ucika (AV.) S[=u]tra.] + + [Footnote 26: (Whitney) Burgess, S[=u]ryasiddh[=a]nta, + JAOS. vi; JRAS. 1863, p. 345; Whitney, _ib_. i. 316; Lunar + Zodiac, Or. Ling. St., ii. 341; Kern, translation of BS., + JRAS. iv-vii; IS. x, xiv, xv; Weber, Ueber altir[=a]nische + Sternnamen, Sitz. Berl. Ak., 1888; see also Whitney, JAOS. + viii. 1, 382; Burgess, _ib_. 309; Weber, IS. ix. 424, x. + 213; Whitney _vs_. Ludwig, PAOS., 1885. On the twelve + intercalated days, 'Twelfth Night,' see Weber, IS. v. 437 + (Cabal[=i]-homa), xvii. 224.] + + [Footnote 27: The statement is here made that the Vedic + religion knows nothing of idols; but see the other cited + works which seem to disprove this.] + + [Footnote 28: The 'Fifteen Puzzle' is Indic (IA. x. 89, xi. + 83).] + + [Footnote 29: Triton und Euphemos, oder Die Argonauten in + Libyen, by Water, in 1849, treats of the holy seven in a + ridiculous way. Not less ridiculous is the author's attempt + to explain everything by the Moon-Cult, thus anticipating + modern vagaries.] + + [Footnote 30: A curious though useless classic is Anquetil + du Perron's Oupnekhat, 1801, the first European version of + the Upanishads (through the Persian).] + + [Footnote 31: Whitney, AJP. vii. 1, xi. 407; Jacob, IA. xv. + 279; Whitney Trans. Phil. Ass. xxi. 88; Boehtlingk, Bericht + d. k. Saechs. Gesellschaft, 1890, and separately.] + + [Footnote 32: Compare Windischmann, Sancara, 1833; Ecstein, + IS. ii. 369; and Bruining-Bijdrage tot de Kennis van den + Ved[=a]nta, 1871.] + + [Footnote 33: Compare two native expositions, JRAS. x. 33 + (Vedantic conception of _brahma_), and WZKM. ii. 95 + (Cankara's _advaita_ philosophy); also Mueller, Three + Lectures.] + + [Footnote 34: Compare Ballantyne's Hindu Philosophy, + Williams' Indian Wisdom, Brahmanism and Hinduism, Religious + Thought and Life, and also the excellent chapters in Weber's + Lectures (above), and in Schroeder's Literatur und Cultur. + Of Deussen's Allgemeine Geschichte der Philosophie one half + volume has appeared.] + + [Footnote 35: Haug has an article on the M[=a]it. Sa[.m]h. + with the same title, Brahma und Die Brahmanen.] + + [Footnote 36: House-ritual: [=A]cval[=a]yana, Gobhila, + C[=a][.n]kh[=a]yana, P[=a]raskara, Kh[=a]dira, + Hira[n.]yakecin, [=A]pastamba. Law: [=A]pastamba, + G[=a]utama, Vasistha, B[=a]udh[=a]yana, Y[=a]jnavalkya, + Vishnu, N[=a]rada, Brihaspati, Manu. The last is also + translated by Loiseleur, Jones, Burnell and Hopkins (besides + Buehler, SBE., above).] + + [Footnote 37: Ueber die heiligen Schriften, translated into + English by Smyth in the Indian Antiquary, 1893.] + + [Footnote 38: Feer, JA. 1888 (xii), p. 209. Leumann has + published in the same German series the Aupap[=a]tika + S[=u]tra, but as yet only the text (1883) has appeared.] + + [Footnote 39: Of the many manuals we recommend especially + those of Rhys Davids for ontology (also J[=a]takis. First + Part) and Oldenberg (now in second edition). For Northern + Buddhism Koeppen's Religion is still excellent, although it + is vitiated by the point of view taken by the author, who + regards Buddha as an emancipator, a political innovator, + etc. Davids has two recent articles on Buddhist sects, JRAS. + xxiii. 409; xxiv. 1 (see abo below).] + + [Footnote 40: L. von Schroeder, Worte der Wahrheit. On the + word Dhammapada, Franke ZDMG. xlvi. 734.] + + [Footnote 41: Also Oldenberg, D[=i]pava[.m]sa, with text.] + + [Footnote 42: For Nirv[=a]na and its date all the manuals + may be consulted. See also D'Alwis, Nirv[=a]na (with + translation); Edkins, JRAS. xiii. 59, Congress, 1880, p. + 195; Childers, Dictionary, JRAS. v. 219, 289, vii. 49, etc.; + Fergusson, _ib._ iv. 81 (Indic Chronology); Mueller, Origin + of Religion, p. 130, note, and Introduction to Buddhaghosha, + and to Dhammapada (above). We incline to accept 471 to 483 + as the extreme limits of the date of Buddha's death (Kern, + 380; Davids, 412).] + + [Footnote 43: On Hsing (671) see Beal, IA. x. 109, 194; + Mueller, India. 'Fa-Hien's travels are now published by + Legge, 'Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms.' There are other + editions. See also Sykes, JRAS. 1841, p. 248; Beal, _ib._ + xix. 191.] + + [Footnote 44: On Japanese Buddhism there have been published + some texts by Japanese scholars (ed. Mueller, Aryan Series of + Anecdota Oxoniensia). See JRAS. xii. 153.] + + [Footnote 45: Chalmers, J[=a]takas (ed. Cowell, vol. 1) is + announced. Compare JRAS. xxiv. 423. On Barlaam u. Joasaph + see now the exhaustive essay of Kuhn, Abh. d.k. Bayerisch. + Ak. 1894 (with all literature).] + + [Footnote 46: By the same, Avad[=a]nacataka, Mus. Guimet, + xviii (JA. 1879, xiv). The Da[t.]havamca, Mellone, Ann. du + MG. vii.] + + [Footnote 47: Triratna and tricula. The articles following + are by Murray-Aynsley (Asiatic Symbolism), on svastika, + trees, serpents, evil eye, etc. On the evil eye and the + poison-girl, vi[s.]akany[=a], see now the interesting essay + of Hertz (Abh. d. Bayern. Akad, 1894), who connects the + superstition with the religious practice described above, p. + 505, note 2.] + + [Footnote 48: For older essays see also Schoenberg, ZDMG. + vii. 101 (rock-temples); JAS. Beng. xxv. 222 (Khandgiri + temples); Yule, JAS. Beng., 1857, Ancient Buddhistic Remains + (on the Irawady): Sykes, Miniature Caityas in Buddhist + topes, JRAS. 1854, pp. 37, 227.] + + [Footnote 49: Civa is here falsely interpreted as Herakles, + p. 39. Compare too Weber, IS. ii. 409, and his + Ahaly[=a]-Achilleus, Berl. Ak. 1887. The original Greek is + edited by Schwanbeck. On Darius' conquest see Marshman, i. + p. 10.] + + [Footnote 50: Sixth or eighth century, developed with + Buddhistic or Greek influence.] + + [Footnote 51: An example of the survival of the Hindu cult + in the Cr[=a]uta ritual is given by Weber, IS. v. 437, + Cabal[=i]-homa.] + + [Footnote 52: Weber on Skanda, IS. iii. 478.] + + [Footnote 53: Compare also Malcolm, AR. xi (1812), 197; ZKM. + v. 1, Die Religion und der Staat der Sikh.] + + [Footnote 54: The Dalast[=a]n or School of Manners, + translated from the Persian, with notes by Shea and Troy, + 1843.] + + [Footnote 55: Williams' Hinduism and the third chapter of + Wilkins' Modern Hinduism contain a list of the modern + festivals. Grierson, Peasant Life, describes Beh[=a]r.] + + [Footnote 56: M[=o]ns and Koles, JRAS. x, 234. Lards, + Congress, 1874, by Drew; 1880, by Leitner.] + + [Footnote 57: Snake-nation in America, Shoshone, Clark, + Sign-language, p. 337; snake-symbol of life, Schoolcraft, i. + 375.] + + [Footnote 58: Totemism repudiated, Kennedy, on N[=a]gas, + JRAS. xxiii. 480.] + + [Footnote 59: The Indian Antiquary contains a vast fund of + folk-lore stones of more or less religious importance. See + Barth's note, Rev. xxix. 55, for the Orientalist.] + + [Footnote 60: Early accounts of Burmah will be found in + Buchanan's Religion and Literature of the Burmas, AR. vi. + 163; of the R[=a]jmahal tribes, T. Shaw, _ib._ iv. 45; of + the inhabitants of the Garrow Hills, Eliot, _ib._ iii. 17; + of the Kookies, MacRae (or McRae), _ib._ vii. 183; of Nepal + (temples, etc.), _ib._ ii. 307. An account of the + Tibeto-Burman tribes by Damant will be found in JRAS. xii. + 228.] + + [Footnote 61: Compare a suggestive paper by the same author, + IF. iv, p. 36 (1894), on Die Verwandtschaftsverhaeltnisse der + Indogermanen (linguistic, but historically important).] + + [Footnote 62: Volga as 'Pa, Ranha, Ras[=a], Kuhn, KZ. xxviii + 214; the Sarasvat[=i] and the lost river, Oldham, JRAS. xxv. + 49.] + + [Footnote 63: Another curiosity will be found in JRAS., + 1854, p. 199, where Curzon claims that the Aryan Hindus are + autochthonous.] + + [Footnote 64: Leitner, Greek Influence on India, Congress, + 1880, p. 113. On the Drama see above, pp. 2 and 438.] + + [Footnote 65: Further, Westergaard, Ueber den aeltesten + Zeitraum der Indischen Geschichte; Fergusson, JRAS. xii. + 259; Fleet, _samvat_ for Caka-era, JRAS., 1884, p. lxxi; + Gupta, IA. xv. 189, and xvi. 141; (B[=e]r[=u]n[=i]), _ib._ + xvii. 243, 359; also Kielhorn, Vikrama, IA. xix. 24 ff.; + xxii. III; Buehler, WZKM. v. 215. Methods and Tables for + Computing Hindu Dates, Jacobi, IA. xvii. 145; and Epigraphia + ind. I. 430. Last literature on date of Rig Veda, above, p. + 5, and add now Oldenberg, ZDMG. xlviii. 629. Further + references, above, pp. 436, 571, notes.] + + * * * * * + + + + +INDEX. + + + A (alpha), 226, 397. + + abbots, 557. + + abhangs, 522. + + abhidhamma, 326. + + Abhinavagupta, 482. + + Abh[=i]ras, 543. + + ab[=i]r, 454, 455. + + absorption, 496 + + abstractions,112, 135. + + [=a]c[=a]ra, 554. + + Achaemenides, 544. + + [=A]di Br[=a]hma Sam[=a]j, 517, 519. + + [=A]digranth, 511 ff. + + Aditi, 55, 73, 139, 142, 154 + + [=A]dityas (see Aditi, Varu[n.]a, etc), 55 + (A[.n]ca), 143, 167; + [=a]dityabhaktas, see sun and S[=a]uras. + + adultery, 203 + + adv[=a]ita, 396, 496, 505. + + Aesculapius, 538. + + Afghanistan, 30, 548. + + [=a]gamas, 295, 439. + + ages, 227, 259, 418 ff., 444, 530. + + Aghor[=i], 490, 533. + + Agnes, saint, 451. + + Agni, 43, 101, 105 ff., 123, 144, 168, 353, + 356, 377, 401, 414. 445, 449, 476, 480, 554. + + ahimas[=a], 199, 287, 310, 365. + + Ahura Mazd[=a]o, 49, 67, 167. 170. + + [=A]k[=a]camukhas, 486. + + Akbar, 437, 546. + + Akkadians, Akkadists, 542, 571. + + ak[s.]am[=a]la (see rosary) 374. + + Al B[=e]r[=u]n[=i], 547, Addenda. + + Alexander, 431, 546. + + Alexandria, 431, 561. + + All-god, 139, 141, 496. + + All-gods, 137, 144, 450. + + Allah [=u]d d[=i]n, 437. + + alphabet, 543, 595. + + altars, 475. 490 + + altruism, 478, 555, 556, 563, 567. + + American Indians, see Indians. + + [=A]nanda, 309, 311; + [=A]nanda Giri, 445, 447; + [=A]nandat[=i]rtha, 509. + + Ananta, 397. + + ancestors (see female, Manes), ten, 534. + + Anaximander, 559. + + ancestor-tree, 541. + + Andaman gods, 538. + + androgynous, 447, 492, 557. + + a[.n]gas,440. + + A[.n]g[=i]ras, 108, 167, 477. + + A[n.][=i]m[=a][n.][d.]avya, 432. + + Aniruddha, 441, 442, 457. + + annihilation (see Nirv[=a][n.]a), 421, 531, 532. + + ant-oath, 534. + + Antiochus, 545. + + Anug[=i]t[=a], 401. + + Aphrodite, 471. + + Apollonius, 508. + + April-Fool, 455. + + Apsaras, 137, 169, 355, 365. + + Arabia, 547. + + [=A]ra[n.]yakas, 178, 219. + + ardhan[=a]r[=i]cvara, 447. + + Arhat, 280, 285, 303, 320, 564. + + Arjun, 511. + + Arjuna, 361. + + Arrian, 459. + + arrow-oath, 534. + + art, artists, 549. + + Aryaman, 46, 121, 397. + + Aryan, 11, 26, 548. + + [=A]rya Sam[=a]j, 521. + + acani, 464. + + ascetics, 148, 254, 258, 304, 352 ff.; + asceticism, 287, 366, 470, 520. + + acoka, 540. + + Acoka, 311, 340, 341, 435. + + astrology, 256, 438, 543. + + Asuras, 42, 49, 104, 170 ff., 186 ff., 358 + + Asura Maya, 368. + + Acvins, 38, 54, 78, 80, 381. + + Atharva Veda, 3, 29, 43, 151, 175, 419, 477, 571. + + Atharvan, 110, 378, 477. + + [=A]tm[=a], 42, 47 (soul), 56, 220 ff., 232, + 249, 354, 396, 398, 442. + + [=A]tm[=i]ya Sabh[=a], 516. + + atonement, 376. + + Avadh[=u]tas, 502. + + avasthas, 412. + + avatar, 162, 196, 215, 340, 389, 393, 404, 424, + 430; + number of, 444, 468; + Vishnu's last avatar, 522. + + Avesta (see Iranian), 12, 16, 422. + + avy[=u]ha 442. + + Ayenar, 464. + + axe (see Paracu R[=a]ma), 527. + + Aztecs, 557. + + + B[=a]b[=a]l[=a]ls, 514. + + Baber, 437. + + Babrius, 558. + + Babylon, 543. + + Bacchic rites, 414, 427, 528. + + Bactria, 32, 33, 434. + + B[=a]dar[=a]ya[n.]a, 495, 497. + + B[=a]la Gop[=a]la, 503. + + Balar[=a]ma, 442, 469. + + bali, 540. + + Bali, 478. + + bamboo (see pole-rite), 536. + + bandana, 533. + + banian, 540. + + Bardesanes, 561. + + Barlaam, 557. + + Basava, 482, 547. + + basil, see tulas[=i]. + + Baskets, see Tripi[t.]aka. + + Beh[=a]r, 435. + + bel-tree, 453, 536, 541. + + bell, 557. + + Bella Pennu, 530. + + Bellerophon, 530. + + Benares, 459. + + Bhaga, 41, 50 ff.; + bhaga, 490. + + Bhagavad G[=i]t[=a], 389 ff., 399, 400, 401, 447. + + Bhagavat, 303, 389. + + Bh[=a]gavatas, 447, 497. + + Bh[=a]irava, 464, 491. + + Bh[=a]ktas, 447. + + bhakti (see faith), 429, 503, 519. + + Bh[=a]rata, 349 ff., 438, 457. + + Bh[=a]rs, 534, 535 ff. + + Bh[=a]ts, 479. + + Bhava, 462, 464, 548. + + Bhav[=a]n[=i], 494. + + bhik[s.]u, 258, 281, 303, 310, 374; + bhik[s.]uk[=i], 426. + + Bhils, 533. + + Bh[r.]gu, 168, 397, 423. + + bicycle, used to make converts, 570. + + bigotry, 445. + + bila, 12. + + bilva, see bel. + + bird (of the sky) 45, 49, 113, 124, 140, 164; + birds as spirits, 432. + + birth-impurity, 541. + + Birth-stories, see J[=a]takas. + + birth-tree, 540. + + Blavatskyism, 562. + + Blessed One, 19, 388 ff. + + blood-money, 162. + + blood-revenge, 375. + + bloodless sacrifice (see ahi[.m]s[=a], Thugs), + 528. + + boar, 404, 407, 445. + + Bodhisat, bodhisattva, 303, 564. + + Bhodhi-tree, bo-tree, Bodhi Gay[=a], 304, 308, + 540. + + boundary-god, 529. + + brahma, 156, 178, 195, 217, 220 ff., 231 ff., + 381, 389, 393 ff., 398, 403, 419, 420, 474, + 496, 518. + + Brahm[=a], 195, 218, 332, 346, 372, 403 ff., + 407, 412, 421, 446, 451, 458 ff., + 464 ff., 487, 492, 499, 518, 534. + + Br[=a]hma Dharma, 517. + + Brahmaloka, 256. + + Brahmamaha, 371, 411. + + Br[=a]hma[n.]as, 4, 5, C^ 22, 23, 174, 219, 502. + + Brahmanism, 24, 176 ff., 548. + + Br[=a]hma Sam[=a]j, 516; + of India, 519. + + Bahmasamprad[=a]yins, 509. + + brahmodya, 383. + + branding, 440, 447. + + B[r.]haspati, 54 (Lord of Strength), 101, 136, + 159, 379, 386. + + B[=r.]hat Sa[.m]hit[=a], 438. + + brothers, 370. + + Buddha, 258, 280, 303 ff., 426; + precedent Buddhas, 309, 523, 557; + avatar of Vishnu, 469, 500; + brother of Civa, 478. + + Buddhagho[s.]a, 327, 343. + + Buddhism, 4, 5, 6, 7, 26, 225, 298 ff., 310, + 401, 448; + Northern and Southern, 326, 327, 341; + esoteric, 320, 334; + epic, 423 ff.; + Civaite, 485, 486; + morals of, 554, 556; + Occidental, 563; + lesson of, 564. + + Budo Gosain, 533. + + buffalo (see cow-bells), 445, 531, 537. + + bull, 407, 445, 528, 534. + + bull-roarer, 204, 553. + + burial, 60, 271, 364, 528, 534, 571. + + buttoat, 493. + + + Calvinism, 501. + + Candragupta, 311, 434. + + Candracekhara, 470. + + cara[n.]a, 255. + + C[=a]ra[n.]as, 367. + + Caran D[=a]s[=i]s, 506. + + Cardinals, 557. + + Carnival, 455. + + C[=a]rv[=a]ka, 298, 374, 448. + + castes, 27, 28, 29, 40, 141, 226, 263, 426, + 507, 571; + duties and occupations of, 549. + + cat, holy, 547. + + cat-doctrine, 500. + + cataclysms, 259, 260. + + cattle (see cow), 50, 462 ff., 450. + + caturm[=u]rti, 413. + + caturthi, 451. + + caturvy[=u]ha, 442. + + celibates (see monks), 537. + + Ceylon, Buddhism of, 341. + + C[=a]itanya, 503. + + chandas, 142, 174, 477. + + Ch[=a]rans, 479. + + chief, divinity of, 534. + + child-marriages, 519. + + children, sacrifice of (see merias), 450. + + Ch[=i]rus, 535. + + choirs, 557. + + chrematheism, 135, 166. + + Christ, Christianity, 389, 395, 428 ff., 431, + 479, 482, 503, 524, 545, 566, 569, 570; + and Buddhism, 546, 557. + + Christmas, 430, 568. + + churik[=a], 441. + + circumambulations, 271, 454. + + Citragupta, 424. + + Clive, 566. + + cock, 415, 535, 538. + + commandments (see morals), 267, 317, 401, 479, + 506. + + confessional, 203, 373, 557. + + cosmic tree, see tree. + + courage, 527. + + covenants, 192, 361 ff. + + cow, 156, 189, 527, 547. + + cow-bells, worship of buffalo cow-bells, 537. + + cow-boys, 454. + + creation, 60, 141, 173, 207 ff., 216, 540. + + creator, 384, 444. + + crocodile, 450, 547. + + cross, 537. + + Cupid, see Love. + + custom, 531, 554. + + + Dabist[=a]n, 480, 510. + + D[=a]d[=u] Panth[=i]s, 480, 502, 510, 513, 547. + + daevas, 10, 168. + + Dak[s.]a, 406. + + D[=a]navas, see devils. + + dance, 443, 454, 456, 504, 535. + + Darius, 544. + + darkness (as hell and evil), 147, 206, 227, 422. + + Dacan[=a]mis, 482. + + Dacapeya, 477. + + Dasyus, 524, 542. + + dates, 3-8, 434 ff., 571, 595, note. + + Datt[=a]mitra, 545. + + Dawn (see Ushas), hymns, character of, 553, 571. + + Day[=a]nanda, 521. + + Death (see dogs, M[=a]ra), 43, 129, 136. + + Debendran[=a]th, 516 ff. + + Decoits, 494. + + Dedr[=a]j, 514. + + deism, 498, 515, 523. + + deluge, 160, 162 214, 369, 421, 542, 543. + + demons, see devils. + + demonology, 46, 135, 168, 538. + + Demetrius, 545. + + depressed classes, 568. + + devas, 10, 168. + + Devadatta, 309. + + Devak[=i], 465, 467. + + devils, 368, 414, 423, 475, 526, 539. + + Dhammapada,346. + + dhan, 508. + + Dha[=n.]gars, 531. + + Dharma, dharma (see Path, Right), 249 ff., + 358, 373, 380 417, 420, 554. + + dharma, 361. + + Dhav[=a], 452. + + Dh[r.]ti, 452. + + dhvaja, 443. + + Digambaras, 284 ff., 480. + + Dionysos, 458 ff. + + D[=i]p[=a]l[=a], 456. + + discus, 440, 462. + + disease (see small-pox god), 452 ff., 538. + + divination, 535. + + dogs of Death, 132, 138, 147, 163. + + Dol[=a] Y[=a]tr[=a], dolotsava, 453 ff. + + dolmen, 538. + + dolphin, 450. + + dragon (see N[=a]ga, snake), 42, 48, 165, 539. + + drama, 2, 436, 438. + + Dravidian religion, 416, 425, 426 ff., 542. + + dreams, 42. + + drugha[n.]a, 441. + + Druids, 533. + + drunkenness, 491. + + dualism (see ptak[r.]ti, S[=a][.n]khya), 13, + 396, 414. + + Durg[=a], 416, 451, 456, 490, 492, 513. + + d[=u]rv[=a], 502. + + Dutch rule in India, 566. + + dv[=a]para, 420. + + Dy[=a]us, 9, 19 (heaven), 58, 172, 571. + + + eagle (see soma), 534. + + Earth, 58 ff., 168, 445; + earth-worshippers, 480, 531. + + Easter, 454. + + education, salvation of, 571. + + egg, mundane, 166, 208, 411. + + Egypt, 543, 550. + + ek[=a]ntinas, 413; + eka deva, 420. + + Eleatics, 559. + + elements, 1, 559. + + elephant, 445, 533. + + eleocarpus ganitrus, 502. + + emperors, imperialism, 36, 435 ff. + + English rule in India, 566. + + ensigns, 539. + + epic, 2, 25, 348 ff., 425, 444, 496; + Greek influence on, 545. + + Epicureans, 505. + + eras, 436. + + Eros, see Love. + + eschatology (see Heaven, Hell, Manes), + 173, 204, 216, 253, 367, 394, 496, 530. + + ethnologists, 11. + + euphemism, 251. + + Europe and India, 556 ff. + + evil eye, 155, 526, 589, note 3. + + exogamy (see marriage), 534, 535. + + + fables, 545, 558. + + faith, bhakti, 396, 506, 507, 545. + + fakirs, 486. + + family, see matriarchy. + + fasting, 452, 557. + + fate (see karma), 369, 417, 477. + + Father-god, see Praj[=a]pati; + Fathers, see Manes; + father (see parents), 529. + + fauna, 35. + + fees, 192. + + female (see abstractions, infanticide, + mothers, cakti), divinities, 51, 138, + 184, 416; + female ancestors, 441, 534. + + Feridun, 11. + + festivals, 202, 448. + + fetishism, 169, 363; + distinction between fetish and god-stone, 538. + + fire (see Agni), as germ of life, 141; + fire-cult, 158, 378; + destroys world, see Sa[.m]vartaka; + cult, 454, 460, 491. + + flood, see deluge. + + flowers, 440, 540, 557. + + forest (see wood), 528. + + fountain-god, 531. + + free-will, 384. + + frogs, 14, 100 ff.; + frog-maiden, frog-feast, 536. + + funeral, see burial. + + + gambler, 14, 162, 376. + + games, 328, 451. + + Gandharva, 125, 130, 167, 367, 419, 442, 542. + + Gan-eden, 542. + + Ga[n.]eca, 414, 416, 447, 450 ff., 456, 466, 487, 506, 532. + + G[=a][n.]ecas, 413. + + Ganges, 30, 372, ff., 450. + + Garos, 534. + + Garutman, Garuda, 45, 360, 378, 446. + + G[=a]ur[=i], 452. + + Gautama, 302 ff.; + Gotama, 308, note; 542. + + g[=a]yatr[=i], 46, 124. + + generosity, 374. + + geography, 28, 29, 177, 193, 314, 342 ff. + + Ghori, 437. + + ghosts, 532. + + giants, 470, 571. + + Girica, 463. + + g[=i]t[=a], see Bhagavad. + + G[=i]ta Govinda, 457, 503. + + Gnosticism, 560. + + gods (see devas), 29, 90, 141, 182, 209, 395, 402. + + golden age, see ages. + + golden germ, 141, 208, 507. + + golden rule, 479. + + Gonds, 444, 526 ff. + + goose-totem, 534. + + gop[=i]s, 456. + + Gorakhn[=a]th, 486. + + gosain, 504. + + Gos[=a]la, 283. + + gospels, 546. + + Gotama, see Gautama. + + Govind, 511. + + grace of God, 143, 384, 393, 396, 413, 429. + + grahas (see planets), 415. + + gr[=a]mas, 27. + + Greece, Greeks, 1, 3, 6, 416, 431, 434 ff., + 458 ff., 470, 471, 544 ff., 550. + + Grippa Valli, 530. + + G[=u][d.]aras, 487. + + guest, 369, 531. + + gu[n.]as, 507. + + Gupta era, 436, Addenda. + + guru, 246, 510. + + + Hanuman (see monkey), 368, 502. + + haoma, 16. + + Hara, 462. + + Harahvati, 31. + + Harihara, 464, 547. + + Hariva[.n]ca, 424, 428, 439, 464, 467. + + H[=a]r[=i]ta, 440. + + Hartmann, 562. + + Harvard students, 565. + + harvest (see festival), 531, 532. + + Hastings, 567. + + Heathen, 524. + + Heaven (see Dy[=a]us, Varu[n.]a, eschatology), + 48, 143, 145 ff., 253, + 365, 417, 448. + + Helen, 12, 168. + + Hell, 147, 165, 206, 232 ff., 253, 267, + 336, 363, 381, 402, 443, 478, + 528, 557. + + henotheism, 139, 177, 571. + + Herakles, 458 ff., 470. + + Heraklitus, 558. + + Hestia, 530. + + hills, see mountains and wild tribes. + + Hinduism, 24, 348 ff., 434 ff., 548, 568 ff. + + Hindukush, 31. + + Hira[n.]yagarbha (see golden germ), 447. + + history, 434. + + holiness, 442. + + Holl, 453. + + holy-days, 204, 248 ff. + + holy-places, 444. + + holy-stone, see C[=a]lagr[=a]ma and stone. + + holy-water, 557. + + horse-sacrifice, 444. + + honesty, 527, 555. + + hospitality (see guest), 555, 556. + + house-god, 374, 530. + + H[r.][s.]ikeca, 432. + + humanitarianism, 428. + + humanity, 433. + + + idealism, see adv[=a]ita. + + idolatry, modern, 522. + + idols, 95, 370, 371, 374, 442, 446, 477, 537, 556 ff. + + Ilium, 12. + + illusion, 395, 396, 401, 421, 497. + + immaculate conception, 431, 460. + + immortality (see Heaven), 141, 396, 422; + immortality of pots, 534. + incarnation (see magic), 470. + + Incarnation, see avatar. + + incest (see commandments, left-hand), 531. + + Indians, 161 ff., 452, 532, 533, 542. + + Indra, 10, 20, 39, 56, 57, 89, 91 ff., + 101, 123, 332, 353, 355 ff., 69, 377, + 404, 405, 412, 414, 445, 448, 449, 473 ff. + + Indramaha, 378, 457, 460. + + Indus, 30. + + infanticide, 529, 531. + + infidelily, 448, 475. + + Innocents day, 455. + + inspiration, 305. + + Iranians, 6, 15, 26, 32 ff., 67, 132, 168, 170, 186, 422, 543. + + [=I]ca, 546. + + islands, 431. + + Issa, 546. + + Itih[=a]sa, 434, 477. + + + Jagann[=a]th, 440, 449, 456, 505. + + J[=a]imini, 495. + + Jainism, 280, 318, 348, 401, 448, 480. + + Jam[=a]li, 283. + + J[=a]mbavan, 368. + + janas, 26, 27. + + Jangamas, 447, 482. + + Janm[=a][s.][t.]am[=i], 465, 469. + + J[=a]takas, 339 ff., 393, 430, 558. + + J[=a]tavedas, 416. + + Jayadeva, 503. + + Jay[=i], 494. + + Jem[=i]dar, 493. + + Jemshid, 11. + + Jews, 524, 544. + + j[=i]va, 442, 496. + + J[.n][=a]ndev, 522. + + J[.n][=a]triputra, 292. + + John, saint, 558. + + Jonas, story of, 547. + + Josaphat, 557. + + Judgment-god (see Dharma), 529, 531. + + Juggernaut, see Jagann[=a]th. + + jugglers, see Yogi. + + Justice, see Dharma. + + + Ka, 182, 413. + + Kab[=i]r (Panthis), 502, 510, 514, 547. + + Kabul, Kabulistan, 30. + + kal[=a], 501. + + K[=a]la, see Time. + + kali, 421. + + K[=a]l[=i], 416, 438, 441, 490, 492, 533. + + K[=a]lid[=a]sa, 438. + + Kalki, 340, 469. + + kalpa, see ages. + + K[=a]ma, see Love. + + Ka[n.][=a]da, 503. + + K[=a]naph[=a]ts, 486, 487. + + K[=a][.n]culiyas, 492. + + Kani[s.]ka, 435, 436. + + K[=a]p[=a]likas, 487. + + kapi, 543. + + Kapila. 397, 402, 495, 547. + + Kapilavastu, 300. + + karma, 199, 231, 253, 302, 319, 369, 374. 401. + + Karmah[=i]nas, 447. + + Karmam[=i]m[=a][.m]s[=a], 495. + + Kart[=a]bh[=a]ja, 504. + + K[=a]rttikeya, see Skanda. + + K[=a]cyapa, 503. + + Kashmeer, 31, 314, 482. + + Kassos, 534. + + Katties, 537. + + Kh[=a]kis, 502. + + Kh[=a]ls[=a], 512. + + Khasas, Kh[=a]s[=i]as, 537. + + Khonds, 445, 526, 528 ff. + + Kil, 502. + + kindness (see love), 448. + + kings, 226 465. + + Kinnaras, 367. + + kirttan, k[=i]rtan, 508. + + Koches, 525. + + Koles, Kolarians, 525, 531, 532 ff. + + koph, 543. + + Kosmas, 544. + + Krishna (k[r.][s.][n.]a), 349, 361, 388 ff, + 399, 401, 405, 411, 412, 429, 448, 449, + 456, 457, 465, 498, 548, 551. + + Krishnaism, 427, 464, 484 ff., 548. + + Krishnaite[s.], 503 ff. + + k[r.]ta, 419. + + K[s.]apanakas, 448. + + K[s.]atriya, 419. + + K[s.]emendra, 478. + + Kubera, 251, 353, 358, 446. + + kukkuja, see cock. + + Kum[=a]ra K[=a]rttikej-a (see Skanda), 356, 463. + + Kum[=a]rila, 436, 437, 572. + + Kural, 567. + + Kurus, 32, 179. + + Kuruk[s.]etra, 33, 263, 372 ff. + + kush, 542. + + + Lak[s.]m[=i], 451, 492, 501, 506. + + Lalita Vistara, 343. + + Lamaistn, 343, 557, 565. + + Lamp-festival, 456; + service, 557. + + Law-books, religion of, 247 ff.; + Aryanism of, 541. + + Left-hand cult, 490, 506, 533. + + lex talionis, 555. + + liberality of thought, 556. + + light, as right, 422. + + li[.n]ga (see phallus), 447, 453, 456, 462, 475, 488, 502. + + Li[.n]g[=a]yits, 482. + + liquor, 491, 531. + + literature, celebration of, 451. + + Logos, V[=a]c, 142, 195, 251, 492, 558. + + Lohit[=a]yan[=i], 415. + + lotus, 411, 451, 462, 502. + + Lotus of the Law, 343. + + Love, 154; + love-charm, 155; + love as god, 156, 416, 444, 445, 446, + 450, 452, 455, 471, 544. + + lundi, 528. + + Lupercalia, 455. + + Lurka Koles, 531, 534. + + + M[=a]dhava [=A]c[=a]rya, 445. + + M[=a]dhvas, 502, 506, 509, 514. + + Madonna-worship, 469, 503, 505, 506, 557. + + M[=a]gadha, 435. + + Magas, Magi, 544. + + magic, witchcraft, 135, 137, 149, 151 ff., 477, 526. + + Mah[=a]deva, 464; + mah[=a]dev[=i], 490. + + Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata, see Bh[=a]rata. + + Mah[=a]r[=a]jas, 505. + + m[=a]h[=a]ris, 534. + + mah[=a]tmaism, 486, 550, 562. + + Mah[=a]v[=i]ra, 280 ff. + + Mahecvaras, 482. + + Mahmud, 436. + + Mahrattas, 437. + + M[=a]itreya, M[=a]itrakanyaka, 340, 479. + + makara, 450. + + Man, 508, + worshippers of, 481. + + Manes (see Cr[=a]ddha), 10, 11, 132, + 143 ff., 155, 173, 190, 250, 361, + 364, 365, 446, 450, 452, 529, 530, + 532, 533, 537. + + Man-lion, 453, 470. + + mantra, 174, 374, 440, 453, 491, 508. + + Manu, 32, 128, 143, 169, 392; + code of, 263 ff., 391, 397, 399, 401; + verse attributed to, 487. + + manvantara, 439. + + M[=a]ra, 304, 346. + + m[=a]rj[=a]ra ny[=a]ya, 501. + + marka[t.]a ny[=a]ya, 501. + + marriage-rites, 270, 421, 533. + + marriage-tree, 541. + + Maruts, 8, 56, 97 ff. + + Mather, Cotton, 565. + + matriarchy, 441, 541. + + matter (see prak[r.]ti), 400. + + M[=a]y[=a], see illusion. + + May-day, 453. + + meat-eating (see ahi[.m]s[=a]), 365, 368. + + medh[=a], 452. + + Megasthenes, 1, 458 ff. + + Menandros, 545. + + merias, 529. + + metals, 35. + + metempsychosis, 175, 199, 204, 286, 302, 347, + 364, 401, 532, 533, 559; + in the Veda, 145, 432, 530. + + methods of interpretation, 8, 12 ff., 22, 551. + + Mihira, see Mithra. + + Milinda, 545. + + M[=i]m[=a][.m]s[=a], 495. + + miracles, 430. + + missionaries, 566 ff. + + Mitra (see Varu[n.]a), 41, 44, 57, 60, 71, 138; + mitra, mihira, 423, 544. + + Mohammedans, 436 ff., 482, 509, 524, 546 ff. + + monks (see ascetic, bhik[s.]u, Sanny[=a]sin), 285, 324; + monasticism, 502, 557. + + monkey (see Hanuman), 448, 452, 502, 547; + monkey-doctrine, 500. + + monolith, worship of, 538. + + monotheism, 11, 13, 67, 70, 139, 172, 413, 414, + 427, 432, 442, 481, 483, 509, 547. + + monsoon, 35. + + moon (see eschalology, Gandharva, Soma), 185, + 470, 480, 526, 533. + + morals (see commandments, sin), 14, 143, 180, + 203, 353, 375, 401, 443, 553, 570. + + mother-divinities, 415, 492; + motherhoods, 534. + + mountains, divine, 137, 359, 416, 461, 463, 528, 532, 537. + + mouse, 532. + + Mozoomdar, 519. + + muni, 148, 520. + + Munroe, Major, 566. + + murder, 179, 475, 527. + + music, 443. + + M[=u][s.]ikas, 532. + + mysticism (see Yoga), 504. + + + N[=a]gas (see dragon, snake), 536, 539. + + N[=a]g[=a]rjuna, 340, 343. + + Nakh[=i]s, 486. + + name of the Lord, call upon, 507. + + names, 201. + + N[=a]nak, 502, 511 ff., 547. + + N[=a][.n]gi Panthis, 514. + + Nara, N[=a]r[=a]ya[n.]a, 412, 448; + Sv[=a]mi N[=a]raya[n.]a, 506, 514. + + Nature, 397. + + nautch, 454. + + Neo-Platonism, 558, 560. + + New Year's festival, 449, 456. + + Niadis, 537. + + nid[=a]nas, chain of causality, 323. + + Night, 48, 76, 79. + + Nik[=a]ya, 326. + + Nimb[=a]ditya, 508. + + Nirgrantha, 283. + + Nirmalas, 513. + + Nirv[=a][n.]a, 286, 310, 319, 321 ff., 336, 346, 347, 426 ff. + + Ni[s.]ads, 440. + + non-duality, see adv[=a]ita. + + Notovitch, 546. + + numbers, 478. + + nuns, 290, 310, 330, 557. + + nymphs, in heaven, 417. + + Nysian, 458. + + + oath (see ordeals), of king, 213; + may be broken, 255; + water in oath, 362; + other forms of oath, 533, 534. + + observances, 246. + + oceans, 34. + + offerings, 183. + + Om, 395, 453. + + Omens (see magic), 256, 328. + + ophir, 543. + + oracles, 533, 534. + + Or[=a]ons, 526, 531, 535. + + ordeals, 3, 270, 275, 363. + + orders, politica), priestly stadia, 264, 353, 365. + + orthodoxy, 507, 562. + + + pacceka, 305. + + P[=a]h[=a]rias, 533. + + pairs of gods, 83, 102, 138, 462. + + palm, 540. + + palmistry (sce omens), 256. + + P[=a][.n]cajanya fire, 423. + Pa[.n]cak[=a]la, Pa[.n]cak[=a]j[.n]as, 413. + + Pa[.n]camah[=a]kalpa, 413. + + Pa[.n]catantra, 558. + + P[=a][.n]car[=a]tra, 413, 427, 442, 447, 492, 497. + + P[=a][n.][d.]avas, 466, 469. + + P[=a][n.]dur[=a][.n]ga, 500. + + pantheism (see K[r.][s.][n.]a, R[=a]ma, + Vi[s.][n.]u), 37, 47, 57, 138, 140, 248, + 356, 407, 414, 484 ff., 498, 547. + + Paradise, see Heaven. + + Paracu R[=a]ma, 469. + + parents, 370. + + parimata, 227, 229, 232. + + Parjanya, 100 ff., 369, 378. + + Parmenides, 559. + + parrot, 445, 450. + + P[=a]rvat[=i], (goddess) 'of mountains,' 416. + + Pacupati, 413, 462, 463. + + P[=a]cupata, 447, 482, 509. + + P[=a]taliputta, 311. + + Pata[.n]jali, 495. + + Path, holy, 305 ff., 401,426. + + peacock, 445, 450, 528, 536. + + Persian, see Darius, Iranian. + + pessimism, 306, 314, 316 ff. + + phallus (see li[.n]ga), 150, 414, 443, 470. 471, 528, 544. + + Ph[=a]nsigars, 494. + + Philo, 555. + + philosophy (see S[=a][.n]khya, Ved[=a]nta), 141, 495. + + Phoenicia, 543. + + picture-worship, 374, 557. + + pipal-tree, see bo-tree. + + Pic[=a]cas (see devils), 415. + + planets, 367, 415, 545. + + plants, worship of (see trees), 540; + plant-souls, see metempsychosis. + + Plato, 2, 559. + + Plotinus, 561. + + pocket-altars, 475. + + pole-rite, 378, 443, 534. + + political divisions, 26, 27. + + polyandry, 467, 535. + + polygamy, 533. + + polytheism, 11, 13, 529, 547. + + Pongol, 449, 528. + + pools, 254. 370, 372, 404, 444, 478. + + pope, 557. + + Porphyry, 561. + + Portuguese rule in India, 566. + + Prabh[=a], 452. + + Pradyumna, 441, 442. + + Prabl[=a]da, 397. + + Praj[=a]pati, 142, 182 ff., 196 ff., 404, 412,475, 492, 554. + + prak[=r.]ti, 396, 397, 399, 507. + + pras[=a]da (see grace) 429. + + pray[=a]ga, 435. + + Prem S[=a]gar, 567. + + priest, 28, 29, 40, 176, 179, 370; + privileges of, 263,549; + epic priest, 352. + + P[=r.]cn[=i], 97. + + Prometheus, 107, 165. + + Punj[=a]b, 30, 33, 34. + + Pur[=a][n.]as, 2, 3, 424, 430, 434 ff., 476, 503. + + Puranic S[=a]nkhya, 495. + + purity, 148, 369. + + purgatory, 557. + + Purusa, 142, 397, 447. + + P[=u]rvam[=i]m[=i]m[=a]ms[=a], 495. + + P[=u][s.]an, 5, 41, 47, 50 ff., 80, 101, 463, 464, 475. + + Pu[s.]kara, 372. + + Pu[s.][t.]i, 452. + + P[=u]lan[=a], 444. + + p[=u]tika, 369. + + Pythagoras, 209, 559 ff., 580, note 3. + + + quakerism, 567. + + quietism (see Yoga), 567. + + + R[=a]dh[=a], R[=a]dh[=a] Vallabhis, 492, 506. + + R[=a]hu, 367. + + rain-gods, 99, 528. + + rajas, 507. + + R[=a]jas[=u]ya, 444, 448, 477. + + R[=a]k[s.]as (see devils), 419. + + ram, 445. + + R[=a]ma, 349, 397, 498. + + R[=a]macandra, 454, 506. + + Ramaism, 315, 349, 427, 485, 500 ff. + + R[=a]m[=a]nand, 502, 510, 513. + + R[=a]m[=a]nuja, 447, 482, 496 ff., 505, 507. + + R[=a]m[=a]ya[n.]a, 349 ff. + + Ramcaritmanas, 503. + + R[=a]mmohun Roy, 515. + + Ras[=a] (Volga, 26), 30, 169. + + R[=a]s D[=a]sas, 502. + + R[a=]s Y[=a]tr[=a], 456, 505. + + Rath Y[=a]tr[=a], 456. + + Rail, 452. + + R[=a]udras,447. + + R[=a]vana, 470. + + redemption, doctrine of, 569. + + reformation of sects, 508, 522. + + relics, 556. + + remnant-worship, 151, 157. + + Renaissance, 2, 435. + + renunciation (see Yogi, Sanny[=a]si), 394. + + responsability, moral, 380. + + Ribhus ([R.]bhavas), 93, 123, 169, 382. + + Right (see Dharma), 249, 422, 442, 554. + + Right-hand cult, 490. + + Rig Veda ([r.]g), 3, 5, 7, 9, 10 ff., 22, 29, 37 ff., 44; + in epic, 360, 419. + + Rishis ([R.][s.]is), see Seers. + + ritual, 12 ff., 16 ff., 106, 124, 175. + + ritualism, 568. + + rivers, divine, 30 ff., 32, 99, 138, 528. 537. + + Romans, 6, 556. + + rosary, 374, 413, 478. 502, 557. + + rosy, 493. + + Rudra (see Catarudriya, Civa), 50, 54, 97, 99, 379, 388, 406; + Rudra-Civa, 458 ff.; + Rudrajapas, 463. + + rudr[=a]k[s.]a, 502. + + + sacraments, forty, 255. + + sacrifice, 47, 60, 149, 177 ff., 188, 196, + 198, 211, 225, 246, 363, 369, 375, 406, + 413, 420, 423, 450, 462, 471, 490 ff., + 526, 528, 529, 534, 571. + + S[=a]dhus, 514. + + C[=a]ivas (see Civaites), 413. + + Caka era, 436. + + Sakh[=i] bh[=a]vas, 492. + + C[=a]ktas, 413, 489, 533. + + cakti, 489, 490, 537, 553. + + Cakuntal[=a], 438. + + C[=a]kya, 300, 302. + + c[=a]lagr[=a]ma, holy stone, 447, 502, 540. + + sallo kallo, 531. + + Sam[=a]jas, 516 ff., 369, 570. + + S[=a]ma Veda, 176, 389, 396, 419. + + Samana, 302, 344. + + Cambhu, 487. + + Cam[=i] cam[=i]-plant, 540. + + sa[.m]vartaka fire, 421. + + sa[.m]s[=a]ra. 175, 199, 231, 253, 380, 425. + + sa[.m]sk[r.]ta, 396. + + sa[.m]vat, 436. + + Sanatkum[=a]ra, 466. + + C[=a][n.][d.]ila, 221, 497, 509; + s[=u]tras, 503. + + Sandrocottos, 435. + + Sa[.n]gha, 324, 341. + + Ca[n.]kara, 289, 437, 445; + vijaya, 480; 482, 495, 505, 506. + + S[=a][.n]khya, 323, 365, 391 ff., 396, 399, + 400, 402, 460, 482, 484, 489, 495, 509, + 547, 560. + + Sanny[=a]s[=i]n, 258, 281, 508. + + Sara[n.]y[=u], 81, 138. + + Saram[=a], S[=a]rameya, 131, 132, 138. + + Sarasvat[=i], 31 ff., 149, 451, 492. + + C[=a]r[=i]rakam[=i]m[=a][.m]s[=a], 495. + + Carva, 462, 463, 548. + + Sarvadarca[n.]asangraha, 480. + + Catarudriya, 413, 470. + + Sat n[=a]m, 512. + + sattra, 371, 420. + + sattva, 507. + + Saturnalia, 455. + + S[=a]ubhagasena, 545. + + S[=a]ugatas, 448, 567. + + S[=a]uras, 413,423, 508. + + Sav[=a]ras, Sauras, 535. + + Savitar (see Sun), 41 ff., 46 ff. + + S[=a]vitr[=i], 46, 466, 492. + + S[=a]ya[n.]a, 480. + + Schopenhauer, 561. + + sects, 445. + + Seers, 368. + + Semiramis, 543. + + Semites, 571. + + Sen, 518. + + sesamum, 452, 502. + + Cesa, 446, 465. + + seven, 18, 26, 32, 49, 64, 98, 162, 533. + + Seypoys, 566. + + sex, 43, 59, 183, 490. + + Siddhas, 367, 397, 482. + + Sikhs (Singhs, Si[.m]has), 8, 502, 510-513. + + sin (see commandments, vows), 42, 47, + 51, 60, 65, 329, 376, 392, 530, 554; + venial, 254; + sin and sacrifice, 526. + + si[.n]g[=a]-tree, 533. + + Cicup[=a]la, 457. + + Sittars, 315, 367, 482, 488, 567, 570. + + Civa, 25, 50, 99, 112, 150, 178, 251, + 332, 354, 365, 374, 388 ff., 397, + 404, 406, 412 ff. 487, 532-534. + + Civaism (see C[=a]ivas), 348, 389, + 407, 413, 423, 427, 446, 451, 453, + 466, 480, 484, 488, 496, 548; + sacrifice of, 371, 453, 459, 462, 492. + + Civaites, 481 ff., 483. + + Skanda (K[=a]rttikeya), 354, 410, 414, 445, 466. + + slaves, 29, 425, 477, 548, 549. + + small-pox god, 452, 528. + + Sm[=a]rtas, 482, 507. + + Sm[r.]ti, 440. + + snake (see dragon, N[=a]ga), 20, 94, + 154, 164, 186, 344, 361, 376, 397, + 419, 446, 469, 527, 533, 536, 539, 547. + + sociological data, 27, 60, 524 ff. + + solar mylhs, 11. + + Soma, 14, 16, 42, 50, 112 ff., 185, 354, + 369, 378, 477, 491, 531, 540, 571. + + Som[=a]nanda, 482. + + son, importance of, 148, 363. + + sophistry, 383. + + sorcery, see magic. + + soul (see [=a]tm[=a], j[=i]va), 530. + + sources, 3. + + spirit (see [=a]tm[=a]), 400, 442. + + spring, god of, 528. + + spring-festival, 449, 452, 456. + + Cr[=a]ddha (see Manes), 451, 453, 455. + + Crama[n.]a, 281, 292, 302. + + cravaka, 303. + + Cr[=i], 438, 441, 451, 492. + + Cr[=i]ra[n.]ga, 456. + + Cruti, 245 ff., 373, 378. + + star-souls, 204, 366, 446. + + star-worshippers, 480, 526, 533. + + Stoics, 558, 563. + + stone, worship of (see c[=a]lagr[=a]ma), 526, + 533, 538; + marriage-stone, 271, 535. + + straw (victim), 526. + + st[=u]pas, 556. + + Subrahma[n.]ya, 466 + + C[=u]dra (see slave), 419; + S[=u]droi, 548. + + suicide, 378. + + S[=u]kharas, 487. + + Culvasutra, 560. + + Sun, 17, 39, 40 ff., 47, 51, 56, 57, 82, 164, + 205, 354, 377, 401, 402, 446, 449, 452, + 460, 492, 508, 509, 526, 528, 530, 532, + 534, 543 ff. + + Sunday, 452. + + Sunth[=a]ls, 532. + + C[=u]nyav[=a]ds, 448. + + sur[=a], 127. + + S[=u]ry[=a] (see Sun), 51, 82, 449, 492. + + Sutta, 326. + + suttee, 165, 274, 369, 441. + + S[=u]tras, 3, 4, 5, 7, 174. 245 ff. + + Sv[=a]mi, see N[=a]r[=a]ya[n.]a. + + svastiv[=a]canam, 371. + + Cvet[=a]mbaras, 284 ff., 480. + + swing, see D[=o]l[=a]. + + + tab[=u], 251, 535. + + tamas (see darkness), 507. + + Tamerlane, 436. + + Tamil, + poetry, 315; + religion, 524. + + tan, 508. + + Tantras, 2, 439, 476, 491 + + tapas (see asceticism), 520. + + Tari, 528, 530. + + Tath[=a]gata, 303. + + temples, 428, 444, 447, 452, 456, 471, 526, 557; + snake-temple, 539. + + Ten-galais, 501. + + [t.]haks, 535. + + [T.]h[=a]kur[=a][n.][=i], 535. + + Thales, 559. + + theft (see commandments, morals), 527, 554. + + theosophy, 40, 112, 384. + + thieves, god of. 554. + + Thomas, church of, 479. + + three, 42, 49, 110, 164. + + Time, see fate. + + Thugs, 492 ff., 528, 535. + + thunder-worship, 536. + + tiger, 533. + + tillais, 494. + + t[=i]rtha, see pools. + + Tiru-valluvar, 567. + + Todas, 526, 537. + + tonsure, 557. + + tortoise (see avatar), 536. + + totem, totemism, 163, 430, 445, 464, 468, 532, 534, 537, 557. + + traga, 479. + + tr[=a]ipuru[s.]a, 464. + + transmigration, see metempsychosis. + + transubstantiation, 557. + + trees, worship of, 35, 154, 470, 528, 533, 540; + tree of creation, 540, 542. + + tret[=a], 420. + + triad, 42, 46, 183, 377, 404, 460. + + tribes, 26 ff. + + Trida[n.][d.]is, 482. + + trim[=u]rti (see trinity), 447, 464. + + trinity (see triad, trim[=u]rti, tr[=a]ipuru[s.]a), + 57, 105, 237, 387, 404, 410, 411, 412, 432, 439, + 507, 516, 545; + four members, 445; + prayer to, 447; + history of, 457 ff.; + female, 492, 499. + + Tripi[t.]aka, 326, 347. + + Trip[=u]jas, 480. + + Trita, 11, 45, 104, 431. + + Troy, story of, 547. + + truth, 203, 369, 381, 527, 533, 553. + + Tuk[=a]r[=a]m, 524. + + tulas[=i], 456, 502, 540. + + Tulas[=i]d[=a]sa, 503. + + Turanian, 15, 435. + + Tu[s.][t.]i, 452. + + tutelary gods, 530. + + + Ud[=a]sis, 513. + + Ugras, 447. + + [=U]kharas, 487. + + Um[=a], 416, 460, 490, 492. + + Unitarians, 413, 485, 547. + + Up[=a][.n]gas, 440. + + Upani[s.]ads, 3, 4, 5, 7, 24, 181, 216 ff., + 389, 399, 405, 434, 447, 518. + + Upapur[=a][n.]as, 440. + + up[=a]saka, 310. + + Upendra, 409. + + [=U]rdhvab[=a]hus, 486. + + Ucanas, see B[r.]haspati. + + Ushas (U[s.]as), Dawn, 9, 10, 19, 73 ff. + + Uttaram[=i]m[=a][.m]s[=a],495. + + + V[=a]c, see Logos. + + Vada-galais, 501. + + V[=a]ikh[=a]nasas, 447. + + V[=a]ir[=a]gins, 508. + + V[=a]ice[s.][=i]ka, 503. + + V[=a]i[s.][n.]ava, 371, 413. + + V[=a]icv[=a]nara (see Agni), 507. + + V[=a]icya, 419, 487, 525. + + Vala, 20. + + Valabh[=i] era, 436, 572. + + Valentine, saint, 451. + + Vallabhas, 504-508. + + V[=a]lm[=i]ki, 503. + + Var[=a]hamihira, 438. + + Varu[n.]a, 18, 41, 42, 44, 47, 58, + 61 ff., 138, 170, 196, 353, + 354, 397, 448, 539, 554; + as the moon, 571. + + vasanta, see spring festival. + + V[=a]sto[s.]pati, 530. + + vassallus, vassus, 530. + + vasso, 292. + + V[=a]suki, 397. + + V[=a]ta, V[=a]yu, see Wind-god. + + Veda, 12, 15 ff., 142, 174, 188, 222, 256, + 374, 401, 420, 425, 510. + + Ved[=a]nta, 143, 228, 264, 365, 396, 398 ff., + 416, 460, 484, 495 ff.; + s[=u]tra, 437. + + 'Vehicles,' 340. + + vermilion, 532. + + Vesta, 530. + + Vet[=a]la, 537. + + Vidy[=a]dharas, 367. + + Vighneca, 488. + + vih[=a]ra, 435. + + Vikram[=a]ditya, 436. + + village-tree, 540. + + Vinaya, 326. + + Virabhadra, 467. + + Vir[=a]j, 507. + + Virgin-worship, 557. + + virtue (see commandments, dharma, morals), ideals of, 555. + + vicas, 27, 194. + + Vic[=a]kha, 466. + + Vishnu (Vi[s.][n.]u), 41, 52, 56, 112, 144, 178, 251, 332, 354, + 365, 388 ff., 412 ff., 451 ff.; + feast of, 456; 460, 487, 492, 498, 508, 534. + + Vishnuism, 143, 348, 389, 413, 446, 464, 480, 494 ff. + + Vishnu's law-book, 441. + + Vicv[=a]mitra, 27. + + Vi[t.]h[t.]hala, 500, 508, 514, 522. + + Vivasvant, 81, 128 ff., 146, 392. + + void, see C[=u]nya. + + Volga, see Ras[=a]. + + vows, 293, 317, 378. + + V[r.][s.]abha, 482. + + Vr[=a]tya-hymns, 179. + + Vritra (V[r.]tra), 20, 120, 185, 357, 369. + + Vy[=a]sa, 488, 495. + + + warriors, 28, 29, 419. + + water (origin of all things), 48, 107, 141, 330, 362, 378. + + waters, 99. + + water-pot, 453. + + water-worshippers, 480. + + wealth (see Bhaga), 528. + + White Island, 413, 426 ff:, 431, 545. + + wife, see woman. + + wild-tribes, 471, 490, 493, 534 ff., + 569. + + wind-god, 87 ff., 123, 165, 354, 460; + worshippers, 480. + + witchcraft, see magic. + + witness (see oath), 250. + + women (authors of Rig Veda), 27; + burned, see suttee; as nuns, 291, + 310; religion of, 370; use mantra, + 440, 450, 453; price of wife, 270, + 535. + + wood, see trees. + + wood-goddess, 138, 530. + + worlds, number of, 402. + + writing, 4, 7, 331, 544. 595. + + Yajur Veda, 24, 176 ff., 419. + + Yak[s.]as, 415. + + Yama (see Citragupta, Hell), 16, 45, + 49, 128 ff., 144, 146, 353, 365, 378ff., + 397, 451, 480, 540. + + Yima, 11, 16,128 ff. + + Yoga, yogin or yogi, 262, 281, 304, + 351, 391 ff., 399, 402, 470, 486, + 495, 550. + + yoni, vulva, 475,490. + + yuga, see ages. + + Zarathustra, Zoroaster (see Iranian), + 10, 72, 524. + + Zeus, 9, 66. + + Ziegenbalg. 565. + + Zooelatry, 547. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Religions of India, by Edward Washburn Hopkins + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA *** + +***** This file should be named 14499.txt or 14499.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/4/9/14499/ + +Produced by Paul Murray and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. +This file was produced from images generously made available by the +Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at +http://gallica.bnf.fr + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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